Untitled Sermon (5)

OPENER

Josh - This is the Bible. We believe that every word in the Bible is true. We believe as accurate and relevant as the Bible was when it was originally written, it still is today. This is more than just a book, it is a road map, its instructions, a personal letter. This is the only book that we read and in return it reads us.

This morning we begin a two-week series called Evidence. We are excited to dive in and tackle a question that is commonly asked in our society, but is also necessary for Christians to wrestle with and decide.

How do we know that the Bible is true?

Whether you have been a Christian for a long time or you haven’t taken a step to have a relationship with God, this is a question we must ask. We live a life of faith based on the words of this book, not only as individual Christians, but corporately as a Church. We must be aware of the overwhelming evidence about its truth.

Ashley -

2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 NLT

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

SCRIPTURE DECLARATION - THIS IS GOD’S WORD. I BELIEVE IT IS TRUE AND TIMELESS. THE LOVE, FORGIVENESS, AND POWER THAT IT DESCRIBES ARE AVAILABLE TO ME. I WILL LEARN FROM IT AND LET IT TRANSFORM EVERY DETAIL OF MY LIFE.

Josh - But with that we want to let you know we are presenting evidence of how we know and believe that the Bible truly is the Word of God. That every word in this book is truth. However, God does not ask for “blind faith”, as some might accuse. Simply that we are open to the evidence that He has given us.

BIG IDEA - THE EVIDENCE CLEARLY POINTS TO THE VALIDITY OF SCRIPTURE. OUR LIVES ARE TRANSFORMED BY THE WORD OF GOD WHEN OUR FAITH ALIGNS WITH THAT EVIDENCE.

JOSH - WHAT IS THE BIBLE?

-WRITTEN BY MAN INSPIRED BY GOD

-66 BOOKS 39 IN THE OLD AND 27 IN THE NEW

-OLD TESTAMENT IS BEFORE THE LIFE OF JESUS NEW TESTAMENT IS THE LIFE OF JESUS AND AFTER

-ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN THREE LANGUAGES GREEK, HEBREW, ARAMIAC

ASHLEY -WRITTEN OVER THE SPAN OF 1,600 YEARS

-WRITTEN ACROSS A DOZEN COUNTRIES

-WRITTEN ACROSS THREE CONTINENTS

-40 DIFFERENT AUTHORS

THIS MORNING WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT 3 AREAS OF EVIDENCE THAT POINT TO THE VALIDITY OF SCRIPTURE

HISTORICAL ACCURACY

THEMATIC UNITY

PROPHETIC CONSISTENCY

THE BIBLE IS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE - JOSH

If that’s what the Bible is, what is the evidence that it is actually real? Let's look strictly at the historical context. If today I were to write a letter and years down the road they are trying to figure out the historical accuracy of this piece of history.

HISTORICAL STANDARDS

-EYE WITNESS ACCOUNTS

-METHOD OF RECORDING

-ARCHAELOGICAL CONFIRMATION

-EYE WITNESS ACCOUNTS - THE BIBLE IS MAINLY WRITTEN BY EYE WITNESS ACCOUNTS. NOT THROUGH SCRIBES. BUT PERSONAL ENCOUNTERS AND EXPERIENCES.

GOSPELS- WRITTEN BY PEOPLE THAT DIDNT JUST HEAR ABOUT JESUS BUT THAT PERSONALLY WALKED WITH JESUS.

WHY AREN’T THEY EXACT STORIES? - BECAUSE THEY AREN’T WORD FOR WORD WRITTEN. IT IS THE SAME STORIES FROM THEIR OWN PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES.

-KIDS EXPLAINING AN EVENT

LEVI - WE PLAYED OUTSIDE AND I WAS BUILDING SOMETHING IN THE WOODS BUT IT WAS HOT

IZZY - I JUMPED ON THE TRAMPOLINE IT FELT SO GREAT OUTSIDE

NORAH - LEVI WAS BEING LOUD IN THE WOODS ME AND IZZY WAS ON THE TRAMPOLINE

JOSIE- CAN WE HAVE SNACKS NOW

-METHOD OF RECORDING

JEWISH SCRIBES HAD SOME OF THE STRICTEST STANDARDS IN HISTORY.

