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Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Very Baptist Church Manila. Take out your hymnal here today. Take out our backup hymnal and turn to number 63, An Salita Nan Bu Hai. Wonderful words of life in Tagalog. An Salita Nan Bu Hai. Number 63, An Salita Nan Bu Hai. Number 63, An Salita Nan Bu Hai. Sing, Jesus, I'm the baby guy. An Salita Nan Bu Hai. Oh, my Salaheem tonight. An Salita Nan Bu Hai. Adi kya wa sasapi. Satahanan salaamit. Okagan da, okainam. An Salita Nanu la sadhios. Okagan da, okainam. An Salita Nanhios. An ek bam helio hai hai ni. An Salita Nan Bu Hai. An pa ta wa raikakanti sasaiyong tonight. Adi kya ma pa sakho kai kristo manu nubos. Okagan da, okainam. An Salita Nanu la sadhios. Okagan da, okainam. An Salita Nanu la sadhios. Let's open in word of prayer. Your Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here in your house this morning. We ask that you bless this entire church service. Bless the singing of praise to you, the reading of scripture, and also the preaching of your word of prayer. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Take out your other hymnal here today. Take out your other hymnal and turn to number 185. Number 185, my Savior's love. Song number 185, my Savior's love. Song number 185, my Savior's love. On the first, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. And wonder how He could love me, a sinner condemned and clean. How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Savior's love for me. It was in the garden, He prayed not my will but thine. He had no tears for His own grease, but sweat drops of blood for mine. How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Savior's love for me. He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Savior's love for me. On the last, when with the ransomed in glory, His face I at last shall see. Twill be my joy through the ages to sing of His love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Savior's love for me. All right, if you have a bulletin here this morning, you can take it out. We're just going to go through a couple of quick announcements here today and take out your bulletin. And just go to the middle of your bulletin on the service times listed. I'll just go through a couple of things real quickly. So this week's midweek service on Wednesday is going to be at 6 p.m. It's not going to be at 7 p.m. It will still be at 6 p.m. Obviously we're going to adjust depending on the curfew and decisions the government makes. But for now it's going to be at 6 p.m., meaning the soul winning is going to be at 4 p.m., two hours before. We have a normal soul winning on Saturdays from 10 to 12. We have a lunch break and then 2 to 4. We're going to keep continuing with that. And today on Sunday for the soul winning time, it's going to be around 2 p.m., depending obviously when the sermons end and how long we fellowship for lunch and everything. But soul winning around 2 p.m. And of course we're doing live stream here today. But we're hoping and we're praying that the lockdown will end and things will get less strict. So just be in prayer for that. And just the last thing of announcements. In terms of the memorization challenge, today was supposed to be the last day to memorize. I have a first challenge chapter one for the entire book. But we're going to extend that at least a week since I'm not able to come in town today. And so you still have an extra week if you're near the end and you haven't finished it. And so keep up with that. So I believe that's it for announcements. Let's just sing another song. Turn to song number 183, Oh How I Love Jesus. Song number 183, Oh How I Love Jesus. 183, Oh How I Love Jesus. Song number 183, Oh How I Love Jesus on the first. There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing it's worth. It sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me. It tells me of a savior's love. Who died to set me free. It tells me of his precious blood. The sinner's perfectly. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me. It tells me what my father had. In store for every day. And though I tread a darksome path. You'll sunshine all the way. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me. It tells of one whose loving heart. Can feel my deepest woe. Who in each sorrow bears a part. That none can bear below. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me. Alright turn your Bible to Revelation chapter 19. Revelation 19. Revelation chapter 19. And we're just going to read one verse here today. Revelation 19. Revelation chapter 19 verse 13. Revelation 19 verse 13. Revelation 19 verse 13. And the Bible reads. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. And his name is called the word of God. Let's open it in a word of prayer. Your heavenly father thank you for allowing us to be here today. I ask you right now to give me boldness and clarity to deliver your message. Help us to be attentive to your word here today God. We learned something today. Pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Now I'm preaching basically a two part series here today. For the first and second sermon. Basically about the King James Bible. But the first sermon is not really about the King James Bible. It's laying the foundation for the idea of a perfect Bible. From the word of God itself. And the name of the sermon is. A biblical analysis of a perfect Bible. So I'm not specifically talking about the King James Bible here in this sermon. Although we do believe that the King James Bible is perfect. That's the only Bible that we use. It's the Bible we use to go soul winning. And we'll explain that more in detail. But in this sermon I'm just kind of laying the foundation. And so I've got several points for you here this morning. And the first point is this. The prior existence of God's word. The prior existence of God's word. Meaning before the King James Bible came. Long before that the word of God already existed. Okay. And we see here about Jesus Christ. It says his name is called the word of God. His name is called the word of God. Now you know you've got these rappers that will go by. Like Lil Wayne and Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre. And it's like are you really a dog? Snoop Doggy Dogg. I mean are you really a doctor? Dr. Dre. You've got these cool little names they go by. But when Jesus is called the word of God. It's not like a nickname for him. Like he's a rapper or something like that. It's actually describing who he is. And I want you to understand that he cannot separate who Jesus is and the word of God itself. They are one and the same the Bible says. And he's called the word of God. And just as Jesus is perfect. The Bible needs to be perfect. Okay. And his name is called the word of God. And I want you to realize this is not a new name. This has always been his name. His name is called the word of God. Go to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. John chapter 1. Because a lot of people when they talk about this King James topic. And what Bible do we use and things like that. They start with you know basically the creation of the Bible. They start in 1604 when the King James you know first got started. It took a seven year process. But really you have to go long before that and realize that Jesus is the word of God. And the word of God existed long before the King James Bible. The word of God existed long before 2,000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross. It says in John 1 verse 1. