Other Resources on The Word of God

[Last week we began our study of The Word Of God by examining God’s Testimony concerning His written Word.  We discovered,]

·         [The Preparation of God’s Word – That the Word of God was Inspired Revelation and Almighty God was the Bibles only author.]

·         [The Providence of God’s Word – That the Bible belongs to God and He claims it as His own.]

·         [The Preservation of God’s Word – That God promised to keep His word complete and pure for all of eternity.  Hence, the Bible is absolutely preserved today.]

·         [The Protection of God’s Word – That God will supernaturally protect His word and we are to protect it down to every pen stroke.]

[Today we are going to examine the methods of the devil and his handling of the Word of God.]

[Clearly, the devil hates the Word of God.  If the devil can get us to doubt the authority or the reality of the Word of God then the devil knows that he can destroy our ability to have biblical faith.  The Word of God says,]

[Romans 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ]

[My friend’s biblical faith is “Taking God at His Word.”  Therefore, if you do not have God’s Word then you cannot develop biblical faith.  So the devil will work very hard to get you to deny and doubt the reality and authority of the Word of God.]

[The first thing we notice about the Devil’s Methods concerning the Word of God is,]

A.     The Interrogation of God's Word (Gen 3.1; Matt 23.14) [– Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?[1] – The Devil will ask you “Did God really say that?  Who told you that God said that?  How do you really know that this is the Word of God?”]

[Our first taste of how the Devil handles the Word of God comes when we first are introduced to the devil in Genesis.  Adam and Eve are in a Perfect Place, with a Perfect Provision, and a Perfect Presence.  Then the devil comes into their presence and asks Eve a diabolical question.  He asked her, “Yea, hath God said?”  This is how the devil begins his attack on each person’s ability to have faith.]

[Now, Lucifer is one brilliant individual.  He tried during the first century to destroy the early Church through sever persecution.  He martyred the Apostles but he Church grew with glorious fury.  So, the devil sought to destroy the Word of God.  He sent men out to round up every copy of the Bible that could be found and commanded that they should be burned.  The emperors of Rome gave the decree and could not find and destroy the text of the Old and New Testaments.]

[So, Lucifer tried to stamp out the Word of God by refusing to teach men and women to read.  If they were illiterate then they could not read the Word of God.  The dark ages was the results, and the Catholic Church thought that they could control the religious thoughts of people by requiring them to come to priests for their religious understanding.  False doctrine permeated the Church of the dark ages.  But the Word of God endured and men like Tyndale and Erasmus sought to get the Word of God into the hands of every individual.  Children were taught to read so that they could read the Word of God for themselves.  In America our early forefathers insisted that Children be taught to read the Word of God so that they would know if their government was trying to teach them the wrong things.  Again, the Word of God prevailed.]

[Lucifer, not willing to give up, then rose up men like Westcott and Hort, the fathers of textual criticism, who began to teach people that they did not really have a preserved Word of God.  They cast doubt on the Greek Texts of the Bible and set doubtful Greek manuscripts alongside of the Majority Greek Text and then insisted that their newly discovered manuscripts were the eclectic texts (the best texts).  Knowing that these three manuscripts would cause many to doubt whether they really held the Word of God or not.  This all occurred in the mid to late 1800’s, about the same time that Darwin was publishing his “Origen of the Species.” As a result the Revised Version of the Bible was published in the late 1800’s and now we have over 370 modern translations of the Bible in English alone.  All of which contribute to Satan’s interrogation of the Word of God.]

[The Devil’s first method in his handling of the Word of God is to simply ask you, “Yea, Hath God said . . .”  In this interrogation He is asking you, ]

·         [Do you really have and hold the Word of God.]

·         [Perhaps you only have other men’s ideas about God, a word about God, rather than the Word of God.]

·         [If you claim to have the Word of God, then why do all these Bibles say different things?]

[The Devil would ask you, “If you think you have the Word of God, then why does . . .”]

[Matthew 23:14 (KJV) ¹⁴ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.[2] ]

[Matthew 23:14 (ESV) ^{14 ]}

[Matthew 23:14 (NIV) ^{14 ]}

[Matthew 23:14 (MSG) ^{14 ]}

[As your Pastor I remind you that you need the perfectly preserved Word of the God.  Don’t believe the devil’s lies and the confused thoughts of well intending Christians who protect that interrogation of the Word of God.]

[Ancient Manuscripts that contain Matthew 23.14,]

·         [Mss 61 (Gregory-Aland), Codex Montfortianus, from Trinity Library in Dublin, Dated to the 16^th Century, 500 year old text[3], contains this text as well as at least fifty-six (56) other New Testament manuscripts.]

·         [Mss 12, Christ Church Library, Dated 9^th Century, 1200 years old[4],  contains the whole of this verse.]

[Deuteronomy 4:2 ² Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.]

