THE GREATEST SIN IN THE WORLD – THE SIN OF UNBELIEF

John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already …
John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar;….

God has given many promises to mankind. Three of them are listed above.

When God gives a promise, He asks the seeker to trust Him, and to believe the promise He’s given. That’s it! Nothing more, nothing less. This is the very basis of our salvation. It’s a ‘gift’ that we are offered, to be accepted by faith alone, by simple trust in God’s promise. God offers no proof, no prior evidence, of the salvation that awaits the sinner – for to do so would cancel out the faith required of the sinner.

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

God simply offers the gift of salvation, to the believer. He has promised this gift, but it’s acceptance or rejection is over to the sinner – the ‘ball’ is in the sinner’s court.

Are you a saved Christian, with absolute assurance of your salvation? If you are, it’s because, in simple faith, you believed God’s promise. You trusted Him by faith and then the Holy Spirit indwelt you, and you became a new creature in Christ. The proof of your ‘new birth’ came after you had believed and trusted the Lord. And God provided this proof to you.

Probably most of your friends would notice your conversion, since they’d see the changes in you. They’d see the proof.

But for you, the proof of your salvation was even more realistic, because God had promised to give you an inner conviction, a witness from within, an inner God-given knowledge:

1 John 5:10
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

The genuinely saved, born-again believer, has no doubt of his salvation. But notice in this bible verse what God says about the person who does not believe Him – …he that believeth not God hath made him a liar;…

Would you ever call God a liar? Sadly, many Christians do just that. I wonder if you’re one of them?

Let’s put this statement to a test: God has promised to preserve His word for ever.

Let’s study just a few of the bible passages that confirm this:

I Peter 1:23
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
I Peter 1:25
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Psalm 119:160
Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

Note also that God preserves all the words of scripture. Not just the general meaning, but the very words!

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Why, even the very parts of the letters in the words, are preserved!
Isaiah 59:21
As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

Psalm 12:6
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7 Thou shalt keep them, 0 LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
Proverbs 30:5
Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto
them that put their trust in him.

Let’s summarise these 9 bible verses into a single, clearly understood, simply worded statement:

God says that His words – yes the individual words – are all pure, and every one of them is without error, they’re perfect and God has preserved them all. Yes, all of them.

The Bible teaches that God is the author of all scripture. We read:

2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God,…

Three simple yes/no questions

1. Here is a simple yes/no question that any Christian can answer. As a Christian, do you believe that all scripture comes from God? Well the answer’s obvious isn’t it? Yes, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. That’s what the Bible says, and I believe God. Do you agree?
2. Here’s the second question. Has God preserved all His words, pure and for ever – or is God just a liar?
Think very carefully about your answer. God’s promised to preserve all His words, but is He to be trusted?

1 John 5:10
…he that believeth not God hath made him a liar,…

So, if God is not a liar, and in fact He has preserved all his words, (as the Bible states – see previous 9 verses) and He’s preserved them for ever, then the third sincere question is:

3. Where are these words today? Where are they? Do you have them? They must be somewhere, because God has promised to preserve them. A common knee-jerk reaction from the sceptic is to state that they’re preserved in Heaven. But that’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says:

Psalm 119:89
For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

This verse doesn’t even suggest that His word is ‘preserved’ in Heaven -but it is ‘settled’ in Heaven, and this gives us great confidence. By using our KJ Bible, and cross-referencing the word ‘settled’ [eg. Luke 21:14 & others] we learn that ‘settled’ means ‘decided’, and thus His word is free from any doubt. It’s settled – and it IS settled -present tense! Yes, the Trinity settled the word in Heaven, but God has preserved it on Earth for our salvation and instruction.

How can we be sure that His words are on earth? Look at the connection.

Psalm 12:6
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Let’s exercise some simple logical thinking. What would be the point of God’s inspiring a perfect ‘original’ on Earth, and then taking it up into a library in Heaven? What possible good to us, here and now, is a perfect Book, locked up out of reach in Heaven? More significantly, expects us to use His words.
Ps 119:130
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Ps 119:103
How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalm 119:57
… O LORD: I have said that would keep thy words.

Sadly, the blind, determined critic will clutch at any straw rather than simply believe God’s promise of preservation. So he rejects Ps.12:6 stating that the words that come out of the mouth of God don’t need to be purified seven times. But he should read Ps.12:6 again. As silver that is purified seven times in a furnace of earth, so are the words of God pure. This passage is not talking about purifying God’s words – it is comparing God’s pure words with silver, which has been purified seven times and is thus 100% pure.

Down through the ages, God has preserved His words, and we have His preserved words today – because that’s what the Bible says! So how did God preserve His words? We don’t know the details, nor has God told us, but we do have total confidence in God’s promises of preservation.

Could God have used the translators of 1611 in the process of preserving His words and Holy Scriptures? The question is not “Did God use…?” but “Could God have used the translators of 1611?” The Lord Jesus Christ gives the obvious answer:

Matthew 19:26,
… with God all things are possible.

For almost four hundred years, millions of Christians worldwide have, by simple faith, believed God’s promise of preservation. And the only Bible they have trusted as the pure, inerrant, preserved word of God has been the AV 1611 King James Bible.

