Description
QUESTIONS FOR GOD
QUESTION #2 – HOW DO I KNOW THE BIBLE IS TRUE?
PASTOR ED YOUNG
APRIL 26, 1992
This week I asked some people in the community what they thought about the Bible. I just said, “Your first response—tell me what do you think about God’s Word?” A young woman told me, “It’s interesting you asked that question because just this week some girlfriends of mine and I were having lunch and we were talking about the same subject, what we think about the Bible. She said, “I think the Bible is the basis of all understanding.”
A young man told me, “The Bible is a great philosophical book, but I doubt its historicity.” A middle-aged man said, “The Bible is the basis of all discipline; it’s the Word of God.” There’s no doubt about it, all of us have opinions on the Scripture, on the Bible. Some say the Bible is the answer to all of life’s problems. Others say it’s a bunch of nonsense, it’s fairy tales, it’s irrelevant. But we would all agree that the Bible is unique. It’s unique. And this morning, we are going to ask God this simple yet profound question, “God, is the Bible true? Is the Bible accurate, God? Is it reliable? Can you really count on it or is it just nice to have around?”
Let’s look briefly at the Bible’s uniqueness. The Bible is unique in three ways. It’s unique first of all in its circulation. Its circulation. There’s no question, the Bible is the most published book in the history of the world. Billions and billions of Bibles are in print. I kind of sound like Carl Sagan, don’t I? Billions and Billions. But there are billions and billions of Bibles in print. Millions are published every year. Most all of us have one or two different Bibles that we keep on the bookshelf or on our bedside table, but we know a lot and see a lot and hear a lot about the Bible.
You watch an NFL football game on television. When you see the extra point, well I should do the soccer style, no one kicks straight on anymore. That shows how old I am, but the soccer style kick, the ball is going through the uprights into the protective net and all of a sudden, you’ll see the big banner, “John 3:16, John 14:6.”
I read an article this past week, as I was on the Stairmaster on about the 28th minute, on Supermodel Naomi Campbell. Naomi Campbell states that she brings the Bible wherever she goes in the world and she always opens it up to Psalm 91 because her grandmother said it would ward off evil spirits. I think that’s great and she should be applauded that she carries the Bible, but in listening to her language and reading about her lifestyle, I doubt very seriously she reads it, much less applies it.
This past week, my wife and I went to a secular play and one of the main points in this production was when an actor told an actress, “You mean you don’t own a Bible!” So the Bible is widely circulated. The Bible is unique in its circulation. It’s also unique in its translation. The most translated book of all times, into over 1200 languages. The Bible has been the number one best-seller of all time. Most authors would dream of having one book on the best seller list just for a week, but the Bible blows them all away! Circulation, translation.
The Bible is also unique in its preservation. It has been picked apart, ridiculed, banned, burned. You name it, the Bible has gone through it, but it has emerged stronger than ever. Its influence is still far-reaching. It’s growing. Translators are working as we speak on taking the Bible and putting it into other languages so that everyone will have a copy of God’s Word. I know what you’re saying, “Ed, okay. Ease up. I agree. I put my flag up. The Bible is unique. Nice outline too. I like that. Circulation, translation. Oh man! Preservation. Let’s close our Bibles and go home. I want to talk about something relevant. Okay, the Bible is unique. Granted. But, is it accurate? Is the Bible accurate, Ed?”
In the next few moments that remain, I want to build a case from historical biblical data on the reliability and the validity of the Scripture because the Bible is accurate. It is unique. But you say, “How is it accurate?” It’s accurate first of all, and I’ll still continue this nice outline, in its documentation. The Bible is documented. Take your Bibles and turn to the book of Psalms. Psalms is in the middle of the Bible. Psalm 19, I’ll read Verses 7 through 9.
How many of you have ever heard of Plato and Aristotle? Would you please lift your right hand. Plato and Aristotle. How many people have read the complete works of Plato and Aristotle? Raise your right hand. How many have read the Cliff Notes for Plato and Aristotle (laughter). Raise your right hand. You’re talking to Mr. Cliff Notes right here. Plato and Aristotle, classical, historical documents. Literary greats. We never question the historicity, the reliability. We never questioned that these writings were passed on from generation to generation. We never questioned that. We just accept Plato and Aristotle’s writings at face value.
