10 Reasons Why We Believe the Bible is the Word of God - Part 1
I. INTRODUCTION
A. NO ONE KNOWS FOR SURE how long the Lord will tarry, but the Bible makes it very clear that He is coming back...
FIRST, ONLY AS FAR AS THE CLOUDS to catch away His church...
AND THEN AFTER 7 YEARS of horrible tribulation judgement here on earth, that is very graphically described in the book of Revelation, He is coming all the way back to earth to set His feet down on the Mount of Olives and establish His millennial kingdom...
WE’RE GOING UP TO MEET HIM in the clouds before the tribulation period begins and we’re coming back with Him, the Bible says, to rule and reign with Him here on planet earth for 1000 years...
AND THAT IS JUST A VERY BRIEF SKETCH of the exciting things in store for us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ...
AND THE ONE EVENT that is going to trigger this whole thing into motion is the rapture; the rapture is the next event on the prophetic calendar...
THE BIBLE TEACHES an imminent rapture; it could be today, it could be next week, or next year, it might be a hundred years yet or maybe even longer...
NO ONE KNOWS FOR SURE; we’re simply told to be ready...
DATE-SETTING is out of bounds; it’s been done many times, but never with any Scriptural authority for doing so, proven by the fact that all the dates have come and gone without the return of Christ...
ONE THING THAT WE DO HAVE in Scripture are various descriptions of how it will be prior to Christ’s return...
AND IT’S CERTAINLY NOT OUT OF BOUNDS for us to read these descriptions and then look around and conclude that His return must be very soon...
AND I WANT TO READ a couple of those descriptions for you, and as I read them, think about the world in which we live today...
PAUL SAID THIS TO TIMOTHY in 2Tim 3:1-5...
2TI 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2TI 3:2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
2TI 3:3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
2TI 3:4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
2TI 3:5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.
IF THIS IS WHAT YOU SEE when you look around, you probably also better be looking up; this is how Paul says it’s going to be in the last days...
LET ME GIVE YOU ONE MORE from Thessalonians...
SOME FALSE APOSTLE had apparently written a letter to the Thessalonians convincing them that they had missed the rapture, and so Paul writes to correct and comfort them in 2Thes 2:1-4...
2TH 2:1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him,
2TH 2:2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
2TH 2:3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
2TH 2:4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
NOW CERTAINLY the man of lawlessness taking his seat in the temple will not happen until the tribulation period...
BUT THE APOSTASY that Paul talks about here is rampant in our day...
WE STUDIED THE EPISTLE OF JUDE not that long ago; a little one chapter book that is all about the subject of apostasy...
ALL ABOUT THOSE IMPOSTERS who creep into the church...
unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
THAT IS HAPPENING TODAY in churches all across our country and even the world...
AND LET ME TELL YOU what’s at stake when that happens...
IN FACT, I’LL LET JUDE tell you what’s at stake when that happens...
THE MAIN PLEA in his letter comes in V3...
JUD 1:3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
IN THESE LAST DAYS of the last days, people, what’s at stake more than anything else is the truth of the Word of God...
the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
IN THESE LAST DAYS I believe we are going to see more frequent and more vicious attacks on the Word of God than ever before...
AND IT’S OUR RESPONSIBILITY, as believers living in this time, to contend earnestly for the faith...
THERE ARE LOTS OF SPECIFIC WAYS that Bible is being attacked in our day, but when you boil it all down, the real issue is this...
IS THE BIBLE THE WORD OF GOD or is it not...?
THAT’S THE ISSUE that Jude would have us contend for...
THE REAL ISSUES are not homosexuality and abortion and other such things; the issue is the Word of God...
IF THE BIBLE is not the Word of God, then me have the right to draw their own conclusions about homosexuality and abortion and every other subject there is...
BUT IF THE BIBLE is the Word of God, if the Bible was breathed out of the mouth of God as it claims to have been, then men have only one choice, and that is to bow the knee to its absolute authority on every subject...