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Now the word here is referring to Jesus Christ. We understand that his name is called the word of God. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. But it says in the beginning was the word. Now what we teach is that Jesus is eternally the son of God. And you know what the word has existed from the very beginning. And so just as Jesus has existed from the very beginning. So have these words existed from the very beginning. In the beginning was the word. So the idea of having a perfect Bible is not something that came in the last 500 years. Like it's this new idea in God's head. But this is something that has existed from the very beginning. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. All things were made by Jesus Christ by the word and without him was not anything made that was made. You say how is that possible? It's possible because the word was at the very beginning. I mean the Bible says in Genesis 1 and God said let there be light and there was light. The world was spoken into existence by the word of God. Okay. Turn to Genesis chapter 11. Genesis chapter 11. Genesis 11. And you know in the longest chapter of the Bible in Psalm 19 the Bible says, Forever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven. Forever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven. And this is forever in both directions. Thy word is settled in heaven. God's words already existed. They were already perfect. And so when a language comes in God might, God might put the word of God into that language but the word of God existed before it was put into that language. And this is an important thing to understand because there are some people that are King James only but they believe a lot of weird things. They believe that the only language that is acceptable is the English language and before the King James Bible there wasn't a perfect word of God. Well that's not what we teach. We believe that the word of God exists outside of languages and before languages existed the word of God already did exist. Before the English language existed the word of God already existed. Before any language existed the word of God already existed. Forever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven. Genesis chapter 11. This is the famous story where we have the Tower of Babel and the separation of languages and it says in verse 1, And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And so everybody on earth was speaking the same language. One language, one speech. And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plan in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there and they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and slime for they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us boast a tower, a city and a tower whose top they reach unto heaven and let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold the people is one and they have all one language and this they begin to do and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down and there confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth and they left God above the city. Verse 9, Therefore is the name of it called Babel because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth and convinced the Lord to scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. And see in Genesis chapter 11 there were one language and then that language was basically spread abroad and everybody speaking out different languages. And you can imagine trying to work together on something and someone speaking Mandarin Chinese and somebody speaking Spanish and somebody speaking Arabic and they don't speak any common language at all. They're not going to be able to communicate with one another. It's going to become very difficult and that is what is taking place. And when you look at our modern day languages they did not exist before this event in Genesis 11. And even the popular ones today are not really the same languages that existed during the time of the Tower of Babel. We have newer languages and different languages. But yet what I want you to understand is that the Word of God is settled in heaven and before these languages existed the Word of God already existed. So look, God's Word existed before any of these languages existed. God's Word is not bound to a specific language as if God only speaks English or God only speaks Tagalog or God only speaks Spanish. You know what, God is outside of languages. He created languages. And see, the Word of God is perfect and forever, oh Lord, is thy Word settled. Thy Word is settled in heaven, the Bible says. So what do we see? We see the prior existence of God's Word. Long before we lived, long before the English language, long before the Tower of Babel, long before the flood, the Word of God already existed. Now turn to the Bible in Hebrews 1. So if God's Word already existed prior to the English language, prior to the Tower of Babel, if it existed at the very beginning, why should it be considered strange to us that there would be a perfect Word of God in today's language when the Word of God has always existed and always been perfect? I mean, is it shocking that God would put the Word of God into languages for us to understand and see a perfect Word of God? So number one, we see the prior existence of God's Word. Number two, we see the practice of God's Word, the practice of God's Word. You see, in our modern day, we have churches. In our modern day, we all have Bibles. But this has not always been the case, okay? And the Bible tells us in Hebrews 1, verse 1, what we need to understand is that the Bible, that the Word of God was a spoken language before it was a written language. The Word of God got passed down from generation to generation, and it was a spoken Word of God. It says in Hebrews 1, verse 1, God who has sundry times and in diverse manners, meaning in different ways, spake in time past some of the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. So the Bible says in the last days he's spoken unto us by his Son, Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus died, he paid for our sins, he rose again after three days, and then the Word of God took roughly a hundred years, and the Word of God was completed, and we have every book, and it's perfect. Look, you've got religions today that believe that there's modern day prophets, and that people that are living today are these modern day prophets that have a direct line to God that nobody else has. But see, the Bible says he's spoken unto us by his Son, and this is the Word of God. And if you want to talk to God, and you want to know God, and you want to get answers, it's found in the Word of God. That is how he speaks to us. You're not going to get some vision or some dream that's going to... No, no, it's going to be by reading God's Word is how you're going to know and understand, okay? Go to 2 Chronicles 17. 