METRO CORE SESSION #1: THE BIBLE October 17, 2012 Greg Cahalan & Jeremy Schossau

Transcription

1 METRO CORE SESSION #1: THE BIBLE October 17, 2012 Greg Cahalan & Jeremy Schossau The Holy Bible is the best-selling book of all time. Over 100 million copies are produced around the world every year. It is available in 2426 languages. No other book even comes close to that. And this is even more staggering when you consider that the oldest book in the Bible, the Book of Genesis, was written over 3500 years ago. The Bible actually contains 66 books, the newest of which, the Book of Revelation, was written over 1900 years ago. And people are still reading it by the millions. In fact, tens of millions of people all over the world gather in rooms like this every week to talk about and learn about this book. But the Bible is not popular with everyone. People have tried to ban it, burn it, discredit it, and eliminate it altogether. Some governments have made it a crime to read it. And there are still some countries in the world today where you could be killed for trying to spread its message. And yet it survives. It not only survives, but it THRIVES! I mean, what do you think are the chances that people will still be reading this book 1000 years from now? I would say the chances are 100% - even if people have to give up their lives to make it happen. So what is it about the Bible that makes it the most important and influential book ever written? Why are millions of people still reading it after 3500 years, when almost every other book gets forgotten? Why are so many people willing to stake their entire lives on it message? And why do some people literally weep with joy just to hold it in their hands? Sometimes I wonder if we really understand what we hold in our hands when we hold this Book. I think way too many of us in America take it for granted. I mean, do you understand what a privilege it is to have the Bible in your own language? Do you realize that hundreds of people over the centuries have given up their lives to deliver this book to you? They shed their blood and were killed so you can hold it in your hands! The most important person in history when it comes to translating the Bible into English was a guy named William Tyndale. He was strangled to death and burned at the stake in 1536 for translating the Bible into the vulgar tongue of English. In God s providence we owe our English Bible to William Tyndale. When I meet him in heaven someday, I am going to hug him and maybe even kiss him for the glory of God! I am so grateful God used him to give us the Bible in our own language! To put it simply: I LOVE the Bible! It excites me! It is not an exaggeration to say that it is my favorite thing in the whole world! And those of us in this room who share this exuberant love for the Bible are in good company. The longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119, was written by one of the greatest Kings the world has ever seen. His name was King David, and he was the King of Israel around 1000 B.C. Psalm 119 is nothing but a love song to God for giving us the Bible. Look at some of these verses: Page 1 of 16

2 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. (Ps. 119:14) My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times. (Ps. 119:20) I delight in your commands because I love them. (Ps. 119:47) I lift up my hands to your commands, which I love (Ps. 119:48) Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. (Ps. 119:97) How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Ps. 119:103) Your statutes are the joy of my heart. (Ps. 119:111) I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold (Ps. 119:127) I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil. (Ps. 119:162) Like King David, millions of people throughout the centuries have had a love affair with the Bible. To people like this, the Word of God is the delight of their hearts! It is sweeter than honey and better than gold! What is it about the Bible that makes people talk about it this way? That s the question we are going to explore tonight! The goal tonight is to move all of us further in the direction of making Psalm 119 our own personal testimony, so we can all say: Your Word is the JOY of my heart! The way we are going to approach this is that we are going to ask and attempt to answer seven crucial questions about the Bible tonight. We only have 90 minutes, so we are going to have to really cruise! You ready? 1. What does the Bible say about itself? There are literally hundreds of passages in the Bible that we could turn to, but I think two of them really stand out. Let s start with Psalm 19:7-11. The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are true and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:7-11). The first thing that stands out from this passage is: The Bible is the Word of GOD! Five times in these verses, King David says the Bible is of the Lord. He calls it the law of the LORD, the testimony of the LORD, the precepts of the LORD, the commands of the LORD, and the ordinances of the LORD. He goes on to say that it is perfect, sure, right, radiant, pure, true and altogether righteous! So think about that for a minute. This is what the Bible says about itself. It claims to be perfect and true! It claims to be the Word of GOD! Page 2 of 16

