July 2, 2009

"He (Jesus) answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:39-40

"Three days and three nights in a fish's belly? Are you kidding me?"

You have to admit the story of Jonah sounds a bit far-fetched. He ran from God's will and was thrown overboard during a vicious storm. When he was thrown overboard he was swallowed by a "great fish" where he remained for three days and nights. That unfortunate event was enough to convince him to obey God. Once he made that decision, the gigantic fish spit him up onto dry land - exactly where he needed to be.

Wow! Happens all the time, right?

I believe it because I believe God's Word and I know God is well able to do something like this. In this case, I believe it because Jesus refers to the story of Jonah as a true story. Even his adversaries believed the story of Jonah even though they didn't believe Jesus.

A second objection that skeptics offer to challenge the inerrancy of the Scriptures is this one, "Could Jonah REALLY have survived in the belly of a fish?"

Actually, yes! There a several reports of mariners in the modern era who have been swallowed by whales yet survived the ordeal. It's been documented that there would be enough oxygen within the whale's body for a human to survive for three days. Those are the natural facts, but Jonah's survival was supernatural!

Those who ridicule the story of Jonah and point to it as evidence to discredit the Bible offer no objective or logical argument. Neither do they offer any contrary evidence. All they bring to the table is their anti-supernatural bias. From that standpoint alone, our argument is just as valid as theirs because we have as much right to an opinion as they do.

However, we do have some evidence to support our claims. Chief among the evidence is the fact that Jesus twice is documented as referring to Jonah (Matthew 12 and Luke 11). He is not pointing to Jonah as a fairy-tale, but as fact.

If you don't take the supernatural out of play, you can easily believe that God could create a "great fish" especially designed for the task, He could put the fish where it needed to be and turn it into transportation to deliver to the shore near Nineveh.

God created all the other sea creatures, He could certainly have done this.

Incidently, the miracle of Jonah and the fish was the next to last miracle that happened in the Old Testament.

What was the last miracle?

The final miracle of the Old Testament was what happened when Jonah went to the wicked city of Nineveh and preached - the entire city repented and was converted! Talk about supernatural!

It is easier to prove that the Jonah event did happen than it is to prove otherwise! So, if someone tells you this sounds "fishy" - don't take the bait!

July 1, 2009

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Matthew 4:4

I am glad that Jesus said "every word". I am also glad that He didn't say, "Man does not live on bread alone but on almost every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Apparently, Jesus believed in the inerrancy of the Word. Evidently He was confident that the Word of God was inspired and reliable.

Alex McFarland, in his book "The Ten Most Common Objections to Christianity" says, "Biblical writers use phrases such as 'Thus saith the Lord' or "The word of the Lord came to me saying.....' at least 600 times. In total, there are around 3,000 references of the Bible as a whole, or at least a part of it, as being the Word of God. Keep in mind that none of the writers collaborated on their works. This wasn't a Bible Boys Club where everyone brainstormed book ideas. There were years - sometimes centuries - between writers. Yet it is obvious that each scribe understood the divine interpretation behind other books."

Who would recognize divine inspiration more than one who had experienced it himself?

So, why do some doubt its inspiration? Why are there those who claim it is filled with errors? What are their objections?

Let me deal with some of the so called "errors" of Scripture.

So called error one: Because the Bible doesn't tell us where Cain found his wife, it is suspect.

Skeptics sometimes raise the topic of Cain's wife (Gen. 4:17). So, where did Cain's wife come from? Were there other races of people that the Bible fails to mention? Did aliens come down from a far away galaxy and mingle with humans? Huh? What about that, huh?

What do you say we start with the obvious? Cain married one of his sisters.

But doesn't that violate the biblical commandment against incest? Huh? How about that, huh?

No! The command from Moses that prohibited marrying a close relative did not come until at least 400 years later.

Interesting how these skeptics who often want to undermind the Scriptures in order to banish the foundations of absolute morality, suddenly become moral guardians when it suits their purposes.

"Every promise in the book is mine, every page, every verse every line......."

June 29, 2009

"All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal." Psalm 119:160

Have you ever thought that some of the critical problems that people have with the Bible might actually be in the heart and mind of the critic?

