Revelation - God Speaks.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Good morning. Go ahead and have a seat. After the service, we will be selling t-shirts. [0:05] I survived the bike apocalypse of 2011. They will be $45 a piece. [0:12] I want to have a good lunch. Hopefully one of you will buy one. No, I’m just kidding.

[0:19] But congratulations to those of you that have come in since the announcements. [0:23] You made it past all the obstacles that we set. You win the prize.

[0:27] It’s interesting that today we’re going to be talking about communication.

[0:32] When it would be great, the county would communicate with us. [0:37] When the roads will be shut down, it would be fantastic. [0:40] But of course, you win some, you lose some. Welcome to the village. [0:44] If you weren’t in here earlier and you were able to survive the storm and make it, [0:48] my name is Steve, one of the pastors. If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do,

[0:54] we’re going to be focusing on verse 16 of that chapter this morning. [1:01] You have come during a series called Doctrine, What Christians Should Believe. [1:08] That’s what we’re spending the start with last week, included 12 weeks, [1:13] up until Christmas. That’s what we’ll be studying as a church. [1:17] What we’re really doing is kind of unpacking what we hear about the church. [1:22] The leadership of the village and really the core of the village.

[1:27] What we believe about God, what we believe about His redemption of the world, [1:32] what we believe about how He has revealed Himself to humanity, [1:36] what we believe about Jesus and the cross and the resurrection and the church [1:41] and the future that has not come to pass and what many people refer to as the end times. [1:46] But what those of us who are followers of Jesus really see as the beginning [1:51] of what life was really meant to be lived and that is in His kingdom for an eternity,

[1:57] praising God forever. Today we’re going to be talking about a very interesting subject [2:03] to me, revelation. That is how God has spoken to humanity, [2:09] how God has revealed Himself to people. [2:13] And just as a way of introduction, we really see that I want you to understand [2:18] that God is not silent. God has made Himself known [2:24] really even, and we’re going to talk mainly about Scripture this morning as God’s chief way

[2:29] of communicating Himself to us and the Gospel to us. [2:32] But God has also spoken in other ways to us. [2:36] And today we’re going to talk about those two different ways, and really [2:41] in the second way there’s kind of two subcategories of that one, [2:45] but the two chief ways that God has spoken to humanity or His creation. [2:51] The first way is what is referred to as general revelation,

[2:56] or just the way that we look at creation and we can see that God [3:01] exists. In Romans chapter 1 verse 20, the Scriptures tell us, [3:06] for His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, [3:12] have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world [3:16] in the things that have been made, so they are without excuse.

[3:22] In other words, God has made Himself known through

[3:28] creation that it is adequate, that when we look out into the world [3:33] that exists, when we see the beauty that is creation, [3:37] that it is clear according to Scripture, according to God, [3:42] that it did not just happen, that there was a designer, that it’s so [3:47] intricate in the way that it exists, that it screams intelligent design, [3:51] which is kind of the buzzword that’s been going around now, but I would say it screams creator,

[3:57] screams that someone did this.

[4:02] In Acts chapter 14 verse 17 it says,

[4:22] and the way that we see nature taking care of itself, we do not see [4:27] a God in nature, but we see the God of nature,

[4:33] that there is a force that is greater than us, that is persevering [4:38] this world, that is making it to move as it should. Even the greatest [4:43] of scientists look at the human atom or the cell development inside of humanity [4:48] in the DNA of us, and they say that inside of that we cannot figure out why it [4:52] holds together in the way that it should.

[4:57] It screams to us that there’s a force greater than us that we cannot fully [5:03] comprehend. Then in Romans chapter 2 we see another [5:07] form of general revelation starting in verse 14. It says,

[5:18] For when Gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do what [5:23] the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. [5:28] They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears [5:33] witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. The fact that even [5:38] people who do not believe there is a God that we are accountable to, they will [5:43] always live with some form of morality. That there is some form

[5:49] of morality that we all hold to. And what Paul is saying here is that is [5:53] because even those that do not believe in God, God has made himself evident in the [5:58] fact that they have a conscience. That even though our consciences may differ, [6:04] we all have what we believe is a version of right and wrong.