2 Chronicles 17. 2 Chronicles 17. Now, I don't want you to misunderstand me, because I'm not saying that there was never anybody who had scriptures. I mean, there's obviously scribes in the Bible, and what we see are instances of people that actually have the Word of God. Now, we don't necessarily know if they had the entire Word of God or just parts of the Word of God, but I do believe parts of the Word of God was actually written down, and people had access to that. But in our modern day, we have the entire Word of God. Whereas back then, they might have had parts of the Word of God, but they did not have it perfect like we have today, completely. 2 Chronicles 17, verse 9. So in 2 Chronicles 17, verse 9, we see an instance of soul winning in the Old Testament. They're going out with the Book of the Law over with them, and they're going and teaching the people. They're going and preaching the gospel. Go thee, therefore, and teach all nations. You say, Brother Stuckey, I thought soul winning was just a New Testament thing. No, it's something that's existed from the very beginning. But when I got saved, I realized, man, the people that I know, my friends and my family, I'm not for sure if they believe this. And I need to talk to them, because I don't want them to go to hell. I want them to go to heaven. And so once you realize, people in the Old Testament, many people had the same idea. When they got saved, they thought in their heads, what about my coworkers? What about my family? What about my friends? Do they understand this? Do they believe this? And they realized that narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, but narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. And so we realize when we go soul winning that most people are not saved. Look, in Old Testament Israel, most people weren't saved. There's plenty of unsaved people that were there in Old Testament Israel. Even in Moses Day, there's people that are preaching the gospel in the camp. And so I want you to realize that most people were unsaved, and it says they had the book of the law of the Lord with them. Well, that indicates that they actually had a book. Now, generally when we talk about the law, what we're talking about is Genesis to Deuteronomy. Because the Bible speaks about the law and the prophets. And we have various distinctions in our Bible of the law, the historical books, the major prophets, the minor prophets, church epistles, the gospels, things such as that. However, I want you to understand when they say they have the book of the law of the Lord with them, I don't think it's saying that it's just Genesis through Deuteronomy. I believe that it's talking about the scriptures, because the law of the Lord is perfect is not just referring to Genesis and Deuteronomy. It's referring to all of God's word when it says the law of the Lord. And so that term can mean the first five books of the Bible. It can also just mean the Bible itself. And so they went out soul winning, and can you get somebody saved in Genesis through Deuteronomy? Yes, you could, but it's not the best or most effective way to preach the gospel. And see, since so many already existed in the Old Testament, I believe verses like, for all of sin did come short of the glory of God. Maybe they weren't written down in a book yet, but the word of God, what I'm trying to tell you, was a spoken word before it was written. Because in time past, these think of the fathers by the prophets. And God used men of God to preach the word of God. And the word of God was being proclaimed, and the word of God was being brought forth. And maybe it wasn't written down yet, but there were scriptures that were being quoted that would one day be written down. So I believe in 2 Chronicles 17, verse 9, that the book they had with them actually had a lot of the same soul winning verses that we use today. Okay, now, I'm not 100% positive about that, but what I do know is the word of God was a spoken word before it was a written word. Now, he's spoken one of those by his son, and we have the entire book. Whereas back then, there's prophets that are preaching, people writing things down, but they didn't necessarily have the entire Bible. But they had parts of it. And as a spoken word, they probably had a lot of our modern day books, and a lot of those verses, and things such as that, that had not yet been written down. Okay, go to 2 Peter chapter 1. And see, one reason why this is important is because in many different countries and parts of the world where they speak different languages, they might not have a perfect word of God. There might be restrictions on the word of God being brought forth. However, a soul winner could still quote the word of God and translate it into another language, and they could still win people to the Lord. I mean, a lot of times the Bible is not that hard to translate. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So look, you can translate the gift of God. You can translate things from one language to another and just translate it perfectly. And this is what soul winners would have been doing in other languages, because that was how you get people to say it. And you say, well, brother, they don't have a right to word of God. That means they don't have the word of God in that country. Look, the word of God is being preached in countries all over the world in different languages, even if they don't have a perfect word of God. Because people that are saved are translating from a perfect word of God, from what the Bible says, into that language and using it to win people to the Lord. Of course, it would be great if they end up having a perfect written word of God, but realize people were getting saved even if they don't have a perfect word of God. See, sometimes you'll tell people that you're King James only, and you'll tell people things like this, that you know what, you cannot get saved without a King James Bible. Now, when I say you can't get saved without a King James Bible, what I'm doing is comparing the King James to the modern versions that exist. And I realize these modern versions have been corrupted. Now, there were versions that existed prior to the King James that were identical in most places, and they weren't a corruption of God's word. It's just that the word of God hadn't been 100% purified and made perfect yet. So you could still use those Bibles to get people saved, but even before that time, before the word of God was written down in the English language, people were getting saved in English. You say, how is that possible? Because soul letters were translating the verses from other languages, and they were speaking the word of God, and preaching the word of God, and preaching the gospel, even if they did not have a completed perfect book yet at that time. You say, why? Well, because the word of God existed before the English language. The word of God existed