Text: 2 Tim. 3:15-16

 Review: We’ve already looked at the deity and the resurrection of Christ. To summarize His deity, Jesus claimed to be God. Therefore, either He was-which is proved by His resurrection-or he wasn’t-in which case He was a liar, a lunatic, or both. We’ve showed that the resurrection is an historical fact. Jesus said the resurrection is proof of His deity. In fact, it would be the only sign of His deity. Because the resurrection was true, we claim that Jesus is God. If Jesus is God, then what He says must be true. If He says that the OT and NT are the word of God, then it must be so.

 The new show "Early Edition." What if that were to happen to you? What would you do? You have an early edition-the Bible.

 Meaning of Inspiration

 Wrong views

Transition: I want to share with you 2 methods of showing that the Bible is the Word of God.

1. The Preponderance of Evidence
1. Bible Claims Inspiration (give verses)
1. 2 Tim. 3:16-17 "For all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."
2. Matt. 4:4 with Deut. 8:3 Jesus claims that the Old Testament writings are the Word of God.
3. 2 Pet. 1:16-21 "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."
4. Mark 12:36 with Psalm 110 "For David himself said by the Holy Ghost…"
5. Gal. 1:11-12 "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received if of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
6. "The word of the Lord came unto…"
7. Problem: Some will claim that its own testimony is not enough. It is one thing to claim it, quite another to actually be it.
2. Verses on the eternality of God’s Word
1. Is. 40:8 "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever."
2. 1 Pet. 1:23-25 "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever…But the word of the Lord endureth forever."
3. Matt. 24:35 "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
4. Matt. 5:18 "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
5. Ps. 119:89, 144, 152, 160 "Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven." It has survived the attacks of burnings, time, neglect, ridicule. Voltaire prophesied its demise only to have his residence turned into a printing house for the Bible.
3. Fulfilled prophecy
1. Gen. 12:3 promise to Abraham
2. Deut. 28 is the pre-written history of Israel’s backslidings, captivity, regathering, restoration
3. Matt. 24:34-35 Israel cannot be destroyed. Where are the Hittites?
4. Bible outline of history is accurately prophesied in the Bible
1. Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greece, Rome in Daniel 2:31-33
2. Events during the Maccabean revolt accurately prophesied in Dan. 9
3. Prophecies of Christ
1. Gen. 3:15 proto-evangelium
2. Isa 7:14 virgin
3. Gen. 9:18, 27 descendant of Shem
4. Gen. 12:3; 18:18 22:18 Descendant of Abraham
5. Gen. 17:19; 21:12; 26:4 descendant of Isaac
6. Gen. 49:9-10 tribe of Judah
7. 2 Sam. 7:12-15 house of David
8. Micah 5:2 Bethlehem
9. Is 62:11; Zech 9:9 triumphal entry
10. Ps 41:9; Zech 11:12-13 betrayal by a friend for 30 pieces of silver
11. Gen. 3:15; Psalm 22; Is 50:6; 53:1-12 suffering on the cross
12. Ps. 22:16 Zech 13:6-7 piercing hands and feet
13. Ps. 22:18 casting lots
14. Ps. 16:10, Is 53:9 describe embalming and entombment
15. Ps. 16:10, 17:15; Jonah 1:17 his resurrection
16. Ps. 8:5-6; 110:1 his ascension
17. Dan. 9:25 time is predicted (483 years)
18. Fulfillment of the Passover typology
19. Heralded by a messenger Is 40:3
20. Ministry of miracles Is. 35:5
21. Cleanse the temple Mal. 3:1
22. buried in a rich man’s tomb Is. 53:9
23. Resurrection Ps. 2:7, 16:10
4. No contradictions or errors

Gaussen: "Search through these 50 authors, search through these 66 books, search through these 1189 chapters, and these 31,173 verses….search for one single error of those thousands with which ancient and modern books abound, when they speak either of the heaven or of the earth, or of their revolutions, or of their elements; search, but you will search in vain." Q: Show me one contradiction.

