Why you can believe the Bible - Voddie Baucham

tonight I have an opportunity to address an issue that I think is of utmost importance I believe that tonight we're going to deal with answering the most important question for any Christian to answer now as I say that for those in the room who are Christians you're probably thinking that well I don't know the most important question is probably you know unless I do to be saved or maybe the most important question is whatever fill in the blank but once you've answered that question there's another question that's going to be asked and that question is going to have to do with the authority upon which you base your answer and so ultimately you're going to have to answer the question why the Bible why do you choose to believe the Bible why the Bible above other books excuse me sorry why the Bible above other books why the Bible instead of other books because ultimately everybody has their own you know set of beliefs everybody has their own set of books everybody ascribes various authority to these books so that's a question that we need to answer it's a question that people are right to ask if you're here tonight and you're not a Christian you're right to ask this question you're right to want to know the answer to this question it is the critical point this is the crux of the matter why the Bible because everything else that we discuss everything else that you discuss with a Christian person is going to hinge upon that question why the Bible and so I want us to answer that question as we can answer that question I'm reminded of a group of students that I spoke to at a university in the United States it was one of the Ivy League schools it was at Dartmouth and I was there shirring for a couple of days and we talked about these and and other sort of apologetic type issues and this is one of the questions that was raised and people wanted to know sort of you know how to deal with this and how to respond to this everywhere that i go christians christians young and old want to know how to deal with this issue and how to respond to this issue and so i did i shared with the students there you know how to deal with this and how to answer this and shared with them why it was important telling the story of you know the professor on the college campus in a lecture hall probably not unlike this one there are those professors who are eager to engage christian students especially early in their college experience because there are some people who feel like it is their duty it is their obligation to disabuse college students of the myths that they have come to believe and they see christianity and a belief in the bible as as one of those myths and so the professor's usually haven't encountered that go something like this there is an issue that's raised in class and there is a student christian student to who disagrees who takes issue with whatever it is that's been raised and so the student raises their hand and they have a problem and they say I had a problem here's my problem with that that's wrong it's wrong because of you know whatever so here's issue a and then here's their objection to issue a I object to it because it's wrong okay excellent you object to it because it's wrong but based on what authority and then the student will say well the Bible says Dada da Dada Dada now the professor starts to salivate it's not to get good right now yes the Bible says okay great so then the question comes why the Bible as opposed to any other Authority why the Bible are not Quran why the Bible are not the teachings of Confucius or the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi or the guy who lives down the road why not you know and then the student is going to have to answer that question and unfortunately for most Christians there are one of a couple of answers that we are accustomed to giving we'll start with the worst and the worst one is this well I believe the Bible because because that's the way I was raised at this point it's hard for the professor not to grin just openly in front of everyone he hopes this is the answer that's come you know because it's how you were raised it's interesting that you believe this and yet your authority is the Bible because that's how you were raised and yet you sit here on a college campus asking me to teach you things evidently your Bible is not all that sufficient is it if your Bible was capable of giving you all this knowledge why do you need me secondly if your parents who raised you were capable of giving you all the answers then why is it that you need me thirdly have you not already learned things about what your parents were wrong thank you very much so your parents are fallible you know by the time you get to a room like this you know your parents are fallible you know they told you things just weren't true you know you go out in the cold and they tell you put a hat on you know so that you don't get a cold and then you learn that the cold is a virus and you can't catch it through the top of your head and you're like you know that just lied to me you know stop looking like that or your face will get stuck like that well no it won't you know all these things that they told you they just weren't true but this Bible thing you believe that now all of a sudden we're in trouble here's the other thing you believe your Bible but other people were raised to believe other holy books so ultimately if all you have is that's the way I was raised then you and the Muslim and the Buddhists and whomever else are ultimately just engaged in a you know mature version of my dad's bigger than your dad right I mean ultimately if that's how I was raised well right this is how I was raised you know well my parents raised me better than your France