before the King James Bible. The word of God existed before the Tower of Babel, so people could get saved in any language around the world because God is not bound by one language. The word of God can be put into other languages, and even if it is not written down, it can be spoken and be perfect. So when it comes to the practice of God's word, one thing is this. The word of God was the spoken word of God, but let us also talk about the writing of the books in the Bible. Go to 2 Peter 1, and Peter talks to us about this. He says in 2 Peter 1, verse 16, For we have not followed kindly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy balance. But notice this. They actually heard the word of God, they experienced this, but then it says in verse 19, We have also a more sure word of prophecy, more sure word of prophecy, wherein to ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in their hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. So the scripture is the more sure word of prophecy. For the prophecy came not an old time by the will of man, but holy men of God's faith, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And see the Bible says that the more sure word of prophecy is actually the scripture. This is why I don't trust people's testimonies or personal experiences. If it contradicts the Bible, I'm going to go with the Bible every single time. But people will tell you things, and they expect you to believe them, but it contradicts the Bible. I've heard people say, well, I know you can lose your salvation because I know someone who was saved and they lost it. Well, first off, how do you know that they were saved, and how would you know that they lost it, right? What that person meant was they used to come to church, they stopped going to church, and therefore they lost their salvation. Well, that doesn't really make sense, but the Bible says eternal life, meaning never ending, everlasting life, so they cannot lose their salvation, and that contradicts what the Bible says, right? I had somebody tell me this one time, and this was a Catholic. And they were kind of in the New Evangelical or Charismatic type Catholics, and they said, well, you know what, you're wrong about speaking in tongues. I know speaking in tongues exists because I have seen people speak in tongues before. And in my head, I'm thinking, I'm sure you have seen people speaking in tongues, getting possessed and just babbling and saying nonsense. But here's the thing, that contradicts the Bible. And some personal testimonies mean nothing if it contradicts the Word of God. But it says that holy men of God, in verse 21, spake as they were removed by the Holy Ghost, okay? So holy men of God, they spake as the Holy Ghost actually moved them. Now, once you realize the Word of God was not randomly written. It's not just random people that did not experience this. Five hundred years later, just writing stuff down. Now, these were people that experienced these events. They were eyewitnesses of these events. Or they basically got the testimony from people that were eyewitnesses, and they wrote it down. However, no man is perfect. You're going to make mistakes. If I preach a one-hour sermon, there's probably something I'm going to misspeak. There's probably going to be something that I missay, right? And if the Bible was being written by men, if it was not divinely inspired by God, there would be mistakes. Because men are fallible. Men make mistakes. But the Bible says that they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Meaning that God made sure that everything they said was correct. Because think about this. If you experience a personal event, and you write it down, and you write 90 details, you're probably going to be slightly off on one or two of those details. Or more than that. Even if you're trying to be accurate, because men make mistakes. But these people that wrote the word God, they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And God made sure that it was done perfectly. And as they spoke, the Holy Ghost moved them to write the exact, precise words. The actual, exact words of God. And we know that we have a perfect book. The Word of God. Turn to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. And when it comes to the word God, there's around 40 authors over thousands of years from different locations writing the word God. Some of these people were imprisoned. These people are all over the world, and yet there are no contradictions. And it wasn't a random writing, because these people experienced these events. But 40 people over thousands of years. Now another thing you need to understand is that Paul the Apostle wrote a lot of church epistles. And it's not like every single thing that Paul ever wrote was perfect. But there were certain books that were divinely inspired by God. And he was moved by the Holy Ghost. But I had no doubt that he wrote other letters to churches that did not become part of our Bible. And God deemed them not to be the Word of God. Now there's probably a lot of stuff that was true in them. I'm sure 90-whatever percent was accurate and correct. I'm sure it was good information. I'm sure they were helpful letters for those churches to read. But it's not like every single thing that Paul wrote was perfect. But there were certain books that he wrote where he was moved by the Holy Ghost and they were the Word of God. And they are the Word of God. Number one, the prior existence of God's Word. Number two, the practice of God's Word. Number three, the perseverance of God's Word. The perseverance of God's Word. Now, in our second sermon, the sermon is also going to be obliterated with the letter P. And I'm going to use the word preservation in the second sermon. So I didn't want to use the word preservation for both sermons. So I've got perseverance of God's Word. Now perseverance and preservation are not the exact same thing. Because when you think of Calvinism, their fifth point is the perseverance of the saints. But the Bible teaches the preservation of the saints. And see, preservation means that we are kept saved by God. We are preserved in Jesus Christ. Whereas perseverance would be that you personally persevere on to the end. Okay? But what I'm just trying to say with God's Word is that the Word of God, basically, God's promise is that it's not going to pass away. That it is going to stand in the test of time. The Bible stands as we sin. Right? So Isaiah 40, verse 8, the Bible reads, The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for heaven. So the grass withers, the flower fades, but you know the Word of God, it doesn't fade. Because the Word of God existed before it was even written down. Before it was spoken, it existed at the very beginning. And it will always stand. Go to Matthew 24. Actually, Matthew, chapter 4. Matthew, chapter 4. Matthew 4. Matthew, chapter 4. Matthew 4. And it says in Matthew, chapter 4, verse 4, Matthew, chapter 4, verse 4, But he answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And see, the Bible says we live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Not just most of the words, not