(Ezekiel 13:1-7)
As I take off my watch and place it on the pulpit I am reminded of that great entertainer of years past, Will Rogers. He had a radio program in which he used an alarm clock to tell him when he was out of time.
I�m not sure why I am reminded of Will Rogers and his alarm clock. This watch has no alarm and I can hardly see it without my glasses. Your hopes that I was taking off this watch so that I�d not talk overtime are now dashed.
Comparing this watch to Will Rogers alarm clock is much like comparing the present versions to the King James. Both may look much alike and hold out the same promise. Only one, however, is real. The other is an empty promise devoid of fulfillment.
The King James holds forth with the Word of God while the modern versions hold only the promise - and that not fulfilled!
First of all, I�d like to say that I am delighted to be here. I do appreciate Dr. Waite�s invitation to speak.
I accept very few speaking engagements. I do not consider myself a public speaker. I do consider myself a Theologian. But, I do have some short comings as a Theologian. I have never been a drug user. I have never been an athlete. And, I am not a former prisoner of any prison. I�m not even a disgraced politician!
Still, I do consider myself a theologian rather than a public speaker. No one who has ever heard me speak has ever confused me with a public speaker.
Before we begin I�d like to tell you a little about myself by way of introduction. When people ask me, �How are you?,� I normally answer, �Old and fat.� Well, that�s not the entire story. I am also short and ugly.
I pastor a small church in Galesburg, Illinois. Along with that I have been the speaker on BQM Presents..., a local television ministry of that church, for about the past five or six years.
BQM stands for Bible Questions Ministries. We, at the church, began this ministry as a newspaper type ministry. �Send us your questions and we�ll find answers based on the Sure Word of God.� We are blessed that God did give us a Word that is sure. It is His Word and is guaranteed by His Own Blessed Name.
We are doing a series on the fundamental doctrines of Christendom. One of the arguments of the Mormons, among others, is that there is so much diversity among those who name the Name of Christ that the traditional beliefs are unreliable. They argue that this is partly because the King James Version is flawed.
This is sad. Sadder still is the fact that so many Fundamentalists would agree with them! We do not agree.
Along with teaching the doctrines, we attempt to show how the church, historic, has held to these beliefs - the Virgin Birth, Inspiration, the Deity of Christ, the Second Coming, the New Birth based on faith in Jesus Christ alone, and so on - down through the ages.
It may have been better for both of us if I�d come here only to listen and learn. That is really what I need to do; and, that I have done. There have been some very interesting speakers bringing out some of the beauty of the King James. We have been built up in the faith.
God honors our faith, but He orders our study (II Timothy 2:15). He understands that the more we study His Word, the more we learn of His Word, the more we understand His Word, the deeper will be our faith as we learn to distinguish the fact of God from the fables of man.
There was a great vaudevillian entertainer, Al Jolson, who used to say, �You ain�t heard nothing yet.� Well, as I speak, in comparison to those who have already spoken, �Nothing� is about what you�ll be getting. I am very aware that I am the novice, you are much more knowledgeable than am I. That is not humility. That is reality!
We turn now to the Word of God. I may make apology for myself but never for the Word of God. A wise man once said, �God said it. I believe it. That settles it.� A wiser man said that this was not true. �God said it and that settles it whether I believe it or not!�
In Illinois, in the Chicago area, we believe that Michael Jordan can fly. But, gravity always brings him down. Gravity is the law. Some may believe that they can soar in flights of fancy, untethered by this Old Book. They may as well look for a nice soft place to land. The Word of God is the Law.
It has been said that you first realize that you are getting old when you go to an antique auto show and find cars that you once drove. Time moves on. Preachers come and go. Conferences come and go. Movements may come and go. And, as I grow older I am becoming more and more aware that generations come and go. But, praise God, we have a Sure Word which transcends time and all things human.
When it comes time for a Christian to pass from this mortal world he can stand within his soul and say, �I know Who hold tomorrow! He said so in His Book. And, His Book does not lie!� Neither does His Book change. He never lost control of His Book. He gave it to us and He does not hide His gifts from His elect!
This is God�s Book! He shares it with us because it is His Will to do so. His Will cannot be overcome by time, man, or the mislaying of His most precious gift, save that of His Own Son Who died that we might live! And, we only know this because His Book tell us it is so.
This Book is eternal because God is eternal. He has never lost control of it for it has always been in the palm of His Hand. And, praise Him, He allows us to do the same. I can be sure that I have the Word of God in the palm of my hand when I hold this Book aloft. It is not here that I may control it, but that I may be controlled by it.
