For 40 years, Gallup has been asking America its view of the Bible, and over that period of time, there has been an interesting trend. While more people now say they believe the Bible is God’s inspired word, the same group of people also say that it isn’t meant to be taken literally. I believe them, because another poll showed that 48% of Americans believe there is no one set of values that is right. 7 in 10 Americans now say that religion is losing its influence in American life – one of the highest responses ever to this question. Something about the way people regard the Bible is keeping them from accepting its direction for their life.
The Church of today is up against a challenge it didn't face 50 years ago. When inviting people to Jesus 50 years ago, you could assume something about the average person: the average person in the US accepted the Bible as God's word and that it was meant to be read, understood, and applied to my life. Of course there were exceptions, but in general, it was accepted this way. If you could show someone that the Bible said something, that settled the issue. If you could say, "The Bible says…" then that was it.
That's not true anymore. In fact, the Bible is generally not accepted this way - even by church members across our country in many churches. It has been bumped out of our schoolrooms, our courtrooms, and our workplaces. The Bible isn’t just less accepted, it’s even unsafe.
Come to think of it, it's not safe.
Oswald Chambers - "The Bible treats you like human life does--roughly."
No other written work places on me the demands this book places on me. Oh, they may make demands, but few of them suggest that the outcome is of eternal significance! The yellow pages affect my life, but only for a while. This book is asking to affect my life drastically. Should I let it? Why should I believe that this book, actually a collection of 66 books, is from God and deserves to direct the way I live?
Ill - 2 young men came to my door one Sunday afternoon. I engaged them in a discussion on my porch. They were from another group - the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - the Mormons. They wanted me to accept their teaching as a word from God. They wanted me to accept the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price as a word from God and as books that should affect the way I live. We discussed why I believed the Bible was true. So why wouldn't I accept these other books as true also? Then they told me that if I would just read them, I'd develop a feeling, an inner confirmation, that they were true. That's why they believed them, and that's why I would too. But, I told them, there's too much at stake here. I don't want to bet my eternity on how something makes me feel! I'm not willing to make that gamble!
But many of you are, or maybe you've been unwilling to acknowledge the Bible because you haven't ever been faced head-on with a reason to question it.
I hope to change that this morning. I want you to have an honest, although brief, look at some good reasons to accept that the Bible really is God's word to man today and that it ought to be listened to, understood, and allowed to direct your life.
September 8, 2004, less than 2 months before the Presidential Election, Dan Rather on 60 Minutes presented several documents critical of President George W. Bush’s service in the Air National Guard. They were supposed to be letters, written about him, but they weren’t carefully authenticated. The public demanded to see them, and immediately there were problems – they contained dates in them that didn’t line up with history. The type style and spacing wasn’t available in 1972, when they were supposedly written. They were fakes, and in the controversy that came to be referred to as Rathergate, CBS finally issued an apology to the public and some people lost their jobs. Dan Rather lost his credibility. People wanted to know - Are they real? Who wrote them? And do they speak the truth? This had bearing on a presidential election. People cared about knowing the truth, and were angry when they were misled by someone who they felt is supposed to deliver the truth.
The very same kinds of questions that have been asked about the Bible have also been asked about the "Killian documents." And, sure enough, the same kinds of tests have been applied to the Bible to help us understand if it's the real thing or not.
Why should I believe the Bible is God’s word? This question really matters, and I hope to help you leave with some solid answers this morning.
(I. The Bible Claims To Be God's Word)
First, I want to answer a question that's pretty important: What does the Bible claim for itself? Dr. Seuss never claimed to be writing a word from God. We don’t need to spend any time trying to decide if Green Eggs and Ham is from God!
If the Bible doesn't claim to completely be the word of God, then I could just stop here. But what does it say about itself?
2 Peter 1:20-21 - Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Sure enough, the writer of Hebrews, when he quotes from Ps 95, doesn't say, "As the Psalm writer says…" Instead, he says, "As the Holy Spirit says…"
Hebrews 3:7 - So, as the Holy Spirit says [Psalm 95:7]: "Today, if you hear his voice,
Paul believed that as he wrote, his writing wasn't just the ideas of a man.
1 Corinthians 14:37 - If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command.
1 Thessalonians 2:13 - And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
How can this be? How could people write something and then consider that it actually wasn't their words but God's words they were writing? The answer is in
2 Timothy 3:16-17 - 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.
God-breathed. Our word for this is inspiration. It's the way that God took some 40 human writers and oversaw their work to make sure that what they wrote was exactly what He wanted written. It's why all the NT writers, and Jesus, all regarded the OT as completely reliable and true. They accepted that the stories of Adam, Able, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Jonah, and others were true.
