This I Believe Sermon Week 1 - The Bible

Intro/Welcome

the most dangerous casualties that can happen aboard a US Submarine are fire and flooding.

They are so devastating that the Captain requires all crew members to know the IMMEDIATE ACTIONS should fire or flooding be discovered.

Immediate Actions

As a Submarine Officer I had to memorize the IMMEDIATE ACTIONS of any number of casualties that could happen.

The purpose of IA’s was to put the boat back into a safe condition to be able to further combat the casualty.

We had volumes upon volumes of Operating Theory and Operating Procedures

But the only thing we needed to memorize was the immediate actions.

b/c that is what would save our life.

The Bible

Do you know that in our daily existence there is a similar book?

A book that is able to save our lives

to direct us in times of Crisis

to comfort us in times of despair

to lead us in times of uncertainty

That book is the Holy Bible

it is the best selling book of all time by far

it has been translated into over 1000’S languages

And for Christians all over the World it is the book that they have no only staked their earthly lives on, but their eternal lives.

It is a book that has...

It is a book that has

inspired thousands to give up everything and follow God

It is a book that has

cost the lives of the heroes of the faith for simply translating it into the common vernacular

It is a book that has

examined and re-examined, scrutinized, criticized and outlawed time and time again in human history.

Yet outlasted every culture it has been a part of

No Other Book...

No other book in Human History has been as controversial as the Bible.

No other book makes the claims the Bible does

It is simultaneously the book owned by the most people and neglected by the most people.

New Series

Today we are beginning a new series called “This I believe: Foundations of Faith”

The aim of the series is to examine / and perhaps re-examine the foundations of the Christian Faith.

This is to answer the question:

What are the basic tenants or doctrines upon which the entire Christian Religion is built?

Ultimately it is to answer the question:

What are we to base our entire lives on?

The reality is we are all building our lives on something

some system of beliefs

whether you are a Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Atheist, New Ager or anything else.

The real question is which system of beliefs (worldview) is reality and how can we know.

What worldview will allow us to flourish

Week 1: The Bible

There are many places we could start this series

But I have chosen to start with the Bible

B/c it is from the Bible that God has chosen to communicate with us the answers to these questions.

The Bible is the Written Word of God and it is the sure foundation for all of our beliefs:

It reveals to us Who God is and what he is like?

It reveals to us the Story of Human Existence

It reveals to us what is most important in life and why we are here

Today

So today we will begin with the Bible - The Written Word of God

We are simply going to answer three questions:

What is the Bible

Why we need the Bible

Why we can trust the Bible

Resources

Free Books: Wayne Grudem’s Basic Christian Belief’s at Connect Table

Resources on Church Center / App — Onehope.info

One Hope Youtube channel/Website

Ask a question via Connect form/Comments “Anything Else?”

Let’s Pray

Pray

Isaiah 61:1–4 (NIV)

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

What is the Bible?

How would you answer that question?

If you were sitting in a coffee shop and someone came up to and ask what you were reading

and you said the Bible

and they asked “What is a bible?”

what would you say?

what we truly believe about the Bible determines what we do with it

how would you back that up?

My Answer

The Bible is God’s Words written down for us and to us.

Now let’s think about that.

Authority:

If your friend wrote you a note to do something would you do it?

What about your HOA? or Apartment Manager?

How about a Police Officer?

What about a Judge? — would you do it?

How about a Congressperson? or the President?

If he told you to do something would you do it?

Probably right?

why? b/c he has authority

and b/c he has authority he has power to enact consequence.

There is no higher authority than God, the creator of everything that exists

There is no greater power

There is no one who is more pure, more righteous or more holy

There is no one who could impose consequences more severely than God

This is the Being/Person who has written us in His Word — called the Bible.

Aside: Bible comes form the greek word for ‘book’ which is Biblios

Backing that up — Verses:

2 Timothy 3:14–17 (CSB)

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is inspired/breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Who wrote the bible?

How was it breathed out/inspired?

2 Peter 1:20–21 (CSB)

20 Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

God speaks to and through people

written BY GOD through MEN

DOCTRINE (WHO WROTE THE BIBLE?)

