Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday evening, November 9, 2003, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia.
ROOTS AND FRUITS
by Michael D. O’Neal Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church Albany, GA
Scripture Reading: Prov. 12:1-12
Text: Prov. 12:12
Proverbs 12:12 The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.
Introduction: Notice that “the ROOT of the righteous yieldeth FRUIT.” If you are uncertain about whether or not a thing is bad (for example, you may have trouble locating a scripture that speaks on the subject in question), you can often make a good decision based on two things: 1. its roots – where it began, it’s origin; and 2. its fruits – what it produces; its results.
I want us to consider, in these days of so many versions of the English Bible, the ROOTS and FRUITS of the two basic lines of Bibles. There are only two, by the way, the true and the false, the counterfeit and the genuine.
The basis for my own faith in the King James Bible is contained in another message and booklet, “Do We Have the Word of God?” but perhaps it will help someone if we consider the subject tonight,
ROOTS AND FRUITS.
I. THE ROOTS OF THE COUNTERFEIT CORRUPTIONS – THE NIV, RSV, NASB, TLB, TEV, ETC.
2 Corinthians 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
A. The Devil and his crowd
1. Doing it in the garden – Gen. 3:1, the first real Bible “reviser”
2. Doing it in the temptation of Christ – Matt. 4, using the Bible, but saying “IF” (Matt.4:3,6,9)
3. Doing it in Paul’s day (above)
4. He is the author of confusion (1 Cor. 14:33). Confusion is caused when two authorities are recommended.
5. Origen – one of his earliest tools, a philosopher (Col. 2:8), who was trained in Alexandria, EGYPT (a “type” of the world), who believed in soul-sleep, new birth by water baptism, no return of Christ to earth, that Christ did not exist eternally, and universal salvation; who produced a book called The Hexapla, containing 6 versions of the Bible, Old and New Testaments.
6. Eusebius, another tool of Satan, student of Origen, editor of the 5th column of his Hexapla, producing 50 copies of it by order of Constantine, 313 A.D. This is probably where Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, the two manuscripts from which modern perversions of scripture came, originated.
B. The dragon’s church – Roman Catholicism
1. Vaticanus was discovered in 1481 in the Vatican library (it’s missing most of Genesis, much of Psalms, numerous individual verses, the Pauline pastoral epistles, Revelation, and all of Hebrews after Heb. 9:14.
2. Sinaiticus was discovered at Mt. Sinai, but in a MONASTERY, found heaped together with other documents to be used as FUEL. It omits many individual New Testament
verses.
C. The dark continent – Africa
1. Origen was trained in Africa.
2. The manuscripts behind the new “bibles” are African in origin and association.
3. Africa is the land of Ham, the cursed son of Noah, the home of Pharaoh and Egypt, the producer of rock and country music, promoter of idolatry and immorality in Israel, and now the largest continental center of AIDS in the world. Are these all unrelated?
D. The destructive colleges
1. What masquerades as “higher education” is nothing different from that which the serpent offered Eve in Gen. 3.
2. Many men have gone into college to obtain a D.D., Doctor of Divinity, have their faith in God’s word CORRUPTED, and left with a D.D., Doctor of DEVILMENT.
II. THE ROOTS OF CHRIST’S CORRECT, COMPLETE COLLECTION OF COMMANDMENTS – THE KING JAMES BIBLE
1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
A. The Sovereign
1. The King James Bible turned out to be not the word of King James, but the word of King JESUS!
2. Ecclesiastes 8:4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
3. 2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
4. Psalms 12:6-7 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
B. The Spirit
1. 2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
2. As the Holy Spirit SEALS the believer in preservation of his soul (Eph. 4:30), so the Bible is a seven-sealed book (Rev. 5:1).
C. The saints
1. God used the Levitical priesthood in the Old Testament to transmit, transmit, and take care of His word.
2. In the New Testament, the saints make up a priesthood of believers (1 Pet. 2:9).
3. The “learned men” who translated the King James Bible may have had their faults (their amazing scholarship and character is enjoyable reading), but David, who wrote Psalms, was an adulterer and a murderer; Solomon, who wrote two books was married to hundreds of women and committed idolatry; and Peter, who wrote two epistles, argued with God, cursed, and denied that he even knew Christ! The writers of the “inspired originals” had THEIR faults, too! The same God who used them to WRITE the word as He wanted it ALSO has the power to use the translators to PRESERVE His word as He wanted it!
III. THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTERFEIT CORRUPTIONS – THE NIV, RSV, NASB, TLB, TEV, ETC.
Luke 6:43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
A. Doubt
1. Many have had their faith destroyed by the proliferation of Bible versions.
2. Those who teach from them do not believe in their perfection or inspiration.
B. Deadness
1. Promotion has replaced the power of God.
C. Darkness
1. Profound Bible exposition began to diminish in England after the R.V. was produced and in America after the NASV was produced.
2. Serious students are still reading G. Campbell Morgan, from England, for devotional material, and Clarence Larkin, from America, for doctrinal instruction. Who is better
in the last 100 years? Almost nobody!
3. Psalms 119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
D. Depravity
1. The new versions are loved by the Catholics, the cults, and the compromisers.
E. Deification of man
1. Man’s opinions are exalted above the text of scripture.
2. The scholar’s opinions correct the words in the believer’s Bible in his hand!
F. Disaster
1. Examine the histories of nations when they used and when they discarded the King James Bible as God’s word.
IV. THE FRUITS OF CHRIST’S CORRECT, COMPLETE COLLECTION OF COMMANDMENTS – THE KING JAMES BIBLE
Luke 6:43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
A. Regeneration
1. More people have been saved under the ministry of the King James Bible than under that of any other version.
B. Revelation and illumination
1. Bible students, commentaries
2. Numerics – number themes of books, chapters, and verses MATCHING those of the TEXT!
3. Learning the Bible by comparing scripture with SCRIPTURE rather than with a man’s opinion about what the verse may have meant or how it could have been translated
from another language!
C. Reformation
1. The King James text produced the Reformation; the new “bibles” are sending people to Rome (see my booklet, “How Rome Will Recapture the Protestants.”)!
D. Revival
1. Greatest revivals occurred in England under the ministry of the King James Bible and began to fade out with the production of the RV and NASB.
God will STILL use this Book, the King James Bible in YOUR life, YOUR family, and YOUR church, as you believe it!
1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.