Can the Bible Be Trusted? With Pastor Allen Nolan

well two weeks ago I began a mini-series on the Bible and the reason I'm referring to it as a miniseries is because I'm only preaching two sermons in this series so it's a miniseries anything over two sermons is just a regular series now I told you in the very first sermon I want to answer three questions in this miniseries what is the Bible what's the purpose of the Bible and how do we know that the Bible is God's Word now I've already answered the first two questions so this morning I'm going to answer the last question how do we know that the Bible is God's Word and more specifically how do we know that it's in arrant now does everyone know what I mean by inerrant inerrant means without error now some people confuse inerrancy with infallibility but they're two different things and Aaron C means that the Bible is without error infallibility means incapable of error so even though they're close to meaning they don't mean the exact same thing so how do we know that the Bible is God's Word and that it's inerrant and infallible well that's what we're gonna find out this morning so turn with me if you would to the book of second Timothy chapter 3 verse number 16 notice what it says all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives it corrects us when we're wrong and it teaches us to do what is right I want you to underline the word inspired inspired is translated from the Greek word that new stuffs kind of an interesting word that up new stas and that you knew knew stopped well anyways it's a compound word that simply means that it's made up of what more than one word in this case it's made up of two words the word that which means God and narrow which means to breathe to blow or to exhale now when you combine these two words it literally means God breathe but it implies exhaling so what this verse is saying is that all Scripture is god-breathed or God exhaling now that's interesting because when we speak we exhale in fact you don't talk by inhaling you talk by exhaling and if you don't mind let me kind of in straight this I'm gonna introduce myself and each time I say a word I want you to know what I'm doing is I'm blowing out I don't mean to it comes natural and that air goes over my vocal cords and it forms a word so I'm Alan Noland pastor of cornerstone fellowship now I want you to notice if I do the very same thing but I try to talk while I'm inhaling what it sounds like you can't speak inhaling so when it says that the Bible is God inspired or it's God breathed it means that God is speaking to us he's exhaling so that's what this verse is saying it's saying that all scripture is God's work it's him speaking to us it's him exhaling and that's what we mean by inspired and when I say we I mean we as conservative Christians you see there are some people who claim to be Christians but they don't believe that the Bible is God's Word or that it's inerrant and infallible because they have a different opinion on what inspired means in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse number 16 in fact there are four different theories on what it means when it says that all Scripture is inspired by God the first theory is known as the illumination theory this theories postulates that God inspired the Bible in the very same way that he inspires a person to write a book to write a song to write a poem etc he didn't actually speak to them or through them he just inspired them so it's more like motivation than it is inspiration it's like watching a rocky movie and for the next three days you want to be a boxer men do you remember that first time you ever saw rocky one oh yeah all of a sudden you know you bought a boxing gloves you went out there with your friends and you really wanted to be a boxer till you got hit the first time yeah that's inspiration the movie inspired you so these men were inspired to write a book but it's their book written in their own words and not God's words and because these men are fallible or were fallible and wrote the Bible in their own words then the Bible is fallible that's what people who believe in this first theory think the second theory is known as the dynamic theory this is what Neil Orthodox believe they believe that God gave the authors of the Bible revelation in zero time boom and in then when they wrote about the revelation they received they put it in their own words and again because they were found well men they may have misunderstood added to or even omitted some of the message that's why Neil Orthodox believed that the Bible contains the Word of God but it's not the Word of God so let me see if I can explain this to you I'll use Moses as the example because Moses was the prophet in the Old Testament most of you don't know that but he prophesied about another prophet that would be like him who wouldn't just deliver people out of Egypt but he would deliver them out of sin and the promised land that he would take them to his heaven and who was he referring to Jesus but here is Moses and because he looks like Charleston Heston he has all this hair you know I'm talking about and he has a beard right so that is Moses boom boom boom boom and gods up here and then what God did is he's acting like with lightning and all of a sudden boom in zero time that's what they mean by zero time and the blink of an eye he received all of this revelation but then he went and he wrote it in his own words and because he was fallible we know he was he smoked the rock when he was supposed to speak to it he killed an Egyptian he did a few other things that we know this man was fallible he