AND IF THERE’S ONE SUBJECT that is absolutely crystal clear in the Scriptures, it’s the subject of homosexuality...
I’LL JUST READ ONE VERSE to make the point, Lev 18:22 says this...
LEV 18:22 'You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.
THE ONLY WAY AROUND THAT, if you want to embrace homosexuality or any other sin, is to deny the inspiration and authority of this book...
AGAIN, OUR CALL in these last days, is to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints...
II. BODY
AND SO I WANT TO BEGIN THIS NEW YEAR with an affirmation of the Word of God...
I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU 1O REASONS WHY we believe the Bible is the Word of God...
MY WHOLE MINISTRY here at Faith Bible Church has been built on this one conviction...
I REMEMBER a frustrated person coming to me one time in the early days out on Route 62...
BACK THEN I was teaching the Scriptures at 9:30 in the morning, again at 11, and then a final time for the day at 6 pm...
AND THIS FRUSTRATED PERSON came to me and said, that’s all you do, 3 times every Sunday, and you always do it the same way...
I’M NOT SURE what he wanted me to do, but all I could say in response was that I believe the Bible is the Word of God and that’s why I do what I do...
MY CONVICTION about what this book is dictates my ministry...
AND SO LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT CONVICTION this morning as we begin a new year, and where it comes from...
10 REASONS WHY WE BELIEVE THE BIBLE is the Word of God...
A. REASON #1 IS THE TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE ITSELF...
THE BIBLE ITSELF claims to be the Word of God...
NOW THIS MIGHT NOT BE the greatest reason why we ought to hold this conviction, but it is a good place to start...
IF THE BIBLE DIDN’T MAKE this claim for itself, then we would have to take it upon ourselves to do so...
AND THERE WOULD BE GOOD REASON, at that point, to doubt such a claim...
BUT THE BIBLE DOES MAKE THIS CLAIM about itself...
AND I WANT TO SHOW 2 FAMILIAR SCRIPTURES where the claim is made...
THE FIRST ONE is found in 2Tim 3:16-17 where it says...
2TI 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
2TI 3:17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
ALL SCRIPTURE, at the time this was written, was primarily the OT Scriptures, but that’s only because the NT was not yet completed...
AND BEFORE WE’RE FINISHED I will be showing you some things that very clearly bring the NT into the scope of this statement...
I’M NOT GOING TO SPEND A GREAT DEAL OF TIME on this because you already know what it means...
MY PURPOSE THIS MORNING is to just remind you of some things; to reaffirm some things for you that you already know as we begin a new year...
IN FACT, every one of these 10 reasons I’m going to give you could be pursued at great length...
EACH ONE OF THE 10 REASONS could be a sermon in and of itself or even a series of sermons...
BUT WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO THAT; I just want to sweep them through your mind as a new year’s reminder of just how precious this treasure is that we hold in our hands and open together every Lord’s Day morning...
NOW BACK TO 2TIM 3:16...
INSPIRED BY GOD literally means God-breathed...
IN THIS VERSE OF SCRIPTURE the Bible is claiming to have come directly from God...
A STATEMENT THAT IS EITHER TRUE OR FALSE...
IT’S EITHER THE WORD OF GOD or it’s not...
MEN DO NOT HAVE THE OPTION of calling it something less than inspired and yet at the same time a good book that has literary value...
IF IT’S NOT THE WORD OF GOD then it’s nothing more than a book full of false claims, and a book that would have no literary value at all...
THE BIBLE CLAIMS inspiration for itself...
AND THE NEXT VERSE I want to show you tells us how it came from God to us in the form of a book...
PETER WRITES IN 2PET 1:20-21...
2PE 1:20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,
2PE 1:21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
AGAIN, THIS IS A SCRIPTURE that we have studied before...
JUST A COUPLE quick reminders about what it means...
FIRST OF ALL, it says that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation...
WE KNOW THAT GOD USED MEN to pen the words of Scripture, but this phrase assures us of the fact that they were not given the responsibility or liberty of interpreting what God said, they were simply the human channels of what God said...