some of the words, but every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. We need every single word in every word of the Bible. Every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. Okay, go to Matthew 24. Matthew 24. Matthew, chapter 24. And Matthew 24 is of course the famous rapture passage where it talks about immediately after the tribulation where we are going to be raptured but after the tribulation. A post-trib rapture. But in verse 35 the Bible reads this, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And the words of God are not going to pass away. They are going to stand the test of time no matter what anyone tries to do to them. And around the world what has always happened is, you know, Christians and Bible believers, people that are saved have tried to put the word of God into various languages and every single country there's persecution. Of course we hear about it with the English language and the King James Bible, but you read very similar things in the Spanish language when they started translating it. I think it was 1602 when they put the word God in that language. Anyway, I don't believe the 1602 Spanish is 100% perfect, but it's very, very good and most of it is identical to what the King James is. It seems to be part of that purifying process where maybe there's a few things that are not 100% correct, but we're talking 99.9% gold, right? When you're looking at some of these modern versions in English like the New King James or the NIV, we're talking about like 7% gold. Some of these other languages, they might not be at 100%. You know, I'm not an expert at all of these languages, but in most of these languages, or at least a lot of them, they've got Bibles that are 90 plus percent exactly what you would say, just a translation from, you know, the King James or the perfect grade or the perfect humor into that language and it's spot on and you can use it for so long. People say, go to Jeremiah 36, Jeremiah chapter 36. Jeremiah 36. The Bible actually gives us an example of how, you know, wicked king decided to try to get rid of the word God and he was unsuccessful. And, you know, I don't want to read too much for sake of time, but I want you to look at Jeremiah 36, verse 8. Jeremiah 36, verse 8. Jeremiah chapter 36, verse 8. And Barak the son of Nariah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book of the words of the Lord in the Lord's house. And when you're reading this, you know, Jeremiah tells Barak to write down the words that I'm going to say and then it says, you know, upon a roll of a book and Barak writes it down and basically everything is written down directly from Jeremiah as the Lord told Jeremiah and then Barak writes everything down, okay? Now when you look at this and you ask, well, who is the author of this? You wouldn't say Barak because he's just the person writing down what he's being told to write. It would be like, for example, you know, I transcribe sermons for a very Baptist, for the prison ministry, but me transcribing, you know, typing the words down, you wouldn't say that I'm the author of those words because I'm just typing down what was preached, okay? And Barak is just writing down what he's being told to write. And Jeremiah is getting this from God. So when we say that, you know, the word of God was written by God, people get mad at us and say, well, you know, it was written by Paul. It wasn't written by God. It was written by Peter. It was written by John. It was written by Moses, but it wasn't written by God. See, the Bible says that they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and so when you think about it, well, who's the author of that? Well, who's the one who came up with the words? Not who's the one who wrote it down, but who came up with those words, and that was God, okay? But Barak writes these words down. Drop down to verse number 20. Verse number 20. And it says, And they went into the king into the court, but they laid it to roll the chamber of Elisha and the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king. So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll, and he took it out of Elisha, not the scribe's chamber, and Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. Now, the king sat at the winter house in the ninth month, and there was a fire on the earth burning before him, and it came to pass that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with a penknife and cast it into the fire that was on the earth until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the earth. And so the words of God that are written down, they are thrown into the fire. They are destroyed. They are burned up. And they're trying to get rid of the word of God by burning it up, and they think that they got rid of it, okay? And this is something that's existed in countries around the world from the very beginning that when the word of God goes to their language, the political leaders and the kings, they want to get rid of it. In communist countries, you know, they'll take the word of God, they'll burn it, they'll destroy it, but you know what, you can never get rid of the word of God. You say, why? Because the word of God existed before it was even written down, and the word of God is just going to keep coming back. You say, well, how do you know that? Well, we have this story. Look at verse 27. Verse 27. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Barak wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah sang. So the word goes to Jeremiah to Barak to write down. Taking again another roll and writing it, all the former words that were in the first roll, all the former words, meaning every word that was in the original roll that they burned up, every single word is going to come back. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words, plural, shall not pass away. The word of our God shall stand forever, the Bible says. The Bible stands as we sing, right? Every single word came back. All of the former words that were in the first roll which Joachim the king of Judah had burned up. And it says, taking again another roll and writing all the former words, okay? All the former words, and what takes place is God actually adds more words to this, but every word lasted. No words were extinguished. Go to verse 32. Then took Jeremiah another roll and gave it to Barak the Strive, the son of Moriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah. All the words in the book which Joachim the king of Judah had burned in the fire, and there were added asides on them many light words. So every former word was brought back, and then there's more words that are being added. You say, what are you seeing? Well, what I'm saying is this. The word of God cannot be destroyed. And look, political leaders and kings have tried to do this through the ages, but they've never been able to do it, and you know what? This is always what takes place when the word of God is brought forth into a country, okay? Now turn to Esther chapter 1. Esther 1. Esther 1. Now it's definitely true when the word of God is being brought into a country, like a perfect Bible