um this you know this series is gonna be a tad academic we're gonna we're gonna build though like last week we established if if you want to watch it again or for the first time we establish why if you don't know why we defend our faith what's the point who cares how or where or when you have to know the why in everything why are we doing this mom why are we doing this dad why do I do this why do I do that once you have the Y you can attack it but without the Y you just feel obligated maybe oh well I'm doing this because my parents doing it because everybody's doing it that's you you should know the whine when somebody asks you to why they're not being defiant or rebellious I think they'd be inquisitive they have a right I'm a teacher and I love when students ask or what questions you know it's it's important it means that they're they're thinking and it means that you can't ask a question unless you have part of the answer so it's a good thing let me show you the quote that I ended off with last week okay this guy Chauncey song just known affectionately as C Sanders wrote a book called the introduction in research in English literary history okay the whole point was that hip history is facts of past events but when you read a history book wherever wherever you may be how do you know that history is reported accurately most people read things and they just take it as the gospel the Internet is really really messing things up for us people say I read this on the internet I read this on the Internet do you know Wikipedia for instance anybody can go in there and change the facts today people go to Wikipedia University they read for a half an hour and then they're experts it's the craziest thing now let me tell you two things one I am NOT an expert in apologetics no no I'm not a Ravi Zacharias not even close I did not run a 750 page book like Josh McDowell did I didn't write over 140 page books by Norman Geisler no but but I can defend my faith I know what I believe I know why I believe it I know how to share my beliefs with others and I know how to defend it against critics and naysayers that I can do you don't have to be an expert God didn't say to be an expert he just said to have a defense have a defense this guy is a brilliant military strategist and as bad as brilliant as an historian could be and he said that there are three tests to authenticate a historical document okay test one is internal evidence that's the weakest evidence we have we're gonna go over that today because as I said we're going to build then there's external evidence so internal is what does the document say what does it say about us of all their discrepancies within the document then external evidence is much stronger that's how the document aligns itself with facts and dates and persons outside called extra-biblical evidence and then you have this is really strong bibliographical evidence it's it's the textural tradition from the original document when was the when was the event when was the original writing when were the manuscripts and how many do we have and do they agree okay that we possessed today and then there's a fourth which has nothing to do with see Sanders it's just something I'm gonna share with you and it's probably going to take two weeks it's called the prophetic evidence why is the why is not that listed here because history doesn't speak about prophecy the Bible is unique it's a it's a history book but it also speaks over 8,000 verses about prophecy and that is incredibly strong evidence there's only three ways to foretell the future one is the occult tea leaves and tarot cards and people do have powers they're not from God but they do have powers but I'm here to tell you from all my research through the Christian Research Institute the occult is Right 5% of the time there's also science science is incredible I have a friend that's a scientist I was just with him he's a brilliant scientist okay but I had to drop the bomb on him you know with all the tests and all the experiments we do to extrapolate information about the future science is Right 25% of the time that means they're wrong 75% of the time then you have biblical prophetic and 8000 357 scriptures about foretelling the future and God's been right a hundred percent of the time so we'll go over that and then we'll neatly wrap things up at the very end okay let's talk about internal evidence for a minute this is the scripture this is like the key Scripture everybody knows the scripture everybody but I want to tell you something you know how I like to teach in context because God forgive me no okay I don't have to apologize thanks when you read one verse of scripture you are destroying the Word of God there are five ways to interpret scripture one is to take a literal interpretation you have to take a literal two you realize it's figurative or symbolic yeah you have to take a little look scripture must prove Scripture meaning you have to cross-reference and create a thread what else do we have that's - what's another we've we've gone over this many times five ways to interpret scripture what's a third way you've got a reading context you've got to reconcile all and I say apparent discrepancies there's 969 in our Bible apparent discrepancies and then when it comes to prophecy there's something called the law of double reference near and far prophecy but context is the most important thing context is most important in your lives if you take a sentence of what somebody says out of its context there is no way you'll interpret it correctly know that it's impossible it cannot work Satan love to take things out