Yesterday in my message I mentioned several attitudes that people have toward the Scriptures:

1) It Is A Storybook - The Bible is filled with dramatic stories but it can't be taken seriously.

2) It Is A Spiritual Scam - Devious men wrote the Bible to gain control over people's hearts

and minds.

3) It Is Sacred Literature - The Bible should be revered as a holy book, like the Koran or

others religious writings.

4) It Is A Smorgasbord - Some who believe in the Bible pick and choose the parts that they

and reject the parts that make them uncomfortable. They make the

Bible work for them.

5) It Is Spirit-Inspired - What the Word says about itself is God inspired every word and there

are no errors.

Whichever view of the Scriptures you adopt will obviously influence how you view the accuracy and veracity of the Bible. If you approach the Bible from any of the first four positions you will be prone to reading into the Scriptures rather than reading from them.

If you are skeptical about the truth of God's Word and believe it is prone to error, I ask you to extend the same courtesy that is extended to a witness in a courtroom. Listen to the testimony it gives in its own behalf.

"All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal." Psalm 119:160

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness....." II Timothy 3:16

Here's what Jesus said about the Bible:

".....Scripture cannot be broken" John 10:35

"I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." Matthew 5:18

It is clear from theses verses and a number of others that Jesus fully believed the Bible was the inspired Word of God. So, if you cannot believe in Jesus and doubt what He believed about the Bible.

So, here are a couple of things to ponder today:

Am I reading into the Bible or am I reading out of it?

Am I treating the Word of God like a smorgasbord?

Honest answers to those questions could radically change your relationship to the Word.

June 28, 2009

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word." Psalm 119:9-16

If I have not yet made the case for the truth and reliability of God's Word, let me try one more time. First, let's review. The evidence we have presented to this point:

1) Fulfilled Prophecies - every prophecy concerning Jesus was fulfilled completely.

2) Historical Accuracy - if measured by the same standards as other commonly accepted ancient

documents, the Bible would fare well.

3) Miraculous Preservation - for ages the Scriptures have been under attack by kings, emperors, and czars. These tyrants have tried to destroy copies if the Bible, killed the people who printed them, and arrested those who possessed them. Still, the Scriptures not only survived, but remain a number one best-seller!

4) Unity of Structure - The Bible was written over 1,500 years by 40 different writers in three different languages on three continents and yet there is a single theme - the redeeming love of God!

5) The Influence for Good - It can easily be documented that everywhere the Bible has been honored and taught, the social climate and culture have been superior to non-biblical cultures. That has been true throughout biblical history. No other sacred writing has impacted history to a greater extent than the Bible.

So, faith in the Bible is well-founded. However, there is one more convincing and powerful proof for the veracity of the Word. What is it? It is the proof of a changed life!

When someone begins to study and believe and live by Biblical truths, that life changes dramatically. People who used to be hateful, suddenly become loving. Why? The power of the Word? People who once were very selfish, suddenly begin devoting their lives to serve others. Why? The power of the Word. The Word of God has tranforming power!

How can you see that power in your life?

Love the Word

Is the Word of God a controlling passion in your life? Do you love it more than life itself? Light the Psalmist, you should delight in His Word. When you do it will transform your heart and mind.

Learn the Word

The Psalmist hid God's Word in his heart. That takes time and effort and study. Read it. Memorize it. When you do it will transform your heart and mind.

Lean on the Word

What do you depend on when you have to make a tough decision? Where do go to find strength during a difficult time? When you need encouragement, where do you go to find it? Jesus leaned on the Word - even though He WAS the Word! When you lean on the Word you will find it transforms your life.

Live the Word

If you are a believer in Christ and a lover of the Word, I am guessing that you chose that way because of a significant person in your life who lived out the Word. For me it was a man named Ralph Westafer. He lived out the Word so well and with such passion that it was hard NOT to believe in the Word. I'll bet you know someone like that.

Will you commit to become someone like that?

June 27, 2009

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people." Proverbs 14:34

Even in this secularized "post-Christian" age in which we find ourselves, still virtually every home in America has at least one copy of the Bible. It remains a best seller and has sold billions of copies since 1800, having been translated in over 1,000 languages and dialects.