didn't get to enter into the promised land because of what he did but because he was fallible he might have added to the message he might have omitted some of the words he might have misunderstood it therefore we can't believe that you know that it's really exactly what God wanted so the third theory is known as the mechanical diction dictation theory this theory postulates that God dictated every word of the Bible so the writers of the Bible just wrote what God dictated to them in essence they were stenographers the last theory is known as the plenary verbal theory this theory does not postulate how God inspired the writers of the Bible it just posits that all of the that's what planaria means it means all including every word which is what verbal means is inspired by God and the final product is exactly what God intended so all of it down to the smallest most trivial word is inspired in inerrant so whenever you hear a theologian talk about planaria verbal inspiration what they're saying is all of the Bible is inspired by God in his inerrant infallible down to the exact work what we mean by verbal is God shows this word rather than that word he chose that word rather than this word and the reason he did that is because that's the exact word he wanted that's why many times when I'm up here teaching I'll say this word was translated from the Greek word or if it's in the Old Testament the Hebrew word and I'll tell you what it means why because God used specific words to convey exactly what he intended what he meant everyone with me now which of the four theories is right well to find out we need to go to 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 20 and 21 so go ahead and turn there if you don't mind and follow along as I read this passage of Scripture above all you must understand above everything else this is what you need to know this is what you need to understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophets own interpretation of things for prophecy never had its origin in the human will but prophets though human spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit now the word prophecy is translated from the Greek word prophet Tiye and it can mean one of two things depending upon the context it can mean to predict the future or as we would say foretelling were foretelling the future or it can mean to receive revelation from God and you speak it forth as if it's coming directly from God it's what theologians refer to as forth telling so you have foretelling which is speaking about future events and forth telling which is speaking forth what God is revealing not about the future but concerning the present now in this context the word prophet tía refers to both for tailing and forth telling so the phrase prophecy of Scripture is referring to every part of the Bible not just the eschatological prophecies but all the other parts as well so what second Peter chapter 1 verse number 20 is telling us is that what the authors of the Bible prophesied or wrote didn't come from them what they wrote didn't come from their own thoughts or ideas it had nothing to do with their personal opinion or their personal beliefs in fact look at verse number 20 again above all you must understand this that no prophecy of Scripture which is both foretelling and fourth telling so it includes all of the Bible came about by the prophets own interpretation of things no their their writings had nothing to do with them or their own personal opinions or beliefs so that tells us that the very first two theories are wrong the illumination theory and the dynamic theory are wrong which only leaves the last two theories the mechanical dictation theory and the plenary verbal theory now look at verse number 21 these are very important scriptures if you want to know why we believe this is the Word of God why it's in Aaron and why it's infallible notice what verse 21 says for prophecy never had its own origin in the human will but prophets though human spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit DC that they spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit the King James Version says as they were moved by the Holy Spirit so what we need to know is how did God move these men to write down his words in other words how did he ensure that what they wrote was directly from him and not from their own understanding of their own interpretation of things how do we know it's not just their opinion or their personal beliefs how did God do that well that's what we want to find out this morning so let's talk about the prophets and how God moved them and carried them alone and how he ensured that every thing that they wrote was exactly what he wanted so let's start with the basics what was a profit well in order to qualify as a prophet in the Old Testament you had to meet two criteria turn to Haggai chapter 1 verse number 13 and I'll show you what I'm talking about it says then Haggai the Lord's messenger spoke the Lord's message to the people saying I am with you says the Lord now I want you to underline two phrases in this verse the Lord's messenger and the Lord's message using a true prophet of God had to be the Lord's messenger and he had to speak the Lord's message but what does that mean well the phrase the Lord's messenger means that he was sent by God turn with me if you would to the Book of Jeremiah chapter 29 verses 8 and 9 and I'll show you what I'm talking about in fact we could use almost any prophet prophetic in the Old Testament and you eat you would be able to see what I'm talking about knows what it says this is what the Lord of heavens armies the God of Israel