If The Bible Is Not The Word Of God

Introduction

Give me the Bible star of gladness wears of wonder no and sent no sort and hide and radiant peaceful be me since Jesus came to seek and praise the loss give me the Bible holy message shiny light shall guide me in the narrow way preach and promise poet combined till life shall be in eternal day give me the Bible when my heart is broken with great fill my soul with fear give me the precious word by Jesus spoken hold a face land to show my Savior near give me the Bible holy message shiny thy light shall guide me in the narrow way free that promise fall and love coming shall eternal day give me the Bible lamp of lightning water. Hold a splendor by the open gray.

Show me the light from heaven shining for. Show me the Lord.

Give me the vice message. Shiny.

Small and welcome by me till the light shall fanish in eternal day. Please do. Since I did not receive a text or a phone call, I would assume Ben was either very carefully watching the slides, as we all should be doing, to know of the announcements that don’t need to be so oft repeated, I guess. But by doing that, he knew what my lesson was about tonight. Or that was just an incredible stab in the dark.

So tonight, what do you think about this book? Most of you, hopefully, all of you brought one with you or have one nearby right now. What do you think about this book? What you think about this book is pretty important. It affects so much about how we approach living. The decisions and the choices that we make. How highly exalted is it in your mind? Give me the Bible. Is that truly the sentiment of your heart? When I think about the Word of God, the first chapter of the Bible that comes to mind, leaps off the page, is that carefully, exquisitely crafted, very lengthy psalm. The Hebrew acrostic, Psalm 119. Why does that chapter have 176 verses? Well, because there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and each section of eight verses begins with each of the 22, each section represents each letter.

That’s why there’s 22 paragraphs. And in the first eight verses, all eight lines, actually 16 lines, begin with Aleph, the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Now, some of that is lost in translation. You can’t quite pull that off in translation when you move that from Greek to English. And so while it was even more exquisite in Hebrew, it is still very beautiful in English. I think of Psalm 119 and verse 89. And I’m, this is a refresher verse because I challenged you to find to think about where this was, and you were struggling to come up with it, so I’m going to give it to you again. Psalm 119, 89. And of course, all of this is about the word of God. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.

The ever living and abiding word of God, according to 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 24 and 25. Heaven and earth shall pass away, Jesus said, but my word shall never pass away. Matthew 24 and verse 35. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Do you have that belief and confidence in the word of God? The psalmist who composed this, or these psalmists who composed this in Psalm 119 and verse 97 says, Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Then the familiar 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet. It is a light unto my path. Do you believe that? Verse 160. The sum of thy word. Yeah, kids, I know you’re out of school, but let’s do a little math term here.

1. An Uncanny Historical Document

Sum, the sum of thy word. You add two things together, you get a sum. The sum of thy word is truth. And every one of thy righteous ordinances is everlasting. It’s that book that I want to talk to you about tonight. Do you think Noah’s Ark is still on Mount Ararat in Turkey? Some people believe so. That parts of it have been preserved, and when there’s enough melting that some of it becomes exposed from time to time, but not every year. There have been all kinds of expeditions and searches for Noah’s Ark. And the latest time that happened, there was one who observed as a result of perhaps a treasure and discovery. It seems that as time passes, that the Bible is an uncanny historical document.

I thought that was an interesting response to the supposed possibility that Noah’s Ark may still be there. This ark that we read about in the beginning of the biblical record that some would want to say is pure myth. But if it is there, wow. It would testify to the fact that this book is telling us the truth about a flood and about this boat that Noah was in. Wouldn’t it really bolster your faith if they definitively discovered Noah’s Ark? I think I’d be excited about it. But it wouldn’t greatly change anything with me. It wouldn’t change my confidence at all. In the biblical record, it would only confirm what I believe that everything the Bible says is true. If they hadn’t found those burnt bricks at the southern end of the Dead Sea, which could well be evidence of God destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire, and that could have been their actual location.