This is His Word and it needs neither defense not apology. It will rise above the feeble efforts of It�s defenders and crush the pernicious efforts of Its detractors. The Word of God stands - eternal, unchangeable, unshakable! This is more than our belief. This is God�s unchangeable Reality!
But, we do need to realize that we do control this Word in our hands in a very real sense. Remember the story of Cornelius in Acts 10? God sent an angel to tell him to go get Peter to find out how to be saved.
That seems like such a duplication of effort. After all, the angel was already there. He could obviously communicate. Did God send a shy angel? Did God send an angel who did not understand the way of salvation? Did God send the wrong angel?
No. God did not send an uninformed or wrong angel. He sent an obedient angel. This angel was not sent with the Gospel message. Peter was. So are we.
True Christianity is more than simple debate and mental gymnastics. In order to be true to God we must realize that we are engaged in matters of life and death - eternal life and eternal death!
We must take the Gospel out from our studies and convocations and into the world. This is our primary task. Of course, we can not do this rightly without the sure knowledge that we have the Sure Word of God. We need to know the difference between a true and a false word from God.
The same problem was before the people of Ezekiel�s day. Let us now take a look at Ezekiel 13:1-7.
1. And the word of the LORD came unto me saying, 2. Son of may prophecy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD, 3. Thus saith the Lord God, Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! 4. O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. 5. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. 6. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying the LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. 7. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it, albeit I have not spoken?
In my Bible study I am a Dispensationalist. It�s not bad enough that I�m a Fundamentalist and stand for the King James Version, I�m also a dispensationalist. It�s like I went out looking for every divisive group that I could find. I�m too old to be a �Fiery Young Preacher,� I�m just a �Cantankerous Old Man!�
Did you ever notice that the world is very broad minded? It can accept anything at all - anything!, except the Truth! The more we stand for God, the more we must stand against the things of the world. It may not be popular to stand alone with God, but there is none better with which to keep company!
I am a Dispensationalist. When Dr. Scofield wrote the King James Bible. Just kidding! When God gave us His Word He intended that we take notice of the eternal principles therein.
God did not tell me to rail against the false prophets of Ezekiel�s day. I wouldn�t mind. They�re all dead and can�t fight back. It might even be popular to attack those false prophets. After all, these guys lost! A few liberals would probably fight for them - they�d want us to at least �...try to understand their culture and where they were coming from.�
But, that is not what God is saying today, in 1992. The principle is eternal. The principle is that I speak out against the religionist who would profess a form of Religion which lacked the leading of God.
II Timothy 3:5 says, �Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.� What is this �power� that is shunted aside by the false prophet?
We live in a day... Oh, how the preacher�s are fond of that phrase. We talk as though sin were anything new and virtue were anything old. How many Fundamentalist preachers does it take to put in a ceiling light bulb? Three. One to hold the ladder, one to screw in the bulb, and one to preach about how much brighter was the old bulb!
But, I do believe that certain sins are more prevalent today than in the past. One of these, probably because of the T. V. preacher image is that the power of God is synonymous with signs and wonders and ecstatic utterances.
If I would say that such preaching is unprofitable, and I do, why would I say this? The answer lies in that the Bible calls the power of God and the eternal principles shown in this text and other passages.
Romans 1:16 says, �For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, but also to the Greek.� The Power of God is His Gospel.
To preach a false gospel - and any professed Gospel which is not that which was given by God is a false gospel! - is to stand accursed of God. �But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.� (Galatians 1:8)
It is following the eternal principles of God, I submit, to say that, �Though we, or an angel from Heaven, or a manuscript from antiquity, preach another gospel...� Well, you get my point. It is simply standing on eternal principles to stand for the Ageless Written Word!
How do I know what is His Gospel? He tell us! In His Word! To subvert and to change His Word is a great sin. It changes the Truth of God into a lie. Read Romans, chapter one, and see what God thinks of those who deny Him and His Word! I know this chapter speaks mostly of those who lead perverse lifestyles, but what could be more perverse than altering the message which God gave to mankind.
We are saved by faith. When doubt is introduced, what becomes of faith in Him? Those modern versions are guilty of at least this: They claim to be the Word of God and they are not!
They go beyond this. Every time they alter a passage, every time they leave out a passage, every time they say that the �most ancient and reliable manuscripts do not agree� with a passage, they subvert the Power of the Gospel by robbing men of faith in the Word of God. They say that God was not powerful enough to protect His Own Word!