says do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you there's extra shysters do not listen to their dreams because they are telling you lies in my name now notice this I have not sent them says the Lord you seem to be a true prophet of God you had to be sent by God now the phrase the Lord's message means that the message of the Prophet was in his own it was God's message turned Ezekiel chapter 13 verses 2 through 9 and I want you to notice that when Ezekiel deliver God's message he spoke as if God was the one speaking notice what it says send a man prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy and say now unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts it's not the Lord's message hear ye the word of the Lord thus saith the Lord not Ezekiel God don't hear the words of Ezekiel hear the words of God woe unto the foolish prophets the follow their own spirit and have seen nothing o Israel thy prophets are like the foxes in the desert you have not gone up into the gaps neither have made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle and the day of the Lord they have seen vanity and lying divination saying the Lord sayeth and the Lord hath not sent them remember there's two criteria you had to be sent by God and you had to had the Lord's message so here he's saying two things they're saying that this is my message but I'm telling you I didn't send him and then he goes further and they had made others to hope that they would confirm the word have you not seen a vain vision and have you not spoken a lying divination whereas you say the Lord say that I'll be it I have not spoken I want you to notice Ezekiel is speaking as if God is the one speaking he says the Lord says it albe and I have not spoken therefore thus saith the Lord God because you have spoken vanity and seen lies therefore behold I am against you saith the Lord and mine hands shall be upon the prophets that see vanity and that divine lies they shall not be in the Assembly of my people neither shall they be written in the writings of the house of Israel neither shall they enter the land of Israel and you shall know that I am the Lord your God do you see that the prophet spoke as if God was the one speaking in fact let me give you another example of a prophet speaking as if he was God turn to 2nd Kings chapter 20 verses 1 through 6 and those days Hezekiah was sick in near death and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos went to him and said to him thus says the Lord set your house in order for you should die and may not and not live then he turned his face toward the wall and he prayed to the Lord saying remember now O Lord I pray how I have walked before you in truth him with a loyal heart and had done what was good in your sight and Hezekiah wept bitterly and it happened before Isaiah had gone out in the middle court that the word came to him saying return and tell Hezekiah the leader of my people thus says the Lord the God of David your father now notice what he did he told Isaiah you go I'm sending you and here's what you tell him my message so there's the two criteria so here's what he says thus says the Lord the God of David your father I have heard your prayer I have seen your tears surely I will heal you on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord and I will add to your days 15 years I will deliver you in this city from the hand of the kings of Assyria and I will defend this city for my own sake ever the sake of my servant David notice that the the Prophet is speaking in first person in other words he's using the pronoun I and he's speaking as if God was the one doing the speaking so the words of the Prophet were not seen as their own words but they were seen as the very words of God in fact look at Exodus chapter 24 verse number 7 and I'm gonna prove it to you notice what it says and he who does he refer to Moses Moses is writing the book of Exodus he's talking about himself and notice what it says and he Moses took the book of the Covenant read in the audience of the people and they said all that the LORD hath said we will do and be obedient notice that they refer to the book of the Covenant as God's Word not Moses Word but God's work and they vowed to obey all of the commands written in it now here's the key to what I'm telling you so listen to me very carefully if these two criteria were meant they were sent by God and they had the message from God it meant that he went that person was a true prophet of God and that they spoke word-for-word what God said let me say that again if those two criteria were met in other words if a person was the lord's messenger and he spoke the lord's message it meant that he was a true prophet of God and that he spoke word-for-word what God said it wasn't God giving him a message and then saying go ahead and tell them in your own words no people that's what neo Orthodox believe they believed that God spoke to the prophets in zero time and then they wrote it out in their own words and maybe they misunderstood some of it maybe they omitted some of it maybe they added to it that's what neo Orthodox belief but people that's not true when God spoke through a prophet it was God putting his Act words into the profits map so that he couldn't speak anything but what God put into his mouth in a sense the Prophet became a puppet of God in fact that's exactly what Peter meant when he said the Prophet spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit they became puppets in the hand of God and he put his words into their mouths now let me prove that to you I want you to listen very carefully because if you're