3 Now look at 2 Timothy 3:15-17: The Holy Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:15-17). Once again, the Bible claims to be different from all other books. It calls itself the Holy Scriptures, which literally means the Sacred Writings. It goes on to say that these Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus. The Bible is the message of SALVATION! This means that, if the Bible is true, there is no salvation apart from the message of this Book. And then it goes even further and calls itself God-breathed. This means that The Bible is INSPIRED by God! God Himself is the One who inspired the human authors to write this book. They wrote the exact words that God wanted them to write. We ll come back to this in a little while, but this is an extraordinary claim! And then finally, we see that The Bible is ALL that is needed for faith and life. This is what theologians call the Sufficiency of Scripture. It says that through the teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training of Scripture, the man of God will be THOUROUGHLY equipped for EVERY good work. Nothing else is needed. You don t need the Bible AND anything! All you need is the Bible! Looking back to Psalm 19, it says that The Bible gives life, wisdom, and joy. It revives the soul, makes wise the simple, and gives joy to the heart. So this is what the Bible says about itself. The question is whether or not it is true. Is the Bible really the Word of God? Is it really the only message of salvation? Is it really God-breathed? Is it really all that is needed for faith and life? Is it really the ultimate source of life, wisdom, and joy? These questions lead us to our second question: 2. Why should we believe the Bible? There are a lot of different ways you can approach that question. A couple of weeks ago, I spoke on this topic at Unite and I used the acronym MAPS. The M stands for manuscript evidence, the A stands for archaeological evidence, the P stands for prophecy, and the S stands for statistical probability. If you want to hear that approach, you can listen to the Unite podcast. But I want to approach it a little differently tonight since I have more time to unpack it. I want to examine the truth of the Bible from the perspective of logic tonight. Logic is the science of deciding whether something is true of false. So the question we are asking tonight is: Is the Bible true? Page 3 of 16

4 There are a lot of people in the world today who would object to even asking that question. It is not very popular today to ask whether something is true or false when it comes to religion or morality. One of the most common things you hear is that what is true for you is not necessarily true for me. This is known as RELATIVISM, and it is very common today. A recent poll indicated that 72% of people do not believe in absolute truth. Now think about that for a minute. These people say: There is no such thing as absolute truth. The only problem with that is they are essentially saying: There are no absolutes except the absolute that there are no absolutes. Do you see the flaw in the logic? It is common sense that something is either true or false. The most basic law of logic is known as: The Law of Non-Contradiction Two clear, contradictory statements cannot both be true in the same way at the same time. 2+2=4 and 2+2=5 cannot both be true. A statement is either true or false. It cannot be neither true nor false, and it cannot be both true and false. Relativism, which denies the existence of absolute truth by believing that something can be true for one person and not for another, violates the law of non-contradiction. So how do you decide if something is true? Something is true if it agrees to the facts of reality. The statement 2+2=4 is true because it agrees to the facts of reality. So if we are going to decide if the Bible is true or false, we need to test it against the facts of reality. We need to use LOGIC! There are essentially four different kinds of truth. And we are going to test the Bible against each of them tonight. Historical truth tested against the facts of history (e.g. George Washington was our first president) Scientific truth tested against the facts of science (e.g. Gravity is a law of nature) Moral truth tested against the nature of God and the human conscience (e.g. Rape is wrong) Experiential truth tested against the facts of personal experience (e.g. I feel sick) We have already seen that the Bible claims to be the Word of God. It claims to be the only way of salvation. It claims to be all that is needed for faith and life. And it claims to be the ultimate source of life, wisdom and joy. These things are either true or false. They cannot be both, and they cannot be neither. Whether or not the Bible is true depends on whether it agrees to the facts of reality. And the Bible itself encourages us to examine it this way. The Bereans were of noble character for they examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17:11). The Bible and History When we test the Bible against the facts of history, we are essentially asking three questions: Page 4 of 16