The human authors of the Bible include kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, a doctor, and scholars.

The books of the Bible cover history, sermons, letters, songs, and love letters. There are geographical surveys, architectural specifications, travel diaries, population statistics, family trees, inventories, and numerous legal documents.Unlike any other book, the Bible is a book written by both God and man.

But it was not coauthored, as is this book you are reading.

It was not God and humans collaborating, or a human writing a draft with God making revisions, or God giving ideas that the human authors put into words.

They were not words dictated to humans, as with the Koran.

The Bible is not human writings that become divine when the reader discovers spiritual meaning in them, as with the writings of many Eastern religions.

It is not one of many books containing the religious insights of ancient sages, as many liberals teach.

Those people — inspired by God (The Holy Spirit) — wrote down His Words

We believe that God has revealed His Word to us and his word to us is Truth

Doctrine (WHO WROTE THE BIBLE?)

People who were providentially prepared by God, and motivatedand superintended by the Holy Spirit, spoke and wrote according to their own personalities and circumstances in such a way that their words are the very Word of God.46

1 John 1:1–3 (CSB)

1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—2 that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

Verbal Plenary Inspiration

The belief that God wrote Scripture in concert with human authors whom he inspired to perfectly record his words

Verbal: The very words of the Bible

we believe that the very words are inspired and important, chosen by God, so every word does matter.

That’s why Jesus can say “not an iota, not a dot” of the Bible can be ignored.

We cannot limit the divine inspiration to concepts that God put in the mind of human authors who did their best to put those ideas into words. Rather, his revelation comes to us in those exact words.

Plenary: Every part of the Bible

When we say plenary, we mean there are no parts of the Bible we don’t believe, don’t like, or won’t teach or preach or obey. We cannot be like

Thomas Jefferson, who brazenly sat down in the White House with a razor in one hand and a Bible in the other and cut out the portions he rejected, asserting his own authority over the authority of the Lord.

And we cannot be like those who are more subtle than Jefferson and simply ignore parts of the Bible as primitive, dismiss them as outdated, or explain them away with human reasoning.

Inspiration: God-breathed

The Prophet Muhammed claims to have written down what God dictated to him

The Buddha was ‘enlightened’

Neale Donald Walsh?

The Holy Spirit

This is also the key to understanding it

The Same Holy Spirit who inspired the Bible will illuminate the Bible

Ephesians 1:18 (CSB)

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

1 Corinthians 2:10–16 (CSB)

10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit,

since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.

13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16 For who has known the Lord’s mind, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

John 14:26 (CSB)

26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

Acts 16:13–14 (CSB)

13 On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there.

14 A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.

If and when we struggle to read and understand the bible

We must ask for help from the Holy Spirit

Luke 11:13 (CSB)

13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Conclusion

The Bible is God’s Word Written down to us and for us.

Why do we need the Word of God?

2 Timothy 3:14–17 (CSB)

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Psalm 119:105 (CSB)

105 Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.

John 3:19 CSB

19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

2 Corinthians 4:4 CSB

4 In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

2 Corinthians 4:6 CSB

6 For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:18 CSB

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Matthew 6:22–23 (CSB)

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!

God’s Word is called ‘revelation’

It is ‘revealing’ truth

John 17:17 (CSB)

17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Proverbs 30:5 (ESV)

5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

It is revealing reality.

God’s Words reveal reality.

We are unable to discern reality apart from God’ revelation

This is due to the fall (which we’ll talk about in coming weeks)

A Picture, Window and Mirror

How does God reveal truth to us?

Three Images: Picture, Window and Mirror

Concept from Richard Pratt int he Study of OT Narratives

Expand it as a way to view all of Scripture.

Picture

The Bible gives us a picture of what life with God can look like and what life without God can look like.

This is past, present and future.

Example: Revelation especially.

Revelation 4:1 CSB

1 After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

Revelation 5:1 CSB

1 Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals.

Revelation 6:1 CSB

1 Then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”

Jesus taught in parables — to give us a pictures about what life looks like.

Window

The Bible gives a window into the nature and character of God

We get visions into the ‘holy court of heaven’ in places like Job 1, Isa 6.