a Christian you should believe that everything that's written in this Bible is inspired by God which means that it's God's message and it's inerrant and it's infallible all right let me prove to you that the Prophet became a puppet of God and God put his own words into their mouths and they couldn't help but speak what God put in their mouths so turn with me if you would at the Book of Numbers chapter 22 verse 6 this is the story a story of Balak and Balaam and Balak is speaking to Balaam hopefully you remember this story you grew up in Sunday school are you gone to church long enough but if you don't you can go back and read it here in the Book of Numbers chapter 22 now that's what it says in verse 6 now come and put a curse on these people because they are too powerful for me perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land for I know that whoever you bless his blessed and whoever you curse his cursed you see when the children of Israel came out of Egypt they were going to the promised land and Balak who was a king came and he saw them coming and he was scared of them so he called a true prophet to come prophesy against them because he knew now whatever a prophet prophesies will come to pass if they're a true prophet but what Balak didn't know was that when Balaam prophesied he could only speak what God put into his mouth look at look at numbers chapter 22 verse 38 Balaam replied now this is the true prophet Balaam reply look now I have come but I have no power to say whatever I want I can speak only the message that God puts in my mouth do you see that I have no power to say whatever I want see you want me to speak as a prophet but you need to understand something of your true prophet you don't get to speak whatever you want a true prophet can only speak whatever God puts into his mouth now turn to numbers chapter 23 and let's read verse 5 and then we're gonna jump down and reverse 12 here's verse 5 the Lord gave Balaam a message for King Balak do you see that the Lord Yahweh gave Balaam a message for King Balak then he said go back to Balak and give him my message there's the two criteria he sent my god and he has a message from the Lord yeah now jump down to verse 12 but Balaam replied I can speak only the message that the Lord puts in my mouth second time he said that now I want you to notice the Balaam told Balak I can only speak what God puts into my mouth now why was that well we know it wasn't because he chose to do that it was because he couldn't help it you see Balak was willing to pay him a lot of money and he wanted that money so he wanted to be able to prophesy against them but everytime he got ready to prophesy God would put his words in his mouth and he couldn't curse Israel so we know it wasn't because he didn't want to do that then he didn't choose to do that it's because he couldn't help it you think if a person was a true prophet of God the Holy Spirit would come upon them and they literally went into a trance and as a result of being in a trance the Prophet couldn't help but speak what God put into his mouth because he was no longer in control God was in fact let me prove that to you turn to numbers chapter 24 let's read verses 2 4 and then we're gonna jump down and reverse number 16 same story here's verse 2 and Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel and camped according to their tribes and the Spirit of God came upon him he's getting ready to prophesy prophesy the Spirit of God came upon he now look at verse four he hath said which heard the words of God which saw the vision of the Almighty falling into a trance but having his eyes open hmm falling into a trance but having his eyes open now jump down to verse number 16 notice what it says he have said which heard the words of God and knew the knowledge of the Most High which saw the vision of the Almighty this is repeating almost word-for-word what it said in verse 4 but notice let's keep going falling into a trance but having his eyes open there it is again falling into a trance but having his eyes open so what this is saying is that when the Holy Spirit came upon him he went into an open-eyed trance and he was no longer in control of what came out of his mouth the Holy Spirit was now it's extremely important that you grasp this because it means that a true Old Testament prophet was inerrant and infallible but it also meant that if a prophet goofed up just once it meant he wasn't speaking under the power of God but under his own power he was faking being in an open-eyed trance because if he was truly under the power of God and he was truly in an open-eyed trance then God would be controlling what came out of his mouth and God never goofs up why doesn't God ever goof up because God is omnipresent which means he's everywhere at all times right now God is in the past right now God is in the past and right now God is in the future God is everywhere at all times so right now God knows exactly what's going to happen tomorrow because God's already in tomorrow God knows exactly what's gonna happen a year from now because God is already there a year from now that's what I'm the president means it means God's everywhere at all times and if truly the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you go in an open eye trance and God puts his word in your mouth you're never gonna goof up because God is infallible which means he had does not have the ability to screw up so if the prophet goofed up it meant he wasn't the Lord's messenger speaking the Lord's message and the penalty for being a false prophet was dead turn to Deuteronomy chapter 18 verses 20 through 22 and