5 1. Do we still have the original words that were written by the authors of the Bible? 2. Did the people in the Bible really exist, and did the events recorded in the Bible really happen? 3. Have the predictive prophecies in the Bible been fulfilled? The way we know we still have the original words that were written by the authors of the Bible is through the science of textual criticism. Textual criticism is the study of ancient manuscript evidence to determine what the original version of a document actually said. A manuscript is a copy of an original document. We have to understand that there are ZERO original manuscripts that exist of ANY ancient document that was created around the time of the Bible or before. There are only copies. And I think God did that on purpose when it comes to the Bible, because if we had the originals, people would be worshipping the scrolls instead of God Himself, and someone would try to make millions of dollars by charging people to see it. But even though we don t have the originals, the way God has preserved His Word over the years is amazing. Look at this: Manuscript Evidence for Ancient Writings Author Written Earliest Copy Time Span # Mss. Caesar B.C. 900 A.D. 1,000 yrs 10 Plato B.C. 900 A.D. 1,200 yrs 7 Aristotle B.C A.D yrs 49 Tacitus 100 A.D A.D. 1,000 yrs 20 Homer (Iliad) 900 B.C. 400 B.C. 500 yrs 643 Old Testament B.C. 250 B.C. 150 yrs 14,000 New Testament A.D. 125 A.D yrs 24,000 When you compare the Bible to ANY other ancient document, the manuscript evidence is OVERWHELMING! Here is how it works: When you consider the enormous number of existing manuscripts, their agreement with each other, and the time span between the copies and the original writing, virtually ALL modern scholars, Christian or not, agree that it has been established that the Bible we read today is nearly IDENTICAL to the original! And none of the disputed portions (which are less than 1%) contain any essential Christian teachings. So if you see some crazy, sensationalized TV show that questions whether we still have the original version of the Bible, reject it as nonsense! The manuscript evidence is overwhelming and conclusive WE HAVE THE ORIGINAL! And it is nothing short of a miracle! There is no other ancient book with more than 1000 existing manuscripts, but there are almost 38,000 for the Old and New Testaments combined! Page 5 of 16

6 The last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as having been written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and general integrity of the Bible may be regarded as finally established. - Sir Frederick Kenyon, textual critic and manuscript expert. God has preserved His Word! And that is AWESOME! Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away... (Matt. 24:35) The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of God stands forever... (Is. 40:8) Next, when it comes to whether the people in the Bible really existed and whether the events in the Bible really happened, we need to look to the science of archaeology. And what you find is that whenever an archaeological discovery has been made that deals with a person, an event or a place that is mentioned in the Bible, the discovery has proven to be 100% consistent with the history recorded in the Bible! EVERY SINGLE TIME! The stories in the Bible actually happened, and the science of archaeology has confirmed this over and over again including the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. "It...may be stated absolutely that no archaeological or historical discovery has ever contradicted a biblical reference. Scores of archeological and historical findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail statements in the Bible." - Nelson Gluek, famous archaeologist. But perhaps the most amazing thing about the Bible s relationship to history is that much of the Bible is history written in advance! There are hundreds of specific prophecies in the Bible which have been literally fulfilled, in many cases hundreds of years after they were written. Over 1/3 of the Bible was originally written in the form of predictive prophecy, and not one Biblical prophecy has ever failed to happen. Examples of fulfilled prophecy include: The rise and fall of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome (Daniel 7 & 8) The rise of Cyrus as ruler of Persia (Isaiah 45:13) The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) The death of Jesus (Isaiah 53, Psalm 22) The destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 21) Even today, Biblical prophecy is unfolding before our eyes! Conflict between Israel and Arabs. (Genesis 16:11-12) Rebirth of Roman empire in the European Common Market (Daniel 7) Movement toward numerical identification and one-world currency (Revelation 13) When it comes to the Bible and history, the Bible proves to be historically TRUE. The people in the Bible really existed and the events in the Bible really happened. Page 6 of 16