raised you that's all we got well there's another possible response and in this day and age we really like this response because we believe that that experience Trump's all you know you can't argue with a person's experience and so we'll say something like well well well I tried it and it changed my life good for you that's awesome you tried it if it changed your life because you're the only person who's ever tried anything and it's changed their life right and maybe he'll tell you a story three story about a guy who's from the United States he was raised born and raised in the Midwest part of a large family mother had mental problems father was murdered when he was young ended up having to go to Boston to live with his oldest sister but there when he was in Boston he ran in to a crowd that was quite unsavory and having run into this crowd that was quite unsavory he became quite unsavory and before too long he found himself in prison in Massachusetts in prison in Massachusetts there's a men who approached him about his need for his life to be changed they approached him about this Messiah that he needed to meet and encounter and to whom he needed to bother me but he couldn't he simply could not until one night in his cell he had a personal vivid encounter with this Messiah and he bowed the name his entire life changed he became a model prisoner ended up getting out of prison early became one of the most famous preachers of the United States their streets named after him to this day he was responsible personally for opening / opening over 100 houses of worship his name was Malcolm X his Messiah the Honorable Elijah Muhammad whom he later came to realize was a fraud so he left the Nation of Islam actually became an Orthodox Muslim and the Nation of Islam assassinated him so he had an experience it changed his life and he was wrong and by the end of his life he knew he was wrong that encounter in his cell in prison was fraudulent and yet he based everything on it or how about the guy who went to Alcoholics Anonymous and you know he's going through these twelve steps and he gets to I believe what he's probably step three or so and he had to declare a higher power he didn't want any of the religions but there's this light that comes on and off outside his room you know every night and every morning and he just says for grins and giggles that's going to be my higher power this light that goes on and off every evening outside of his room he hasn't had a drink in over a year which means that according to your logic his light has as much authority as your Bible because he tried it and it changed his life I know that look so me all's hand okay you took my two best answers I hope I'm hoping you to give you another one hit up and I will I'll give you the answer that I gave to that group there at Dartmouth and how to deal with situations like this and specifically with them and dealing with the situation with a professor got an email about a week later and the young lady who was at that meeting she emailed me and she said it happened it happened it happened just like you said it would happen were there in class it was a biology class they're bringing up something they're talking about some evolutionary stuff and I just I don't know next thing I knew my hand was in the air and I said something and he goes you know why do you object to this and I said the Bible and you know I she goes I knew it didn't happen but I could see him salivating in my mind just like you said you know his eyes just got all big and then he just goes question me you know why do you believe the Bible and so I just gave him the answer that you gave so she looked at a professor and she said I choose to believe the Bible because it's a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other witnesses their reports supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that their writings are divine rather than human and origin and so the professor said I have to get back to you gentlemen up here says can you write that down for us no but I'll do you one better I'll teach it to you tonight okay all right but I'll do even one better than that I'll show you where it came from if you have your Bibles you can open to second Peter chapter one if you don't have your Bible look on with someone second Peter chapter one second Peter chapter one I know some people are already upset yeah because they're going well you you can't use the Bible to prove the Bible that's circular reasoning my goal here is not to prove the Bible my goal here is answer the question the question is why I choose to believe the Bible okay I'm not here to prove the Bible I'm not here to defend the Bible I agree with Charles Spurgeon I would no more defend the Bible than I would defend a lion you don't defend a lion you just let him loose he'll defend himself amen we wouldn't saw some Lions today they didn't need any defending okay so I'm not here I'm not here to defend the Bible I'm here to answer that question I'm here I'm here to explain to you why I choose to believe the Bible and the answer to that question for me resides in the Bible itself now why would I appeal to the Bible in this way because there is no higher authority than the Bible if there is no high sea if I were to appeal to another Authority I would be conceding the fact that there's a higher authority than the Bible so this might be a problem in any other area and any other field however I'm making the argument that this is the highest authority therefore by definition I cannot appeal to another Authority okay all right second Peter chapter 1 beginning in verse 16 Peter writes and again he's rude he's responding notice he's responding to questions and/or accusations about the authority of the scriptures for