I'll show you the penalty but the Prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name I didn't send him that's not my message God is saying which I have not commanded him to speak or that shall speak in the name of other gods even that prophet shall die and if thou say in thine heart how shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken when a prophet speaking in the name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor comes to pass that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken but the prophet has spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not be afraid of him in other words don't be scared of him stone him he's a false prophet he's saying that I sent him he's saying that it's my message and he's not mine I didn't send him I didn't give him that message killing now why was it so important that the Prophet be infallible well as important for two reasons number one because there was no Bible at that time so the Prophet was the Word of God if God sent them and it was the Lord's message that's God's Word they did not have the Bible at that time like we did so the Prophet was the Word of God turn to Isaiah chapter one verse what verses 1 and 2 and I'll show you what I'm talking about these are the visions why would he calling visions open-eyed trances these are the visions that Isaiah son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem he saw these visions open-eyed trances during the years when uzziah jotham ahaz and hezekiah were kings of judah listen o heavens pay attention earth this is what the Lord says not what I say this is what the Lord says so Isaiah was speaking God's words in other words Isaiah was their Bible and today his open-eyed trances are written down for us and we can read the Book of Isaiah yeah now look at Jeremiah chapter 1 verses 1 & 9 these are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah one of the priests from the town of nain enough in the land of Benjamin then the Lord reached out now here's what's interesting before God reached out they were Jeremiah's words but then it says then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said look I have put my words in your mouth we all know the story hopefully you do but he becomes a prophet of God God sends him and he gives him his message those are the two criteria that must be met and he's a true prophet so Jeremiah began to speak God's words in essence Jeremiah was their Bible today we have the words that you mark Jeremiah received when he went into an open-eyed trances when God literally moved him as King James Version says as the NIV says carried him along by the Holy Spirit he went into an open-eyed trance and God put his words into his mouth now look at Ezekiel chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 in chapter 2 verses 2 & 7 notice what it says I'm showing you all these prophets this wasn't just Balaam this is every one of the prophets in the Old Testament they all went through the same process here's what it says on July 31st of my thirtieth year while I was with the Judean exiles beside the key bar over in Babylon the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God oh my gosh the Holy Spirit is going to come upon him he's going to go into an open-eyed trance and he's gonna see visions and God's gonna put his word into his words into Easy Coast mouths let's keep reading this happened during the fifth year the king Jehovah's captivity the Lord gave this message to Ezekiel son of boos I a priest besides the keyboard river in the land of the Bible owns and he felt the hand of the Lord take out of him who Pentecostal power now jump over to chapter 2 and let's read verses two and seven notice what it says and the spirit entered into me and when he spake unto me and set me upon my feet whoa did you see that and I heard him speaking to me and he said thou shalt speak my words unto them Wow the Spirit came upon him and set him upon his feet in other words the Holy Spirit possessed him and he went into an open-eyed trance just like Balaam now think about this since they didn't have the Bible like we have at that time and the Prophet was seen as infallible speaking as if it was God speaking if a false prophet ever emerged it could be disastrous in other words a false prophet could lead all of the people of strike and a good example of this are the Muslims people let me just tell you right up front Muhammad was a false prophet that's why when you read the Quran it just contradicts itself right left you wouldn't know why because he was not the Lord's messenger and it was not the Lord's message he was a false prophet that's why they have what they called the law of abrogation if he says something that contradicts something that he said earlier no big deal this abrogates it this takes over this this deletes this one and this becomes what we pay attention to hogwash he was a false prophet he had mental problems so for that reason the penalty for a false prophet and the the penalty for false prophecy was death one goof-up and you were dead most of you don't realize this this is the sole reason God took Elijah to heaven Elijah got out of control Elijah was a prophet but he got cocky with it so he started saying things without the Holy Spirit telling him to do that he started doing things when he was in an overnight trance how many of you remember when the fifty men were symptoms if I be a man of God that fire come down and destroyed them puh they burned up king sin another 50 min same thing another one went out to get him and the guys would please don't do that any light you guys okay I'll come with he was out of