The Book Of Books

Sermon for 12/11/2005

The Book of Books

Introduction:

A minister was visiting one of his members. The lady of the house was trying to impress him about how devout she was by pointing out the large Bible on the bookshelf and talking in a very reverent tone about how it was the “Word of God.” Her young son interrupted the conversation, “Well, if that’s God’s book we better send it back to him because we never read it!”

WBTU:

A. Beginning in January we are starting a sermon series based on the Bible reading plan in the Lookout Magazine that is on the table in the foyer. This Bible reading plan will also be published in the bulletin and newsletters. I am going to be preaching on Scripture that you have read the previous week in my sermon each Sunday. We are going to read the Bible through in a year, a little section each day, and I can guarantee that it will change your life.

B. The Bible itself says in (Heb 4:12 NIV) 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.

C. But how can we know that this book is the Word of God. After all, it was written by people and because of that it must contain errors. I am sure that we have heard it many times that the Bible cannot really be the Word of God. We have heard from supposed Bible scholars about how the Bible is somehow defective.

D. Dean Davis, director of Come Let Us Reason, a Bible teaching ministry, after a lecture in a senior citizens center, had a man come and ask him, “How can you possibly believe that the Bible is the Word of God?”

E. Dean Davis, obviously a quick thinking man, answered him and said, “Sir, there is one piece of evidence above all others that persuades me that the Bible is God’s Word. It’s called the unity of Scripture. The Bible is actually a collection of books- 66 of them, written by more than 40 authors, over the course of some 1,500 years; yet it is one unified book. The unity of the Bible is so intricate and so beautiful that no mere mortal could possibly have produced it. It has to be the product of a single divine Mind working through the different authors. It is this amazing unity that persuades me that the Bible is the Word of God.” With that, the man turned and walked away.

F. Dean Davis attempted to point this man to the Biblical order. Order. Webster’s Dictionary defines order as an arrangement of different objects integrated into a system according to a definite plan.

G. When we come to this definite plan this implies that there is a designer. Order implies and reveals design and design implies and reveals a designer. Order always indicates personal intelligence, purpose, and power at work.

H. Dean Davis expanded on that theme in a recent article in Christian Research Journal called, “Apologetics and the Unity of the Bible.”

Thesis: The Bible is one story, about one God, who is administering one plan of salvation, that is centered around one person, who is attested to by one body of signs, and who is worshipped by one people, according to one worldview.

For instances:

1. One Story

A. The Bible tells one story. This story has a beginning, middle, and end. It tells us the creation, the Fall of Mankind, and the restoration of mankind through the righteousness of Christ.

B. This story has many characters and many themes. It has a plot and many subplots. There is rising action, developing conflict, apparent defeat, and unexpected deliverance and final victory. There is romance, mystery, comedy, and tragedy.

C. The Bible displays an outstanding literary unity that reveals the hand of one Author. Now the Bible is more than a story, it is not fiction, it is history. It is based on facts of the past.

D. AT my high school they had a class called The Literature of the Bible. We looked at the Bible from the viewpoint of a piece of literature. What is interesting to note is that the story of the Bible is where many lesser stories get their beauty and truth!

E. Many people sense that their lives have significance and meaning. They feel like they are part of a much bigger story and in the Bible they find their part in the universal story. For everyone who plays his part in the story well, there is a happy ending.

F. Many people look at the Bible as a book of history. It is full of dull, uninteresting facts of the past. Yes, it is a book of history, but what makes it so exciting is that is a book of His story, God’s story.