we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty for when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory this is my beloved son with whom I am well-pleased we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain and we have something more sure the prophetic word to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining at a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts knowing this first of all that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit so there's Peters response now for it is it is this from this response that I derived the answer that I gave to you so I'll give it to you step-by-step because every point here is important first it's a reliable collection of historical documents can you say that with me it's a reliable collection of historical documents say it again it's a reliable collection of historical documents one more time it's a reliable collection of historical documents this is important it's important that it's reliable it's important that it's a collection it's important that its historical all of these things are important that we have a collection of historical documents now the Bible is unlike many other holy books in that the Bible is actually a collection you don't have just one individual who says that he heard from God and everybody has to listen to him it is actually a collection the Bible was written on three different continents Asia Africa and Europe the Bible was written in three different languages mainly Hebrew and Greek with a little bit of Aramaic the Bible was written by over 40 authors from multiple walks of life we have people who were kings and Generals people who were fishermen you know tax collectors we had people from the doctors historians we have people from all walks of life over 40 different authors from all sort of walks of life who give us 66 volumes the 66 volumes cover hundreds of various sub they were written over a period of more than 1500 years now let me recap three continents three languages more than 40 authors hundreds of subjects and topics written over a period of 1500 years this is a reliable collection of historical documents it is not just one individual making a claim this is incredibly important oftentimes we don't think about the Bible in this way you know we just think about the fee book that we have you know we don't we don't comprehend that all of this came together in order to give us the Bible okay and this actually adds to the credibility of the Bible the fact that it is a reliable collection of historical documents listen to this from Luke's Gospel Luke was a physician and a historian and dr. Luke writes chapter 1 verse 1 of his gospel in as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us it seemed good to me also having followed all these things closely for some time past to write an orderly account for you most excellent Theophilus that you may have blind faith in what I know that you may have certainty concerning the things that you've been taught here's what's interesting Luke was not an eyewitness he doesn't claim to be an eyewitness he's a historian who claims to have traced the information from the eyewitnesses a lot of people say you know why do we have to have four Gospels well because all of these Gospels are telling the same story from different perspectives and the fact that this man was not an eyewitness but collected information from individuals who were eyewitnesses some of the his chief eyewitnesses interestingly enough happened to be female eyewitnesses that's why we get much many things from Mary's perspective because Mary and Peter were two of the main eyewitnesses that he relied upon but anyway he gets information from eyewitnesses and he openly says that he wasn't an eyewitness but that he collected the information from the eyewitnesses and that he has followed everything closely for some time past and he wanted to write an orderly account here's another reason why we have multiple Gospels Luke's goal is history and chronology okay Luke's goal is I want to give you the things as they happened in order John's goal is evangelism John says clearly I write these things so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ so his goal is evangelism just so John orders his gospel around seven major signs that's the way he organizes his Gospel Mark's Gospel is the shortest of the Gospels mark is about brevity and marked his his favorite you know one of his favorite words is you know straight away and straight away and immediately okay and he's just boom boom boom boom boom you know and it is brief it just the facts ma'am that smarts goal Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience and he wants to demonstrate that Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah so Matthew's Gospel emphasizes these things that's why for example he starts with a genealogy okay so Matthew's pointing backwards that's why we have this gospel written the way it's written if we have time I talk more about that but just know that the idea here is that we have a reliable collection of historical documents Luke is saying here in no uncertain terms this is an historical document notice what Peter says we did not follow cleverly devised myths when you may known to you the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in other words these weren't myths these weren't a collection of myths the words these were facts but notice his next phrase but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty here's the second part we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses can you add that with me let's say together a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses one more time a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses he says we were eyewitnesses go with me if