being made and the word of God being translated, but also when the word of God is being proclaimed, people will get very mad at it. You're going to get very persecuted in today's world in this country in the Philippines by just preaching the word of God. You say, why is it? Because people have always hated the word of God, and there are people, there are enemies at the cross of Christ that are going to fight against the word of God. And sometimes it comes through political leaders, sometimes it comes through other methods, but the bottom line is this. Yea, in all that will the godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But you know what? The good news for us is that the word of God is going to stand. People who try to get rid of the word of God is going to just keep coming back, okay? When it comes to languages, in today's world, 10 million people speak Hebrew. You say, brother Stuckey, the Old Testament was written primarily in Hebrew. Do we have a perfect Bible in Hebrew? Well, the parts that were written in Hebrew are still perfect today, right? I mean, the word of God is going to stand forever. I don't believe it's just, well, you know, it's God from Hebrew and God from Greek and now it's in English. No, I believe all those words are there. We have a perfect Hebrew, the Old Testament. There's parts that are in Aramaic, small parts. There's less than 1 million people speak Aramaic. Today, there's less than 15 million people that speak Greek fluently, okay? Obviously, English. English is the real language of the world. But, you know, most people in Greece, they speak English or, you know, decent English or whatever. But you know what? The word of God in Greek in the New Testament, it still exists today. You say, what? The word of God is going to stand forever. You see, it doesn't really make sense when you have these King James people that will talk about in the English language the word of God is going to stand forever. They're not going to lose it every single word and yet they believe the word of God came in Greek and then just, just got burned up, just got destroyed. That doesn't really make sense with the verses that we looked at. The Bible says the word of God is going to stand forever, okay? And so we're in Esther chapter one. Point number one is the prior existence of God's word. Point number two, the practice of God's word. Point three, the perseverance of God's word. And point four, the purpose of God's word. Why do we want the word of God in various languages? What's the purpose? What takes place? Well, Esther one, verse 22. So it says, after their language, the language of every people. And see, what it says here is that when they put the word of God out to the various provinces, they made sure to put it into the language of the people, the language that they spoke, okay? Now I want you to realize that in the Philippines here today, a lot of documents are written in English and people by and large speak English pretty good, but not everybody, but many people speak it very well and many documents and things that are written, you know, written in English. I'm not really sure there's honestly a country like this. You're driving around and half the signs are in English, half are in Tagalog or in a local language, whether it be Kapapongan or whatever language it be, dialect in that area. But many people speak English very well. But let's say you went back 100 years ago, or 200 years ago, the documents would not be written in English, right? And so what would be a smart technique? Well, if you want people to understand what's being written and you understand the rules, you've got to translate it into that language. And what you can see is that the words can be translated from one language to another language. Okay, go to Esther chapter 3. Esther 3. Esther 3. At the end of Esther 3 it says, And to every people after their language in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written and sealed with the king's ring. And so it says that the word was put forth into the specific language of the people. Go to Esther chapter 8. Esther 8. Esther 8 verse 9. Esther 8 verse 9. And it says in Esther 8 verse 9 in the last part of that verse, it says, And to every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language. And so the word was put forth into the specific language of those people so people could understand. You know, honestly, when you think of projects that could be done, I'm not in a position to do this, but I would just say this, that a great project worldwide would be to get the word of God into other languages. Any language that doesn't have the word of God to get it into other languages. Now, as I said, here in the Philippines, people by and large speak English pretty well, but there's parts of the world where people don't really understand the King James Bible. They wouldn't understand it. And what you see in those countries and in those languages is that missionaries and various people, they'll put the word of God into those languages, but maybe not the entire Bible because that would be very wrong. But what they do is they start with the book of Romans or the book of John. And many churches will hand out a John and Romans where it's basically the two most important books, probably about salvation. And so they might not have all of the word of God in their language, but you can learn a lot from the book of John and the book of Romans, including the number one most important thing, which is salvation, right? And so I think it's a great project trying to get the word of God into other languages. Now, I'm not claiming it's very easy to do, but we worked on a project like that at our church just to take the so many verses and to try to purify the so many verses since there's some small things that are problems in our Tagalog Bibles. And it turned out to be a lot harder than I expected. It turned out to be a bad idea. And look, if you're looking or trying to find mistakes that I make, you know what? There's a mistake, OK? It was a project that didn't work. It ended up being a waste of time. If you're trying to find a way to attack me, you're going to be able to find ways, OK? It didn't work out. It was a bad idea. It was too hard to do. But I would say that's a great project to do is to get the word of God into languages around the world because there are many countries and many languages that do not have anything close to a perfect Bible. And what they really need is a perfect Bible so they can learn God's word on their own. Because if you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you. The Holy Spirit is your teacher. And you need not let any man teach you. You can read the word of God and learn what the Bible says for yourself. Go to Acts chapter 2. Acts 2. Acts 2. Acts chapter 2. And so in Acts chapter 2, we see this great story of the day of Pentecost where the word of God was basically preached in where everybody heard them speak in their own language. So it was a miracle that was done. And it says in Acts 2 verse 1, And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noise abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language. So