5. Summary of R. A. Torrey
1. On the ground of the testimony of Jesus Christ
2. On the ground of its fulfilled prophecies
3. On the ground of the unity of the Book
4. On the ground of the immeasurable superiority of the teachings of the Bible to those of any other and all other books.
5. On the ground of the history of the Book, its victory over attack
6. On the ground of the character of those who accept and those who reject the Book.
7. On the ground of the influence of the Book
8. On the ground of the inexhaustible depth of the book
9. On the ground of the facts that as we grow in knowledge and holiness we grow toward the Bible
10. 10. On the ground of the direct testimony of the Holy Spirit
2. Logical Argument
1. What the writers wrote was reliable, though not necessarily inspired
1. Reliability of the Documents
1. early writers were eyewitnesses
2. men of integrity
3. accounts were divergent enough to draw the allegation of contradiction, but can be reconciled. This range of perspectives argues against collusion
4. lives argue for integrity
5. writing argues for their integrity
6. accuracy of what they wrote

Author	Date Written	Earliest Copy	Number of Copies	Accuracy of Copy
Caesar	1st Cent. BC	900 AD	10	NA
Livy	1st Cent. BC	NA	20	NA
Tacitus	c. 100 AD	1100 AD	20	NA
Thucydides	5th Cent. BC	900 AD	8	NA
Herodotus	5th Cent. BC	900 AD	8	NA
Demosthenes	4th Cent. BC	1100 AD	200	NA
Mahabharata	NA	NA	NA	90%
Homer	9th Cent. BC	NA	643	95%
New Testament	1st Cent. AD	2nd Cent. AD	5,000+	99+%

 

7. Accuracy of the archeology
1. Geisler "No archeological find has even been made that contradicts the history of the Bible."
2. Donald J. Wiseman "The geography of Bible lands and visible remains of antiquity were gradually recorded until today more than 25,000 sites within this region and dating to Old Testament times, in their broadest sense, have been located."
3. There are literally hundreds of geographical, chronological, and historical references given by Luke. A little over a century ago everyone assumed that most of them were incorrect. Yet, the archeological spade has proven Luke to be the most accurate historian of his time. "He calls the rulers of Thessalonica "politarchs," Gallio the "Proconsul of Achaea," the one in Ephesus a "temple warden," the governor of Cyprus a ‘proconsul and the chief official in Malta ‘the first man of the island,’ a title confirmed in Greek and Latin manuscripts."
4. William Ramsay, eminent archaeologist, who had held to the critical views of the New Testament, but changed his position when digs continued to prove the reliability of the New Testament, said "I began with a mind unfavorable to it [Acts], for the ingenuity and apparent completeness of the Tubingen theory had at one time quite convinced me. It did not lie then in my line of life to investigate the subject minutely; but more recently I found myself often brought into contact with the book of Acts as an authority for the authority for the topography, antiquities, and society of Asia Minor. It was gradually borne in upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvelous truth."
5. William F. Albright "All radical schools in New Testament criticism which have existed in the past or which exist today are pre-archeological, and are, therefore, since they were built in der Luft [in the air], quite antiquated today."
6. Roman historian A. N. Sherwin-White: "For Acts the confirmation of historicity is overwhelming….Any attempt to reject its basic historicity even in maters of detail must now appear absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for granted."
7. Ramsay, after detailing the major tenets of the critical school said "Such was the commonly accepted view in the critical school about 1870 to 1880, when I had been studying modern opinions. It is now utterly antiquated. There is not one point in it that is accepted. Everything is changed or discarded. But about 1880 to 1890 the book of Acts was regarded as the weakest part of the New Testament."
8. Ramsay: "The method is to show through the examination, which have been much exposed to hostile criticism, that the New Testament is unique in the compactness, the lucidity, the pregnancy and the vivid truthfulness of its expression. That is not the character of one or two only of the books that compose the Testament: it belongs in different ways to all alike, though space fails in the present work to try them all."
2. What they wrote about Jesus was true
3. Jesus claimed to be God. Either He was or he was a liar, lunatic, or both
4. The resurrection proves His claim to deity.
5. Jesus claimed that the Bible was the Word of God
1. OT: He used authoritatively
2. NT: John 14:26 "lead you into all truth"
3. Eph. 2:20 "Apostles are the foundation."
6. Therefore, the Bible is the Word of God

Abundant evidence that the Bible is the Word of God. This brings us to the fact that it is authoritative. Two truths result:

1. You can count on its promises
2. You can depend on its prophecies
3. You can trust its pronouncements
4. You can live by its precept
5. You will be judged by its principles

Illus. New show this season called "Early Edition" about a man who receives the next day’s paper one day early. He could use it for self gain, but instead, he uses it for the good of others. You have a book that tells you how it’s all going to turn out. Are you using your knowledge to help others or not?