you will over to first John first John couple of pages over in first John 1 things happens first John chapter 1 beginning in verse 1 watch what he says here notice his choice of words that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life think he's trying to make a point there I don't know maybe verse 2 will help the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us how about verse 3 this is this autumn maybe this on it sound maybe give us some idea of what he's aiming at here right that which we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also we've seen we've heard we've touched folks we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses this is important these weren't people who later on had a vision these were people who were eyewitnesses to events and we're not just talking about new testament new testament and old we're talking about eyewitnesses to events who wrote about events that they saw themselves so we have a reliable collection of historical documents that's good but we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses that's even better but they're written during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses let's add that one we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses one more time we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses come on now together we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses that is incredibly important there are a lot of people who don't like that don't believe that who argue with that they want to date the Bible late and so on and so forth but there's a huge problem there go with me to first Corinthians then we're going to go backwards first Corinthians chapter 15 first Corinthians chapter 15 this is Paul writing here she's very important now I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you which you received in which you stand and by which you're being saved if you hold fast to the word I preached to you unless you believed in vain for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried they was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas that would be Peter then to the twelve then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time most of whom are still alive though some have fallen asleep then he appeared to James then to all the Apostles last of all as to one untimely born he appeared to me also stop if you do the math there are at least three hundred and one eyewitnesses to the resurrection who were alive when first Corinthians was written at least three hundred and one eyewitnesses to the resurrection who were still alive who were still alive who were still alive when first Corinthians was written now before we move on from here we're on a college campus so I need to address this issue because there's always you know the smart guy who goes well you know you got a real problem here because you know you said there that he was you know he he appeared to Cephas sort of Peter and then to the twelve you got a problem that's one of it that's one of those contradictions in the Bible right there why well because Judas hanged himself how could he appear to the twelve Jesus hanged himself he would only have appeared to 11 because Judas had already hanged himself that's interesting very interesting now that would appear to be a contradiction and unless you read like the rest of the Bible because then you would discover that in Acts chapter 1 Judas is replaced by Matthias and the requirements was that he would have been an eyewitness to everything from the beginning you see the 12 that was an important number that's why they replaced number 12 when he hanged himself so that there would still be a 12 and by definition being in the twelve meant that you had to be a witness to the resurrection so there's no contradiction here but thanks for playing but that just goes to the heart of our presuppositions when we read the Bible you know there are those who read the Bible like a judge trying to find something wrong trying to find some working hard to find something wrong and you know what I found is that when people are reading the Bible like that they they have all these aha molds AHA and then you answer and they don't go wow I was so wrong they just go okay fine I'll find another one you know there have been 25,000 more than 25,000 archaeological digs related directly to the subject matter of the Bible over 25,000 now one of them has contradicted anything that we have in a Bible in the Bible and the overwhelming majority of them have confirmed and affirmed the things that we find in the Bible but here's what's interesting when you find something in the Bible and as we've done thousands upon thousands of times that confirm something in the Bible there were individuals in the back were Aeneas for Aeneas was no governor we've never found his name anywhere so you find kurinny is's name in an archaeological dig and those people don't go oh we were wrong please forgive us they just go whatever we'll look someone you know and it's nothing and you don't hear articles about it but then somebody goes you know we found you know the the Gospel of whomever and it's front-page news all around the world right because it promotes a theory that we want to promote that undermines the Bible then you find out that it wasn't authentic and nobody hears about that right but what we find here in this text is again over three hundred and one eyewitnesses to the resurrection who were still alive when first Corinthians was written why is this important this is important because that means that the gospel message that the message of the Bible was falsifiable it was falsifiable this is important when you're testing the veracity of a claim if somebody's making a claim and that claim can't be falsified