WHAT WE HAVE THROUGH THEM is exactly what God said...
AND THEN V21 CLARIFIES this even further...
for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
AGAIN, WE CAN BE ASSURED that human will did not determine the words of Scripture...
but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
WHAT THIS MEANS is that God carried those chosen men along to His destination, like men on a raft being carried along by the current of the river...
HE SUPERNATURALLY allowed their own personalities and even styles of writing to come through what ended up being His very own words...
WELL, THESE ARE THE 2 PRIMARY VERSES where the Bible claims to be the Word of God in the most direct kind of way...
BUT THERE ARE CERTAINLY MANY OTHER VERSES that make this same claim in indirect ways...
PETER SAYS in 1Pet 1:23-25...
1PE 1:23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
1PE 1:24 For, "All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off,
1PE 1:25 But the word of the Lord endures forever." And this is the word which was preached to you.
THE WRITER OF HEBREWS says this in Heb 4:12...
HEB 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
AND THEN THERE’S PSA 19:7-10...
PSA 19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
PSA 19:8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
PSA 19:9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.
PSA 19:10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
I CAN’T TAKE THE TIME TO READ THEM, but all 176 verses of Psa 119 extol the Bible as the Word of God...
B. WELL, LET’S GO ON to a second reason why we believe the Bible is the Word of God...
FIRST THERE IS THE TESTIMONY of Scripture itself...
NOW WE’RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT the testimony of Christ to that fact...
JESUS CHRIST MADE A LOT OF STRONG CLAIMS that people try to deny, while at the same time calling Him a good teacher...
ON MANY OCCASIONS He clearly claimed to be God, and yet the same people who want to deny that claim want to call Him a good man or a good teacher...
BUT AS JOSH MCDOWELL rightly points out, if He claimed to be God and was not, He’s not a good man or a good teacher; He’s either a lunatic or a liar...
WELL, THE STRONG CLAIM we want to talk about is the one Jesus Christ made about the Scriptures...
HE AFFIRMED the Bible’s claim about itself, and I want to show you some ways in which He did that...
FIRST OF ALL, Jesus used titles for the Bible that clearly communicated His view of what it is...
ONE EXAMPLE being what He said to the Pharisees in Mark 7:9-13...
MAR 7:9 He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
MAR 7:10 "For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death';
MAR 7:11 but you say, 'If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),'
MAR 7:12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother;
MAR 7:13 thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that."
IN JOHN 10:35 Jesus referred to the Scriptures again as the Word of God...
AFTER READING A PORTION of the OT in the synagogue, Jesus said this in Luke 4:20-21...
LUK 4:20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
LUK 4:21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
IN JOHN 5:39 JESUS said to the Pharisees...
JOH 5:39 "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;
AND THEN IN YET ANOTHER dialogue with the Jewish leaders Jesus said this in Mark 7:5-8...
MAR 7:5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?"
MAR 7:6 And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.
MAR 7:7 'But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'
MAR 7:8 "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."
JESUS CLEARLY SAW the Bible as the Word of God...
ON MANY OCCASIONS THROUGHOUT THE GOSPELS we find Him mentioning OT people and events as historical facts...
HE SPEAKS OF ADAM AND EVE in Matt 19:4-5...
NOAH AND THE FLOOD in Matt 24:37-39...
LOT, LOT’S WIFE, and Sodom in Luke 17:28-32...
AND JONAH in Matt 12:38-41...
IN JOHN 12:48-49 it’s very clear that Jesus regarded His own words as Scripture...
JOH 12:48 "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
JOH 12:49 "For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
IN MATT 12:1-5 WE FIND JESUS holding people responsible for what was written in the Scriptures...
MAT 12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat.
MAT 12:2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath."
MAT 12:3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions,
MAT 12:4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?
MAT 12:5 "Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?
IN MATT 22:23-30 we have an example of Jesus using Scripture as conclusive evidence in answering His critics...
MAT 22:23 On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him,
MAT 22:24 asking, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.'