7 The most important thing this means is that Jesus Christ really existed and the events of His life really happened! He really lived in 1 st century Palestine. He really performed miraculous signs and wonders. He was really crucified on a Roman cross. He really died. He was really buried. And He really rose from the dead. It is indisputable that Jesus is the greatest and most influential man in all of history! He was the wisest man who ever lived! His moral teachings and his life are second to none! He claimed to be the Son of God, and there is no evidence that he was a liar or a lunatic. His resurrection from the dead is one of the most established facts of history, corroborated by over 500 eye witnesses and written in about in every major history book of the first and second centuries, inside and outside the Bible. There is not a court room in the world that would look at the evidence for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and conclude that it didn t happen. So when you are trying to decide who to believe and who to follow, choose the guy who rose from the dead and follow the Book that He believed was true! The facts of history demand it! The Bible and Natural Science Ok, now let s turn our attention to the next kind of truth, scientific truth, and test the Bible against the facts of natural science. Natural science is the study of nature through observation and experiment. For something to be scientific in this sense, it must be observable, testable and reproducible. The first thing to say about the Bible and natural science is that there are ZERO known conflicts between the Bible and Science. The only conflicts are between the Bible and certain scientific theories. A theory is a BELIEF that has not been proven by observation and experiment. For example, the theory of evolution is still just a theory because it has not been proven by observation and experiment. We are going to spend a lot of time on the theory of evolution in a few weeks when we talk about Creation in the Core Session on November 14 th. But for now we just need to know that evolution is not a problem for the Biblical worldview because it has not been proven true. In fact, there is substantially more evidence for Biblical creationism than there is for the theory of evolution. But we re going to set that aside for now and come back to it in a few weeks. Right now we are going to skip the unproven theories and instead we are going to test the Bible against some actual FACTS of science things that have been proven by observation and experiment. And what we are going to see is that many scientific discoveries are things the Bible has taught for thousands of years. The Bible contains numerous scientific discoveries told in advance. Here are just a few examples: The basic elements of the universe are matter, energy, space and time. This was considered a great discovery when it was first proven. The Bible states it in its very first verse: In the beginning (time) God created (energy) the heavens (space) and the earth (matter). (Genesis 1:1) Page 7 of 16

8 The Law of the Conservation of Mass and Energy. This is one of the two most basic laws of physics (known as the first law of thermodynamics). It states that the amount of matter and energy in the universe has been the same since it began. No new matter has been created, and none has been destroyed. Nothing new - Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done... (Gen. 2:1-2) Nothing destroyed - "...You...made heaven...[and] earth...and you preserve them..." (Neh. 9:6) The Law of Entropy. This is the other of the two most basic laws of physics (known as the second law of thermodynamics). It states that the universe moves from a state of order to disorder. The universe s energy is becoming less and less useful, until eventually the universe will die. Heaven and earth will pass away... (Matt. 24:35) Astronomy - All stars are different. This was not discovered until the 20th century. The Bible has said it for 2000 years. "...one star differs from another star.. (1 Corinthians 15:41) The Earth is Round. It was not until the 15th and 16th centuries that people agreed the earth is round. The Bible has been saying it since 600 B.C. He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth... (Isaiah 40:22) The Law of Gravity. Gravity was discovered in the 17th century. The Bible teaches it in its oldest book: He hangs the earth on nothing... (Job 26:7) Physiology - Life is in the blood. The scientific fact that life is in the blood was discovered in The Bible has been saying it for 4000 years. the life of a creature is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11) Laughter is medicine. The discovery that laughter produces chemicals in the body that promote health was discovered late in the 20th century. King Solomon was way ahead of his time: A cheerful heart is good medicine (Proverbs 17:22) Don t let anyone tell you that the Bible and science are in conflict with each other. It is simply not true. Whenever the Bible can be tested against the facts of science, there is 100% agreement. The only real problem humanistic scientists have with the Bible is they have a bias against the supernatural. They have a hard time believing in the miracles the Bible talks about. But that has nothing to do with science. Science only deals with things that can be observed, tested and reproduced. Miracles, by their very nature, cannot be observed or reproduced after the fact, so they have nothing to do with science. Whether you believe in miracles is NOT a Page 8 of 16

9 matter of science, it is a matter of history and a matter of faith. When a scientist does not believe in miracles, it is not because he is a scientist. It is because he lacks faith and denies history. The Bible proves itself to be true when tested against the facts of history and the facts of science. Now let s turn to the issue of MORAL TRUTH. The Bible and Morality When it comes to Moral Truth, we are testing the Bible against the nature of God and the human conscience. According to the Bible, God is the standard for right and wrong. Whatever is like Him is right. Whatever is not like Him is wrong. For example, this means that: Lying is wrong because God is truth. Murder is wrong because God is life. Hatred is wrong because God is love. Adultery is wrong because God is faithful. Stealing is wrong because God is giving. Lust is wrong because God is pure. But let s admit for a minute that if there were no God, there could be no such thing as right and wrong, because there would be standard. I mean, if there is no God, who decides what is right and what is wrong? It would all be subject to different human opinions. But what is amazing is that when you look throughout history and the world, there is incredible agreement between cultures and nations as to what is right and what is wrong. This is because God has created mankind with a conscience and has written his laws upon the human heart. We do not always listen close enough - but God is still speaking. We inherently know that some things are absolutely right and some things are absolutely wrong. The laws of God ring true to the human conscience. Examples: Loving people is right. Rape is wrong. Torturing innocent children is wrong. the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness (Romans 2:15) So the Bible proves itself to be true when tested against historical truth, scientific truth, and moral truth. And it also proves itself to be true when tested against the truth of human experience, which is perhaps the most important evidence of all. Page 9 of 16