There are less than ten ancient copies of Plato and Aristotle that we can use to dissect, to read, to compare with the present text. Take a wild guess at how many ancient copies there are of the New Testament alone. Ten? Twenty? Okay. A hundred? Try 14,000! 14,000 ancient copies of the New Testament alone, and people try to pick it apart and say this and say that. There’s no question about it; the Bible is the most reliable, classical piece of literature in the history of the world. Plato and Aristotle aren’t even close! They don’t even scratch the surface. For you trivia buffs, there are 184,540 words in the New Testament. I’ll say it one more time. In the New Testament, there are 184,540 different words. There are 400 words that scholars, historians, and linguistic experts have questions or doubts about, but those 400 words only have to do with grammatical errors, misspelled words, maybe a couple of places. The rest of the words—I’m talking about comparing the ancient documents, 14,000, with our present day text—are right on target.
So we are absolutely convinced, using the Classical Historical Method, the evidence is there that the same Bible, the same Scripture they had in antiquity, we have today. It’s supernatural how God has preserved, how He has protected the Bible. So the Bible is unique in its documentation.
I want to read Psalm 19, Verse 7, “The law of the Lord is perfect,” that means it’s accurate. Here’s what the Bible says about itself, “The Law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul.” In other words, the Bible is saying, “We need some spiritual CPR, and when you read God’s Word, we are revived. (We used to sing a hymn, “Revive us again.” I won’t go on, but I used to love that.) “The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,” Verse 7 says. They’re trustworthy. You can take it to the bank.
I know what the skeptic is saying though, “Okay. I’ll give it to you. The Bible is unique. I see that the ancient documents are reliable, that the Bible they had years and years ago is the same Bible we have today. There are very few errors whatsoever and the errors that we do have today don’t affect doctrine or truth one iota. How about the miracles though? I have a problem with the miracles. Whales, resurrections, healings! Come on! Our man Moses, the Red Sea, Charlton Heston—it didn’t happen. I have a hard time grasping that.”
Because we live in a very rationalistic age, you have to prove it in a laboratory type environment, and I think we were at the height of this scientific era about 20 years ago. Now we’re finding out things time and time again that totally blow theories away. A couple of years ago we had a probe of the planet Saturn, and when the probe cruised by Saturn one time and took a series of photographs, it blew away 28 scientific theories. But we think, “Miracles, hmm.”
Let’s take the Classic Historical Method that we used throughout history from Napoleon Bonaparte to Christopher Columbus to Abraham Lincoln being assassinated in Ford’s Theater, and let’s look at the miracles. When the miracles were performed, they were performed in public. Hundreds and thousands of witnesses were there. They saw the miracle, and the moment the miracles happened, the people began to tell and write down what had occurred. They began to take the documents and pass them around to everyone.
Now, if these documents had been fabrications, I think the people would have said, “Not! Fabrication. This is a joke. You retract this statement.” The people couldn’t do it. They couldn’t squelch it because there were hundreds and thousands of witnesses. “I saw Christ. I was one of the 500 He appeared before after He rose from the dead. I was there! I saw Moses. I saw God part the sea. I was there! I saw Jonah, his skin eaten up by the whale’s digestive juices after he had coughed him up on land. In fact, in the early 1900s, talking about Jonah—this is just a side comment—a whaler was lost at sea, and three days later they harpooned a whale and found the man unconscious in the whale’s belly. The whaler had fallen overboard, and he lived to sail and whale again. That’s a documented, historical fact. That’s good. Sail and whale again. I’m kind of on a roll.
Documentation. Let’s continue in our study. Look at Verse 9. Verse 9 says, “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.” The Bible keeps going by saying, “the commandments of the Lord are radiant.” You can count on the miracles. They happen. You can count on and bank on the documentation. Then it says, “The ordinances of the Lord are sure.” We can trust the historicity. The Bible passes the historicity test with flying colors. We can trust the miracles.