Job 1:6 CSB

6 One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.

Isaiah 6:1 CSB

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.

It is a window into the ultimate reality that undergirds everything.

Mirror

Thirdly, the Bible functions as a mirror

taht is it reveals the truth about us, in the inner reality.

“We don’t read scripture, scriptures reads us”

James 1:22–23 (27-27) (CSB)

22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.

25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.

26 If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless and he deceives himself. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Hebrews 4:12-13 (CSB)

12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

13 No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

Profitable

God’s Word is profitable in these ways

2 Timothy 3:16–17 CSB

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

These are helpful ways to understand how the Bible interacts with us.

The Bible as Ultimate Authority

This assertion that God’s Word is Truth means that the Bible is the ultimate Authority for all things in life.

It doesn’t meant he Bible tells us everything

who to marry, how to change your oil, what to order for lunch

but it tells us everything we need to know about the God, the World and Us

GOSPEL

thus revealing our need for our salvation

the means of salvation — Jesus Christ

the life of salvation — a life reconciled to God.

Jesus as the Picture, Window and Mirror

This is the Sufficiency of Scripture

It also means that The Bible is the highest authority for all things in life

Reason vs Revelation

And this sets up a MAJOR CONFRONTATION in the World.

Those who believe that by REASON ALONE truth can be know

not just some truth but ULTIMATE TRUTH

And those who believe REASON AND REVELATION

Creation, Morality, Sin, Evil, Spiritual Realm, etc.

This ‘confrontation’ is most clearly defined in Creation.

Genesis 1:1 CSB

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

REASON — Materialism, Naturalism — leads to evolution

REASON + REVELATION really expands the possibilities.

Psalm 14:1 CSB

1 The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.” They are corrupt; they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good.

New Ideas?

so when new ideas or even new ‘scientific’ discoveries emerge’

they will never contradict the bible.

The Bible is Truth

so either our interpretation of the science is wrong

or our interpretation of scripture is wrong.

Bring Reason and Revelation Together:

Blaise Pascal

George Washington Carver

William Wilberforce

Objection

But can we really trust the Bible?

hasn't’ it been altered, changed, even made up?

Bart Erhman

How certain are we that the Bible we have today is the Bible they had 2000 years ago?

Can we Trust the bible?

A few introductory comments:

We have an enemy to truth — We should expect the God’s Word to be attacked.

God’s ways are higher than ours — We shouldn’t expect to agree with everything the Bible says, for our view is limited

Example: why kids can’t do this? or why we can’t go that way?

We shouldn’t expect to like everything the Bible has to say

It doesn’t tell us what we want to hear, but what we need to hear.

There will always be reasons to not believe

The Reliability of the Bible

Some Objections:

We don’t have the original manuscripts?

What about variations in the manuscripts?

Does the Bible Contradict itself?

We don’t have the Originals

“We don’t don’t have the original manuscripts — so how do we know they haven’t been changed?”

Short Answer: We are more certain about the NT documents than any other ancient document by far.

Two factors:

The # of manuscripts

How far removed from the originals?

Example:

Plato and Aristotle (380-350BC) — fewer than 10 copies of each each more than a 1000 years after the original.

Roman Historian Tacitus — 3 surviving copies, 800 years after original

Livy - 27 Copies, 300 years after.

New Testament:

Between 20,000 and 25,000 handwritten copies of the NT

10-15 of those within 100 years.

99 within 400 years

Church Fathers

If all of these copies were destroyed, the NT text could be reproduced almost in its entirety by quotations of it in sermons, tracts, and commentaries written by ancient teachers of the church (known as church fathers or Patristic writers). To date, over a million quotations from the NT by the church fathers have been cataloged.

What about variations in the manuscripts?

The best estimate is that there are over 400,000 textual variants among the manuscripts

The ESV Study Bible The Reliability of the New Testament Manuscripts

Yet no two manuscripts are exactly alike, and even the closest two early manuscripts have at least half a dozen differences per chapter (most of them inconsequential variations, however, as will be seen)

Not so surprising given the number of manuscripts

The vast majority involve: spelling, word order or style (scribal error)

“an apple” vs. “a apple”

There are footnotes on many of these

less than 1% of all variations have anything to do with doctrine,

even with those no doctrine is affected by any variation.