of context he did it from the beginning did God really say and then all of a sudden the confusion starts well he said we couldn't touch it he didn't say anything about touching already the poor girls confused because she let the enemy take things out of context when you take a scripture and you speak about it for an hour so what is this letter what is this little letter we have second Timothy it's a little letter for little chapters it's a little nothing letter that Paul is writing to his lieutenant he is trained this boy to take over he's passing the baton and these are the last words that were written by Paul and 2nd Timothy now if you know anything about last words the last words of famous people are generally cherished by those who love them the greatest thing is to be a deathbed of somebody who you loved and to hear their last words 2nd Timothy is Paul's last known writing to the believers originally sent to his spiritual son where is Paul he's sitting in a dark dungeon in Rome now I've done prison ministry for 10 years and forgive me it snowball gonna be in a prison but the prisons today with air conditioning and dentists and education is not like the prisons in Paul's day okay he's sitting in a dark dungeon and by the way the prisons in other countries I don't know if you've been to prisons in Nicaragua Argentina I have they're not like American prisons I remember doing prison ministry on Friday nights four years in Florida and because I was broke I had to keep the air conditioning on at 84 in our house but I had to bring a sweatshirt to the prison you follow he's sitting in the dog dungeon in Rome with only a hole in the ceiling for light and he's awaiting execution by beheading and this spiritual intelligent tender-hearted giant now aged and worn out from his long and arduous race with God tends a final appeal a final appeal to Timothy to hold firmly to the truth this is his appeal don't wane don't don't don't let things come in and and create those create the word to become impure you've been taught this since you're a little boy he says to him when he was learning his ABCs he was learning the Torah don't you divert from the truth Timothy I'm I'm going I cannot go in peace unless you tell me you promise to hold firmly to the Word of God I'm telling you this hit so home for me I could tell you a quick little personal story I don't like to tell too many personal stories but I'd like you to understand something because I don't tell personal stories I don't unless the Lord just quickened me in my head I don't have these things scripted okay this is the time I'll I'll talk to about a personal story well this is the time some people think that Bernadette and I have a have a script you're out of your mind the only script I have is the Bible otherwise I'm free Willie man I let the Holy Spirit do it it wants to do I don't know how much we're gonna get through today when he says stop I'm done but I remember when my oldest son was 10 Bernadette maybe 10 when I was in the hospital 2005 and the doctor said you're not gonna make it and it they were pretty accurate about it and nobody else could see me because I was so wide up my other kids Lily was only five months old and my other ones just ran away they were like I think three and five but Jeremy came in and I trained Jeremy like like Paul train Timothy I trained him everyday to be an apostle an emissary that was my goal and I set him on the bed and I said look at me son I cannot go in peace unless you promise me that you're not gonna walk away from God look your daddy in the eye and if and if I go don't you ever say God took your dad God received your dad it was very serious for me and when he said daddy I won't I was ready to go if that was God's will this is what's happening here with Paul and Timothy in this letter there was much collective failure in the professing church already we talked about the failure today there was already failure in the church there had been a great departure from the faith and from the truth already how does this affect the individual believer he's saying to Timothy is he or she excused from seeking to hold to the truth and living a godly life the answer in 2nd Timothy is a big fat emphatic no it doesn't matter what the world is doing and don't compare yourself mr. and mrs. Christian to the world the world is not believers and don't compare yourself to the lukewarm they make God throw up and pay yourself to Jesus that's all plumb line so here you have in the new American Standard Version it's an exceptional version exceptional with exceptional Hebrew and Greek scholars it says all scripture doesn't say just scripture says all now what scripture do we have up to this point we don't have much of the New Testament but we do have the Old Testament of course we have the Torah the foundation of the Bible all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training basically that's what's your rabbi that's what it's for you might think well it makes me feel good that's great but that's not what it's for it's to train us and to guide us and to teach us and to correct us and not just say you've got that wrong but tell you how to get it right it's not good to say hey you don't do that that way okay how do I do it God is good that way but the key word here is inspired okay in the Greek because we're reading the New Testament it means inspired by God not much there meaning as to the contents of scriptures but what it's saying is the Bible is inspired not self proclaimed that's what that key verse is saying now this word in the Greek I need you to know I know there's good it's good