[6:11] The fact that if I were to come up to any of you this morning, even if you’re the most [6:15] immoral person in this room, and I were to punch you in the face for absolutely no reason, [6:19] you would probably tell me I was wrong for doing so. But why? [6:26] Because God has given us all a form of conscience [6:30] to keep us from going absolutely crazy. [6:34] So that his creation will persevere to where he will restore his kingdom.

[6:40] God has made himself known, but he did not stop [6:44] with general revelation. He did not leave us in a place where we would [6:49] simply say there is a God. Rather, he has worked further to make [6:54] himself known by name to us. He moved past just simple creation, [6:59] and he moved to a place of specific revelation.

[7:04] The supreme form of specific revelation this morning, I want you to understand, [7:09] is Jesus Christ. That in John chapter 1, when it says, [7:14] in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, a verse that we referred to [7:18] last week, that term word is a term that is [7:23] in the original language, or a revelation of one’s fullness. [7:28] That in Jesus, when we see in John 1, 14, that the word became flesh and dwelt among us,

[7:33] what we see is the supreme revelation of God. [7:37] Throughout his life, and especially his ministry, and especially in his resurrection, [7:42] we see that God has made himself known, and he desires for us to come to him and be reconciled to him. [7:48] He does that through the cross, through the resurrection, and we’ll talk about that in a few weeks [7:54] when we talk more specifically about the person and work of Jesus. [7:58] For our main goal this morning, we’ll talk about the second form of special revelation, or specific

[8:04] revelation, and that is the Scriptures. [8:08] The 66 books of the Bible, the Old and New Testaments, that we believe [8:13] here at the Village, that this is the word of God. [8:17] We believe that this book has absolute authority over us in our lives, because this is God [8:24] speaking to us. That this is God showing us himself in specific [8:29] way, from creation all the way to where we will enter into his kingdom

[8:34] in Revelation chapter 22. But I want you to look today in 2 Corinthians [8:39] chapter 3. We’re going to unpack just for a moment [8:45] the fact that God has not left us simply to speculate [8:49] as to who he is, as many people do. We don’t have to speculate who God is. [8:54] We can know who God is, and we can know him personally. [8:59] And we find that out through his word. In 2 Timothy chapter 3

[9:04] verse 16 it says,

[9:22] The first point I want us to see, and then we’ll unpack it for a while, is the fact that the Bible is the [9:30] word of God. And when I say word, I’m referring to the fact [9:35] that it is the spoken word of God to us. In that same verse [9:40] when you see all scripture is breathed out by God, that entire phrase [9:44] breathed out by God is one word. In Greek it’s theonistos.

[9:50] In other words, it’s the very breath of God, or it is what happens when [9:55] we speak. When I am talking to you, breath is being expelled from me. [9:59] What that means in the original language is that it is the spoken word of God. [10:06] And it’s very important when we think about our lives and the fact that our [10:10] lives are to kind of be understanding that the creator God, the one that made all [10:15] that there is, he’s not been silent, but rather he’s spoken to us through scripture.

[10:19] And in that scripture, it’s the very spoken word of him to me. So that would lead [10:24] me to believe that what scripture says is very important to the life that I [10:29] live and understanding what the purpose of my life is.

[10:34] That this idea of theonistos, or the spoken word of God, it does [10:39] exist. He has not been silent, [10:44] but rather he has specifically made himself known to us. [10:49] And what we need to understand is what is the purpose of him making himself known to us. [10:53] And we get that from the same verse, just the very beginning of it, that the scripture [10:59] is breathed out by God. That word for scripture there is the word

[11:03] grafe. That word is used 51 times in the New Testament. [11:07] Every one of those times it is used to refer to the Old Testament.

