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Who Says the Bible is Gods Word? Part 1

Now, I know this might come as a surprise, but did you know that even Christians make mistakes once in awhile? And for those of you who find this hard to believe, I was able to find some proof. Were going to look at some actual Church Bulletin Mistakes showing is that yes, even Christians are human once in awhile. 1. Todays opening hymn: I Love Thee My Ford. 2. Nov. 11: We will have an evening of boweling at Lincoln Country Club. 3. Womens Luncheon: Each member bring a sandwich. Polly Phillips will give the medication. 4. Helpers are needed! Please sign up on the information sheep. 5. Volunteers are needed to spit up food. 6. Miss Charlene Mason sang, I will not pass this way again, giving obvious pleasure to the congregation. 7. Congratulations to Tim and Ronda on the birth of their daughter October 12 thru 17. 8. If you choose to heave during the Postlude, please do so quietly. 9. Dont forget, the cost for attending the Fasting & Prayer conference includes meals. 10.Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say hell to someone who doesnt care much about you. 11.Barbara remains in the hospital & needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jacks sermons. Yes, as you can see even Christians make mistakes dont they? But folks, I hope theres one mistake that we Christians never make and that is this to doubt that the Bible really came from God. And the reason why I

say this is because I see an alarming trend in the American Church. You see, youd think that the Bible would be utterly revered, especially by Christians, since what we hold in their hands is a literal message from God Almighty. And youd think that people, especially Christians, would pour over the Holy Scriptures day and night seeking answers to their deepest questions, right? Unfortunately, the answer is no! Let me show you what I mean by these following statistics. 1. 18% of adults contend that the Ten Commandments are not relevant for people living today. 2. 27% do not believe that all of the miracles described in the Bible actually took place. 3. 12% of adults believe that the name of Noahs wife was Joan of Arc. 4. 49% believe that the Bible teaches that money is the root of all evil. 5. 56% are convinced the Bible proclaims that the single most important task in life is taking care of ones family. 6. 80% agree that the Bible teaches that God helps those who help themselves. 7. Only 60% of adults maintain that the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings. Now, I dont know about you, but I was completely shocked when I came across these statistics. I mean, think about it. Why didnt Christians have a 100% agreement concerning the accuracy of the Scripture? Surely of all people who should never doubt the Bible it would be Christians, right? But people, as weve seen, this is no longer the case. And you know why? Its because the Bible has been under attack by false criticism over the last century. And because most Christians dont know how to respond to these
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arrogant accusations, the people of the Bible are starting to doubt the Bible! And so now when a evangelical Christian responds that the Bible is Gods Word, most people reply, Oh yeah! Who says the Bible is Gods Word? Therefore, in order to make sure that none of us here have any doubts about the Bible being Gods Word, were going to look at 10 lines of evidence that gives us solid proof that the Bible really came from God. And theres no time to waste so lets get started. 2 Timothy 3:14-17 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So who says the Bible is Gods Word? Well people, its pretty obvious as we just read. The 1st line of evidence is that the Bible says so. You see, anyone who is in a genuine search to validate a document must first give that document the benefit of the doubt, right? I mean, even Aristotle knew this when he said this. The benefit of the doubt is to be given to the document itself, and not arrogated by the critic to himself.

And people, this is precisely the problem with the skeptic today. They assume the Bible is full of errors until its proven absolutely genuine. Theyve got it totally backwards. I mean, even in our court systems we see that somethings innocent until proven guilty, right? Therefore, shouldnt the same standard be applied to the validating the Bible? Exactly! So then, what does the Bible have to say about it being the Word of God? Well, what did we read in our text? The Bible declares that what it speaks about is inspired by God Himself as is further shown by these statistics. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The Lord hath spoken It is written The word of the Lord Thus saith the Lord Saith the Lord 30 times 80 times 258 times 415 times 854 times

And so heres the point. As you can see, the Bible emphatically declares and simply assumes that it is the very Words of God, right? And again, if youre going to be honest in your approach to the Bible then you have to admit this fact. You have to give it the benefit of the doubt like Aristotle said. And why is it that no honest scholar treats any other ancient document in the same hypocritical manner as skeptics do with the Bible? Why do they assume its wrong right off the bat? Why dont the give it the benefit of the doubt that since it claims to be from God that it might really be from God! Wouldnt that be the honest place to start?