10 The Bible and Experience When it comes to the Bible and human experience, on the one hand it is a freak of nature and does not match our experience at all. For example, the Bible was written by over 40 authors, in 3 languages, on 3 continents, over a span of 1,500 years, and covers hundreds of controversial subjects. Yet, the authors all spoke with perfect agreement; there are ZERO verifiable contradictions. This is known as: The unity of the Bible. Based on human experience, this is nothing short of miraculous! I mean it s difficult to find two people who live in the same house to agree on controversial subjects or tell a common story without contradictions! What are the chances of 40 different people over a span of 1500 years doing this? And what are the chances that NONE of them would contradict history or science? The unity of the Bible is perhaps the greatest miracle of all! It doesn t seem possible based on normal human experience. This is not an ordinary Book! But on the other hand, one of the most powerful things about the Bible is that it DOES ring true to human experience when it comes to our LIVES and CHARACTER. We live in a world mixed with beauty, pleasure, ugliness and pain. And the Bible makes no attempt to hide any of it. We live in a world where people were created in the image of God, but it is a fallen world and the image of God has been scarred. Even the heroes of the Bible are fallen people who struggle deeply with their own sinfulness. None us can even live up to our own standards of right and wrong, let alone God s. The Bible understands us. The Bible knows us. Virtually everyone who reads the Bible with an open mind is amazed by how it seems to penetrate them and know their thoughts, struggles and questions. When we read the Bible, we find the answer to virtually every question and need that human beings have. The Bible cuts us open and lays us bare. For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13) But the most important element of the Bible when it comes to the human experience is its POWER to produce FAITH in us, SAVE us, and SUSTAIN us. If you are a believer in Jesus tonight, then this is YOUR experience. None of us in this room became believers in Jesus because of historical or scientific evidence, even though those things are helpful in softening our hearts and opening our minds. At the end of the day, the only way anyone becomes a believer is when the Holy Spirit Himself opens our eyes to see the GLORY of Jesus in the Word of God. When I was a 15 year old kid, some friends of mine were in a Christian heavy metal band and invited me to their concert. When the lead singer opened his Bible and read the story of Jesus love for me, it was like I had been sleeping my whole life and all of a sudden God said WAKE Page 10 of 16

11 UP GREG! My spirit was REVIVED and I BELIEVED! I was dead, but now I was ALIVE! I was BORN AGAIN, and I have never been the same! Here is what happened to me: You have been born again through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1:23). So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17). The Bible has completely changed my life! It is the POWER of God for salvation, because it is literally the VOICE of GOD! And there are billions of people throughout history who have had this same experience! The MAIN reason I believe the Bible is the Word of God is because of my own personal experience with it. It saved me! It gave me life! It encourages me and comforts me! It gives me wisdom for every decision I need to make! And when I follow its teachings, it fills my life with love, joy and peace like nothing else can! When I believe what God has spoken in His Word, it fills my life with the PRESENCE of God Himself! So listen, based on what we have seen from history, science, morality, and experience, the only LOGICAL response is to believe that the Bible is the Word of God! The Bible agrees to the facts of reality! The Bible is TRUE! As for me, I am going to base my entire life on it, and I am going to do my best to obey everything it says. 3. What is the Bible about? Right here I just want to give you a broad overview of the Bible and its message. The Bible is a collection of 66 separate books or documents that were inspired by God. These 66 books are gathered into two testaments, the Old (39) and the New (27). But there is one, unifying theme that is unfolded throughout the whole Bible. God, for His own glory and for the joy of His people, has chosen to create and gather to Himself a great multitude of people that no one can count from every nation, tribe, people and language. These people will live in His eternal Kingdom to praise, honor and serve Him forever, and God will display His wisdom, power, mercy, grace and glory through them. The way God brings about this plan is by creating mankind in His own image, allowing them to fall into sin, pronouncing His judgment on sin, and then sending His one and only Son into the world to become a man and pay the penalty that sins deserve. Whoever puts their faith in God s Son is forgiven of their sins, receives the Holy Spirit, and is given eternal life. The Old Testament sets the stage for world history in the very beginning by explaining God s Creation, the Fall of Mankind into sin, and the judgment of God on sin that brought suffering, pain and death into the world. The whole rest of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is the story of how God has shown great mercy and worked through the events of history to save a great multitude of people from their sins and bring them to worship Him forever. It begins with a man named Abraham and his Page 11 of 16