TRANSCRIBED NOT WORD BY WORD - LETTER BY LETTER

TRANSCRIBING THE LAW - THEY KNEW THE MIDDLE LETTER. WHEN THEY TRANSCRIBED THE BOOKS THEY WOULD COUNT FROM MIDDLE FRONT TO BACK. IF THE LETTERS DIDN’T MATCH THEY THREW THE WHOLE COPY AWAY AND STARTED OVER.

-ARCHAELOGICAL CONFIRMATION

ALL PEOPLE GROUPS, NATIONS, AND EMPIRES HAVE BEEN ARCHAEOLOGICALLY CONFIRMED.

PILATE - FOUND IN THE NEW TESTAMENT - MENTIONED IN HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS NOTING HIS NAME AND HIS ROLE IN GOVERNMENT

KING DAVID - THERE HAVE BEEN MULTIPLE DISCOVERIES NOTATING “THE HOUSE OF DAVID” IN THE EXACT REGION THE BIBLE MENTIONED HE WAS IN

ASSYRIAN EMPIRE - THROUGH DIGS PALACE RUINS HAVE BEEN LOCATED, CITY WALLS, AND EVEN ROYAL INSCRIPTIONS.

By Historical Standards the Bible is accurate. Another form of determining the historical accuracy is something known as Textual Criticism.

TEXTUAL CRITICISM

A rigorous process of evaluating and comparing different versions of a text, primarily manuscripts, to reconstruct the most accurate version of the original

A piece of that standard within textual criticism is how many years have passed from the original to the first copy, and as well the number of copies we have to compare.

Two of the most historically accurate works:

HERODIUS HISTORICAL WORKS

FROM THE ORIGINAL TO THE FIRST COPY THERE IS A TOTAL OF 1,300 YEARS

NUMBER OF COPIES - 8

CAESARS GALIC WAR

FROM THE ORIGINAL TO THE FIRST COPY IS A TOTAL OF 950 YEARS

NUMBER OF COPIES - 10

Keep in mind these are considered some of the most historically accurate documents. Now lets look at the New Testament of the Bible.

BIBLE NEW TESTAMENT

FROM THE ORIGINAL TO THE FIRST COPY IS A TOTAL OF 30 YEARS

NUMBER OF COPIES - 24,300

NEW TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPTS

GREEK MANUSCRIPTS 5,309

LATIN MANUSCRIPTS 10,000

OTHER MANUSCRIPTS 9,300

If we can deem these other works to be some of the most historically accurate works through the process of Textual Criticism, and we use the same exact process on the Bible, how can we deny the evidence?

- ASHLEY THE BIBLE IS THEMATICALLY UNIFIED

From Genesis to Revelation, there is a theme that is prevalent through all of Scripture. When we consider that the Bible is compiled of 66 books with 40 different authors, across the incredible span of time that the Scriptures were written, the prevailing theme of each book of the Bible could be vastly different. However, we don’t see that to be the case.

The overarching theme of Scripture is God’s relationship to humanity and His plan of redemption - or in one name - Jesus!

These 40 authors were made up of men from all backgrounds and social classes - Kings, peasants, physicians, statesmen, scholars, poets, farmers, and fishermen. Yet in each book of the Bible, the story of Jesus is foreshadowed, prophesied about, and written for us.

Humans best attempts to compile a collection of unified narratives would fail.

I’ve heard it said this way, “The Bible is not a collection of stories, it is the activity of God throughout time.” To even consider that 40 humans could independently document that activity and weave such a clear theme throughout the Scripture, without divine inspiration is unfathomable.

This is the story of Jesus written through human hands.

JOSH - This takes us back to the verse we began with today:

2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 NLT

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

JOHN 5:39 NLT

39 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!

So the way that we see forty different authors writing with one theme, the ONLY explanation is that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

JOHN 1:1-5 NLT

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

GENESIS 1:1-5 NLT

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

This is just one example of how when looking at Genesis 1 to four thousand years later when we get to John 1 the theme is very evident.

The Bible points to Jesus. So that in return we become more like Jesus. So that we can work to fulfill the mission of Jesus.

