Knowing Your Bible as truth

So, you may not be a born again Christian (if not then you will learn something) or perhaps you are? Maybe you have been serving the Lord in some capacity for many years, but did you ever stop to think why you are not progressing, perhaps even backsliding? Indeed, why can I see so many born again Christians and nominal Christians who carry a picture of sin on their faces and others who are unable to demonstrate the fruits of the holy spirit in their lives? These surely cannot progress because they have left the basics and tried to do everything their own way or perhaps even been led astray by others who themselves have lost sight of the basics.

I say, the Lord says, in doing so you have lost sight of HIM. You therefore have no authority in Christ. Get back to basics and understand your bible and what it means to you today. Yesterday’s understanding has gone.

Please read the following passages very carefully, they are very basic but well suited to most people who live and work in the things of God (Christ).

John 1.1

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

2 Timothy 3.16

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

But! Isn’t this what the bible itself says about itself?

Questions:

Why should you trust the bible?

Who made it anyway?

Why should I believe it? It’s only words, isn’t it?

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Just look at the start of 2 Timothy 3.16…..

This tells us that scripture is given by God.

Actually, the words “given by inspiration of God” are more correctly translated “all scripture is God breathed.”

God, through His godly inspired writers Himself says “in the beginning was the Word”

God is telling us that He was in the beginning because He is the Word. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. This is God’s Word.

But you say, OK!! That’s fine but what about God, who is He? How does He speak? Where is he? How can I know that He is real? And especially how can I trust in these pages of a book that has so many different translations, especially in English that I just get so confused? “It’s all too complicated for me”, you say.

I just want to know if it’s real and where it came from.

Christ is simple. God is simple.

The problem is, that man in constantly trying to prove and disprove things and especially the bible.

But just remember what God says in His Word .in 1 Corinthians 2.14.

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

He is talking of the bible.

This scripture is telling us that the human intellect cannot grasp the divine truth apart from the illuminating power of the spirit of God.

The words of Ephesians 4.17-18 describe man in his natural condition before the transforming power of the Spirit of God makes him a child of God.

Unregenerate man or woman, are said to:

“Walk in the vanity of their own minds, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart”

Unregenerate man or woman, are those that are unsaved.

Very few people, if any, become convinced of the supernatural nature of the bible by argument, always rejecting the validity of the bible and its contents.

But there are three ways that natural man can understand how real God is and how real the bible is.

1. The witness of the Spirit

Most people are saved by hearing the Word of God, without ever hearing any arguments that the bible is the inspired word of God.

This is done by the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, seizing their hearts and leading them to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This usually happens when there is conviction of sin and an acknowledging of that sin and that a sinner needs a savior and that God has provided Jesus Christ as the Savior.

This conviction that the bible is the inspired Word of God is not accomplished by arguments based on facts or evidence no matter how many arguments you put forward. It is based on the transforming power of God through His spirit being poured into you at the appointed time.

The Apostle Paul reminds the church of the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2.4 in his own testimony that:

“It was not with enticing words or man’s wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and power”

You see, to convince the “lost” or those that ask the questions that conflict with biblical truths, they must first look to the “demonstration” or “proof” of the Spirit as the only truly effective way of convincing the ungodly of divine truth.

2. The Bible’s claims for itself

-         The Old Testament

The Old Testament writers themselves claimed to be writing the very Words of God.

They use expressions such as:

“God said”

“The Lord spoke saying”

“The Lord commanded”

“And the Word of the Lord”

These words occur more than 2,800 times in Old Testament scripture.

Those people who disbelieve the Old Testament must also disbelieve Christ Himself and dependability upon Him, because Christ Himself believed and taught that the Old Testament was God’s authoritative Word.

Christ began and closed His ministry by appealing to scripture.

He publicly introduced Himself as being the Messiah by quoting scripture.

Jesus declared in John 10.35, “The scripture cannot be broken”

Speaking of the Old Testament

Jesus endorsed Old Testament incidents that have been denied by modern critics.

-         The Genesis account of the creation of man and the divine words instituting marriage. (Gen 2.24; Mat 19.4-6)

-          The flood and the destruction of Sodom. (Luke 17.26-32)

-           Abraham as an historical figure. (John 8.56-56)

-         He recognized Moses as the author of the Old Testament passages commonly attributed to him. (Mark 8.4)

-         He referred to events during the Kingdom age mentioning David. (Matt 12.3-4), the authorship of Psalms 110 (Luke 12 3-4)

-          David’s inspiration by the Holy Spirit. (Mark 12.36)

-         He spoke of Solomon and claimed that He Himself was greater than this illustrious king. (Matt 12.42)

-          He referred to Elijah and Elisha and their miracles. (Like 4.25-28)

-          He referred to Jonah as well as the conversion of Nineveh. (Matt 12.39-41)

-         He especially mentioned Daniel and based part of His own prophetic teaching on  Daniels words. (Matt 24.15)

Including the statements of the Lord Himself, the writers of the four gospels refer to the Old Testament approximately 400 times.

Revelation contains 400 references to the Old Testament.