So, from the start, let's restate this: The Bible itself claims to be the word of God, written by human authors who were used by God to write it. No one can fairly deny that it makes this claim for itself.
But, does that settle the question? No! What if it's lying? What if it's part of an elaborate scheme? It wouldn't be the first time in history there has been a big deception. But let's start with this: the Bible claims to be the word of God.
II. The Bible's Claim is Supported by External Evidence
The next question we have to deal with is the one of transmission. In other words, even if the writers' originally thought they were writing God's word, how do we know that what we have now is even close to what they wrote then?
Do we have any of the originals of the Bible's 66 books? NO. Not 1.
But, we do have enough pieces of the cross to build several crosses, and enough other relics to rebuild several sacred objects several times over. Get the point? Anytime something of religious significance survives the ages, we turn it into an idol or good luck charm! That's why, in the OT, God commanded Moses to build a bronze snake and set it up on a pole, to help the people. Later, it had to be taken and smashed by King Hezekiah because the people had named it and were burning incense to it! That's why you get a movie like Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark! You can bet, if we had an original copy of John, from the hand of John, people would be somewhere bowing to it today! They'd miss the point. We don't have the originals. Not one.
This used to really bother me. Maybe it bothers you. Let me help.
How many of you have ever seen an original of the Declaration of Independence? (raise your hands)
OK. But how many of you have seen at least the text of it and felt confident that you were reading what Thomas Jefferson wrote and then Adams and Franklin adjusted? Why did you feel confident? Several reasons:
1. It was regarded as an important document, so it was treated that way.
2. Many copies were made of it right away and sent around to the 13 colonies
3. Many witnesses saw it and would verify its contents
4. We could always go back and look at the original.
What about the US Constitution? The Gettysburg Address? Same things: they were important, many copies were made of them and spread around, many witnesses saw them, and we could always go back and look at the originals in some form. We believe about those old, important documents that we have the original writings of their authors, even without seeing them in person, based on all of these external evidences.
Now, let's take away #4.
Let's say no one living today has seen the originals of other old writings: Longfellow, Shakespeare, Chaucer. Let's go further back: Homer, Plato, Aristotle. We read their works. We accept that what we're reading are their works, but all of that's based only on copies. There's no original for comparison. Still, we assume that what we have is fairly accurate. Why? Because of…
the number of copies that exist
the care given to making the copies
the age of the copies
witnesses verify them
Even without the originals, we're still confident that we're reading Shakespeare, Chaucer, Longfellow, even Homer, Plato, and Aristotle.
Just for comparison, let's take the external evidence for the ancient writing of which we have the most and oldest copies and compare it to the NT. That would be Homer's Iliad.
There are 643 different copies of the Iliad existing today. The oldest one was made 500 years after Homer wrote the original in 725-625 BC. It was regarded as sacred literature, so it was carefully copied, sent around, and preserved. It's still read and studied today. We figure, when we're reading it, we're reading Homer - translated from classical Greek, of course. When we take those 643 copies and compare them, there are differences in about 5% of the whole text. Only 5% of the whole, and most of these places don't affect the meaning significantly. As ancient writing is concerned, the Iliad's very well-preserved.
Let's compare that to the whole NT.
The NT was also regarded as sacred literature early on too, so it was carefully copied, spread around and preserved. The oldest copied parts of it that we have today were made about 25 years after it was collected. All totaled, there are 24,633 ancient copies of the NT and parts of it. When we take all of those copies and compare them, there are differences in the copies in about .5% of the whole text - ½ of 1% - 400 words of the total. All of these are places that don't significantly affect the meaning - and, we know where they all are!
We have similar reasons to accept the trustworthiness of the OT copies too.
Archaeology has always helped support the Bible. More than 25,000 sites showing some connection with the OT have been located in Bible lands. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 helped verify the accuracy of the copies of the OT that we had up to then. In Northern Syria, the Ebla Kingdom was discovered. It contained over 17,000 tablets with information on them giving insights into the history of that area. They're filled with information that helps support what the OT already says.
These are all external evidences about the Bible:
Does it match what we already know about history?
Does archaeology verify it?
Do other writers from that time mention or quote it?
When it comes to verifying the accuracy of the Bible in your hands, the answer is yes, yes, yes!
OK, It's accurate. It represents the author's writing. Now, is it true?
Did the author's original writing represent what was true?
For instance, I may have an accurate copy and translation of the writings of Muhammed, but that doesn't validate his claims! What about the Bible not only verifies that it's accurate, but also that it's true? That's when we need to consider what's inside - the internal evidence. Does it make sense? Does it agree with itself? Is it cohesive?