[11:14] So what Paul is actually referencing here in 2 Timothy chapter 3 is the [11:17] Old Testament. He’s saying that the Old Testament is breathed out by God. But the question is, is the Old [11:22] Testament the only thing that is breathed out by God? And then we just tacked on the New [11:27] Testament on the end to give validity to our faith, kind of like Mormonism, which I’ll probably [11:32] bring up a little later, tacked on the Book of Mormon to give validity to their faith. [11:37] And the Jehovah’s Witnesses have tacked on much of the watchtower in order to add validity

[11:43] to their faith, and so on and so forth. And the question that we really want to deal with today [11:48] is understand that the scripture was not written in English. [11:53] If you’re King James only and you’re in here today, you may believe that. But [11:57] the news flashed that the scriptures were not written in English. The Old Testament was originally in Hebrew, [12:02] and the New Testament was originally in Greek and Aramaic, and a little bit of Hebrew.

[12:07] But so do what we have in English. Is it sufficient or is it perverted, as [12:12] some people in this world would tell us that it is? But let’s get back to that [12:17] word, grafe, that word scripture. What does that mean? Those 51 times it is used [12:22] in the New Testament. What is happening there is that the followers of Jesus and Jesus himself [12:28] are pointing back to the Old Testament and saying [12:32] the Old Testament is the Word of God. The thing that the Apostles and the followers

[12:37] of Jesus were accused of after His ascension into heaven was being this great break [12:43] from Judaism and forming a new religion. And those that were not of the [12:48] Christian faith would look at them and call them the Way, which was because the [12:53] disciples would constantly say that Jesus is the Way to God, a reference to Jesus’ own words. [12:58] That He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light. No man comes to the Father but by Him. [13:03] And so what they were accused of was blasphemy, as if they were breaking off of

[13:07] Old Testament Judaism and forming a new religion. But the Apostles were very [13:18] much in the way of the Old Testament. The Torah is the Word of God. [13:22] But what we’re helping you understand is that the Old Testament finds its purpose [13:27] and fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

[13:34] And they use that term grafe to do so. And Jesus [13:37] Himself helped them do this. In John chapter 5, verse [13:42] 39, Jesus has just healed a man on the Sabbath day. [13:47] So He’s being surrounded by the religious leaders of that day and accused of breaking one of [13:52] their greatest laws, which is don’t work on the Sabbath and healing someone that happens to be work on the Sabbath. [13:58] So Jesus kind of unpacks for them that He’s God and He can do what He wants, basically.

[14:04] But more than that, that the Sabbath does not exist for man, [14:07] excuse me, the man does not exist for Sabbath, the Sabbath exists for man and that God [14:12] is doing His work and that God is not resting, but rather He’s working towards redemption. [14:17] But the way in which He does this is He tries to point that He is going to be [14:23] the ultimate fulfillment of the Sabbath. And in John 5, verse 39, Jesus says this. [14:29] He says, you search the Scriptures because you think that in them

[14:33] you have eternal life. And it is actually that they bear witness [14:38] about me. Jesus is saying the whole point of the [14:43] law, the whole point of convicting you of your sin, the whole point of the prophets, [14:48] the whole point of the Scriptures, the whole point of Judaism is to lead to [14:53] me. I am the fulfillment of everything that God has meant to do. [14:59] Then in Luke chapter 24, 27, after the resurrection

[15:03] of Jesus, He’s on the road to Emmaus and He appears to two men and He hides His [15:07] identity somehow from them and He’s having a meal with them. And it says that in [15:12] beginning with Moses and all the prophets, when He says Moses, whenever you see the [15:17] books of Moses, they’re referring to the first five books of the Old Testament which Moses wrote. [15:22] It says in here, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He [15:27] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

[15:34] So it was very important for the apostles to point [15:37] to the validity of the Old Testament because in the Old Testament you see the [15:42] full rich revelation of Jesus Christ from beginning all the way up [15:48] to where He comes. And you see it even in the beginning in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, [15:53] the first proclamation of the Gospel right after the fall of man that we’re [15:58] going to take a look at in two weeks, but where God reveals to them

[16:03] that in the future the heel of a man [16:08] born to a woman will be bitten by the serpent referencing the [16:13] cross, but that He will crush the head of the serpent [16:18] referring to the ultimate triumph of Jesus Christ over sin [16:23] and death. The Old Testament is a proclamation [16:28] of the coming of Jesus Christ. So the apostles were very adamant

[16:33] to point to the Old Testament that this wasn’t a break from Judaism, but rather Jesus is [16:38] the fulfillment of everything that the Old Testament is setting up. So how did we get to the Old Testament? [16:43] And I’m going to spend about five minutes unpacking what should take a whole semester in college.