Hebrew’s contains 88 quotations of the Old Testament.

The book of Romans is “packed” with references to the Old Testament.

Other direct references in the New Testament give credibility to the Old Testament.

-         Acts 1.16; 4.25 attributes the writings of David to the Holy Spirit.

-         Romans 9.17; equates scripture with divine utterance, speaking primarily of the Old Testament.

-         2 Timothy 3.16 says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.

-         Hebrews 1.1 states that God spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.

-         In 1 Peter 1.11 we read that the Spirit of Christ in the prophets testified of Christ’s sufferings and glory.

-         In 2 Peter 1.21 it is affirmed that in the writing of the Old Testament, “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit”

Remember, prophets of the Old Testament were moved by the Holy Spirit and wrote down what God had said. He would also do this in the future, frequently speaking of the New Covenant that would come with Jesus, making atonement for our sins.

What about the Bible’s claims for itself in the New Testament?

The witness of the writers themselves:

Remember that many New and Old Testament writers didn’t know each other and many books were lost or incomplete.

Paul called his own words in 1 Corinthians 14.37 “Commandments of the Lord”

He thanked God in 1 Thessalonians 2.13 that his hearers received the Word from him.

“Not as the Word of men but as it is in Truth, the Word of God.”

2 Peter 3.2; Peter placed himself and his fellow servants of Christ on the same level as the Old Testament prophets.

John claimed divine sanction for writing the book of revelation. (Rev 1.1)

No part of the New Testament had been written when the Lord Jesus was on earth. For this reason any witness He may bear to the New Testament writings would have to be in advance of their writing.

While He was on earth the Lord promised His disciples three things:

1. The Holy Spirit would bring all His teachings back to their remembrance. (John 14.26)
2. The Holy Spirit would teach them all things and guide them into all truth. (John 14.26; 16.13). These two scriptures promised a teaching ministry of the spirit which would equip the disciples with a full understanding of all truth necessary for this age. These truths are recorded in the epistles of the New Testament.
3. The Holy Spirit would show them things to come. (John 16.13). The great prophetic book of the New Testament is the book of Revelation which “reveals things to come”. Jesus therefore promised in advance, the inspiration of the gospels, the epistles and the book of Revelation. The New Testament was needed to educate and complete the teachings of the Old Testament.

3. Other Evidence

1. It’s accuracy. Scripture names many nations, kings, cities, villages, linking them with specific dates and events during thousands of years, without making a single error. The authority of the Word has been supported by every discovery of other ancient records bearing on its teaching.
2. It’s universal appeal. It is never out of date. It the world’s best seller, even it has bee translated into more than 1,000 languages and dialects.
3. It’s indestructibility. The most powerful book in all history. Why? Because it’s His story. Even persecution, death and destruction have kept the bible prominent today.
4. It’s unity. Although written by different men from fishermen, herdsmen and prophets, men of God and kings, during a period of over 1,600 years and containing 66 books in all, the bible has perfect unity. Not only is there no contradiction in any of the writings but they all fit together to form a harmonious volume of sacred scriptures. There is a progression of thought from beginning to end and a divine structure which becomes more noticeable and impressive as it is studied.
5. Its impact and effect. The bible is superior to every other book in moral and ethical teaching. This book has made more impact upon history than all other books combined.

o       It has overthrown empires.

o       It has outlived continents.

o       It has brought about the establishment of schools and hospitals.

o       It has laid the foundations for the laws of the nations of the earth.

o       Wherever it has gone it has carried progress and enlightenment.

o       It has replaced cruelty and barbarianism with mercy and justice.

The bible shows us the depravity of man and condemns his most loved sins. The bible sets standards of purity and holiness so as man can attain and demonstrate that goodness could not possibly have come from man.

The bible stands alone in the effect of its teachings on the human heart. Those who love the bible are in a different class than those who hate it. It divides mankind.

The drunkard is transformed into a new creature by a word from its pages. The miserable captive to sin is set free from his bondage.

Where the bible is loved there is joy in the home. It satisfies the deepest yearnings and brings peace to the living and hope to the dying.

It solves our most difficult problems and guides us when we are perplexed, comforts us in sorrow, rebukes us and corrects us when we sin. Untold millions from many nations have testified that it was the bible which brought them happiness and untold blessings.

1. It’s fulfilled prophesy. The scriptures contain predictions of future events uttered long before events transpired that no human foresight could have anticipated. The scriptures contain hundreds of detailed and definite fulfilled prophesies which have already come to pass.

This book, speaking as it does, with equal authority about the unseen world and things visible, about the future as well as the past, deserves our implicit faith.

It is trustworthy in every point where it can be tested.

Let us believe it when it speaks of matters which must be taken by faith, as concerning heaven and hell.

Let us give it our unswerving loyalty and our lifelong study and allow it to transform the thinking of our children and educate them in a manner of Godly character.

Train up a child in the way they should go and when he gets old he will not depart from it.

It is the most remarkable book in the world and truly is, without doubt the:

LIVING WORD OF GOD - AMEN