There is no question that the Bible has been the most influential book in human history as well as the best and biggest seller. It is hard to assess the profound impact the Bible has had on the moral, spiritual and even political development of the West.

The Bible has had a profound influence on the diverse cultures of Europe and the British Isles, the Americas, Australia and Africa, and has even left an imprint on Asia. It is a book that has inspired the whole range of human emotion and experience, including some of the finest art and literature.

With that in mind it brings us to the sixth in our series of proofs for the validity of the Bible:

Six, The Universal Influence of the Bible

Most of us know about the Protestant Reformation in early 16th century, but efforts to spread "the Word" actually began many centuries earlier.

Already by the 14th century disgust with the decadence and corruption of the Church began to create a grass-roots movement of rebellion. One of the earliest acts of defiance was an attempt on the part of several individuals to return the Christian world to its pure roots by re-introducing the Bible to the common man.

In both northern Europe and England illegal copies of the Bible were printed and distributed in the local vernacular. One such version, produced in England in the late 14th century by Oxford theologian, John Wycliffe, had this in its preface:

The Bible is for the government of the people, by the people and for the people. The people responsible for these "illegal" translations were persecuted and a few of them, such as Jan Hus of Bohemia, were put to death for heresy.

New technology was also to play a major role in the in the spread of the Bible. In 1453, in Guttenberg, Germany, the printing press was invented. Before the advent of this invention every book was hand copied, often by monks. This made books both rare and expensive. The printing press could not only produce books at a much faster rate, but it also dramatically lowered the cost of each book. It's no accident that the first book printed in Guttenberg was the Bible. The translation of the Bible into local languages and its mass-production via the printing press led to an explosion in both its popularity and impact.

The 16th century saw tremendous religious changes in Europe: Martin Luther founded a new Christian denomination called Protestantism. The focus of this new movement was primarily to protest against the material excesses of the Catholic Church and re-infuse Christianity with its Biblical spirit.

In 1538 Henry VIII also broke away from Catholicism and founded The Church of England. He issued a proclamation that a copy of the Bible be placed in every Church in England and public reading of the Bible became a regular feature of church worship.

Many other countries followed suit, abandoned the Catholic Church, and became Protestant.

Protestant theologians, realizing that the true religious and ethical spirit of Christianity came from within the Bible (both the Old and New Testaments) put strong emphasis on the individual's right and responsibility to go directly to the Bible and use it as the moral guidebook.

There can be no argument that as the Bible became more accessible to common men, it became more widely read. The desire to read the Bible led to the an increase in literacy. The inspiration of Biblical truths and concepts birthed great works of art and literature and music. Of the world's most prized paintings, 117 depict Bible characters and themes. Renowned composers such as Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn, and Handel were inspired by the lofty themes of the Bible and incorporated those themes in their musical masterpieces.

As Americans, we need only to look to our Founding Fathers and the foundational documents of our great republic to see the profound impact of Biblical truths, concepts and values in the formation of our liberties. Not only does our freedom arise from these principles but also the means of protecting those freedoms as well.

Impressive as these facts may, they only scratch the surface of the impact of the Bible on Western culture. No other book can make such a claim, whether it be a religious book or a secular tome. Why is this so? We believe it is because the Bible is the Word of God.

The B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me!

June 26, 2009

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which 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...." II Timothy 3:14-16

Anyone who has written a book will testify to how difficult that is. Mark Twain said, "There are some books that refuse to be written. They stand their ground year after year and will not be persuaded. It isn't because the book is not there and worth being written -- it is only because the right form of the story does not present itself. There is only one right form for a story and if you fail to find that form the story will not tell itself."

Not many have written better than Mark Twain, so when he testifies to how hard it is to write a book, people listen.

Can you imagine a book written by over forty different writers each being true to his style and having that book end up with a central common theme? That would be an amazing coincidence. Or would it?

Another one of the solid pieces of evidence for the truthfulness of the Bible is that fact that it was written my multiple authors over a long period of time and yet focusing on one clear central theme. Consider this evidence:

Five, The Structure of the Bible

The remarkable structure of the Bible should also be stressed. Although it is a collection of 66 books, written by 40 or more different men over a period of 2,000 years, it is clearly one Book, with perfect unity and consistency throughout.

