“How Does It Read to You”

Scripture:            II Timothy 3:14-17

C.I.:                The Inspired Word of God

Last week we began a series…. – Today we are going to see what the Bible has to say about its inspiration.

3,800 times the Bible says it is God’s word – yet not because it says this – what other evidence is reasonable?

I. Evidences of Inspiration (What is more reasonable to believe; that the Bible is the word of God or of man?)

A. Internal & External Evidences for Inspiration

1. Manuscript Evidence for Inspiration

a. Before 1947, oldest manuscripts of the O.T. dated from A.D. 1200 (then came the DSS - explain).

b. Today we have more than 5,000 extant manuscripts of the N.T. – Matthew > MacBeth!

c. (Matt. 24:35), “Heaven & earth shall pass away – but My words shall never pass away.”

2. Archeological Evidence for Inspiration

a. The spade has never disproven a single claim of the scriptures

1) Before 1900, critics scoffed at the idea of “Hittites” – (Gen. 26:34), “When Esau was 40 years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite.” – But discoveries at ancient Boghazkoy (in Turkey) silenced them.

2) 1868 – discovery of the Moabite Stone; 1907-1909 – excavations at Jericho; 1935-1938 – Lachish Ostraca (confirming events of Jeremiah); 1848 – excavation of Nineveh; etc.!!!

3) Dr. Keith Schoville, U. of Wisconsin – Madison, “Thus far, no historical statement of the Bible has been proven false on the basis of evidence retrieved thru archeological research.”

3. Prophetic Evidence for Inspiration

a. The scriptures put themselves to the test by predicting certain events – did they happen?!

1) Josiah, prophesied by name, 300 yrs. before his birth – (I Kgs. 13:2), “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you & human bones shall

2) (II Kgs. 23:16), “When Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain &  he sent and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed.”

b. Hundreds of Bible prophecies have been proven to be 100% historically accurate – (2 Pt. 1:20-21)

4. Statistical Evidences of Inspiration

a. The simplest statistics re: chances of something happening are 1:2 – either they will or they won’t!

1) “24 prophecies fulfilled in the last 24 hours of Jesus Ministry” = 2²⁴ = 1:16,777,216

2) There are over 300 Messianic prophecies / cover Texas 1’ deep in quarters, mark 1 & find it!

b. (Isa. 41:23), “Declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that yu are gods. – Behold, you are of no account, and your work amounts to nothing; he who chooses you is an abomination.”

c. Now I ask you, what is more reasonable to believe – Bible is inspired by God or a work of man?!

B. Transmission of God’s Word  (How God used people to transmit His inspired word)

1. Step #1: God spoke to us through His Son

a. (Hebrews 1:1-2), “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir….”

b.  (Jn. 12:48-50), “He who rejects Me … I did not speak on My own initiative … His words are…”

2. Step #2: Holy Spirit promised to the apostles

a. (Jn. 14:26), “But the Helper, the H.S., whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

b. (Jn. 16:13), “But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.”

3. Step #3: Holy Spirit used the writer’s style & vocabulary

a. Example – Luke was a doctor, (Col. 4:14), “Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings”

1) (Lk. 1:2-4), “…those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses [autopsy] and servants of the word have handed them down to us, it seemed fitting to me as well, having investigated everything carefully [go into minute detail] from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; that you might know [full and complete knowledge] the exact truth about the things you have been taught.”

4. Step #4: Each word is precisely correct!

1) (I Cor. 2:11-13), “For who among men knows the thoughts of man… - Now we have not received the spirit of the world… - which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”

5. Step #5: By reading we CAN understand

1) (Eph. 3:3-5), “…that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. – And that by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed through His holy apostles & prophets.”

CONCLUSIONS:

In a court of law, the burden is to prove something beyond a “reasonable doubt.” – Because of the manuscript,
archeological, prophetic & statistical evidence – which is more reasonable; “To believe the Bible is a work of man or a work of God?”

God used over 40 men from different backgrounds over 1500 years period to proclaim His message in three different languages. – Yet there a beautiful unity amongst all of the scripture.  Is this of men or of God?!

Paul told Timothy the scriptures are able to “…give you the wisdom that leads to salvation,” (II Tim. 3:15).  Since the weight of evidence demands we accept the Bible as the word of God – what are you going to do?!