People, you cant have it both ways. You cant agree with some of the Bibles teaching and then turn around and deny the authenticity of the Bible. Why? Because the Bible clearly presents itself as the genuine Word of God. And anything short of this is hypocrisy. Oh but thats not all. Who says that the Bible is the Word of God? Well, the 2nd line of evidence is that Jesus says so. Now whats funny is that while skeptics refuse to believe that Jesus was God in the flesh and that Hes the Savior of the world, they will at least nonetheless label Him as a good teacher. But people this good teacher mentality is absolutely ridiculous when you actually read the Bible. Why? Because if you read the Bible youll see that Jesus didnt leave us with this option of Him merely being a good teacher. Hello! Either He was a liar, a lunatic, or indeed Lord God. Thats your only options if you read the Bible. Nonetheless, lets meet the skeptic on their terms and see just what did this good teacher teach about the Bible. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Divine Authority Matthew 4:4-10 Indestructibility Matthew 5:17-18 Infallibility John 10:35 Ultimate Supremacy Matthew 15:3,6 Factual Inerrancy Matthew 22:29 Historical Reliability Matthew 12:40 Scientific Accuracy Matthew 19:4-5

And so heres the point. If Jesus is the Son of God, then the Bible is the Word of God. Why? Because He said so Himself! People, stop and think about it! The authority of Jesus confirms the authority of the Bible. People, you cant have it both ways. You cant agree with some of Jesus teaching and then turn around and deny the authenticity of the Bible. Why? Because Jesus clearly presented the Scripture as the genuine Word of God. And anything short of this is hypocrisy. Oh, but thats not all. Who says that the Bible is the Word of God? Well, the 3rd line of evidence is that the Apostles say so. People, when you actually read the Bible its very obvious that the Apostles and writers of the New Testament assumed that the Scriptures really did come from God. In fact, they made plain statements about the Old Testament and what they themselves were speaking and teaching, which was to become the New Testament, was indeed the very Word of God. In fact, so much so were they convinced of this that we have the harsh warning in the last book of the Bible that no one should even dare tamper with the words which they recorded for us in the Bible. Revelation 22:18-19 Here is my warning for everyone who hears the prophecies in this book. If you add anything to them, God will make you suffer all the terrible troubles written in this book. If you take anything away from these prophecies, God will not let you have part in the life-giving tree and in the holy city described in this book.

Hmmm. Now Id say thats a pretty serious warning, how about you? Id say somebody seriously believed that what they were writing really came from God, how about you? People, you cant have it both ways. You cant agree with some of the Apostles teaching and then turn around and deny the authenticity of the Bible. Why? Because the Apostles clearly presented the Scripture as the genuine Word of God. And anything short of this is hypocrisy. Oh, but thats not all. Who says that the Bible is the Word of God? Well, the 4th line of evidence is that the Early Church and Church History says so. People, the proof of the Early Churchs belief that the Bible really came from God is shown not only in what they taught about the authority of the Bible but also in their direct citations of it. And to show you what I mean, lets take a look at a list of just a few of the Early Church Fathers and their direct citations of just the New Testament. 1. Justin Martyr 2. Hippolytus 3. Irenaeus 3. Clement Alex. 4. Eusebius 5. Tertullian 6. Origen 7. Grand Total - 330 - 1,378 - 1,819 - 2,406 - 5,176 - 7,258 - 17,922 - 36,289