We are certain of 99% of text is faithful to original

(far surpasses any other ancient document)

The ESV Study Bible (What Is at Stake?)

In the final analysis, no cardinal doctrine, no essential truth, is affected by any viable variant in the surviving NT manuscripts.

For example, the deity of Christ, his resurrection, his virginal conception, justification by faith, and the Trinity are not put in jeopardy because of any textual variation.

Confidence can therefore be placed in the providence of God in preserving the Scriptures.

Errors/Contradictions in the Bible

Third objection: Aren’t there errors and contradictions in the Bible?

Inerrancy: inerrancy means that the Bible is entirely truthful and reliable in all that it affirms in its original manuscripts. (ESVSB)

Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, Art. XIII) / [The ESV Study Bible (The Inerrancy of Scripture]

We affirm the propriety of using inerrancy as a theological term with reference to the complete truthfulness of Scripture.

We deny that it is proper to evaluate Scripture according to standards of truth and error that are alien to its usage or purpose.

We further deny that inerrancy is negated by Biblical phenomena such as a lack of modern technical precision, irregularities of grammar or spelling, observational descriptions of nature, the reporting of falsehoods, the use of hyperbole and round numbers, the topical arrangement of material, variant selections of material in parallel accounts, or the use of free citations

Some Comments

Some who claim this have no idea what the errors are.

Each ‘supposed’ error must be examined within it’s context

Interpretation is important.

Usually a shallow reading of the text

The original language may help resolve (no translation is perfect)

Examples:

Order of Jesus Temptations (Luke 4, Matt 4)

Women at the Tomb

John reports only Mary Magdelne

Mark, Luke, Matt report multiple women

The Demoniac

Mark 5 (one), Matt 8 (two)

Mark 5:2 CSB

2 As soon as he got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met him.

Matthew 8:28 CSB

28 When he had come to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him as they came out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.

Eyewitness Testimony

Corroboration

Testimony is more likely to be true if not exactly the same

Report events differently.

Conclusion

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Second Edition) (6. Objection: There Are Some Clear Errors in the Bible)

“there are many evangelical Bible scholars today who will say that they do not presently know of any problem texts for which there is no satisfactory solution.”

Finally, a historical perspective on this question is helpful. There are no really “new” problems in Scripture.

The Bible in its entirety is over 1,900 years old, and the alleged “problem texts” have been there all along.

Yet throughout the history of the church there has been a firm belief in the inerrancy of Scripture in the sense in which it is defined in this chapter.

Moreover, for these hundreds of years highly competent biblical scholars have read and studied those problem texts and still have found no difficulty in holding to inerrancy.

This should give us confidence that the solutions to these problems are available and that belief in inerrancy is entirely consistent with a lifetime of detailed attention to the text of Scripture.

Summary

The Bible is God’s Words written down to us and for us

We need the Bible to reveal reality to us as Picture, Window and Mirror

The Bible can be trusted as faithful to the original

Application

If these are true, then how do you respond?

Will the Bible continue to be the most owned yet most neglected book?

Will it be the best selling least read book of all time?

It has the power to save us, to sustain us, guide us, direct us, to change us, to complete us

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (CSB)

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

But we have to read it, study it, to memorize it

so when those times’ of crisis come just like immediate actions,

God’s truth in Scripture comes to us to comfort, encourage and instruct us.

Augustines’s Conversion

heard child singing a song ‘pick up and read’

As Augustine later told it, his conversion was prompted by hearing a child's voice say "take up and read"

he opened a book of St. Paul's writings at random and read Romans 13: 13–14:

Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.[84]

It radically changed his life he would become the dominating Theologian of the early church and is still widely read and regarded today.

A Full Fridge

You have a fridge full of food

full of fruits, vegetables, meat, drinks and desert

Will you open it and feast on God’s Word for you?

If you are hungry, malnourished, thirsty for meaning, comfort and purpose

It’s all right here

Will you “take up and read”

Let’s Pray