ASHLEY- So far, we’ve looked at the historical accuracy of Scripture and the thematic unity in Scripture. Finally, let’s look at the prophetic consistency of Scripture.

THE BIBLE IS PROPHETICALLY CONSISTENT

There are many prophecies throughout Scripture. God used various prophets to speak to people groups, kings and authorities, or individuals. Prophecies fell into two categories:

1. Prophecies were God’s messages declaring His coming blessing or His coming destruction of an individual or people group.

2. Prophecies were God’s messages declaring future events

The books of Daniel and Ezekiel contain prophecies that point to the validity of Scripture.

In the book of Daniel, we see some of these prophecies. Daniel was taken as an exile by the Babylonian Empire. During his time of captivity, around 550 BC, he prophesied about the rise and fall of various empires. We find these prophecies in Daniel 7-8. He prophesied about the fall of the Persian empire 200 years before it happened. His prophecies regarding the Greek Empire were fulfilled over the course of several centuries. He accurately speaks to the rise of the Greek Empire and even to specific rulers, such as Alexander the Great, though he does not call him by name. The prophecy details the division of the empire among 4 generals, following the death of Alexander the Great. Again, these prophecies were spoken 215-230 years prior to their fulfillment.

In Ezekiel, chapters 26-28 detail a prophecy that Ezekiel proclaimed against the city of Tyre. He detailed the city’s destruction. Over time, this prophecy was fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre for 13 years and Alexander the Great ultimately conquered Tyre in 322 B.C. after a 7 month siege. From the time the prophecy was spoken to the final fulfillment was 250 years.

The accounts of these great empires are recorded in detail in many historical documents, outside of the Word of God. Archaeological finds have further corroborated the historical documents. Many of us have read the accounts in our school history books!

Scholars say that there are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament that refer to Jesus. This points back to the thematic unity of the Scripture. The whole of Scripture tells of Jesus.

Many of these prophecies give specific details about Jesus’ birth, life, and death.

Let’s look at just a few:

400 years before Jesus was born, Micah prophesied that He would be born in the city of Bethlehem Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.” This is speaking of Jesus.

Isaiah prophesied He would be born of a virgin. Isaiah 7:14 “the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin[a] will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).” Isaiah spoke this prophecy about Jesus approximately 700 years before He was born!

There are numerous prophecies throughout the Old Testament that detail the way Jesus died.

Psalm 22:16 “...they have pierced my hands and feet - I can count all my bones - they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

Zechariah 12:10 “They will look on me whom they have pierced

Isaiah 53: 5 “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.”

Peter Stoner, in his book “Science Speaks” concludes that the odds of just 8 of these nearly 300 prophecies being fulfilled in one man would be one chance in one trillion.

He goes on to say,

“We take 100,000,000 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly…Blindfold a man and tell him…he must pick up one silver dollar…What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have of writing…eight prophecies and having them come true in any one man” - Peter Stoner

How men could speak with such detail, describing what would take place centuries later points once again to the necessity of divine inspiration and revelation to those who wrote the Bible. From cover to cover, the story is told and the truth is revealed.

JOSH - This morning we’ve looked at the evidence of the truth of the Bible. We see that it is historically accurate, there is a unity of theme from Genesis to Revelation, and it is prophetically consistent. Next week Pastor Jon and Pastor Kim will be presenting how the Bible is proven accurate even through science and life The Bible is true and the evidence overwhelmingly supports that. Given the truth of scripture, we see our need for God.”

The whole story of the Bible is about one man - Jesus.

Gospel presentation

You Said YES Altar Call

• Step 1: have everyone stand

• Step 2: present the gospel (Romans Road)

◦ 3:23 All have sinned and fallen short

◦ 6:23 Wages of sin is death

◦ 5:8 But God demonstrates

◦ 10:9-10 If you confess with your mouth…and believe in your heart…

• Step 3: make invitation (hand raised, acknowledge)

• Step 4: “repeat this prayer…”

• Step 5: celebrate

• Step 6: Invite Altar Team

• Step 7: “If you made that decision, here’s your next step…”

CLOSE/ALTAR