that means you can't test the claim right not a very strong claim if you can't test the claim that means you I've just got to trust you because there's nothing I can do to falsify your claim I just got to trust you this claim was falsifiable when Paul wrote it it was a falsifiable claim and yet it was never falsified that's a piece of evidence that has to be weighed okay a reliable collection of historical documents written that vial witnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses but there's a problem and here's the problem the problem is you know we're all educated people and unfortunately we're over educated people because we have truth and lies and everything else and because we're over educated people all of us believe we know things about this claim on this whole claim that you know we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during a lifetime over there you know that's not exactly true this stuff was actually written later I mean in that right haven't we heard that that this stuff was written later you know and then there's this Constantine guy you know and then he he put stuff together and then he said get rid of other stuff and know all this sort of stuff and so there are a couple of things that we need to deal with when we talk about the Bible in this way again a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses I'm claiming that the Bible is written early I'm claiming that the New Testament is written early I'm claiming the New Testament is done with by the end of the first century early maybe into the second century depending on how you date revelation but that the buddy but then it's early that it's very early and there are those people who you know they're going to argue against this on a couple of different fronts I'll deal with the e0 and first that the Bible is not reliable because it's been translated so many times you can't trust what we have because it's been translated so many times so maybe what he is saying is true about something out there somewhere but it's not true about what we have today because it's been translated so many times have you heard this come on neat hands I need hands you've heard this okay great I've heard this I people have told me people at reputable schools have told me about professors who've made this claim the people who make these claims this particular claim are either ignorant or evil or both and I'm not just being mean let me explain to you why because the Bible has been translated so many times and they'll say it's like game of telephone all right the game has different names in different parts of the world okay but you know the game you whisper into the ear of this person and then he whispers into his ear he referred in the history or so on and so forth and then we come all the way down here and you have to tell me what this guy whispered into your ear by the time it gets to you it sounds nothing like what I whispered into the ear of the first person right and so this is the argument that they make about the Bible being translated so many times and about us not being able to trust the Bible because of how many times it was translated this bothers me a great deal it bothers me a great deal there are people who claim to be intelligent who continue to make this argument and it bothers me that there are Christians who don't laugh at them because here's the problem if I am the Greek Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts I don't just whisper into his ear and then everybody else have to hear what I told him I see I'm reading from the English standard version this translation was done in the early 2000s they didn't just go back to the next oldest translation and translate from that they went to the Greek Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts themselves which means the game actually goes like this I speak to him and then I speak to him and then I speak to him and then I speak to him and I speak to him I speak to him I speak to him I speak to him I speak to him and then I speak to him so that when he says what he heard it's the same thing that that guy heard because he got it from the same source that's why people who make this argument are either ignorant or they're evil or both how can any intelligent human being argue against the validity of the Bible because of the number of times it's been translated listen if you would bother to go learn how to read Hebrew and Greek or Aramaic you could go to the source yourself these translations can be tested there are software that you can use to test these translations against the documents that they're translating there's no hiding here in fact we are more capable today than we've ever been at translating the Bible yeah well the documents that we have are just late documents and we don't know what there were in those earlier documents okay um all right let's look at that for a moment shall we when we're talking about the manuscripts themselves because there are some some issues that we have to talk about there when it comes to the Bible it's true we don't have originals because of the material that these originals were written on we don't have originals but let's limit ourselves tonight just to the New Testament shall we just when we're talking about the New Testament we don't have any originals um but we do have documents that date back as early as AD 120 80 100 - 80 120 um that's within a couple of decades of the completion of the New Testament we can go I can put our hands on documents that were dated within a couple of decades of the completion of the New Testament um how many manuscripts do we have the New Testament we have over 6,000 manuscripts or portions of manuscripts of the New Testament over 6,000 over 6,000 manuscripts or portions of manuscripts