[Revelation 22:18-19 ¹⁸ For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: ¹⁹ And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. ]

[It is the devil who interrogates and questions the Word of God and in so doing seeks to destroy every person’s ability to have biblical faith.]

B.     The Manipulation of the Word of God  (2 Pet 3.16-18; Rom 5.8) [– ¹⁶ As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. ¹⁷ Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. ¹⁸ But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.]

[Wrest - στρεβλοῦσιν (Gk) - from stréblos (n.f.), distorted, crooked, which is from strépho (4762), to twist, turn, distort. To wrench. A stréblē was a winch, an instrument of torture. In the NT, figuratively, to wrest, pervert. Trans. (2 Pet. 3:16). In the pass., to show oneself perverse (2 Sam. 22:27)^[5] ]

[This is the twisting the Scriptures.  To pervert means to change from the original, hence it is the changing of the Scriptures.  Our adversary the devil strives, through his agents to change or wrest the Scriptures.]

[They will wrest Scripture by dropping whole verses right out of the Bible, as we have already seen.  They will wrest the Scriptures by changing a single Word that will change the meaning of a verse.  Consider,]

[Romans 5:8 (KJV) ⁸ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ]

[Romans 5:8 (NIV) ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ]

[Romans 5:8 (ESV) but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.]

[Romans 5:8 (MSG) But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.]

[What is the difference between demonstrates and commends?  ]

[Commendeth - συν-ίστημι, impf. ίστην: f. συστήσω: aor. iσυνέστησα:—to set together, combine, associate, unite, band together, Hdt., Thuc.; μαντικὴν ἑαυτῷ συστῆσαι to bring prophetic art into union with himself, i.e. to win, acquire it[6]]

·         [The Intermediate Greek Lexicon in Logos]

· [Robinson Greek Lexicon of the NT, 1850, pg 698.  http://books.google.com/books?id=bbMGAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false]

·         [Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament in Logos.[7]]

[Illustration – Here is my Iphone.  I really like my Iphone.  If I were to demonstrate my I phone to you then I would merely hold it out and say, now look what this great device can do.  If I were to commend this Iphone to you, and I’m not, then I would hand this Iphone to you and say, “There, now it’s your Iphone.”]

[God does not just want us to look at His love (demonstrates), God wants us to receive His love (commendeth).  One word makes all the difference in the world.  Words really do matter!  Changes in words do make a huge difference in our understanding of the Word of God.]

[Are there Doctrinal Changes between versions of the Bible?]

[When anyone changes the Word of God they will always attack the doctrine of the Word of God.  They attack the preservation, inspiration, and inerrancy of the Word of God. So the foundational doctrine of the Word of God is always attacked in modern translations of the Bible.]

[Our Adversary the devil and his workers wrest or manipulate the Word of God.]

C.    A Deception with God's Word (2 Cor 11.14-15) [– 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 ¹⁴ And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. – The devil and his ministers are described as Angels of light.  They present themselves as God’s ministers and they sincerely think that they are, but they belong to the devil who is the father of lies (John 8.44).]

[The difference between a liar and a deceiver is that a deceiver doesn’t think he is lying, so he will appear very sincere.  A deceiver will carry a content of truth but will permeate that truth with his deception and lies.  Hence, a liar is called a liar and is known as a liar; while a deceiver is often thought to be truthful, right, and sincere.]

[Consider the Lord’s Prayer,]

[Luke 11:2-4 (KJV) ² And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. ³ Give us day by day our daily bread. ⁴ And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.[8] ]

[Luke 11:2-4 (NIV) ² He said to them, "When you pray, say: "'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. ³ Give us each day our daily bread. ⁴ Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'" ]

[Luke 11:2-4 (MSG) ² So he said, "When you pray, say, Father, Reveal who you are. Set the world right. ³ Keep us alive with three square meals. ⁴ Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil." ]

[The KJV rendition is found in its completeness in,]

·         [Mss 12, Christ Church Library, Dated 9^th Century, 1200 years old[9],  This second Manuscript is 1200 years old, dates to the 9^th century, and contains the whole of this verse.]

·         [Mss 478 (Gregory-Aland), 10^th or 11^th Century, about 1100 years old, British Library Collection, Folio 170v & 171r, http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_11300]

·         [Mss 272 (Gregory-Aland), 11^th or 12^th Century, about 1000 years old, Folio 135v, British Library Collections, http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_15581 ]

·         [Mss 02 (Gregory-Aland), Codex Alexandrinus, 5^th Century, about 1900 years old, British Library Collections, Facsimile presented at the Center for New Testament Manuscript Studies, Image GA_02_0033a, http://images.csntm.org/Manuscripts/GA_02/GA_02_0033a.jpg ]

[Deuteronomy 4:2 ² Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.]

[Revelation 22:18-19 ¹⁸ For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: ¹⁹ And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. ]

Video Bible Study outline posted  Feb 16, 2013