Have you heard the one about the girl—this is a true story—she grew up in a rural community, attended one church her entire life. She had a great pastor. He would preach the Word of God. She took notes, outlines and everything. She graduated from high school, and she went off to the big university. She goes to the big university and the first day of class, she has a brand new ballpoint pen and a legal pad. She’s beginning to write and the professor stands up and totally destroys the Bible. “Oh this didn’t happen. That didn’t happen. I can explain that away and that,” and she’s about in tears. So after class she slams her legal pad down and she runs off to her dorm and dials long distance to her pastor .
“Pastor, you won’t believe what happened. I went to first day of class and the professor told me that Moses did not really part the Red Sea and that it was called the Reed Sea. That it was really a little river called the Reed Sea, only five inches deep and kind of swampy land and that’s how he crossed.” And at the other end of the line this pastor said, “That’s great! That’s unbelievable! That’s super!” She was going, “Pastor, what are you saying?” He said, “I think it’s great that your agnostic professor believes that God was able to drown the entire Egyptian army in five inches of water!” So we can trust the Bible and its miracles.
Look at Verse 10, “The ordinances of the Lord are sure.” Circle the word “sure.” “And they’re altogether righteous.” I just mentioned the historicity of the Bible. It passes it. No doubt. No question about it. The Bible and the history books go hand in hand. There are a couple of question marks that the jury is still out on, but let me show you how reliable again the historical data of the Word of God is.
You read in the Old Testament about a group of people called the Hittites. Have you ever heard about the Hittites? Raise your hand. We read about the Hittites, but the historians, the archaeologists say, “Sorry, the Bible is incorrect. There is no such thing as Hittites. The Hittites weren’t there. We can’t find that they lived. No cities. No clothing. No artifacts. The Hittites did not exist. The Bible is wrong!” In 1906, archaeologists were digging in Attel, and they uncover a capital city, the Hittite capital city. Two weeks later, they uncover forty different towns of the Hittites. Many historians had to say, “Oh, excuse me. Change the historical record. Oh yeah, the Bible was right. It was right. We were wrong.”
Luke Chapter 2, Verses 1 through 3—a leader in Syria by the name of Quirinius is mentioned. Again, the historians read this, and it talks about how Quirinius lived during the time of Christ, 7 B.C. Quirinius was involved in a census. Everyone returned to his or her hometown, and was counted. They were taxed. But again, the scholars, historians, archaeologists said, “The Bible was wrong. Luke was misguided. I’m sorry. It didn’t happen.”
Over 1,000 years ago, about 1956, someone is digging around in Antioch of Syria and they uncover a stone. Inscribed on the stone dated 7 B.C., “Qurinius of Syria ruled.” Then a couple of days later they unearth a fragment in Egypt which explains how the people in 7 B.C. went back to their towns where they were born and were taxed and counted. Again, “Uh oh! We have to change the historical records.” There’s over 25,000 archaeological discoveries that substantiate the Old Testament.
Nelson Gluck, the famed Jewish archaeologist, says this, and I quote, “It may be categorically stated that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.” Compare the Bible to the Book of Mormon. There’s not a historian within the Mormon church or outside the Mormon church who has ever found one shred of historical evidence to document one word in The Book of Mormon. You see, the Bible and history and archaeology, they go hand in hand. There are a couple of question marks, but again the jury is still out. We can trust the Bible and its historicity. The Bible, a documented book. It’s accurate.
But also, the Bible is accurate, not only in its documentation, but in its inspiration. Let’s talk about the inspiration of Scripture. Take your Bibles now and turn to 2 Timothy 3:16. When you read the word “inspiration,” it’s not inspiration like Oliver Stone was inspired to do the JFK movie or Beethoven was inspired to write a great symphony. The word “inspired” in the Bible, in the Greek, is the word “God-breathed.” In the Coinea Greek, “theopneustos.” Let’s read about theopneustos here. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” Not the writers, but the words they wrote were God-breathed, “and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man or woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
I’m so happy the Holy Spirit chose the Koine Greek language to pen the New Testament because if He’d chosen English or French or Spanish, we would have been short-changed. The Koine Greek is a rich language. It’s a dead language but we can study the Koine Greek. For example, take the word “abundant.” If I say, “I feel that you are an abundant person,” well, we would think that he’s a good person, very abundant and has a lot of things going on and that’s pretty much it in the English. The word, “abundant,” perissos in the Greek—the picture behind the word is someone keeps pouring water and the water keeps flowing over and over and over the pitcher. Christ said, “/ am come that you might have life and that you might have life abundantly.” That means a life overflowing. Another picture behind the word “abundant”, perissos in the Greek is waves hitting upon the seashore over and over and over again. Christ is saying, “The abundant life is not just your salvation. I’m saved, I’ve got a ticket. Signed, sealed, delivered. It means over and over; it’s abundant. It’s exciting. It’s adventuresome. It’s the way life’s supposed to be.” Just one little word, perissos. So we need to thank the Holy Spirit, the Lord, for choosing the Koine Greek language.