and we can go back to within a couple of decades of the last writings but if if that doesn't sound impressive to you it's because you don't deal with ancient writings for example if we're talking about Aristotle's Poetics we have less than a dozen manuscripts of Aristotle's Poetics and the earliest one that we can go back to is over a thousand years after the writing Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars again less than a dozen and it's over a thousand years between the last writing and the first manuscript we can put our hands on the best example that we have in terms of number of documents is Homer's Iliad Homer's Iliad we have a few hundred manuscripts but the earliest one we can put our hands on is written 2,100 years after the original and people have the audacity to question the New Testament that's ridiculous if it was a fight they'd stop it they wouldn't even let it start if the Bible is not considered reliable or trustworthy in an institution like this there is no ancient document that should ever be considered trustworthy at an institution like this because none comes close to the Bible yeah well but then we know there's the assault the whole overzealous monk theory right and that it's these monks and it's just Constantine guy um again that's more Dan Brown than it is okay that's da Vinci Code that's the movies that's that's not that's not actual history but but even even if we even if we were to go there okay there's a few problems number one there's a manuscript problem and there's six thousand Greek manuscripts or portions of manuscripts so if we have these you know monks during the time of Constantine who are going to go back and who are going to change the New Testament they would have to find six thousand Greek manuscripts and portions of manuscripts change them all the exact same way don't show your ink work don't get caught and never tell anybody what you did there's a second layer of problem you know Jesus said go and make disciples of pancetta FMA every people group every ethnic group right problem with people groups as they speak different languages so within the first couple of centuries the New Testament is translated into Syriac Coptic and Latin so now you're over zealous monks during the time of Constantine have to go find 6,000 manuscripts change them all the exact same way don't show your ink work don't get caught don't tell anybody what you did then learn how to lie in Syria Coptic and Latin as well as you lie in Greek because if you don't there's going to be a problem because now the Greek manuscripts won't match the translations into these other languages so you got to change those right and then again don't share your ain't work don't get caught don't tell anybody there's a third layer of problem the early church fathers the early church fathers had this horrible habit of quoting and writing commentaries on the New Testament so much so that if all we had were the writings of the early church fathers we would be able to reproduce the New Testament all but eleven verses so now our overzealous monks have to find 6,000 Greek manuscripts lie don't show your ink work don't get caught don't tell anybody what you did learn how to lie Syria Coptic and Latin as well as you lie in Greek go get all those things from around the world make sure your lies match get them back don't tell anybody what you did find all of the writings of the early church fathers and make sure that their commentaries now match all the lies that you told in Syria Coptic Latin and Greek that's fantasy that's fantasy okay that's absolute fantasy so we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses all right so far we just got a good history book now it gets good back in our passage for 17 for when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain now we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses and they report supernatural events let's say that together we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses and they report supernatural events not superhuman events superhuman events that's like sports highlights okay these are supernatural events they're talking about the Mount of Transfiguration they're talking about when Jesus was transfigured on the mountain and he was visited days on Moses like Peter said we just need to build some stuff right here and never leave this was awesome the Bible is not just a bunch of rules about religion the Bible is a collection of supernatural events these men claimed that jesus healed the sick these men claimed it Jesus walked on the water and the piece de resistance Friday he was dead Sunday he was risen these are not just the writings of a religious community trying to pass down their rules and regulations but we have those you can go to Qumran and you can you can find those right that's what that's what we have at Qumran by the way we also have a collection of Old Testament books that were older than anything that we had before the 1940s when we found the Quran scrolls but again that's the Old Testament we wouldn't have time to get into all of that as well but these individuals are saying that there are supernatural things that happen when Moses crosses the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army is drowned again this is supernatural these are the types of things that we have in the Bible but not only are they supernatural events but they're supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies we're not talking about general Nostradamus type prophecies okay we're not talking about faith healer prophecies didn't take a whole lot for me I mean I just know anything about the human condition I know I mean there's somebody in this room you're suffering from a bad condition right there's somebody in this room