It’s been translated into more than 2,000 languages, and stands alone -unique – blessed by God, and viciously attacked by the sceptics and unbelievers. But still it stands. It polarises and antagonises like no other book or modern bible version. But still it stands – in spite of all the arguments, all the derision, all the ‘higher criticism’ of the academics, and being falsely branded as old-fashioned and out-of-date by the modernists. It stands!

This One Book has changed, enriched and transformed more lives than any other book, including all the modern versions of the bible added together. And in doing so, it has given an inner testimony and witness to the Bible-believer that cannot be refuted by others.

I 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.
I John 5:10
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

For a Christian to be able to hold a Bible in his hands and say with total conviction, and absolute assurance –
“This Book is indeed the perfect, pure, preserved word of God, without error, with every individual word having come from almighty God, being quick and powerful, able to convict, save, comfort, teach and discipline. Thank you Lord, for having revealed your perfect word to me.”
– is not presumption, but is deep and humble gratitude to God for opening the eyes of a simple, trusting believer.

‘Believers’ – or – ‘Users’?

Are you a Bible-believer? Do you really trust your bible, or are you just a bible user? If you’re not sure which bible you should trust, then consider the following questions:
1. If the Authorised Bible (KJ 1611) is not inerrant, then which bible is inerrant?
2. If the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts are inerrant, then which ones of the hundreds in existence, and why them?
3. If scholars know that the KJB has errors in it, then why don’t they correct the errors and give us a perfect, inerrant bible?
4. If only the ‘originals’ were inspired and without error, then what was God’s purpose of giving us a Book without error and then losing it?
5. No person alive today has ever seen the ‘originals’ and they cannot be produced – but what about God’s words [plural]?
6. Is the word of God within the covers of one Book? If so, which book? Can you hold it in your hands?
7. When you read and consider the commands – “preach the word”, “let the word of Christ dwell in you”, “take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…”, “thy word have I hid in my heart…”
– where is this word?
8. What is your final authority?
9. How do you know you are saved? Please don’t say, “because the Bible says so” if you can’t produce that Bible.
10. Do you believe God’s promise that He would preserve all His words [plural] for ever?
The purity and truth of God’s word
The Bible is specific about the purity of its words. Every individual word is pure. The true word of God has no impure or counterfeit words

Proverbs 30:5
Every word of God is pure:…
Luke 4:4
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Furthermore, the Lord Jesus Christ established the words of God as being Truth.

John 17:17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Of course, Satan hates God’s precious word because it is the truth, and he (the Devil) is the father of lies.

John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

If your bible (the bible you use) has error, then consider who might have been behind that error.

If your bible (the bible you use) has omissions, or downgrades the deity and glory of the Lord, then consider who might have been behind these changes.

Today, the most popular bible in the bible colleges and among preachers is the NIV, because it is said to be the “most reliable and trustworthy, most up-to-date, most easily read” bible -but it is not God’s preserved word! It cannot be, because it is so full of easily proven error and omissions.

The omission of one word or letter is too much, but the NIV goes much further than this, and omits many complete verses!

Note just a few of these examples: Matt.17:21, Matt. 18:11, Matt.23:14, Mark 7:16, Mark 9:44, Mark 9:46, Mark 11:26, Mark 15:28, Luke 17:36, Luke 23:17, John 5:3-4, Acts 8:37, Acts 15:34, Act 24;7, Act 28:29, Rom. 16:24.

The NIV omits these 16 whole verses. True, some of them are placed in footnotes, having been rejected by the editorial committee. So are they part of God’s word or are they not? Does one just flip a coin to decide? But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The NIV removes 64,576 words!

That equals removing 30 complete books from the Bible, or removing all of Paul’s epistles! How can such a ‘bible’ be the pure, inerrant word of God? The Lord Jesus Christ says:

Luke 4:4
.. .It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

But not according to the NIV, NASV, NRSV and other modern versions. In fact they even remove the last part of Luke 4:4 – “but by every word of God” – from the verse!

Since the publication of the NIV in 1978, a further 57 entirely new and different bibles have been published. Each claims to be “more accurate, closer to the ‘original language’, more readable… etc. etc”, than the previous bibles – including the NIV!

And every one of them is always compared only to the KJ Bible!

None of the modern bible versions claims to be the infallible, perfect, preserved word of God – and they’re not, because there’s easily proven error and missing words in all of them.

Why not check out the bible that you take to church each week? Does it have words and verses missing? Have you been ‘short-changed’?

The attack on the Lord Jesus Christ

But it gets even worse. All the modern version bibles (without exception) downgrade, attack or remove the deity of Christ from hundreds of verses. This should alert the true Bible believer to the corruption, because the Lord Jesus Christ clearly states that the word of God and the Holy Spirit will testify of the Lord, and will glorify Him.

John 16:13
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:… 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
John 5:39
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Why not check out a few verses in the bible you take to church, to see if your version is truly Christ honouring?