MAT 22:25 "Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother;
MAT 22:26 so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh.
MAT 22:27 "Last of all, the woman died.
MAT 22:28 "In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her."
MAT 22:29 ¶ But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.
MAT 22:30 "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
AND THEN FINALLY, I would remind you of what Jesus said to the 2 confused men He walked with on the Emmaus road after His resurrection...
THEY COULDN’T UNDERSTAND the events of that weekend and they didn’t recognize the resurrected Christ who was walking along the road right beside them...
AND WE’LL JUST PICK UP the conversation in V21 down through V27; the 2 men said the to the resurrected Christ...
LUK 24:21 "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.
LUK 24:22 "But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning,
LUK 24:23 and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive.
LUK 24:24 "Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see."
LUK 24:25 And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
LUK 24:26 "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?"
LUK 24:27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
THERE IS NO QUESTION about the fact that Jesus Christ considered the Bible to be the Word of God...
C. LET’S TAKE ONE MORE REASON this morning as to why we believe that the Bible is the Word of God...
AND THAT IS THE TESTIMONY of the writers...
WE HAVE THE TESTIMONY of the Bible itself, the testimony of Christ, and now, the testimony of the writers...
AND AGAIN, we could spend more time on this than we will...
I JUST WANT TO GIVE YOU a handful of examples to make the point...
WHEN DANIEL read in Jeremiah’s prophecy that the Babylonian captivity would last 70 years, he accepted it as true and began to pray and plan accordingly as it says in Dan 9:2-3...
DAN 9:2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
DAN 9:3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
THE PROPHET ISAIAH began his book with these words in Isaiah 1:2...
Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the Lord speaks,
ISAIAH KNEW he was penning the Word of God...
AND SO DID JEREMIAH...
HE OPENED HIS PROPHECY in a very similar way; Jer 1:4 says...
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
LISTEN TO WHAT PAUL SAID to the Galatians in Gal 1:11-12...
GAL 1:11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
GAL 1:12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
AND THEN HE SAID this to the Thessalonians in 1Thes 2:13...
1TH 2:13 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.
PAUL KNEW HE WAS PENNING the word of God...
HE SAYS IT AGAIN in Eph 3:1-3...
EPH 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles --
EPH 3:2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you;
EPH 3:3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.
IN 2PET 3:15-16 it’s very clear that Peter also accepted the supernatural origins of what Paul wrote...
2PE 3:15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,
2PE 3:16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
THERE’S A VERY INTERESTING STATEMENT that Paul makes in 1Tim 5:18 that affirms the inspiration of both the Old and New Testament Scriptures in one verse...
1TI 5:18 For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing," and "The laborer is worthy of his wages."
THERE ARE 2 QUOTATIONS in this verse, both of which Paul refers to as Scripture...
"You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing," is a quotation from the OT (Deut 25:4)...
AND "The laborer is worthy of his wages." is a quotation from the NT (Luke 10:7)...
III. CONCLUSION
A. THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD...
IT SAYS SO...
CHRIST SAYS SO...
AND THE WRITERS SAY SO...
AND I HAVE 7 MORE REASONS to go for next time...
7 MORE REASONS why we believe the Bible is the Word of God...
1. I’M GOING TO CLOSE for this morning by reading one small section of Psa 119... (V9-24)
PSA 119:9 ¶ How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.
PSA 119:10 With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
PSA 119:11 Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.
PSA 119:12 Blessed are You, O Lord; Teach me Your statutes.
PSA 119:13 With my lips I have told of All the ordinances of Your mouth.
PSA 119:14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches.
PSA 119:15 I will meditate on Your precepts And regard Your ways.
PSA 119:16 I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.
PSA 119:17 ¶ Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word.
PSA 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.
PSA 119:19 I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me.
PSA 119:20 My soul is crushed with longing After Your ordinances at all times.
PSA 119:21 You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who wander from Your commandments.
PSA 119:22 Take away reproach and contempt from me, For I observe Your testimonies.
PSA 119:23 Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes.
PSA 119:24 Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.