and you lost your job not long ago there's somebody you're having in a room this size you know that's not what I'm talking about here that's not the kind of prophesies yet I'm talking about the kind of predictive prophecy said I'm talking about I'm talking about for example the prophecies in Isaiah 53 for example in Isaiah 53 Isaiah over 700 years before Jesus was born prophesized that Jesus will be born and that he will be the suffering servant Isaiah 53 is a powerful passage but maybe it's not old enough for you it is a powerful passage I've taken trips to Israel taking several trips to Israel to lead tours and I've met some folks there who are part of a group called one for Israel and they do outreach to Jews in Israel and one of the things that they do is called the Isaiah 53 project and one of the individuals he's an American he went over he did actually did military service with the Israeli military he lives there now he serves at Babbo college there now and and you know often times they will read Isaiah 53 and they will ask their Jewish friends and counterparts I'm gonna read something for you I want you to tell me who it's about and where it's from and then the Jewish calendar the way the Jewish reading year goes there are a number of things that they don't read in their in their reading year one things that they don't generally generally read Isaiah 53 there re 52 there 54 but they won't brief 53 and so this gentleman had his Bible that he got from the military he was talking to a friend of his that he had served with in the military so I want to read you something you tell me who it's about and where it's Rick he reads Isaiah 53 this gentleman says that's about Jesus it's in the New Testament and all he does at that time is remove the book that he had behind this Hebrew Bible and shows the man know this is from your Hebrew Bible that's Isaiah 53 immediately the gentlemen's became angry because he knew what that meant but the life and death of Jesus was in fulfillment of prophecy but we're not gonna go there tonight I just not old enough I need something older 700 years come on man you know what 700 years how about we go back over a thousand I'm gonna go back over a thousand we go to Psalm number 22 now if I wanted you to turn to Psalm 22 let's say we're first century let's say we're you know Jewish people were talking about the Bible and Aramaic I wouldn't be able to tell you to turn to Psalm 22 we've only had chapters and verses for the last several hundred years I would have had to tell you to turn to the title of Psalm 22 which would have been the first line I would have had to tell you open your scroll to Ellie Ellie lama sabachthani which means my God my God why have you forsaken me does that sound familiar this is what Jesus says while he's on the cross so Jesus quotes the title of a song while he's being crucified now if I say pass me that oh gentle Savior what's the next thing comes to your mind hear my humble cry right Amazing Grace how sweet the sound right and that's just here what if I was about to be executed and I said the first line of a song and then you watch me die you'd probably think about the rest of that song the whole time I was dying Psalm 22 my God my God why have you forsaken me why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning oh my god I cry by day but you do not answer and by night but I find no rest looking for six I'm a worm and not a man scorned by mankind and despised by the people all those who see me mock me they make mouths at me they wagged their heads he trusts in the Lord let him deliver him let him rescue him for he delights in him that's what's being said to Jesus that's how he's being mocked while he's being crucified go down to verse 12 many Bulls when comes me strong Bulls of Bashan surround me they open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring a lion I'm poured out like water all my bones are out of joint why because you're nailed to a tree my heart is like wax it is melted within my breast interesting after he dies they pierce him in the side thrusting upward Li they pierced the pericardium in blood and water rush out look the next this my strength is dried up like a potsherd my tongue sticks to my jaws which would make you say I thirst you lay me in the dust of death for sixteen for dogs encompass me that is a reference to Gentiles guess what Roman soldiers are Gentiles a company of evildoers encircles me he's crucified between two of them they have pierced my hands and feet by the way not everyone who was crucified was pierced in the hands and feet some were just tied to the cross so that took days for them to die I can count all my bones they break your bones in order to hasten your death Jesus was crucified right before a High Holy Day he needed to die quickly so that his body wasn't hanging on the cross during the Passover but they didn't have to break his bones because he said into thy hands I commit my spirit so done if his bones were broken but he was crucified they stare and gloat over me and they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots um that was written a thousand years before Jesus was ever born and it was written by a man who never once in his lifetime saw a crucifixion well how do you know um because crucifixion had not yet been invented that's how I know we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses they report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and this is why Peter says in verse 19 we have something more sure the prophetic word to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts he's saying listen these these fulfilled prophecies the again these aren't necessarily going to save you you say by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone but maybe