this sounds academic what do you want to do you want to just raw rah-rah-sis-boom-bah and leave here the same we can do that Jesus was a teacher and his disciples were called students and when he left he said now you go and make some disciples make some students and teach what I taught there's such a lack of legitimate teaching today in the body of Messiah it's so weak and that's why after the kids finished high school they like rah-rah-sis-boom-bah I'm going after the world give them nothing this word in the Greek is such an interesting word it's so unique because it doesn't occur in any other Greek text not biblical or otherwise you hear me not just this is a but this is a word in Greek unique to the Bible it's a word in Greek unique to all the whole Greek language what would they what were they saying the word comes from the following two words let me show you Theo's and Pinette the only true God to breathe this inspired doesn't mean like you know sometimes you inspire to do some pre spring cleaning this means God spoke it well I have a hard time believing that rabbi that's your problem you probably have a hard time believing in a six-day creation you probably have a hard time believing in the parting of the Red Sea you probably have a hard time and believing that God's gonna deliver you or heal you you probably have a hard time believing that your kids in a way where they're gonna come back sorry I get it but that's your problem not gods and although it might be hard to believe it doesn't say it's impossible now let me show you why I read the complete Jewish Bible okay let me show you second Timothy 3:16 in the cjb it says all Scripture is god-breathed thank you there's a lot of secular people that are inspired but they're not God breathed okay there's a lot of songs on the radio that that are written through inspiration but not through God all Scripture is god-breathed and is valuable Scripture is valuable for teaching the truth convicting of sin correcting faults see how much better that is my god something close man I mean close the term god-breathed stresses divine origin and thus the authority of scripture Paul does not point to human authors of Scripture as inspired people but says the writings themselves a word spoken or breathed out by God the writers of the Bible did not give their own private interpretation of things but wrote the message which was given to them by God Robert you really believe that yeah I do I'm saying it I totally believe it totally you think I'd waste three hours a day or my life reading something that I thought was man-made now I told you from the beginning of this study when somebody told me to read the Bible back in 1986 and I said why they said it's God's Word I said how do you know and they said it just is they lost me but in 1989 when I got saved I came back and I did my own study how do I know it's God's Word everybody's saying their scriptures the pocket Vedas the etchings the New World Translation the book I mean Mormon Freudian or Gregorian there's another great section of Scripture second Peter 1:20 21 most people will quote when they talk about apologetics and God's Word being God breathed they'll only give you verse 21 but it says first of all understand this like right from the gate well can you go back to 2021 I want to read the whole thing there we go you guys alright you have a little couple Irish coffees this morning first of all they have the computer so high so they can hide behind them first of all understand this he says first of all is that no prophecy of Scripture is to be interpreted interpreted by an individual on his own I'm gonna show you how how much you can mess this up by misinterpreting what this says so never has a prophecy come as a result of human willing on the contrary people moved by the raw Kadesh the Holy Spirit spoke a message from God okay so amid that what's going on in second Peter just to let you know so we understand amid the encroaching darkness of apostasy Peter writes this short letter because he's looking forward to the Lord's second coming false teachers will on the horizon and they're gonna bring into the faith their heresies that will allow loose and licentiousness the whole idea of heretical teaching is to allow loose and licentious lifestyles and many people in a loose and licentiousness all read the scriptures and highlight verses to help support their licentiousness peter stresses the need to stick with prophetic truth aka the Word of God okay let's look at the first verse says first of all understand there's no prophecy of Scripture is to be interpreted by an individual on his own what do you do with that let me show you how easy this is to misunderstand this statement has given rise to a great variety of interpretations okay some are absurd some are absurd such as the view that the interpretation of the Bible is the right of the church alone and that individual should not study it forgive me but Catholicism mess this thing up huge only the priest is to know they never gave you a Bible I'm sorry I respect you but why am I going to you when it says there's one mediator between God and man and you definitely ain't him how did that work out for that denomination it's not working out too well these days now I know priests I just ran into one in Florida father Nick good man but it says study to show yourself approved so yes why do you think they hung John Huss and others because they were printing the Bible Satan get one in your hands it's a sort it's an offensive weapon now other explanations about this are true statements but it's not the meaning in this passage