Who knows for sure if that’s what it was? But even if that hadn’t been discovered or found, I’d still believe that God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And while it’s so hard for some to believe that a man could exist three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish. I believe that happened to a man named Jonah. Jesus believed that it did. And references the event several times during his ministry. And how many other events like that? Hey, remember the axe head that Elisha made float? Try that at home. Do you believe that actually happened? I do. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego survived the fiery furnace that was heated sevenfold. I believe everything. The Bible says. It’s an uncanny historical document. In fact, everything that is discovered by archaeologists goes right along with the biblical record.

Of course, not everything has been confirmed. That would be impossible to do. But a lot of things, historical things, have all confirmed the biblical record to be absolutely so. Uncanny. Is it uncanny? Or is it the product of our Creator?

2. Not Simply the Product of Clever Men

From the God who is the God of truth. If the Bible is indeed the Word of God, it must of necessity be historically accurate. Or it would not be from our creator who claims to be a God of truth. But to some people, the Bible is nothing more than mystical treasure of ideals and wishful thinking. I affirm to you that it is more than that. That the Bible is your creator’s will for you. There are others who want to dismiss it by simply saying, well, it’s unusual, it’s extraordinary in the sense that it is the ingenious product of clever men. Well, it’s amazing that these clever men all got together over a period of 1600 years and came up with this document that possesses such marvelous unity and without error and in their cleverness over these 1600 years and the forty or so authors involved in the compiling of this book that they all got it right.

I deny the fact that it is simply the product of clever men. Oh, yes, it is ingenious. It is extraordinary. In fact, it is unrivaled by any other document that exists. It has no equal. And it is, as we’ve already seen, the enduring word of God. And it endures even to our time. But there are so many who want to discredit what this book says. Why is that? What do they have to fear? They’re not out there trying to discredit the works of Josephus. That Josephus character, he really wasn’t a historical figure. Let’s get rid of Josephus’ works. Those aren’t true. Those can’t be trusted as historically accurate. Why isn’t there a big push for that? Because Josephus isn’t a threat to how people want to live.

The Bible, on the other hand, set standards for us. And people want to try to find some way to discredit the standard. The attacks against the Word of God have been persistent through the years. People trying to discredit this message and to discourage people’s allegiance to it and to belittle those who are loyal to the God that we believe. Authored this book, and who desires our worship and obedience. But I want to do something tonight with those attempts that are probably more vehement now than when I was a little boy. The attempts may be stronger now than they’ve ever been to laugh this book off. To diminish what it really is to discredit it in our minds and in the minds of our young people, our education system.

Yes, you young people going off to college, you’re going to be sitting at the feet of some teachers who will attempt to ridicule this message. How can so many in our time support homosexuality and at the same time claim to believe this book? What do they really think about the Bible? I would say that’s something to look at in regard to where these people are, how they think about this book. Because you’re just going to have to dismiss a lot of things that are said in the New Testament. You’re probably going to have to dismiss the Apostle Paul. And he wrote nearly half of the New Testament. But let’s grant them their speculation tonight. What if what they are saying and what they want you to believe as they tout the doctrines of evolution as the answer for our existence?

3. Where Did This Come From?

And as they tout immorality as really the best way to live, rather than the holiness and the purity that the Bible describes, I want to pose this thought tonight. What if the Bible is not the Word of God? And I do not preach this to encourage you looking at the book this way. But let’s say that they were right. That this book is not the Word of God. What are the implications of that? And I want to share a few thoughts with you before I get back to the very reasons why I reject what they say and believe that the Bible is indeed the Word of God. If the Bible is not the Word of God, where did this come from? The origin of all of this.

Where did that? Where did that come from? Let’s rule out a creator. How did it get here? Do you believe that all of the order and design of this universe, and even look at our own bodies as the psalmist David did in Psalm 139, and say, I’m fearfully and wonderfully made? Do you believe as you look at the dexterity of your fingers, the things that your eyes can do and all of the senses that you have and our ability to speak and communicate with one another? You think all of that was the product of some cosmic accident or explosion? Really?