you're here tonight you say well I hear all that but I still don't believe he pay attention to it though pay attention to fulfill prophecy like a man out at night in the dark who sees a lamp shining the human eye can see a lamp in the dark from over a mile away and if you see it what do you do you watch it you watch it and see if it's getting closer he says listen if nothing else if nothing else if you sit here tonight you say well I'm not convinced that's fine just watch like you're watching a light in the distance until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts because that's what you need you need the day to dawn and you need the morning star Jesus himself to rise in your heart you need to be made alive by him that's what you need but for now watch don't take your eyes off this read about more of this we'll have time to tonight but read about more okay our time is getting away from us let me in with this he says verse 20 knowing this first of all that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit finally they claim that their writings were divine rather than human in origin so let's put it together together with me we have a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses they report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that their writings are divine rather than human in origin they claim that this is from God thousands of time and the Lord said and the Lord spoke to Moses saying and the Lord spoke to and the Lord said and thus saith the Lord all over the Bible this is God's words that man's words they're claiming these are God's words and by the way when these prophecies are fulfilled it gives credence to that does it not that this is God who is speaking and oftentimes you have individuals who say well I just I just can't get there I can't go there why because men wrote that men wrote that and I just can't believe it then you can't believe anything written in any book because men wrote them right that's ridiculous can't believe that Michaels men wrote that yet you believe yourself huh yeah you don't believe what Munro because you believe they might be fallible you know that you're fallible and yet you believe you how can you believe you not believing in what makes you so trustworthy but there's another problem this whole problem is whole idea that we have yeah and I've had people say this yeah well you know I'm just I'm a man of science and unless these types of things can be proven to me scientifically then I just have I just uh when people say that I just want to give him a hug I really do I really do I really do because they believe that they're so super intelligent and they're demonstrating their ignorance I just want to hug them I just want to put my arm around them and say listen listen listen listen I'm telling you this because I'm your friend don't ever say that to anybody else because you do sound like an idiot what do you mean well I mean you know the scientific method you understand the scientific method well yes in the scientific method something has to be observable measurable and repeatable right history is not observable measurable or reviewable you don't use the scientific method to prove historical events so if you say you need scientific evidence for this you sound like an idiot you don't use the scientific method to prove historical events you use the evidentiary method like you would in a courtroom so what do you do well I don't know you ask about reliability of sources you ask about the corroboration of sources you ask about the internal and external evidence that supports these sources these are the kind of questions that you ask who are the witnesses are they reliable and trustworthy witnesses is this falsifiable other other things that are contradicting this or are there other things that are confirming this these are the climate kind of questions that you ask in the evidentiary method and when you ask those questions you come away with things like um three continents three languages over 40 authors most of whom never met one another they write us 66 volumes these volumes address hundreds of different subjects and topics and come together in a cohesive unit that tells one redemptive story and it's written over a period of more than 1500 years therefore you have corroboration you have reliability you have 25,000 25,000 archaeological digs related directly to matters discussed in the Bible that have confirmed what we find therein you have the writings of contemporaries who confirm what we find here in there for the intelligent man is not the man who says I simply can't believe that that's the fool the intelligent man says I choose to believe the Bible because it's a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses they report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and they claim that their writings are divine rather than human in origin and if that's not enough I tried it changed my life listen we're going to take a break for a couple of minutes and then we're going to come back we're going to have questions we want you to write your questions if you will okay the questions will be collected and then we'll try to go through as many of them as we possibly can in the time that we have remaining so please if you would just take the time to write those we'll collect them and we'll put them in different categories and then we'll get to as many of them as we have time for thank you five minutes thank you

Channel: Antioch Bible Church

Views: 350,234

Rating: 4.8580556 out of 5

Keywords: bible, believe, christianity, truth, false, witnesses, religion, gospel, trust, The Bible (Religious Text), Believe (Composition), Holy

Id: G1XJ7DeR5fc

Length: 57min 19sec (3439 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 10 2014