12 descendants who became known as the nation of Israel. Here is the way God put it in Genesis 18:18-19: Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him." God chose Abraham and his descendants to be the nation through which He would bless every other nation. This is the most important thing to understand when you read the Old Testament. The reason the nation of Israel is so important in the Old Testament is because God chose them to bring about His plan to redeem the whole world. The Old Testament is basically the history of Israel from 2000 B.C. to 400 B.C. The nation of Israel had their ups and downs, but one main theme emerged. They were incapable of overcoming their deep sinfulness and needed someone to save them. As the history of Israel unfolded, it became clear that God s plan to redeem Israel and the whole world would be fulfilled through a Savior who would be born from Abraham s descendants, called the Messiah. And the Old Testament ends with the people eagerly waiting for Messiah to come. The New Testament begins 400 years later with the birth of the promised Messiah Jesus Christ! The rest of the New Testament is the story of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and the sending of the Holy Spirit to fill His followers to enable them to spread the message of salvation to every nation on earth. And here is where the story ends: I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" (Revelation 7:9-12) So that is what the Bible is about. It is a glorious story! And in the process, the Bible reveals to us the nature and character of God, which we are going to spend the whole night on next week. 4. Who wrote the Bible? Ok, so who wrote the Bible? We have already seen that the Bible claims to be God-breathed or inspired by God. 2 Peter 1:21 puts it like this: Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). This means that the Bible was written by men in their own words as expressions of their own thoughts and personalities, but they wrote precisely what God wanted them to write. Specifically, the Old Testament was written by prophets, priests, kings and leaders of the nation Page 12 of 16

13 of Israel. And the New Testament was written by Jesus 12 apostles and their close associates. These people were hand-picked by God as His appointed messengers. 5. How do we know which books are in the Bible? The Bible is ONE unified story with ONE divine author written over a period of 1500 years through the pens of 40 different human writers. But how was it determined which writings were sacred and belonged in the Bible? Over the centuries, three widely recognized principles were used to discover whether a specific writing was inspired by God and belonged in what is called the Canon of Holy Scripture. 1. It must have a recognized prophet or apostle (or one of their close associates) as its undisputed author. 2. It must not disagree with or contradict another writing that is already established as Scripture. 3. It must have the general consensus of God s people as an inspired writing. With the Old Testament, these principles are easy to apply because Jesus Himself read from and accepted the same Old Testament that we read from today. This is the main reason why we as a church do not accept the 7 additional books that are included in the Catholic Bible, nor do we accept the additions that they make to two of the other books (Esther and Daniel). These added books and sections have NEVER been included in the Hebrew Bible and were not part of the Hebrew Bible that Jesus accepted as God s Word. In addition, they contain things that contradict other established Scripture. When it comes to the New Testament, our confidence comes from the promises of Jesus Himself: But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26) When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth. (John 16:13). Jesus promised His people that the Holy Spirit would teach them and guide them. And He did exactly that. When it comes to the New Testament, there is 100% agreement among every major Christian denomination about which books were inspired by God. And this agreement has been in place for almost 1650 years. So listen, we can have total confidence that the 66 books that make up our Bibles today are the right books and the only books that belong in the Canon of Holy Scripture. Don t listen to all the controversy about other so-called holy books. They were not accepted for good reasons, and they do not belong in the Bible. Page 13 of 16