for instance it is true that no verse should be interpreted by itself but in the light of the context of the rest of the scripture but here that's not Peter saying not even close PETA is dealing with the origin of the prophetic word the origin of the word of God not with the way men interpret it after it's been given the point is when the Prophet sat down to write they did not give their own interpretation of events or their own conclusions in other words interpretation does not refer to the explaining of the word by those of us who have the Bible in written form rather it refers to the way in which the word came into being in the first place follow Peter is emphasizing that the prophetic scriptures originated with God and not with men in other words God breathed you see how easy when you take one verse how you can mess it up now we'll go to the next verse so we'll understand it a little bit better so never has a prophecy come as a result of human willing this verse confirms the explanation I just gave you in verse 20 what the prophets wrote were not a concoction of their own ideas and it was not the result of human imagination insider speculation why do you think when Amos spoke to the king of Israel not like the prophets today who have their hand out he spoke to the king of Israel you think if it was his own concoction he would want to stand around and wait for applause he spoke and they said where are you going he said going back to take care of my fig trees I'm no consequence God told me to tell you something I told you word for word I'm out of here had nothing to do with it after that no it was not their own speculation God did not give a general outline of some basic ideas and then let the writers phrase them as they wished in some way we can not fully understand how God directed these men I'll give you that but why are you trying to you're a little frail human being who freaks out at the littlest thing you're gonna understand how God directed certain men with his word good luck we can't fully understand how he directed these men's to write the words but he did not destroy the individuality or the style this is one of the key verses in the Bible on divine inspiration and in a day when many are denying the authority of the scriptures it is imperative that we stand firmly for the verbal plenary inspiration of the inerrant Word the very words they wrote were given by the Holy Spirit it is inerrant meaning totally without error not only in doctrine but in history science chronology and all other areas period and that's why we're doing this because it's not good enough for me to stop here you go ok it sounds good ok give me some proof that's what we're gonna do over the next 4 weeks look at John 16:13 another great scripture it says when the spirit of truth comes meaning that's why he had to leave Jesus was stuck in a body he could be only in one place at one time I mean if he was talking to somebody in the Galilee he couldn't talk to somebody in Judah he had the Holy Spirit in him it's almost like he had to go up like a rocket and explode to let the Holy Spirit drop on all of us now he's got little Jesus's running all over the world when the spirit of truth comes he says you want me to go if I don't go you've got to consult me I'm gonna inject you with the Spirit of God which is the Spirit of Truth the Holy Spirit is not around to be goofy it is the Spirit of Truth it leads you into all truth it directs you it's God's navigation system when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth you'll never be in darkness you'll never have to wonder is this true or false so he will not speak on his own initiative not even the Holy Spirit speaks on his own initiative it's the breath of God but we'll say only yes it's absolutely amazing but we'll only say what he hears he will only speak what he hears the Holy Spirit is some in total submission to God he will also announce to you the events of the future Wow Wow chapter 16 in John's Gospel speaks to the coming of the Spirit of Truth the Holy Spirit confirms to us that the Bible is the Word of God the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin also assures believers that the Bible is God's Word the work of the Lord was to be continued by the Spirit of Truth he would guide them into all truth there's a sense in which all truth was committed to the Apostles in their lifetime true then in turn they committed it to writing and we have it today in our Bible they added the New Testament to the Old Testament which completed God's written revelation to man period it is true that in all ages that the Spirit of God guides people into all truth which he does through the Scriptures why do you think I talk to scriptures why do you think I preach the scriptures why do you think I give you so much scripture because my opinion in your opinion doesn't count the Spirit of God will never contradict the Word of God when I hear an imbecile I'm sorry a brother telling me that the Spirit of God told them something and I know the Bible well and I know that it conflicts with the Word of God I know that it's a familiar spirit not God's Spirit and then of course Hebrews 4:12 internal evidence this is what the Bible says internally see the Word of God is alive I don't like to read anybody else's Bible because sometimes I open up somebody else's Bible and I feel like it's dead my Bible gets a lot of air and it pulses if you know anything about great swordsmen they couldn't use anybody elses sword see the Word of God is alive it's at work it's sharper than any double-edged sword guys the Word of God is offensive the reason