[16:49] Well, the Old Testament first was formed when Moses put [16:54] the law in the Ark of the Covenant. This was the first time they began [16:58] to procure their writings. God instructed Moses [17:03] to put the Ten Commandments in the Ark. From that point forward, God instructs [17:09] His people through prophets, priests, and kings. [17:13] Scripture records spoken revelation and written revelation through these

[17:18] sources. So really, if you want a good history of the Old Testament, you must read the Old Testament. [17:24] Because the Old Testament bears witness to its own production. [17:29] Moses penned two additional books above the law, [17:33] and he put them in the Ark in Deuteronomy chapter 31, 24-26. [17:38] Then in Joshua 24-26, we see God instructs Joshua to add to this, [17:43] and he finishes the book of Deuteronomy. And throughout the history of the Old Testament,

[17:48] others continue. And the Old Testament records this. A few examples are 1 Samuel 10-25. [17:54] Good luck if you’re going to write this down. 1 Chronicles 29-29, [17:58] 2 Chronicles 20-34, 2 Chronicles 26-22, Jeremiah 30, [18:04] verse 2, and on and on and on. [18:07] We see the development of the Old Testament to lead up to the coming of Jesus Christ. [18:13] As the Old Testament writings were completed, somehow the prophets and priests discerned what was God’s word.

[18:19] And then somewhere between 425 and 435 BC, we see at the end of Malachi [18:24] where God speaking to the nation of Israel is cut off, and it says that the next thing that will happen [18:29] is the coming of the Messiah. And we see that some 400 years later, [18:34] He does come in the person of Jesus Christ. [18:38] What we see here is that ultimately, the Scripture is true because Jesus is God. [18:45] See, Jesus is not God because Scripture says that He is.

[18:49] But rather, Jesus serves as the ultimate validation that Scripture is the word of God. [18:54] Because we see throughout the Old Testament this promised coming of a Messiah that will take on [18:59] Himself the sins of Israel and the entire world, that He will draw all nations to Himself. [19:04] And we see in the person and work of Jesus Christ, every fulfillment, down to [19:09] the place He would be born, Bethlehem, the way that He would be born, [19:14] the fact that He would suffer for the sins of the world, the fact that He would live

[19:19] and come out of a town that really wasn’t any better than any redneck town that we have here in Virginia.

[19:27] That Jesus came out of the town called Nazareth. [19:30] And everywhere that Jesus lives in His life, we see that history [19:34] reveals through the prophecies of the Old Testament that Jesus lives up to every [19:40] standard that is set in the Old Testament. And He serves [19:44] as the validation that Scripture needs. He alone is [19:50] God. And He draws us to Himself through

[19:54] the Scriptures. We see then the Old Testament, we believe [19:59] that the Scripture here is the Word of God, and it does take faith to believe that. Quite frankly, if you do not believe that Jesus [20:05] is God, you have no reason to believe that the Scripture is the [20:09] Word of God. Because that’s what Scripture proclaims. [20:14] And if that’s not true, then this is a work of fiction.

[20:19] In Acts 2-42, we see something very interesting happen. We see the early church devoting themselves [20:24] to four things. The first thing that it says they devote themselves to is the Apostle’s teaching. [20:30] And when we see that the Apostles have constantly been referring to the Old Testament [20:34] as the Word of God, or as Grafe, as Scripture, as the breath of God, [20:39] we see that the early church devoted themselves to the Apostle’s teachings [20:44] about the Old Testament. Because these were people that were schooled in Judaism. And so what they would

[20:49] see is how does Jesus fulfill all of this stuff? So the Apostles [20:54] devoted their lives to writings and verbal teachings that would show this. [20:59] And what we have in the New Testament is the complete revelation of how [21:05] Jesus fulfills this. And so what I want you to understand is that the [21:09] Apostles did not, though, simply see the Old Testament as the [21:14] word of God, and then their teaching as commentaries on the Word of God.