Let’s turn now to the book of 2 Peter 1, and I will read Verse 21. A quick right turn. Still speaking about the inspiration of Scripture, 2 Peter 1:21 says, “For prophecy,” and the word “prophecy” is talking about the Scriptures. And remember, the Bible is a library. The Bible is a library of 66 books that were written by 50 different authors over a span of 2,000 years on four different continents. Is that awesome? Is that supernatural or what? The focus, the uniformity of the Bible, the writers of the Bible were not some people that were members of the same fraternity or sorority or played on the same softball team or came from the same neighborhood. They weren’t the Homeboys. They were military leaders, fishermen, billionaires, statesmen, people who were in poverty, people who were going through difficult times, people that were going through great times, kings, prisoners. You name it. These people wrote the word of God, and God used their individual personalities to record His Word.
Let me illustrate. We walk outside and we see a red Ford truck back into a Volkswagen Rabbit. The Volkswagen Rabbit is white and the truck is red. If I described it, I might say, “The shimmering truck. You could see the reflection of the sun off the red, fluorescent paint ram into the Volkswagen Rabbit and demolish the car.” Someone else might say, “It was really the Volkswagen Rabbit’s fault because as she, oh, excuse me, he was backing out…. You see, the same story, but different personality, different insight. That’s the Word of God.
You read Matthew. Matthew was a tax collector. He was an accountant-type person, very detailed. You read Luke, he was a physician, talked about the body and the feelings. They talk about the same thing, but in different ways. Some of the Bible is dictated, but every word is not dictated. John didn’t say, “Alright Lord, I’m ready to write. John Chapter 3, Verse 16. Okay. Alright. For, for, God…okay, thank you, God. What’s next? For God so loved….” See that? It didn’t occur like that. 2 Peter 1:21, “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God.” So the Holy Spirit used his personality, used her personality, her insights to prompt her to write the words. And when the particular person wrote the words, that was the Word, the infallible Word of God. “But men spoke from God as they were carried along.” The words “carried along” mean “born along,” prompted, “by the Holy Spirit.” They were prompted, they were carried along, by the Holy Spirit. So the Bible is accurate in its inspiration.
I know what you’re saying Mr. and Mrs. Skeptic, “Prove that one to me, Ed. That sounds good. I understand. I see that, but prove that one to me.” Let’s take the area of prophecy for example. Let’s take Jesus Christ. Do you realize Jesus Christ, when He was born, as He ministered, He died on the cross and rose again, He fulfilled over 300 specific prophecies in the Old Testament alone? These prophecies were written hundreds and hundreds of years before Christ ever came into the world! Isn’t that amazing?
Peter Stoner, a scientist in the area of mathematical probabilities, says in his book, Science Speaks that if we take just eight of the 300 Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ, we will find that the probability of those eight coming to pass is 10 to the 17th power. He illustrates that staggering amount this way. Listen to this. If we take 10 to the 17th power of silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas, they will cover all of the state, two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly around and around and around it goes. Blindfold a man and tell him he must pick up one silver dollar. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them come true in any one man. That’s just eight. Christ fulfilled hundreds. So the Bible is reliable in its inspiration.