But if this is not the word of God, what else do you have? What other book are you going to turn to that is reliable and trustworthy and claims to have the support that this book does that gives you an explanation for the existence of everything? That’s reasonable. I make this observation all the time. I’ve never known explosions of any kind to produce order. Now, young people, I’d have you go home and try this as an experiment, but your parents probably would not be happy with me. Explosions tend to cause destruction, especially on a larger scale. But even on a smaller scale. Explosions don’t produce order. They produce chaos and disarray and destruction. So how do you explain our solar system? And these planets going around the sun in these orbits.

4. Is There Anyone Besides Man?

Poor Pluto got declassified. I’m still hurting over that. Kids, they told me Pluto was a planet. And now it’s being declassified. Well, it’s still an amazing little rock that goes around the sun. How do you account for all that? And if we reject the Bible, you mean all of this, me and you? We’re just living, breathing, eating, thinking, hunts of flesh. More to that in a moment. There are implications to rejecting. This book. Secondly, is there anyone besides man? Where would we derive any real knowledge, any reliable knowledge of a supreme being? Man would be the end of everything. So, what man is there who really has the right to tell me what to do about anything? Why is he better than me? This book explains where we came from.

And who authored everything? We would be without any objective purpose to pursue in life and without any criteria or standard to judge other people. I do believe this is one of the reasons why the homosexual issue has become what it has in 21st century America. Because, again, there is decreasing confidence in this. As respect for God’s word decreases, every kind of immorality will be touted as normal and decent, whatever it is that you want to do. How should you live? What should you pursue? What’s life really all about? The very existence of moral laws which govern nations is a testimony to the God behind creation. There’s an interesting story in the Old Testament in Genesis chapter 20. This is really remarkable. In Genesis chapter 20, we tend to focus on the main character of the story in Genesis chapter 20.

Abraham. He is fearful that the king is going to kill him and take his wife. Not the most shining moment of faith in Abraham’s life. Though he was typically a great example of faith. And so Abimelech takes Sarah, but God comes to him in a dream in the night. Boy, wouldn’t that be something? I think he realized this wasn’t an ordinary dream like we would have had last night. God comes to Abimelech in a dream in the night and says to him, Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married. He didn’t say, What’s the big deal that she’s married? I’m a king. That wasn’t his response. Now Abimelech had not come near her and said, Lord, wilt thou slay a nation even though blameless.

Now I want you to look at this. This is not an Israelite. This is before the nation of Israel. Here is a king of a nation who says, Now wait a minute, why would you slay us? We are blameless. He believes his people, he and his people are good folks who are trying to live by some kind of standard. Did he not himself say to me, She is my sister? And she herself said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I’ve done this. He said, Look, I’m not guilty of this. I’ve not touched her. And he lied to me. He didn’t tell me the truth. And God says, Yes, I’ve kept you from her. In verse 6.

Therefore I did not let you touch her. I have kept you from sinning against me. Now therefore restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet. And then Abimelech calls Abraham on the carpet and says, Why have you done this? In verse 9. And now have I sinned against you that you have brought on me in my kingdom a great sin. Notice Abimelech’s reference to a standard by which he would be held accountable. Why have you done this, Abraham? That I would commit this great sin. You have done to me things that ought not to be done. And then Abraham explains why he did this, and then his relationship is restored. You see, God has had an impact on nations, even beyond the nation of Israel in biblical times.

5. No Hope Beyond Death

If the Bible is not the Word of God, we have no hope beyond death based on any objective data. What’s next? After this life. As Sean prayed tonight, you know, we get old, there’s suffering and sorrow and pain, and we get old and eventually we die. That’s the fate of every man. Then what? If we reject this, what hope is there beyond this life? Even if you don’t want to accept the Bible in Hebrews 9 and verse 27, it is appointed a man once to die, but after this the judgment. Have you ever noticed? You would know just by observation that you’re not going to live forever. Maybe cryogenics is the answer. Maybe we can freeze our bodies for several hundred years and somebody can bring us back to.

