Commands from the King James Version (Sandy Roger) Friday 4th April 2025

AN UNPREACHED SERMON (221)

Everybody around my age was brought up on the incomparable King James Version of the Bible. It is still unsurpassed in the grandeur of its phraseology and the memorable way it makes use of Elizabethan English. The translators of 1611 did a remarkable job and could never have known the service they were doing in moulding our language for generations to come. To this day, if I quote the Bible from memory, it usually comes out in the Authorised Version’s majestic words. But the very fact that it is 17th century English has rendered the understanding of it difficult, if not impossible, to people living in the 21st century.

Once, I was invited to take services in a church where this was the only version allowed. I was told in no uncertain times that I must read from only the KJV. I wonder how they would have reacted or understood had I delivered the sermon in 17th century phraseology? Or even chosen to give out the intimations for the coming week in biblical Hebrew or New Testament Greek? I suspect they would have been completely baffled, as I am sometimes when reading theological works from that period in history. It calls for deep concentration, not to mention a good dictionary.

Since we no longer have access to the original manuscripts of the Scriptures, we are totally dependent on the expertise of the scholars for providing us with accurate translations being rendered in a language we can understand. Centuries of committed scholarship assure us of possessing exactly what God intended and revealed when He caused all scripture to be inspired through its human penmen. By all means make regular use of a version you are most comfortable with, but do not neglect other translations to get to the full meaning of a passage. We need all the help we can get, and just sometimes the older KJV has a succinct way of expressing things that gives us the assistance and insight we are looking for.

Here are three such easily remembered phrases from the KJV about the Holy Spirit, expressed in words we can easily carry around in our minds. Each in its own way presses home the important part the Holy Spirit plays in the life of the world, the church and the individual.

RESIST NOT (Acts 7:51).

Never think of the Holy Spirit as a mere force or vague feeling. He is every bit a Person as the Father and the Son. In his defence before the authorities who ended up having him stoned to death, Stephen was acutely aware of this truth when he charged his detractors with always resisting the Spirit. In so doing, he highlighted the unique sin of the unbeliever. The so-called unpardonable sin is only and ever committed by those who steadfastly refuse to submit to the overtures God by His Spirit is making towards them. Those who persistently and knowingly refuse His pleadings can eventually find themselves in the place where God’s Spirit no longer strives with them and leaves them to their own devices and decision. God is quite clear: “My Spirit will not always strive with man” (Genesis 6:3). Stephen boldly laid it out firmly on the line in two ways.

• They have refused the message of Christ. Stubbornly they have been deaf to its truth, killed its messengers and persecuted its preachers, even though they were a people with a great heritage and privilege.

• They have rejected the death of Christ. This is the essence of the unpardonable sin. The work of the Spirit is to make the death of Christ real. Any denial and rejection of the Cross is to place ourselves outside the sphere where God works in our lives. If we will not come by way of the Cross, we cannot come at all. The death of Jesus for sinners appears irrational and foolish to some (1 Corinthians 1:23-25) but it is God’s appointed way. There is no other way of approach.

GRIEVE NOT (Ephesians 4:30).

Christians can never grieve the Holy Spirit away, for when He comes into our lives He comes to stay (John14:16). But we can upset Him and make Him sad by failing to realise His constant presence within.

• We do this by not loving the Person of Christ. If human relationships can be easily marred by insensitivity, how much more is the love of Christ toward us which often goes unrequited? It is not uncommon for real Christians to lose their first love.

• We do so by not obeying the commands of Christ. The Scripture makes it abundantly clear that God’s people in their wilderness wanderings did this again and again (Psalm 78:40; Hebrews 3:10, 17). But God’s Spirit never abandoned them. He patiently waited till they came back to their senses.

• We do so by not yielding to the fulness of Christ. The positive antithesis of not grieving is allowing Him to fill us. The filling of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:19) is nothing less than yielding to the already indwelling Spirit.

QUENCH NOT (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

The tendency of fire is to go out, and when Paul gave this instruction to the Thessalonians, he was well aware that for some the fire of faith was burning low. Circumstances in life were in danger of extinguishing their faith and trust. When you think about it, fiery faith is ever in danger of being smothered by dirt, or stifled by a lack of oxygen, or being starved of insufficient fuel. Even a quick read of Thessalonians impresses us with the solution to these three possible fire extinguishers.

I once read about a factory in South Wales where the workforce went on strike, but they still turned up to clock in. The machinery and manpower were there, but no one did any work. Instead, they spent the day singing, as only the Welsh can. The bizarre reason they gave for being there but not working was that they didn’t want to upset the management. We dare not adopt such a tactic in relation to the Holy Spirit. He has been described as the Executive of the Godhead. His task is to ensure the Father’s plan and the Son’s work produce the desired result in human lives. But this can never happen where we resist, or grieve, or quench His endeavours. Look up the three references in your Bible. Note them, memorise them, and think about their focus.

• The general word to the unbeliever (resist not!)

• The warning word to the believer (grieve not!)

• The specific word to the church (quench not!)