• Check out 1 Tim.3:16.
Is the word “God” omitted? This is one of the clearest verses in the Bible proclaiming the deity of Jesus Christ, and that Jesus was God in the flesh.
• Check out Luke 2:33.
Does your bible omit the word “Joseph” and replace it with the words “child’s father”? Do you believe that Joseph was Jesus’ father? If you believe the virgin birth, or John.3:16 then you’ll know that Jesus Christ was the Son of God.!
• Check out Col.1:14.
Are the words “through his blood” missing? Salvation is only “through his blood”, so who would do such a thing? The last three words of Col.1:13 are “his dear Son:” and there’s no full stop. Verse 14 is a continuation of verse 13. Has your bible taken the precious blood away from the Saviour? Who would do that?
• Check out 2 Tim.2:15
Is the word “study” gone from the bible you take to church? Somebody doesn’t want you to study your bible. Why not? Because when you do, you’ll not only gain God’s approval, but you’ll have a closer walk with the Lord. God expects His servants to study, and to search the scriptures,

2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Acts 17:11
…they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Has “study” been taken right out and replaced with meaningless words such as “do your utmost” or “do your best” or “strive diligently”. None of these mean “to study” at all! I can ‘strive diligently’ to kill flies, but that’s not study. Every modern bible version has robbed you of the one way that you can be “approved unto God”.

To trust God, or not to trust God

The realisation that One Book, the KJ Bible, could be the God-given, inerrant, preserved, infallible, life-changing word of God, is something that only God can reveal to you. No man can do that.

God doesn’t have to prove anything to you either. God doesn’t ‘work’ like that. God says, “By faith trust me, and I will then give you all the proof and assurance you seek”. He did that with your salvation didn’t He? He asked you to trust Him, and then, and only then, did He open your eyes, give you assurance, and provide proof after proof of His gift of your wonderful salvation. Well, it’s just the same with the Bible “issue”.

There is overwhelming evidence that the KJ Bible really is God’s promised preserved, true word, but if your mind is blinded, you’ll never see it. Never!

2 Corinthians 4:4

In whom the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

In the end, you have to humble yourself, and in simple faith, believe God’s promise that He has preserved His words, and then trust God to reveal them to you personally. If you’re sincere, then it will surely happen. Faith is the key and God will give you the reward – His Holy Bible.

Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Back in Paul’s time, many were already corrupting the word of God.
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.

Thus we’re not surprised that bible corruption is intensifying in these ‘last days’ (2 Tim.3:1). Bible ‘perversions’ (a biblical term: GaM:7) are nothing new!

‘Academia’ or Absolute Authority

The issue of whether or not we can hold in our hands the very preserved, perfect, inerrant word of God is not just an academic question, as some ‘scholars’ would have you believe. It is the question of Absolute Authority. Do we have it or not? God never trusted the ‘Scribes, Pharisees, and Lawyers’ to reveal His Truth. To the contrary, He scathingly, consistently condemned them throughout scripture. Is your understanding of scripture dependent on the opinion of some scholar, or a commentary, or some person’s interpretation of Greek mss? Or do you trust The Book? Either you have 100% absolute authority – or you have ‘Pharisee’s’ opinions. Which is it?

Tunnel Vision

As a believer who trusts the KJ Bible as God’s perfect, revealed word for today, I’ve been accused of ‘tunnel vision’. Well, I also have ‘tunnel vision’ re the virgin birth, the resurrection, the atonement, salvation, the sinlessness of Christ, creation, and bible prophecy, and many other bible doctrines.

Matthew 7:14
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

What a pity so few are able to find God’s preserved word? But then, isn’t the majority usually wrong? Cf. Noah!

God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33). The use of different bible perversions causes confusion, and this is not God’s way at all. God has given us One Book that stands alone – the KJ Bible.

Are you willing to ask God to reveal to you, which Bible really is the Holy Bible? Or are you fearful that such revelation might wound your pride, if God reveals that you’ve only been using a bible perversion, rather than trusting His true precious word?

Pride is always the stumbling block

It’s not education or scholarship or understanding at all – just simple rebellious pride. Pride is behind the greatest sin in the world – the sin of unbelief. Does pride hold you captive? Is pride keeping you from trusting God’s promise that He really has preserved His words? And we have them today, all in one Book!

Jeremiah 13:17
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride…
Proverbs 14:3
In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride…
Psalm 10:4
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts

God asks you to trust Him

Is pride holding you back? What possible reason can you have for not wanting to know the truth? When you have God’s Holy Bible, you’ll be free from man’s meddling with the Authority of God. God will now have a clear, free access to you through His word.

John 8:32
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free

God will hold you accountable.

The Lord Jesus Christ warns that rejection of His words may not bring judgment right now – but ultimately the Holy Bible (‘the word that I have spoken’) will actually stand in judgment over the one who rejects it. That’s an awesome, fearsome fact.

John 12:47
And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one thatjudgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

God has spoken to you – but have you heard Him? Why not humbly pray to God to reveal His Truth to you? Hear God and believe His words. Don’t let your pride commit “the greatest sin in the world – the Sin of Unbelief”.

2 Corinthians 4:4
…the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not…
Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Dr Dennis Spackman. S
Auckland, New Zealand
(09)-625-4123