why sometimes I say things you get mad at me you're being convicted not by me I'm not preaching anything I'm not selling anything I'm speaking to you the Word of God it's a sword swords cut in all the armor everything's defensive the helmet of salvation to defend they shield the faith to defend the belt the truth to defend only the swords offensive you can block all day long ask anybody used to fight block block block you're gonna get tired you're gonna get welts you're gonna have to give up sooner or later you're gonna have to hit back that's what the sword does it cuts right through it separates the soul from the spirit people talk about their soul that's a decision maker but if you're a decision maker isn't empowered or exercised they're energized by the spirit you're gonna make bad decisions most people would think no no I like soulless decisions soulless decisions are poison rabbi I feel I feel - I feel for you joints in the marrow the deepest part of the person and it's quick it's quick the Word of God is quick while I pray about it oh you're slow the Word of God just spoke to you what are you praying about you know what you're praying about you heard the Word of God you heard what it told you to do but you don't want to do it it's quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart unbelief never goes undetected it is first detected by the Word of God the Bible has transforming power it's not a religious book it's not a good book it's it's the very words of God you'll see as we go on in weeks you're gonna be like okay I give I would never tell you that without backing it up it's alive it's constantly and actively powerful and full of life it's sharp and cutting quick to it discerns the thoughts and intents of the hearts before we speak um in other words it's the word that judges us not we who judge the word the Word of God and the Spirit of God actually transformed the lives of people the Bible has changed the lives of murderers drug addicts top government officials businesspeople and students just to name a few I personally was used with Scott a card-carrying atheist who's now a minister or a Chippendale dancer who became a traveling evangelist all over the world or a neo-nazi who became the president of cops of Christ people from every walk of life have been transformed by the Bible no other book can make such a claim this is because the Bible is not a mere book on good living but it's literally packed with supernatural power to change lives less than was done in Norman this guy came up to me in the gym and he said you remember me and I said yeah I remember you he said you know I never liked you I said I know used to hear me talking about the Lord's people and he hated it he tried to get me kicked out he said I want to tell you something I was listening and I'm a believer now it's not easy to be hated you know it's not fun you get tired of it and then you hide after a while you just hide you like I'm done you give up and it's like nobody's listening and you give up it happens it's happened to me many times and then the Wood says what are you gonna do be happy of course I'm not I'm tired you said all right rest up get back out there so we've studied three internal evidences that support the authority and the divine inspiration of the Bible that's what it says but these of course are not the best arguments to use in a debate they just not people will say to people who don't believe in the Bible well the Bible says they don't believe in the Bible why are you telling them what the Bible says think about that think about how unbelievably illogical that is if you're sitting with a Muslim he says the Quran says are you gonna go okay that's interesting I think I'll believe it think about how idiotic that is the Bible says you're talking to an atheist and agnostic a secular humanist this is 2nd Timothy okay so in this section I want to study the fourth internal evidence we're still not into the good stuff the unity of the Bible the unity of the Bible okay check this out the Bible covers hundreds of topics yet it does not contradict itself there's been a book written that's beyond my intelligence level my intelligence quota it's by a guy by the name of Hayley I've rent reference that before my life but I can't get through it it's 969 apparent discrepancies that he reconciles like only he can it remains United in theme now you may say rabbi what's so amazing about that well consider these facts the Bible is written over a span of 1,600 years or 40 generations it was written by more than 40 men from every walk of life for example Moses was educated in Egypt and became a prophet over Israel Joshua was a military general Daniel a prime minister Peter was a simple fisherman Solomon was a king Luke was a doctor Amos was a shepherd Matthew was a tax collector and Paul was a rabbi all the writers were of vastly different occupations and backgrounds it was written in many different places the Bible was actually written on three different continents Asia Africa and Europe Moses wrote in a desert in Sinai Paul wrote in a prison in Rome Daniel wrote in exile in Babylon and Ezra wrote in a ruined city of Jerusalem it was written under many different circumstances David wrote during a time before Jeremiah wrote in a sorrowful time of Israel's downfall Peter wrote while Israel was under Roman domination and Joshua wrote while invading the land of Canaan the writers had different purposes for writing Isaiah wrote to one Israel of God's coming judgment of this in Matthew wrote to prove to the Jews that Yeshua is the Messiah Zachariah wrote to encourage a dishearten