14 6. Why are there different versions of the Bible? The first thing we need to understand is that the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic, and the New Testament was originally written in Greek. So every English version of the Bible is a translation from these original languages. Having said that, why are there currently as many as 50 different English versions of the Bible? There are two primary reasons for the different versions: 1. Over the years, language and word usage changes. When the Bible was originally written in its original languages, it was written in the common language of the people at that time. In order to keep the Bible in the common language of the people at any given time, updates to the translation are necessary. If a modern reader were to pick up a 1611 King James Version of the Bible, it would be virtually unreadable. Everything from the spelling, to syntax, to grammar, to phraseology is very different. Linguists state that the English language has changed more in the past 400 years than the Greek language has changed in the past 2000 years. When the Bible is translated, it should be translated into how people speak at that time, not how they spoke hundreds of years ago. 2. There are different translation philosophies for how to best communicate the intention of the original authors. Some Bible versions translate as literally (word-for-word) as possible, commonly known as formal equivalence. Some Bible versions translate less literally, in more of a thought-for-thought method, commonly known as dynamic equivalence. All of the different English Bible versions are at different points of the spectrum between formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. The New American Standard Bible and the King James Version would be to the far end of the formal equivalence side, while paraphrases such as The New Living Translation and The Message would be to the far end of the dynamic equivalence side. The advantage of formal equivalence is that it minimizes the translator inserting his or her own interpretations into the passages. The disadvantage of formal equivalence is that it often produces a translation that is so rigid that it is not easily readable and understandable. The advantage of dynamic equivalence is that it usually produces a more readable and understandable Bible version. The disadvantage of dynamic equivalence is that it sometimes results in this is what I think it means instead of translate this is what it says. Neither method is necessarily right or wrong. The best Bible version is likely produced through a balance of the two methodologies, which is why the English Standard Version and the New International Version are my two favorites. Page 14 of 16

15 7. How should we read the Bible? Ok, so we have covered a lot of ground tonight, and I think we need to end on a real practical level. It s one thing to believe the Bible is the Word of God, but it s another thing to experience the living presence of God through His word. So what I want to do in the next few minutes before we get to some Q&A is share some insight on how to experience God through the Bible. I think there are 7 steps to good Bible study. Step 1 Pray! Before reading the Bible, we should always PRAY, asking God to help us understand what we read and to reveal Himself and His will to us. Step 2 Read! This should be obvious, but we are never going to experience God through His word if we don t READ it! We need to read the Bible every day. Jesus said that man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The word of God is the FOOD for our souls. Any day that we don t feed on it, we are spiritually starving. I have found the best way to stay consistent is to get on Bible reading plan. There are a lot of good ones on YouVersion. Pick one and stick with it. Step 3 Interpret! There are four principles that should guide us as we interpret the Bible. The Literal Principle Scripture should be understood in its literal, normal, natural sense, unless it is obviously using figures of speech or symbolism. The Historical Principle We must ask what the text meant to the people to whom it was first written. The Grammatical Principle Ask simple questions about the basic structure of the sentences. To whom do the pronouns refer? What is the tense of the main verb? Simple details like these make the meaning of the text clearer. The Synthesis Principle The Bible does not contradict itself. If an interpretation of one passage contradicts a truth taught elsewhere in the Scriptures, our interpretation cannot be correct. Scripture must be compared with Scripture to discover its full meaning. Step 4 Compare! At times you will find it helpful to consult others to ensure you have interpreted the Bible correctly. Read Bible introductions, commentaries, and background books to enrich your thinking. Page 15 of 16

16 Step 5 Apply! Bible study is not complete until we ask ourselves, What does this mean for my life, and how can I apply it? If there is a command to obeyed, we obey it. If there is a promise to be embraced, we claim it. If there is a warning to be followed, we heed it. This is the ultimate step: We need to submit to Scripture and let it transform our lives. Step 6 Pray! Once you have read, interpreted, compared, and applied, ask God to enable you to LIVE it out! I have found this step to be the most dynamic part of Bible study, because it turns Bible study into a relationship with God. Bible study begins with prayer and ends with prayer! Step 7 Meditate! It is not enough to just to study the Bible, we need to LIVE with it. We need to think about it. We need to talk about it. We need to memorize it. We need to trust it. The Bible is the Word of God, and God wants us to experience Him through it. Amen? Let s pray and head into some Q&A. Page 16 of 16