Dare I say that God has said to speak out against such as these? Every time He said to take the Gospel out into the highway and byway, He said to speak out against these false prophets. Every time He said to take the Gospel out into the whole world, He said to speak out against these false prophets. Every time He said to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered (Jude 3), He said to speak out against these false prophets.
Besides this, every fibre of our being if we really do love the Lord Who died for us, cries out that we speak out against these false prophets! If we do not speak out against these false prophets we are not true to ourselves, our Lord, or the letter or Law of the Word of God.
Neither in this case are we true to those who stand in need of the Gospel Message.
God did not give us the option of speaking out against the false prophets. He gave us the order to do so!
I�d like now to just look shortly at each of these verses and then draw conclusions as to the message which God has for us today, in 1992.
Notice in verse one that there was a difference between Ezekiel and the false prophets. Ezekiel had the Word of God. It is not outside the realm of possibility that the false prophets, from time to time, did give the same message as did Ezekiel. But, that was - when and if it happened, only from time to time. If you wanted to find a true Word from God you had to go to Ezekiel.
The modern versions may, from time to time - and do often, give a message that is from God. However, with their false textual basis, if one wants to have a sure Word from God in the English it is necessary to discard the false and seek the Word of God from the King James Version. While the others may contain a Word from God here and there, the King James was translated by men who loved God and His Word, from the preserved text. It is, to the English speaker, the Word of God.
In verse two I notice several things. First of all is that of God�s pronouncements at the giving of the message. Ezekiel, who had the true Word of God was to speak else he was guilty of disobedience. The false prophets, with a message that was not from God, were not to speak.
Why was this? God gives His Word for a purpose. He wishes to communicate with mankind. For Ezekiel to fail to speak the message which God had given was to work against this plan, and thereby to work against God! It is a sacred duty, not just an honor and a privilege we are given when God calls us into the pulpits before the congregation of the redeemed!
Meanwhile the false prophets, those who were not called and energized by God were not to speak. Their message, not empowered by the calling and unction of God, would only serve to hide the True Words of God behind these false messengers.
That is germane to our discussion. We must take the message which God has given out into the world. That is our responsibility. There are eternal matters of sin and salvation which need to be addressed. Mankind needs to hear this! While doing this we need to uphold the King James Bible. Translated, as it is, from God�s text, the King James has the Words of Life. The other versions may have these words intermingled with the words of man, but they give a message that is not the message of God. They flow from a false source. They will deliver confusion whereas man needs conversion.
Second, in verse two I notice that the false prophets speak out from their own hearts. We preachers need to be careful here, ourselves. With our educational backgrounds, and with our much study, we are apt to think more highly of ourselves than we ought.
Several years ago I was a member of Mensa. That is an intellectual society for the top 2% of the I. Q.�s in the world. That�s one in fifty so, statistically speaking, every time you get on a city bus there is a Mensa qualified individual aboard. Then I joined Intertel. That�s for the top 1%. I was feeling pretty good about myself so I applied for membership in the International Society for Philosophic Inquiry; that is for the top one in one thousand. That application brought me back to reality. I wasn�t in their league. Not even close! I had overstepped my ability.
In the same way, may we remember that we need the Lord. Our best argument is only good until someone comes along who has a better argument. Satan will always have a better argument. If, however, we speak the Word of God we need not fear. God�s Word will stand.
Third, the people were also at fault as were the false prophets. The people had among them the true prophet and the True Words of God. These they choose to ignore. We can only do what we can do. The results of our ministries are in God�s hands. We all understand this. Still, to fail to do our best is to fail both God and man!
In verse three we see that the false, here they are called foolish prophets, had left God�s Word. These prophets had violated a very simple spiritual principle given by my daughter when she was about six or seven-years-old: �It ain�t a good idea to get God mad at you.�
There are six rejections, as least in their actions:
1] In their giving of a message other than God�s they had rejected His Message.
2] In their giving of a message other than God�s they had rejected His leading.
3] In their giving of a message other than God�s they had rejected His warnings.
4] In their giving of a message other than God�s they had rejected His love.
5] In their rejections they had rejected Him.
6] In rejecting Him they had aligned themselves with Satan who had first rejected Him.
As we look at these rejections consider, if you were on the pulpit committee of a local church would you call such a one as these to be your pastor? The answer, of course, should be a resounding, �No!�
Neither should you allow the use of one of these false translations which are guilty (In honest truth these false translations are false prophets!) of the same rejections to be used to give spiritually contaminated food to the Christian.
Verse four speaks of the foxes of the deserts. These foxes did nothing to build up the city. Instead they would come into the city and burrow into the walls making them less able to protect the citizens from an enemy. They would work to weaken the walls. That wasn�t the plan of the fox, of course, but it was the outcome of their natural activity!