Really? That’s the best we can do. Sad, tragic. Young people, do you know who Catherine Hepburn is? I don’t know. Now, see some of the older ones. They know Catherine Hepburn, famous actress. She was in movies even into her older age. She died in 2003, which is nearly 10 years ago now, at the age of 96. Lived a long life. Will any of us make 96? Patty had to leave, but she’s all over it. Catherine Hepburn said something very interesting a few years ago, before her death. She says, I look forward to oblivion. I’m what is known as gradually disintegrating. I don’t fear the next world or anything. I don’t fear hell. And I don’t look forward to heaven. I find all life thrilling. I like to write.

I like to paint. I like to play tennis. I like to swim. I don’t like depressing stories about the inevitability of someone going down the drain. Getting old? I think it’s unhealthy. Why should anyone want to see that? They’re all going to get old. They’re all going to fade away. She said. Isn’t that sad? What’s out there for you? Oblivion. Oblivion. Wonder what that’s going to be like. Oblivion. Nothingness. And then she tries to put a spin on the fact hey, Catherine, you’re getting older. Oh no, I find all of life thrilling. What about now in 2012? Oblivion has come. Not painting, not playing tennis, not swimming. And she’s had a funeral just like everybody else. You see, when you reject the Bible, what do you really have to look forward to?

6. Eyewitness Accounts and Fulfilled Prophecy

What kind of hope? Well, okay, I’m going to believe in the Bible just because that is really depressing. That’s awful. Nothing to hope for beyond life on planet earth. No, not just because of that. I believe in the Bible. And that the Bible is unquestionably God’s word. Besides the testimony of nature, we have eye witness accounts. These are historically accurate eyewitness accounts of things that these people saw. And that’s what John says. If you look in 1 John chapter 1, this is, he’s an eyewitness. He says, What was from the beginning? 1 John 1 and verse 1. What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld, and our hands handled concerning the word of life. And let me tell you about this, Jesus.

The life was manifested. And we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. What we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also. That you also may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. John says, I’m not asking you to believe some kind of myth or fable. These are things that we’ve seen. We saw him. Who came from the Father, who was God in human flesh, as John 1 tells us. He who was with God and was God became flesh and lived among us, and we beheld his glory. And by the way, what did he say? Some pretty incredible things.

Sometimes when I quote these, I want to remind people, now, what if you started saying things like this? I am the bread of life. What if you just started saying that to your friends? I’m the bread of life. You’ve got a few screws loose. I am the light of the world. Man, this guy’s got an ego. I am the way, not a way. I am the way. The truth and the life. John says, We saw him. And we testify to you. He was what he claimed to be. I can’t get around that, folks. Those who have spoken with God, we have an account in Genesis chapter 20 written by Moses years later, but Abimelech had a conversation with God. And we know Abraham had several. Those who have received revelation and prophecy from God.

Abimelech knew this was no ordinary dream. Those who witnessed miracles. How many do you suppose? How many numbers of people do you think saw a miracle? Too many to count. And one of the things that Paul points to as confirmation in the reliability of the resurrection, he said, I saw it, one untimely born, the least of the apostles, I’m a witness of the resurrection. He spoke to me on the road to Damascus. And those twelve, they’re eyewitnesses of the resurrection. He said, Oh, and by the way, there were 500 who saw him at one time. Five hundred that saw him after the resurrection, and many of them live even until now. If you don’t want to accept my story, there’s a lot of other eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus.

If this is not the word of God, Jesus to have claimed the things, if this is truly an accurate record of a man who was called Jesus of Nazareth, then he was either what he said he was, or he was outlandishly crazy, or a liar. Because he said remarkable things about his identity and who he was. And I’ll tell you can talk up right along with that. All of these guys. Paul and Peter and John. They’re either all men who were liars, these clever men who came up with this Bible. They were all either liars or deranged, were telling the truth about the things that they saw. These are eyewitness accounts. Oh, but there’s more, isn’t there? And this is why when I went up and did that camp for all those young people up in Chester, Texas.