these people come to town and they're hearing the word of God in their own language and they're confused about this. They're confounded by this. And God allowed this to take forth. This is a miraculous event where people had the ability to preach and then every man heard it in his own language they're preaching the word of God and many people are getting saved. And it says they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So they're preaching the word of God and it's miraculous as they're able to preach and speak in these other languages that they didn't know and people then were able to hear the word of God in their own language because God gave them the ability to speak in languages that they did not know. And many people got saved from this, we see. And it says every man heard them speak in his own language. Okay, now turn to Romans chapter three, Romans chapter three. Now of course this would be a great miracle here today. That would be great if you could speak in languages that you are not familiar with. God used this event as a way to get the word of God to other people who would not be able to understand the word of God. So he gave people the ability to speak other languages and the result of them speaking other languages and preaching the gospel in other languages is people that were listening were able to get saved and hear the word of God in their own language. You know, when I go soul-willing, most of my gospel presentation is in Tagalog for most of the time, right? For most people, because there are certain things they just would prefer to hear or maybe it's a little bit more clear in Tagalog if that's their main language. Sometimes I mainly speak in English. It really depends on who I'm talking to. But you want to make it as easy as possible for the people listening to get saved and so that's what we're seeing in Acts 2 where there is this miraculous event but we see the benefit of having the word of God in other languages, okay? Romans 3, verse 1. What advantage then hath the Jew or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. And see, the Jews had a benefit because they had the word of God. God gave them the word of God, okay? Now, why is it that the Jews got the word of God but not everybody else in the world got one? Well, it makes sense because these were God's people. So God made sure that they had the word of God in their language. Now, I'm sure people were getting saved in other languages as things were being translated. Maybe some things were written down. Maybe people had parts of the word of God in other languages. But the Jews specifically, in the Hebrew language, they were given a perfect Bible because they were God's people and God wanted them to be able to have the word of God in order to serve Him. Why was the word of God put into the Greek language? What was it about Greek? Was Greek some just magical language that was better than any other language? The reason why the word of God was put into Greek is because that was the language of the world. That was the language people spoke. And so God put the word of God into Greek because it could reach more people. So it's a very important language to have the word of God. Well, what are you trying to say? Well, what I'm trying to say is that in our modern day, the language that is the global language is the English language. There's no question about it. The same reason why God determined to put the word of God into the Greek language is the same reason that He would put it in the English language today because people around the world speak English. And even if not everybody in the world speaks English, there are people in those countries that speak English and it is a global language. It is a language used to communicate from one country to the next country right away. Let me read you this article about the English language. In terms of Psalm 12, we'll close up in Psalm 12. Let me read you this article and give you some facts here about this. But it says, by the late 18th century, the British Empire had spread English through its colonies in geopolitical dominance. Commerce, science, and technology, diplomacy, art, and formal education all contributed to English becoming the first truly global language. English also facilitated worldwide international communication. England continued to form new colonies and these later developed their own norms for speech and writing. English was adopted in parts of North America, parts of Africa, Australia, Asia, and many other regions. When they obtained political independence, some of the newly independent nations that had multiple indigenous languages opted to continue using English as the official language to avoid the political and other difficulties inherent in promoting any one indigenous language above the others. In the 20th century, the growing economic and cultural influence of the United States and its status as a superpower following the Second World War has, along with worldwide broadcasting in English by the BBC and other broadcasters, caused the language to spread across the planet much faster. In the 21st century, English is more widely spoken and written than any language has ever been. See, when you think of the United States as this dominant power, and they are, I believe that they are the modern day, or one day be that modern day Babylon, I believe, once we get to the end. I mean, America basically controls the world. They are the most powerful country in the world. It's not even close. But see, some people don't realize that before the United States was so dominant, England was this dominant power. The British Empire had this power all across the world. And when you look at charts of the 10 most dominant powers that have ever existed, you know, the British Empire is right in there in the top 10 under pretty much any list you're going to see. And see, the Bible was put out in 1611. It started in 1604, 1611, when we got the King James Bible completed. And so that was long before the United States, right? That was almost 200 years or 150 years plus before the United States became, you know, basically their own nation, became powerful and stuff like that. But see, England was powerful for a long time. So when we're talking about this dominance of English, this has been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years. And then the BBC is such an international, you know, broadcasting channel that people know and people have seen, people have seen those reports, and people started to use English as a language of, you know, communicating from one country to the next country. And it's just continued with the United States becoming this dominant power. And in our world today with the internets and television and the music and the movies, people watch movies, American movies. They listen to American music. You can go all over the world and hear people listening to Katy Perry and Lady Gaga and these American music artists. They watch American movies, American TV shows. Look, so much of school is being taught in the English language. And English has become this dominant language. And