The individual writers, at the time of writing, had no idea that their message was eventually to be incorporated into such a Book, but each nevertheless fits perfectly into place and serves its own unique purpose as a component of the whole. Anyone who diligently studies the Bible will continually find remarkable structural and mathematical patterns woven throughout its fabric, with an intricacy and symmetry incapable of explanation by chance or collusion.

The one consistent theme of the Bible, developing in grandeur from Genesis to Revelation, is God's great work in the creation and redemption of all things, through His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible was written in different places: Moses in the wilderness. Jeremiah in a dungeon. Daniel on a hillside and in a palace. Paul inside prison walls. John in exile on the barren Isle of Patmos. The authors wrote during different moods. Some from the heights of joy and others from the depths of sorrow and despair. They wrote it on three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe in 3 languages, Hebrew, the language of Canaan, Aramaic, the common language of the near East until Alexander the Great and Greek, the international language at the time of Christ.
The subject matter includes 100's of controversial topics, yet the biblical authors spoke with harmony and continuity from Genesis to Revelation. There is one unfolding story, God's salvation of man. F.F. Bruce "The writings belong to a greats variety of literary types. They include history, law (civil, criminal, ethical, ritual, sanitary), religious poetry, lyric poetry, parable and allegory, biography, personal correspondence, memoirs and diaries..... For all that there is unity which binds the whole together.

How do forty different writers writing over 16 centuries in a variety of places compile a book that focuses like a laser beam on the story of redemption of a sinful human race by a merciful and loving God? Maybe their thoughts weren't their thoughts. Perhaps the ideas, and the thoughts were planted in their spirits by the Holy Spirit?

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness......"

That would would make God's Word - well...... God's word!

June 25, 2009

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." Mark 13:31

How about some more evidence of the veracity of the Bible? So far we have given three examples and today I will offer a fourth, the amazing survival of the Bible despite continual relentless vicious attacks aimed against it.

Four, The Miraculous Survival of Scripture

Consider:

French humanist, Voltaire, (1700) boastfully proclaimed, "one hundred years from now the world will hear no more of the Bible." Yet, in the year of his boast, the British museum purchased a manuscript of the Greek New Testament for $500,000 while the first edition of Voltaire's new book sold for eight cents a copy! Furthermore, fifty years after the death of Voltaire, Bibles were being printed by the Geneva Bible Society in the very house where Voltaire lived and on his own printing press!

Late 7th Century B.C.--King Johioakim of Judah threw the scoll of Jeremiah's prophecy into the fire; however, God simply had his prophet write the same words again with additional material (Jeremiah 36:21-32).

William Tyndale (1500), after the invention of the printing press, put the Bible in his common language. Priests and bishops burned thousands of copies of his translation as a "burnt offering most pleasing to the Almighty God". He too was burned at the stake. His last words were, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes!" Less than three years after that, King Henry VIII authorized the publication of the Great Bible. This version was a combination of the Tyndale Bible and that of Miles Coverdale. A copy was chained to every pulpit in England so that everyone could read it.

Mid-20th century--A patient in an American hospital in Turkey was given a Bible. When dismissed from the hospital, he took the Bible back to his hometown in Turkey and proudly showed it to his friends. A muslim teacher* snatched it from him, tore out its pages and threw them into the street. The young man was afriad to pick them up. A passing grocer, however, did and took them and used them for wrapping paper. Before long, they were scattered all over the town. His costumers read the pages and returned to him for more. In a few days the entire Bible was distributed to interested readers. When a Bible salesman came to town, he was surprised to find a hundred people eager to purchase the Word of God!

Doesn't it seem that Someone wants the Word to survive? Could it be the same Someone Who declared, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."

Doesn't it also seem evident that someone else doesn't want it to survive? Could that be the powers of darkness, those enemies of God who fear the Truth and want to keep us ignorant?

Guess who is winning!?

God, the Holy Spirit, has inspired the Word. God, the Son, became the Word. God, the Father, has miraculously preserved the Word.

So, what will you do with it?