[21:20] Two places in the New Testament, this term Grafe, and I wasn’t just kind of showing that [21:24] term to show how cool I am, but rather, and even that would be nerdy, so I guess it wouldn’t be that cool. [21:29] But that term Scripture is not simply used 51 times to refer to the Old Testament. [21:35] There are two occasions in the New Testament where that term is used to describe [21:39] other places in the New Testament. In 2 Peter, Chapter 3, verses 15 [21:45] and 16, Peter pens this.

[21:50] And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved [21:54] brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, [21:59] as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them, and of these [22:04] matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, [22:09] which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction. We’ll talk about that sentence in just a few moments, [22:14] but I want you to see how he ends. As they do the other

[22:19] Scriptures. So here you see something very interesting. Peter [22:24] is writing about the writings of Paul, and he’s calling them [22:28] Scripture. Now these men, schooled in Judaism, would not [22:34] just flippantly use the term that is referencing [22:38] the Old Testament to talk about newer writings. Back in the [22:44] beginning of the verse, Peter even uses this line. He says, Paul also wrote to you

[22:48] according to the wisdom given him. He’s saying that [22:53] that which Paul has written in his letters comes from somewhere else, [22:59] a reference to the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul. Then I want [23:03] you to see Paul in 1 Timothy 5, 18. He says, [23:08] For the Scriptures says, You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. [23:14] That is a reference to Deuteronomy 25, 5.

[23:20] But then notice what he writes. And the laborer deserves [23:25] his wages. Two different quotations. The first one is [23:30] the Old Testament, but notice that he refers to both of these quotations as being Scripture. [23:35] The second quotation, the laborer deserves his wages, is a direct quotation [23:40] word for word of the book of Luke, chapter 10, verse 7.

[23:48] Paul himself calls one of the Gospel [23:51] accounts the word of God.

[23:56] So we see that in the New Testament, they did not simply look backwards, but [24:01] they also had an understanding that in them, those who had direct [24:06] contact with Jesus and those like Luke who directly had contact [24:11] with the apostles, God was doing something special through [24:16] them as well. They understood that they were being [24:21] used to write the Scriptures. They understood that

[24:26] God was adding to his word through them. So, [24:31] the question, how do we get the New Testament? There are [24:36] 29 books in the Old Testament, and they’ve always been accepted from the time they were [24:41] written until today. But the New Testament is a little more controversial. [24:46] The New Testament consists of the writings of the apostles and their companions because of [24:51] the Messianic revelation of Jesus. The point of the entire New Testament

[24:56] is to point to him. Now, the books, the 27 books that [25:01] were accepted in the New Testament, their acceptance was based on authorship, but [25:06] also on the basis of intrinsic qualities of the books themselves as they fit [25:11] into the Scripture as a whole. In other words, they looked at two different things. [25:16] They looked at who wrote this book. If it was someone that had nothing to do with Jesus, [25:21] did not follow him, or had nothing to do with the apostles, was not a close

[25:26] traveling companion of the apostles. Kind of like the book of Mark. [25:31] Mark was not an apostle. Mark was actually a child when Jesus [25:36] walked the earth. But the Gospel according to Mark was written from the viewpoint [25:41] of the apostle Peter, who basically dictated [25:45] the Gospel according to Mark to him.

[25:50] We understand that we got them because of [25:53] the people that wrote them and the intrinsic qualities inside of them, the most [25:57] controversial of them being the book of Hebrews. Because to this day, we do not have [26:03] absolute certainty as to who wrote that book. Now, I have an opinion, [26:08] which doesn’t really hold any weight with anyone, and other people [26:13] have opinions that hold a lot more weight than mine. Some people think Paul wrote it, some people think

[26:17] Apollos wrote it, some people think Luke wrote it. But it was added because when you read [26:23] that book, you can see something special is being written here [26:28] about the sufficiency and great supremacy of Jesus Christ.