control in fact we get to Jesus Christ in the New Testament and they go into the city and they don't receive Jesus and what are the say should we call fire down from heaven that's why James and John became known as boh energy sends a thunder it was being sarcastic saying you don't know what manner of God you men are men we are gods not like that that's not what God wanted so because he'll I just started doing things it wasn't supposed to God takes him to heaven and he likes you takes his place so why did God do that because Elijah was a true prophet but Elijah was putting him on the spot saying if I be a true man of God let this happen and it wasn't what God wanted so God takes him to heaven yes the second reason it was so important that the Prophet be infallible was because his message eventually became a part of our Bible you see our Bible consists of what these prophets spoke now for this reason God made sure that no false prophet had any input into the Word of God turned Ezekiel chapter 13 verse number nine and I'll show you what I'm talking about notice what it says and mine hand God's talking about this is God's hand and my hand shall be upon the prophets to see vanity and to define lies they shall not be in this simile of my people why because they're gonna have false prophecies and they're gonna be stoned but let's go further neither shall they be written in the writings of the house of Israel what are the writings of the house of Israel the Jewish Bible the Jewish Bible is the Old Testament it's the foundation for the New Testament everyone with me so neither are they going to be in the writings of the house of Israel in other words neither are they going to be in the Bible neither shall they enter to the land of Israel and you shall know that I am the Lord God do you see that God made sure that only the writings of the true prophets were included in the Bible as a result our Bible is not only inspired by God but it's inerrant and it's infallible most things sound like the same thing but what I mean by that is our Bible is without error in fact it's incapable of error as a result of God doing this process turn with me if you would to second Timothy 3:16 let's read it again then we read 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 2021 again notice what it says all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness now look at 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 20 and 21 above all you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture fourth telling and foretelling came about by the prophets own interpretation of things in fact they were incapable of speaking anything that wasn't God when the Holy Spirit came upon men for prophecy never had its origin in the human will it wasn't part of the thought process it wasn't their opinion it wasn't their beliefs but prophets though human spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit so let me do a quick review a true prophet was the Lord's messenger sent by God and he spoke the Lord's message word for word verbatim not even a jot or tittle as his own he would go into an open-eyed trance in the spirit of God controlled what came out of his mouth and that's how God ensured that the Bible would be in fallible yeah yeah that's why we say that when it's inspired its plenary verbal inspiration player plenary means all of it verbal means every word in other words God chose this word rather than that word he chose that word rather than this word why because it's exactly what God wanted spoken not our translations but the original manuscripts everyone with me now how did we get our Bible well the Old Testament prophets were required to bring their prophecies to the temple and they were kept by the priest to see if what they prophesied came true or not if they came true they remained in the writings of the house of Israel if not they were burned turned Ezekiel chapter 13 verse 9 one more time and I'll show you what I'm talking about and my hand shall be upon the prophets of the sea vanity that divine lies in other words they're faking an open-eyed trance or if they aren't an open-eyed trance it's from a demon it's not from God they shall not be in the Assembly of my people neither shall they be neither shall they be written in the writings of the house of Israel this is how God ensure that only the writings of true prophets were included in the Bible so every prophet who prophesied during the Old Testament period was required to bring a written record of what they prophesied to the temple and if it agreed with the writings of Moses and if all of their prophecies came true it was included in the writings of the of Israel in other words our Jewish Bible which became a Road Testament if not it was burned in fact we actually see how all of this works worked in the Book of Jeremiah chapter 36 now I can't read the whole chapter because of time and said let me give you a quick synopsis of it and verses 1 through 16 Jeremiah sent Baruch to the temple with all of his prophecies these prophecies were written down by Baruch as Jeremiah went into an open-eyed trance and prophesy see most of you never understood what the assistant to a prophet was you're you're looking at this you're reading through the Bible and it seems like these prophets were prima donnas they always had an assistant you know you want to know why they had an assistant because when they went into an open-eyed trance God took control of their mouth and God began to speak through them putting his words into their mouth and the assistant his job was to do what to write down the words yeah and so these prophecies were written