Israel who had returned from the Babylonian exile Paul wrote addressing problems in different Asian and European fellowships let us also note that the Bible is written in three different languages Hebrew Aramaic and Greek if we put all these factors together the Bible is written over 1600 years by 40 different authors in different places in different languages under various circumstances and addressing a multitude of issues it is amazing with such diversity that the Bible is unified that unity is organized around one theme one theme in one theme only God's redemption of man in all creation hundreds of controversial subjects are addressed and yet the writers do not contradict each other the Bible is one incredible document I can only imagine what you would have if you took just 10 offers 10 authors from one walk of life from one generation in one place at one time with one mood on one continent with one language speaking one controversial subject you would have a conglomeration of ideas you guys misquote me at lunch you guys misquote me at lunch how was this possible that with so much diversity there's total harmony good evidence it's okay it's okay but external evidence is even better how the document aligns itself with facts and dates and persons outside of the document let me show you something and this is um listen this is not a course I'm scratching I'm giving you just scratching the surface well look at the Evolet tablets okay excuse me in 1964 the Italian archaeological mission led by Paloma thigh began a dig at el Mar del in northern Syria this is where Evra is in 1968 they found a statue of abbot Lim who was the king of Ebla but from 1974 to 76 get this they found 2,000 complete tablets ranging from an inch inside so a little over a foot as well as 4,000 fragments and 10,000 chips dated to 2300 BC in use in EM 'la was the name Kanaan this was a name that critics once said that it was not used at any time and it was used incorrectly in the Bible not only this but there's names like Adam and Eber and you throw and the gods of Ebla de Gong Bao and Ashtar Genesis 14 1 2 the tablets refer to the five cities of the plain amaura saddam sodom and gomorrah admah savonia and so or we find these previously they the critics said they were mere legends nope they were real cities of the plain there's also a greater proportion of Egyptian words in the first five books than the rest of the Old Testament look at Genesis 39 1 we have ponte fer the officer of pharaoh we have in Genesis 41 45 SOB not panera oz not on the the name that they gave to Joseph in Egypt 47:11 of Genesis we have Ramses and Exodus 111 we have Petone look at the picture of Merneptah another they call it the steel or the steli confounding earlier skeptics but confirming the Bible once again this important discovery was made in Egypt in 1896 by British archaeologist Flinders Petri at Thebes this tablet which basically is an upright stone this is how they recorded things they didn't have pen and pencil it's just an upright stone bearing an inscription serving as a monument it mentions Israel okay by the way menephta was a pharaoh that ruled from 12 12 to 12 Oh 2 BC the context of the stele indicates that Israel was a significant entity in the late 13th century BC and this is quite significant guys because this is the earliest extra biblical reference to the nation of Israel ready to be discovered the Hittites they mentioned over 50 times in the Old Testament the naysayers and the antagonist said there was never a Hittite community it was made up if they could find one error in the Bible you got to throw the whole thing out so they attack Satan attacks and they attack this for years for years and this was true we couldn't prove it until their capital and records were discovered in northern Turkey the initial discovery was made by a French scholar Charles texier found the first Hittite ruins in 1834 then archaeologists followed up discovery after discovery hugo Winkler in 1906 found the royal archive with ten thousand ten thousand tablets inscribed in their language cuneiform Akkadian look at Joshua 6:20 it says so the people shouted with the shofar blowing when the people heard the sound of the shofar is the people let out a great shout and the wall fell down flat that means it imploded things explode they don't implode if they exploded how would all the people climb over it imploded and fell flat well then they say has said no not possible it's it's a fallacy it's a mistake so toss your Bible the walls of Jericho discovery was made by 1930 now you might say rabbi this is old how come we didn't hear about it I don't know John Garstang he lived from 1876 to 1956 was a British archaeologist and founder of the British Institute of Archaeology in 1847 these guys had no slouches you don't know them I don't know them but in the world of archaeology they're famous big deals it says the walls fell suddenly and outwardly which is very unique so the Israelites could climb over the ruins of the city they found it Jeremiah 45:1 they he always made they said there was no such Neriah no such Brooke well in eighth 1986 why is God letting us discover so much he's giving us so much information so nobody has an excuse but if the body of believers is weak and lukewarm what's the hope for the world he found that ancient seal belonging to Burleson and Araya a scribe who recorded the prophecies of Jeremiah 1990 Harvard researchers they're about as sickly as they come they unearth the silver-plated bronze casting erine reminiscent of the Golden Calf in the book of Exodus look at Isaiah 20 verse 1 we're almost done