III. The Bible's Claim is Supported by Internal Evidence
First, let's allow some room here. Remember, this is a book written…
66 books, over 1500 years (over 40 generations)
By over 40 authors, from all walks of life
Containing many different kinds of literature
In different places
At different times
During different moods
On 3 continents
In 3 languages
Full of controversial subjects
Yet it manages to all fit together, agree, and tell one basic story: God's redemption of man.
Ill - This morning's Rockford Register Star was produced in about 24 hours, by one business as its author, mostly in one place, in one language, and it has some controversial subjects, to be sure, but I'll bet if you were to read it carefully you'd find that it doesn't entirely agree with itself. Just the fact that the Bible makes sense ought to tell us something about its origin.
The next thing I'd point you to is the way prophecy is fulfilled. The fact that God would have people write these predictions, and then that they came true helps verify that this books is more than just the writing of man. When you look for just the prophecies about Jesus alone there over 300 in the OT that were fulfilled by Jesus!
Most of these were written 5-600 years before Jesus was born, but some even much further back than that. These couldn't have happened by accident, or even on purpose by just human design. It's just another evidence that the writers of the OT were writing by inspiration from God and not just their own ideas.
The Bible agrees with itself. Even though it sets itself up for potential failure by making lots of predictions, by containing such a variety of writing by such a variety of people, it doesn't fail. The internal evidence says this is no ordinary book. This is the word of God.
I understand, though, that I'm speaking in a time when people don't just want a formula. There's more to this for the average person than a chart or a graph. The bigger question on many peoples' hearts is, "Does it work?" Is the Bible "real" in the sense that it speaks to my needs and connects with me? Is it real in the way it helps me order my priorities in life? Is it real in the way it addresses life's challenges? Can I understand it and use it, realistically, to direct my life?
IV. The Bible's Claim is Supported by Changed Lives
The Bible claims that it's able to make a difference in your life:
Hebrews 4:12 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.
If that's true, then I ought to be able to point to the places where that word has left its mark. Has it?
Martin Luther said, "The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me." Consider with me some of the places where has the Bible left a mark…
1. Look at history
No other single world movement has had a greater impact on history than Christianity. No book has outsold the Bible. No greater number of people have given their lives for the sake of another book. It was the martyrs' acceptance of it that sent them by the thousands to die, and it was Constantine's conversion that led to the establishing of the Roman Church. And when you study into the very roots and fabric of our government's structure, it is the way it is because godly men were designing it based on their understanding of the Bible.
Take an honest look into history and you'll concur that the Bible has made its mark there. Then…
2. Look around
Look around you here this morning. Yes, there are phonies in the Church. But there are far more people who take their relationship with Jesus seriously and who are being shaped by Jesus on a daily basis. Jesus changes their lives. I don't have the time this morning to share some of those stories with you, but they're sitting all over in here.
Ill - Henry Ironside was preaching some years ago when a heckler shouted, "Atheism has done more for the world than Christianity!" Ironside said, "Very well. Tomorrow night you bring a hundred men whose lives have been changed for the better by atheism, and I'll bring a hundred who have been transformed by Christ." The heckler didn't come back the next night.
Look around you and see how the Bible makes its mark in the lives of people right here.
3. Listen to others
You can't argue with someone about their experience. All you can do is see if it's based on something objective that others can share in, and then ask if others have shared the experience.
Ill - Someone told a reformed alcoholic that his experience wasn't valid; that his religion was a delusion. He said, "Thank God for the delusion; it has put clothes on my children and shoes on their feet and bread in their mouths. It has made a man of me and it has put joy and peace in my home, which had been a hell. If this is a delusion, may God send it to the slaves of drink everywhere, for their slavery is an awful reality."
I wish I had time to read you the testimonies of 58 different people from Josh McDowell's book Evidence that Demands a Verdict. The point of them is very simple: the Christian experience is a valid experience based on objective truth that has been shared by many.
Each one is telling their story of how Jesus changed their life. Every one of them is a story of the Christian experience. The point of mentioning them is simple: There are hundreds from every race, every walk of life who bear testimony to an experience through Jesus Christ. But don't let that be the end of it:
4. Try it yourself (Conclusion:)
"Does it work?" Is the Bible "real" in the sense that it speaks to my needs and connects with me? Is it real in the way it helps me order my priorities in life? Is it real in the way it addresses life's challenges? The Bible invites you:
Psalm 34:8 - Taste and see that the LORD is good;…
We're not inviting you to worship the Bible this morning. We're inviting you into a relationship with the One Who wrote it. We're inviting you to Jesus - to the experience that will further validate His claims and the claims of this book. It's not a blind leap of faith. It's a deliberate step of submission to Him and a new direction for your life.