down by Baruch as Jeremiah went into an open-eyed trance and prophesied look at verses 17 through 19 chapter 36 you can go home and read all this and they asked Baruch saying now how did you write all these words and his instruction did he tell you to do all this is this his own personal beliefs here's what Bruin says so baroque answered them he proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me and I wrote them with ink in the book then the princess said to Burt go and hide you and Jeremiah and let no one know where you are why because they knew the king was going to be angry and want to kill them because it was not a good prophecy remember when we were talking about the Kings a good king submitted to the prophets but evil and wicked King would not submit to the province now and verse number 20 the scroll was taken to the king and as the King would read three to four columns he would cut off what he had read he'd throw them in the fire remember at the time they had Scrolls so you'd roll out the scroll and they were written in columns so he'd read two or three columns and then he would cut it with a knife and he'd throw it into the fire now by burning the scroll the king was saying that Jeremiah's prophecy was not true now let's read verses 27 through 30 all right SIL and Jim Rhon chapter 36 after the King had burned the scroll on which Baruch had written Jeremiah's words the Lord gave Jeremiah another message he said it another scroll and write everything again just as you did on the scroll King Jehoiakim burned now how would you like a look at the Book of Jeremiah how would you like to write down everything that you did before down to the exact word in every verse every chapter could a person do that no but God can because God is omnipresent God is here right now but he's also in the past he's also in the present and so when God gave him that message God's going to give him the very same message again he's going to use the exact same words he's going to put him in the exact same order everything's going to be just the same because they're God's works and Jeremiah doesn't have to worry about it why because it's not jeremiah speaking he knows he'll go into an open-eyed trance God we'll speak to him and he'll give him the very same message so he said here we are still verse number 27 going into 28 he said get another scroll and write everything again just as you did on the scroll King Jehoiakim Bern then say to the King this is what the Lord says you burned the scroll because it said the king of Babylon would destroy this land and empty it of people and animals now this is what the Lord says about King Jehovah now he's adding to the prophecy he will have no heirs to sit on the throne of David his dead body will be thrown out to lie unburied exposed to the heat of the day and to the frost of the night but here's my point the temple had the writings of the prophets and when all and when all of the prophecies came true of a particular prophet with the exception of the endtime prophecies because there's still future they were compiled into a book now every prophet was required to turn their prophecies in to the priest at the temple before any of the prophecies came to pass who started that tradition Moses when Moses wrote the first five books it was placed in the Ark of the Covenant from that time on any prophet that came along he had to take them to the tabernacle to the temple was built from that time on he had to take his prophecies to the temple in other words now and here's what's interesting when you turned it in you couldn't turn it in after the prophecies came to pass if you were a prophet and something came to pass you go I knew that was going to happen and say here's my scroll to show that I prophesied it they would laugh you out of the temple if you're a true prophet you bring that scroll to them and they'll keep it and they'll read it and if it doesn't come to pass the way you said it was they throw the fire burn it it will not be part of the writings of the house of Israel if it comes to past ago wool this won't came to pass let's pay close attention who this one came to pass - oh my god this one came to pass - this is a prophet yeah yeah that's how we got our Bible people and that's also how God ensured that the writings of the true prophets were included in the Bible look at Ezekiel 39 one more time you know I'm just going to jump down to this one part neither shall they be written in the writings of the house of Israel that's how we know this is God's Word every word of it God chose this word rather than that word that's why we do word studies what did God mean by that word and I get up here and say this is translated from the Hebrew word but my ball and it means in this context why because that's the exact word in the Hebrew that God Jews that was the exact word that God used in the Greek now let's go back to the inspiration theories and if you remember the first two theories were wrong according to 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 and second Peter chapter 1 verses 20 and 21 so all you have left is the mechanical dictation theory and the plenary verbal theory now if you erase Baptist and you went to seminary you would know that most Baptist theologians reject the mechanical dictation theory and here's why they say if God dictated the Bible then you would expect there to be a consistent writing style throughout the Bible but there's not a consistent writing style in fact Paul's writings and Luke's writings are much more eloquent than Peters and John's so for that reason they reject the mechanical dictation theory but let me