Spiritually, the versions are of the same ilk. They do not build up the Christian against the attacks of Satan. The Christian who relies upon these perversions is more likely to be harmed by the arrows of the tempter.
Verse six says it well: The false prophets are not there to �stand in the gap.� When the battle comes they are shown to be false allies. If we stand with the false versions we give truth to the lie of the cultist. We then agree with them that we need a new word for a new time.
Joseph Smith, and Mary Baker Eddy, and all the rest gave new works to the religious scene in part because they felt that the King James Bible was flawed. They argued that God could not protect His Word.
We need to take issue with such reasoning as this. God did protect His Word. God did give us a message that we can trust. God did give us a message for today. That message is the same as it has always been: �Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved!� (Acts 16:31)
We can only believe this because we know that neither God nor His Word have ever, or will ever, change! He has given us the bedrock of revelation in the text which underlies the King James Bible. If this be true, and it is!, then by simple deduction we understand that all other texts must be false.
In verse six we see the people vainly hoping that the false words of the false prophets will come true. We do not have to hope. We can know that we can depend upon the Sure Word of God.
I believe that these false prophets felt that they were doing good for the people. They had a knowledge of what the Word of God had been in the past, although they had no personal knowledge of that Word for themselves. They felt that there were simply building the up the people. They felt that they were giving the people a reason to trust the God of Goodness which they perceived. They did not understand the God of Justice Who hates sin.
They railed against those they saw as enemies of God. But, in reality, they knew neither God nor His Message for they were false leaders who had left behind the Holiness of God for the honor of man.
They preached to a people with itching ears (II Timothy 4:3) who seemed to be in need of the scratch of self importance rather than the salve of salvation. They were wrong because they relied upon a word which was centered in the fear of man rather than in the fear of God.
Verse seven sums up the entire problem. The false prophets said that they had the word of God but they did not. Most of the modern versions do not go that far. They would argue that no one has the Word of God.
This sort of teaching is even worse than the teaching of those false prophets of old. With this we are left with no possibility of any Divine leadership to which we can trust our souls. To say that God gave His Word and then allowed it to be lost is to blaspheme Him. It is to cast doubt upon Him and His goodness. It is to rob Him of His rightful Glory!
Now, as we finish up, I�d like to look at a few things from this passage as pertaining to the versions issue. There are four presuppositions that may be drawn from this lesson.
First of all, the principles of God do not change. If He was against those who spoke in His Name but did so without His Message, then He is still against such as this.
Second, God does want to communicate with His creatures. He wants to communicate with the unsaved so that they may stand before His Judgement Seat without excuse.
He also wants to communicate with the saved. He wants to give us instruction for Godly living. He also wants us to take the message of salvation to the unsaved so that they may be converted. He felt this was so important that He instituted the Cross of Calvary!
Third, God�s will is to show forth His glory. This demands that His Word be preserved so that man may be certain that it is God Who is speaking.
God�s Glory is shown forth in world events through prophecy which is recorded in His Word.
God�s Glory is shown forth when His Majesty is contrasted with our depravity in the pages of Scripture.
God�s Glory is shown forth in His attributes which are shown in the Biblical volume.
His omnipresence allows Him to look over His Word. Man could not hide it from Him, nor could man lose it by accident with His Own superintendence over that Word.
His Omniscience says that His works with purpose. He knows what He is doing at all times. When He gave the Original Word by inspiration He was not just �marking time� or exercising. He knew what He wanted to say. That being true, it must follow that those words are important. That being true, it must follow that He would want to preserve those words.
His omnipotence says that He has the power to preserve His Word if He so desires. We have already established that this would be His Will.
He Love demands that His Word be available to all generations. (Psalm 102:18)
His Justice demands that His Word not change as would be the case if He had lost control and left it to man to find what, and when, of it he could.
His purity demands that His original Words be perfect. That Word could not change through the ages to become �more� perfect. This His perfections demand.
His immutability demands that neither He nor His Word change. A lost message recovered piecemeal would be a changed message without the Power of God being contained therein.
Fourth, because of this we can look at the Scripture and find the literal meanings which He has given us, and draw closer to Him. This we could not do with a changing Word.
I submit, therefore, that it is theologically impossible that God should ever have lost control of His Word - or withheld that Word from His Own Church, the Bride of Christ. And, since we have only one translation in the English which can be traced back through the ages without interruption, that version must be reflective of the Word of God.
That version, in the English, is the King James Version and the base text which underlies it.