it doesn't show any signs of stopping. I mean, it seems like English is going to become more and more and more powerful and eventually could become the dominant language in many countries. Now, why did that happen? Is it because English is a more beautiful language than any other language? I don't think so. I mean, in many ways, English is not, you know, the way that pronunciation works in English is kind of random. It doesn't follow set rules, which doesn't really make sense. But for whatever reason, it is the language that has become the dominant language. Now, that does not mean that God cares more about the English language than any other language. But what it does mean is he's going to make sure the Word of God is put into the English language because that is the language that people speak. And he wants as many people to have the Word of God as possible. That does not mean that the Word of God is not in other languages. That does not mean that we can't put the Word of God in other languages. That does not mean that you have to read the Word of God in the English language to be able to be edified. If the Word of God is in Tagalog, you can read it in Tagalog. Now, the five versions that we have that are in Tagalog, as far as I know, I don't know the one that I would say is perfect, but it's a little bit different than in the English language where every non-King James verse, like the NIV and the New King James, they're just garbage. They're just wrong. They're just wrong. They're satanic. There's many problems with them. And we'll talk about that here in the next sermon. Whereas in languages like Filipino, you know, many versions aren't bad and you can be somewhat edified. There's just some problems in them, OK? But English is the dominant language, so it logically makes sense that God would put the Word of God into English, just like he had in English and just like he had in Hebrew because God's people spoke Hebrew. The other thing is this. Not only has English become the dominant language, but did you know that Great Britain was the country that was sending out missionaries all over the world before the United States? I mean, William Carey was, you know, from Great Britain. Now, I'm not an expert on him or his life or whatever or the things that he believed. I'm just saying Great Britain was the one sending out missionaries to evangelize the world. And nowadays, there's no question it's the United States of America. The United States of America is the country that's sending missionaries out all over the world to evangelize. Now, of course, we understand many missionaries are doing a bad job, many of them are faith, many of them are ponies, many of them have a false gospel, but the United States is the country that's sending out missionaries to preach the gospel and get churches started. And there might be a lot of problems with those churches, but I'll tell you what, there are a lot of saved missionaries being sent out that are at least doing something for God, at least getting some people saved. So doesn't it make sense that God would give the English language a perfect Bible if the countries of Great Britain and the United States are going to be sending out the missionaries and it's going to become the dominant language? It just makes sense, right? The Bible says in Psalm 12 verses 6 and 7, The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried to furnish the earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. And see, the Bible says that God's words are pure words and it says they're purified seven times. See, before the King James came, there was actually verses before that were not bad verses, but they weren't 100% perfect. And God purified his words till we got a perfect Bible. And, you know, we have a perfect Bible and the King James Bible here today. His words were being purified and God promises that he's going to preserve them from this generation forever. So when we're looking at what the Bible says and this idea of having a perfect Bible and us being King James only, it doesn't mean that we believe the Word of God can only be in English. It doesn't mean that we only believe it's English. It doesn't mean that people have to learn English to get saved or to hear the Word of God preached or to be edified. People can be saved in any languages and people are getting saved in languages around the world, okay? But we do see this prior existence of God's Word, God being outside of languages, the Word of God being outside of any language. We see the practice of God's Word, that it was a spoken Word of God, and we see that the people that wrote the Word of God were moved by the Holy Ghost. We see the perseverance of God's Word, that God's Word stands the test of time. And what's the purpose of God's Word? The purpose of God's Word is to reach people around the world with the gospel, and that's why it just makes sense that God will give us a perfect Bible, an English language. Let's go to the Word of God. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your Word of this topic. Help us understand what we mean by saying we're King James only, and it's not just English that can have a perfect Bible. The Word of God is not bound to just one language. The Word of God can be translated into any language. Help us understand just what the Bible teaches about this topic and the importance of actually having the Word of God at our fingertips. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Take out your hymnal. Take out your hymnal and turn to number 200. Song number 200. He's a wonderful Savior to me. Song number 200. We'll close up with song number 200. He's a wonderful Savior to me. Song number 200 on the first. I was lost in sin, but Jesus rescued me. He's a wonderful Savior to me. I was bound by fear, but Jesus set me free. He's a wonderful Savior to me. For He's a wonderful Savior to me. He's a wonderful Savior to me. I was lost in sin, but Jesus took me in. He's a wonderful Savior to me. He's a friend so true, so patient, and so kind. He's a wonderful Savior to me. Everything I need in Him I always find. He's a wonderful Savior to me. For He's a wonderful Savior to me. He's a wonderful Savior to me. I was lost in sin, but Jesus took me in. He's a wonderful Savior to me. He is always near to comfort and to cheer. He's a wonderful Savior to me. He forgives my sins. He drives my every tear. He's a wonderful Savior to me. For He's a wonderful Savior to me. He's a wonderful Savior to me. I was lost in sin, but Jesus took me in. He's a wonderful Savior to me. On the last, dearer grows the love of Jesus every day. He's a wonderful Savior to me. Sweeter is His grace while pressing on the way. He's a wonderful Savior to me. For He's a wonderful Savior to me. He's a wonderful Savior to me. I was lost in sin, but Jesus took me in. He's a wonderful Savior to me. Let's close up with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here in your house and ask you to just help us to apply this to our lives. Help us understand the Bible and where our Bible came from and the word of God. And we just pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.