[26:36] You say, but whose authority [26:38] was it given under? Here’s what I want to tell you, and it’s something that Wayne Grudem, who’s a great [26:44] theologian, which some of this series actually, if you want a great companion, it’s going to go [26:48] way more in depth than I will. He has three great books, [26:53] the biggest of them called Systematic Theology. Pick that up and you’ll be [26:59] good for a couple of years because it’s like 1,300 pages. And a lot of this

[27:11] book is called The Bible for All It’s Worth, and it’s written by a great scholar [27:19] named F.F. Bruce. So I’m done with my commercials right now. I’m not selling them, [27:23] so I won’t make any money, so go to Amazon or something and get those. [27:27] But in John chapter 10, verse 27, [27:31] Jesus says this. He says,

[27:39] The early church, [27:44] most of them knew Jesus personally [27:47] while He was on earth. They can be [27:51] trusted to tell us what has authority about Jesus. [27:56] Now once you get further removed from that, the [27:59] trustworthiness really wears off and you can’t do it. That’s why the entire

[28:04] New Testament was considered completed before [28:09] the apostles were even all dead. The last writing, the book of Revelation, [28:14] was written around A.D. 90, give or take around a little over [28:19] 50 years after Jesus died, and it was written by what is referred to as the beloved [28:24] apostle or disciple, John, the one that Jesus had the closest [28:29] relationship with. So we see that we must trust them.

[28:34] Now, some people will tell you, but they did not finalize the canon [28:39] or what is considered the authorized scripture until the end [28:44] of the 300s, 397 A.D. to be exact. Well, F.F. Bruce, [28:49] great scholar, I just referenced him, he has this to say about that. [28:52] One thing must be emphatically stated. The New Testament books did not become authoritative for the [28:58] church because they were formally included in a canonical list.

[29:03] On the contrary, the church included them in her canon because she already [29:08] regarded them as divinely inspired, recognizing their innate worth and generally apostolic [29:14] or indirect. The first ecclesiastical councils to classify the [29:18] canonical books were both held in North Africa, at Hipporegius in 393 and at [29:23] Carthage in 397. But what these councils did was not to impose [29:28] something new upon Christian communities, but to codify what was already the general practice

[29:33] of those communities. We have records that the church [29:38] only recognized 27 books as the word of God that go all the way back [29:43] to the first century. In 397, the only reason the council of Carthage [29:48] did what they did is because people were coming in and trying to add books [29:52] that were written in the 300s. So they said, we have to stop this heresy. [29:58] Let us finalize what the church has always said. But because there were people wanting fame

[30:03] and power coming and saying things like, I have a gospel that Philip wrote, I have a gospel that Thomas [30:08] wrote, I have the gospel of Mary Magdalene, I have the gospel of Judas, and they say all these different things [30:13] that were Gnostic and detract from Jesus. And the church said, enough, we must finally say this [30:18] is it and we’re not going to add anything else. But it was what they had been recognizing for over [30:23] 200 years at that point. The Bible [30:28] then is sufficient. It’s sufficient.

[30:34] Now, I’m going to skip a few things that you might cover in group [30:38] for time. But what I want us to understand right now is there have been [30:43] movies recently in the past few years, and I may be dating myself for some of you, but movies like [30:48] The Da Vinci Code have come out to question the validity of the New Testament, to question [30:53] the authority of the New Testament and say that there were books that should have been added that weren’t added. [30:58] And those books, the reason they weren’t added is because they show that Jesus married Mary Magdalene

[31:03] and he had a couple of kids and he had a picket white fence or something. [31:08] And then there are some that would lead you to believe that Jesus wasn’t fully human and some that would lead you to [31:13] believe that Jesus wasn’t fully God. And so they hid those away. [31:17] And what they’re referencing there is what I mentioned, the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Thomas, [31:22] one actually called the Gospel of Q, a book written by Mary, well not written by her, but written [31:27] in her name, one called the Gospel of Judas. And the question is, why

[31:32] weren’t any of those included? And yet the other ones were included. Isn’t Thomas’ viewpoint important? [31:37] Isn’t Philip’s viewpoint important? Absolutely. And they would be really important if they had actually written those books. [31:42] But the problem is that they didn’t write those books. Someone else did. [31:48] The reason those books were not included is because they were not written. [31:52] One of them did not show up on the scene, and I’m drawing a blank as to which one, [31:58] more than a hundred years after the crucifixion of Jesus, well after the death of all the apostles.