Why I went through all of those prophecies while I’ve done it, why I’ve done it with our young people, why we’ve looked at the prophecy of the virgin birth of Christ from Isaiah 7 and verse 14, the place of his birth, Micah chapter 5 and verse 2. And they know those verses by heart now, right? Micah 5 and verse 2, Bethlehem Phraitha, not Bethlehem of Zebulum, which was a bigger town, but that smaller town, which was not even Jesus’ hometown, where he would be born because of a census that was taken, and his parents, Joseph and Mary, got a sermon bring about Joseph. Hopefully bring that to you soon. Joseph and Mary come to Bethlehem. Jesus is born there. Just happened to be there because of the census, prophesied in Micah 5 and verse 2, 700 years before the event.

Conclusion

Fulfilled prophecy. As I’ve already mentioned, exceptional unity. The scheme of redemption, the theme of this book runs throughout. No errors. You have to do something with Jesus. Who was this man? Who made these claims? Did he really live? What about his resurrection from the dead and all of these eyewitnesses that we talked about? Now, as I come to the conclusion of this, that’s the short version of evidences why I have such tremendous confidence in this book. I’ve got to tell you. If this is not the word of God, I have wasted twenty-eight long years of preaching this message. And even if I just preached it once tonight, how foolish I would be.

That this is my creator’s will. For my life and for yours. I don’t have any concern whatsoever that I’m going to die and I’m going to wake up with Catherine Hepburn in oblivion. If I do, I’ll have egg on my face, but what will it matter? There’s not oblivion beyond this life. But there’s a judgment seat. And we’re going to stand before this God and we’re going to give an account. You know, you can’t just take the parts of this book that you like. That’s sort of the novel approach these days. Let’s look at some passages and oh, I like that one. It’s sort of popular. She would have others treat you, so treat them. I sort of like that. That’s probably a good way to live.

Isn’t that nice? Everybody should do that. Serve and love people. Oh, I like those. I like those a lot. Thou shalt not commit adultery. I’m not so sure about that one. How about fornication and lusts and, or as I mentioned earlier, homosexuality. How about pure speech? Well, self-control. Not a big fan of that. Maybe we can dismiss those. And the parts we don’t like, well, Jesus wasn’t everything he claimed to be, but there’s some good stuff in here. Really? That doesn’t work. Again, he’s either what he claimed to be, and his word is going to judge us on the last day, or we might as well just throw this in the trash can. It’s not to be trusted. It’s one or the other. There’s no in between with this.

And so I conclude with this. But here’s the problem. Despite what we know about the Word of God, difficulties and hard times and pain come in our lives, and we get disillusioned. I preached this sermon tonight because of that. There are some hard spots in the road, even for those who believe like me in all of their being, that this is God’s word, the Creator’s will for our lives, still life sometimes beats you down. And that’s when you start to question. Is this really what it claims to be? Will this really, following this book, living this message? Will it really take me to immortality? And as we talked about last week, a bliss beyond description. In times of disillusionment, we must remain confident and hopeful. If you care about what this book is saying, that’s something positive.

Oh, it doesn’t mean you’re right with God necessarily. You may still be struggling to align yourself like you should with what this message is telling you. But I’ll tell you, it’s positive that you believe in this book and that you care. Now let’s take it one step further. Let’s act on what you know to be true. And by doing that, we can be hopeful of where it will all ultimately lead. And so I want to encourage you to comply with the Creator’s will for your life and to rejoice in having done so and to rejoice in being a Christian. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. He wants us to rejoice as his people. If you’re in this audience tonight and you’ve not obeyed the Lord, this message isn’t going away.

You’ve got to, you’ve got to respond to this to be saved. The words that Jesus have spoken is going to judge us on the last day, John chapter 12 and verse 48. I believe that without any question whatsoever. You’re going to stand before God and you’re going to give an account for how you’ve responded to this message. Are you ready for that day? It comes ever closer. Catherine Hepburn thought she still had a lot of time to play tennis and slim. And read books and all the other things that she did in her older age. But she’s been gone for nearly a decade. And one day that’ll be true of us. Now are you ready for that? Won’t you respond to this message and serve your creator?

It’s the ultimate way to live.

To the can of just thou treat me will come for me.