it says in the year that Sargon the king of asher Assyria northern Turkey sent his commander-in-chief to attack Ashdod which is on the west coast of Israel Mediterranean in 1993 archeologists uncovered a ninth century BC inscription a tale then the words carved into a chunk of basalt refer to the house of David and the king of Israel they said he was made up it was once claimed that there was no assyrian king named Sargon because they couldn't find him in any historical books his name was not known in any other record but Sargon's Palace was discovered in Iraq and the very event mentioned in this verse about the capture of Ashdod was recorded on the palace walls even more fragments of the stele memorializing the victory was found at Ashdod would just this thousands thousands of external evidence thousands in other words if you can't believe that the Bible is a legitimate literary document based on its historicity and based on its external evidence then you can't believe in any book because there's more evidence for the Bible than all the volumes of books in the world ever written we'll get into more of that next week this is scratching the surface when we get into manuscripts and I tell you how many manuscripts are of the New Testament written in so many languages and they all agree when we start talking about the mazarites and and how careful they were scribes and how they were trained to scribes we talk about the Dead Sea Scrolls telling you by the end of this you will you should never open up your Bible the same and you should never listen you can assault me all day long I don't like it but it's okay but you assault my heavenly father and we're gonna talk oh yeah you can make fun of me and I'll keep walking but you say the Bible is just written by men I'm sorry what did you say the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah have been discovered southeast of the Dead Sea evidence that the site seems consistent with the biblical account it says then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens the destruction de breeze was about three feet thick and buildings were burned from the fires that started on rooftops rhetoric lap an American geologist lived 1879 to 1944 the pressure from the earthquake could have spewed out sulfur Laden bitumen which is very similar to asphalt and it's in that area with with a fault line as well that the city rests upon okay these are the experts and this is what I'm gonna leave you with two quotes okay the first one is from obviously this guy Nelson blue Eck he lived from 1900 to 1971 he is renowned American rabbi does not believe in the New Testament renowned American rabbi and archaeologist he was the president of Hebrew Union College from 1947 to 1971 this guy is no slouch in the Jewish world man you know people really admire him his pioneering work in biblical archaeology resulted in the discovery of 1,500 ancient sites 1,500 ancient sites during the Bible 1,500 ancient sites he said no archeology archaeological discovery has ever contradicted a biblical reference what do these people want men there's such a thing as willful ignorance you could be super intelligent and decide so when you come up with all I'm gonna get him with this oh they're gonna repent and give their soul of Jesus Christ buddy you're operating wrong your job is to be a witness okay a witness your job is not to put a notch in your belt well say hey 13 came to the Lord who's keeping score okay leave that to go your job is to lift him up his job is to draw don't do his job you can barely do yours lift him up be a light and you know what every now and then it'd be really nice if you smiled so people don't think you were baptized in pickle juice well marriage sucks my kids away would everything hurts life sucks but praise the Lord God is good dr. William Albright 1891 to 1971 archaeologist no friend no friend to us he's a biblical scholar okay but no friend to us he said there can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of the Old Testament period I can tell you this I've been in Israel 16 17 18 times I don't even know and everywhere you go if you've been there this digs right every area they're digging and digging and digging and digging and digging and they find more coins with inscriptions more external evidence they're finding it right now as we speak there's digs going on in Syria there's digs going on in in northern Turkey and Mesopotamia digs and they keep finding and finding and finding I can tell you one thing one thing in Israel they'll never find and that's the bones of Yeshua let's stand up together next week bibliography that's your best proof bibliography so we'll have a good time with that we'll look at it first from the Old Testament perspective and then from the New Testament perspective and again I want to tell you I'm in no position to teach this there's one thing I know about myself and that's I'm in no position to teach this ok in other words I know enough to be dangerous but I know enough to defend my faith that's what I can do defend it can I convince somebody no can I win them to the Lord no in my an expert I'm not even remotely even time such nah I'm an expert at one thing knowing that God is God that's my expertise loving him trying to know him and saying god I love you help me to love you more that's all I got man may the Lord bless you and keep you may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you I made the Lord lift up his very countenance upon you and give you his peace in the name of the Prince of Peace you should know the East Morelle yes [Music] I love you guys about your low