Years ago, if someone would challenge me as far as the Bible, I would say, “Well, you can go ahead and read it.” Now I say, “Show me the inconsistencies. Go ahead and show me. Here it is. Go ahead. Take it.” Not in a mean way. Most people who attack the Bible, most people who ridicule the Bible know it’s God’s Word, but because it talks about sin, because it talks about their condition away from God, because it talks about repentance, because it talks about getting right, they get on their Mo-Ped and they steer clear of that, and they’ll say, “Oh, I don’t believe that church thing. Bunch of hypocrites up there. That Bible stuff…” and the reason is they know it’s truth and if they read it and get under its authority, they will have to get right with God, to change and do a lot of 180s in many areas of their lives.
The Bible says about itself, “it’s sharper than a two-edged sword.” It cuts right to the heart. It’s accurate in its documentation and its inspiration but also in its application. Its application. It’s real to you. It’s real to me. I read it, it cuts through all of the veneer and gets down to my motives. Every week, every week, someone will come up to me and say, “Ed, have you been reading my mail? That drama or that particular song or that word that you read, it spoke right to me. Do you know that my boss and I are having this trouble. Did you realize?” No. That’s God’s Word. That’s God’s Word.
We come to hear a word from God, not my opinion, not some psychologist’s opinion or a scientist’s or historian’s opinion. We want to hear the Word of God. This is what we base our church on. It’s very simple. It’s very straightforward. The Bible is the most exciting, dynamic book in the world. If you ever hear a boring sermon, a boring Bible Study, a boring time of praise, a boring drama, do not blame the message, blame the deliverer. It’s exciting, but for some reason—I’ve seen this in many different circumstances—people take this book and make it boring.
We base and we have based our church on the Bible in the past. We base it on the Bible in the present, and we will base it continually in the future on the Word of God. We’re under its authority. When we have a question, we don’t say, “What does the denomination say? What do you think?” We say, “What does the Bible say?” That’s all. We’re people of the Book. We’re people of the Book. “Ed, the Bible, though, is irrelevant. It’s full of fairy tales. How can it speak to me in this ever-changing society?” Is a compass relevant or irrelevant to someone who is lost in the forest? Is a life jacket relevant or irrelevant to a drowning child? Is a plum line relevant or irrelevant to someone laying bricks? Is the Bible relevant or irrelevant to you?
The Bible says all of us will stand in the presence of God face-to-face, and the Bible says we will need a Savior. We will need a Savior. The Bible is the book that talks about how we can know the Savior, how we can know life in our marriages, in our relationships, if we’re dating someone, work ethics, nutrition, when we’re depressed, when we’re feeling on top of the world, the Bible speaks to us clearly, succinctly.
A final question: What do you believe about the Bible? Is it true? Or do you say, “It’s just nice to have around.” I want to challenge you to do something. I’ll give you a homework assignment. I’ve not given very much homework lately. Two homework assignments, very simple. First of all, I’d like for you to spend fifteen minutes a day for the next thirty days reading God’s Word. Fifteen minutes a day for the next thirty days reading God’s Word. Begin in the book of Luke or John. Thirty days from now will be May 26th. For thirty days I want you to test God, for if His Word is accurate, if it’s true, as I know it is, as many of you know it is, test it, try it. I’m talking to everyone here. Try it. Read the Bible fifteen minutes a day for 30 days, the book of Luke or John and ask yourselves these questions. First of all, as you read the Bible, what is the original intent of the particular passage? What’s the original intent? What’s the thrust of the passage? Picture yourself back in the biblical time.
Number two, ask yourself what’s the timeless principle here? Am I to forgive someone? Am I to be a servant to this particular person. And then the third question: how do you take that timeless truth and make it relevant and practice it in your life. That’s the first homework assignment. I will check up on all of you over the next couple of weeks.
Here’s the second one. This is easy. We have a mid-week service where we go through the Word of God “line upon line, precept upon precept.” We sing worship songs for about 25 minutes, and I preach for 28 to 30 minutes on Wednesday evenings at 7:00pm. I’m going to ask you to attend for the next four weeks. We’re going through the book of Titus. As you read the Word, as you hear the Word taught—it’s God’s Word, not my word—I promise you God will speak to your heart and deal with you in a dynamic, supernatural way. Every time I speak, every message you hear me proclaim, first of all has to speak to me before I can speak to you. So if you ever go in my office and hear me talking, I’m preaching to myself first. But the Word of God is real. It’s true. It’s nice to have around, but pick it up, use it, and apply it.