Now you might think, Whip dee do dah. Whats the big deal about those guys quoting the New Testament so many times? But people, stop
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and think about it. Why would they quote it so often unless the really believed it came from God? Besides, the effects of quoting the New Testament so many times has produced an interesting side-effect. Check this out. Sir David Dalrymple was wondering about the dominance of Scripture in early writing when someone asked him, Suppose that the New Testament had been destroyed, and every copy of it lost by the end of the third century, could it have been collected together again from the writings of the Early Church Fathers of the second and third centuries? And after a great deal of investigation Dalrymple concluded: That question roused my curiosity, and as I possessed all the existing works of the Fathers of the second and third centuries, I commenced to search, and up to this time I have found the entire New Testament, except eleven verses. People of God, this is the amazing truth. Even if the entire New Testament was completely destroyed, we could still reconstruct it just from the quotations taken from it! Now Id say somebody really believed it came from God, how about you? People, the Bible is the only book in the world that you can do this with. And those who doubt the authenticity of the Bible assume their doubting position has been commonplace throughout history. But people, nothing could be further from the truth. The belief about the Bible being the valid Word of God was virtually held by nearly everyone for the last 2,000 years of Church History. Therefore, one who doubts the authority of the Bible is forced to say that their own private knowledge of the Scripture is
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greater then all the great thinkers and scholars of the Bible for the last 2,000 years. And people, this is totally absurd when one takes into account that most people who doubt the authority of the Bible have rarely if ever even read the Bible let alone studied it! People, you cant have it both ways. You cant agree with some of the Early Churchs or Church Historys teaching and then turn around and deny the authenticity of the Bible. Why? Because the Early Church and Church History clearly present the Bible as the genuine Word of God. And anything short of this is hypocrisy. And speaking of hypocrisy, I want to make sure that were all on the same page here and clearly understand what hypocrisy is, so none of us here fall for its dangers. One day there was a guy who found himself in desperate need of money so he went to the city zoo, hoping to find a job feeding the animals. Now although no such opportunity was available, the manager seeing the size and the strength of the applicant, suddenly got an idea. He said, You know, there are few creatures who attract attention like a gorilla. Unfortunately, ours died yesterday. If we got you a special fur suit, would you be willing to imitate him for a few days? Well, the hungry man agreed to try. And in no time he was quite successful as he beat his chest, bellowed, and shook the bars of the cage much to the amusement of visitors who said they had never seen a gorilla with such intelligence.

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But one day, while swinging on his trapeze he accidentally lost his grip and landed in the lions den. And a huge lion came right up to him and gave a ferocious roar. And backing away, the impostor realized he couldnt cry for assistance without revealing to everyone that he was a fake. So he retreated, hoping to crawl back over the fence into his own cage. However, the lion followed him. So finally in desperation, he yelled, Help! Help! And immediately the lion said, Shut up, stupid! Youll get us both fired! Now that man was a hypocrite, wasnt he? He was saying one thing trying to fool people while in reality he was somebody else. And people, so it is with the skeptics of the Bible. They spout off bold claims that the Bible cannot be trusted, that the Bible is full of errors. Yet all the time it is they who refuse to look at the evidence. So I ask you, just whos the real hypocrite here? People I dont know if youve noticed this, but our world is in a frantic search for purpose and direction in life. People are full of questions like, Why do I exist? Where did I come from? Is there life after death? And how sad and ironic it is that this mysterious book that everyones in search of can be found on bookshelves, collecting dust, in virtually every home in America. Its called the Bible and it really came from God! People of God, be encouraged today. You dont have to give into the attacks of the skeptic. You dont have to give into doubt. And you dont
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have to give into one bit of criticism. What we hold in our hands is the genuine Word of God! Amen? _____________________________________________________________ To find the way to God, to understand the truth of God's Word, and to received the gift of eternal life, begin by repentance and faith through a prayer like this: Dear God, I understand that I have broken Your Law and sinned against You. Please forgive my sins. Thank You that Jesus suffered on the cross in my place. I now place my trust in Him as My Savior and Lord. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. ___________________________________________________________

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