illustrate why that's wrong and why that doesn't hold water let's suppose that you were going to drive five different vehicles a Volkswagen Beetle a Mustang a dump truck a smart car and a sports car if you drove every one of those cars they would each drive differently as an example you could fly down the highway in the sports car doing about 140 miles per hour and still maybe not hit top speed but the beetle it might max out at 75 miles per hour and everything starts shaking it just doesn't have a horsepower the dump truck could haul a payload of about 20 to 26 times but the smart car wouldn't have enough power to pull an empty trailer up a hill you think each vehicle was designed for a different and specific purpose but because they're built differently each car would dictate what you could do while you were driving it and what you couldn't do and it's the same way with the prophets each prophet had certain gifts talents and abilities but also limitations usually in the area of education so when they went into an open-eyed trance God used them as a vehicle to speak the exact words that he wanted but as the vehicle that God used each one had certain abilities and limitations and that explains why there are different styles and different words vocabulary usage I mean Paul uses some words that you knew he was highly educated John's is the most simple when I was getting a minor in New Testament Greek the very first book that you ever translated the Bible is first John second John and third John right along with it very simple people Paul and Luke were like sports cars when they went into an open-eyed trance God used their vocabulary and their style it's still God's Word and God's message but it's their vocabulary Peter and John were Volkswagen Beetles they didn't have the education that Paul and Luke at God was using them but they were still the vehicle and it didn't matter because he can convey exactly what he wants with their vocabulary sometimes I've listened to three-year-olds and four-year-olds and I'm just astonished at how simple they make it you know people come to me sometimes as I say you know Alan I like the way you teach because you take hard things difficult things and you make it simple you know what my goal is my goal is to take these things from God and put it on about an eighth grade level if I can put it on an eighth grade level I feel like I've made it simple enough for almost everyone dangerous and that's why I define words many times not because I question your intelligence but we might have an eighth grader sitting out here and they say well what's that word mean so I'll explain it I'll give the definition but I want you to understand something as you go through you see these different prophets they all had different personalities they all had different levels of education but God used them they went into an open-eyed trance and they were the vehicle that gods use for him to put his words into their mouth he was the very same driver using different vehicles in order to do different jobs so when the prophet went into an open eye trance they spoke the words that God put in their mouths but they were still the vehicle that God used each vehicle had a different style and a different vocabulary and each book really pertains to us on a different level some of you might might say I love the book of John I'd rather read that book than any other talking about the Gospels some of you say I don't like Paul's epistles because they're hard to understand even Peter said that why because Paul's vocabulary his style of writing is so much more elevated than the others some of you are reading the Old Testament and there are certain books you like and there's others she don't some of you hate the Book of Leviticus you want to hear something funny my favorite book because the Book of Leviticus tells us because God is there in the midst of his people the tabernacle is there and the question is how can an unholy people dwell in the presence of the holy God so God gives us the Book of Leviticus since he says this is how I want you to act because I'm in your presence and I love the Book of Leviticus it has such great typology for Jesus Christ it's preparing this for what Jesus would do some of you like the prophets but you don't like Isaiah you don't like Jeremiah you don't like Ezekiel you won't know why you don't like them because they were educated men and the vocabulary they use and the way God used them to present his message is on a higher level some of my favorite books but I get what they're saying people I want you to understand something this is God's Word it will not change it is inerrant it is infallible it will bring you to life and keep you from death it will bring you prosperity and keep you from poverty it will keep your family together it will help you to have the abundant life that Christ promised you break it you reap the consequences because this is God's Word

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

Views: 1,367

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: introduction to the bible, bible intro, the bible explained, bible introduction new believers, new believers bible study, understand the bible, christian bible explained, hebrew bible explained, pastor allen nolan, cornerstone fellowship, tahlequah oklahoma, what is the bible, the bible, why does the bible matter, how to read the bible, Can the Bible Be Trusted? With Pastor Allen Nolan, is the bible really from god, is the bible reliable, is the bible the word of god, bible

Id: IIf-dPAbNx4

Length: 49min 28sec (2968 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 12 2019