[32:05] Most of them, all but one, [32:08] didn’t begin to circulate until over two hundred years [32:14] after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and way after the death [32:19] of all the apostles. So here’s the key. [32:23] We can take all 27 books of the New Testament, and they can historically be shown [32:28] to have been circulating while the apostles were still alive.

[32:33] We even have some copies of those first written books [32:39] that are less than a hundred years after the death of Jesus [32:43] old. Now, recently, they found in some archeological digs [32:49] copies that are even closer. Some even think that they existed [32:53] during the time of the apostles. But you cannot do that with the books that were left out. [32:59] You can’t find them. You want to know why you can’t find them? Because they don’t exist.

[33:04] They were written by people that were not apostles. [33:08] They were written by people that didn’t know apostles, and they were forged. [33:13] Mary Magdalene does not have an account. Thomas did not have an account. Philip did not have an account. [33:18] He claimed it was the written word of God. These were forgeries written by imposters. [33:23] So the Da Vinci Code, while it may be enjoyable, and I understand that’s quite debatable,

[33:31] Dan Brown used terrible history. [33:34] But more than that, he’s allowed to do that. Why? It’s a work of fiction. [33:39] You want to know why you can’t find the descendants of Jesus? They don’t exist. [33:44] He never had children. He was celibate.

[33:51] Now, let me get off that tangent. [33:54] Can you trust the Scriptures?

[33:59] Yes, you can trust them. But more than that, I believe, and we believe as a church, [34:04] that the Scriptures are inherent in their original form and the original language that they were written in. [34:10] So I do not believe the heresy that there was apostolic succession in 1611, [34:14] and God commissioned a new one to be the King James Version.

[34:21] Secondly, because it’s not true, the King James is a good translation for when it was translated. [34:27] It’s a beautiful work. I spent a great deal of my life. [34:30] I memorized most of the memory verses that I have in Iwana were from the King James Version. [34:34] It’s a great translation. But can modern translations be trusted? [34:39] I put forward to you, yes, they can. Here’s why. [34:44] Our modern translations. First, what I want to point out to you, you know Homer’s Iliad,

[34:49] books like that that are originally written in Greek? [34:51] They’re seen to be completely accurate in their translation. But did you know that their translations are based on about [34:58] 10 copies of the original?

[35:02] 10 copies. And they’re very accurate. [35:06] Over 14,000 copies is what our modern translations are based off of. [35:13] And that’s just a rough estimate.

[35:17] 14,000? I don’t know. I don’t know how accurate those 14,000 can be. [35:24] It’s accurate. More than that. [35:27] We’ve increasingly throughout history been finding older and older documents [35:31] closer to the time that it was written. So the scriptures are getting even more and more accurate [35:36] with some of the newer translations. And the greatest find was the Dead Sea Scrolls, [35:41] which were found in the 60s by a little shepherd boy throwing rocks into caves and he heard

[35:46] a jar break and he’s like, what’s that? So he goes in and he finds scrolls, ancient Hebrew scrolls. [35:53] And so until then, the oldest copies of the Old Testament that we had weren’t even in [35:58] Hebrew. And they were from around 900 AD. And so then they found [36:03] these scrolls and it was revolutionary. Because what we had then were copies, [36:08] excuse me, one copy of the entire book of Isaiah from around 200 BC. [36:14] Very close to when it was first written. We have 39 Psalms.

[36:19] Full chapters of the Psalms in them. And you know what they found when they took these [36:22] and compared them to the translations that we have in modern day?

[36:28] It was so close, it was ridiculous. 99% accuracy.

[36:34] 99%. That’s ridiculous.

[36:38] The New Testament then, can it be trusted? [36:42] The copies of the New Testament that we have, all of them date, like I said, [36:47] from around 100 years after the time that they were first written. The closer you [36:51] get to the actual time, the better it gets. And 100 years isn’t that bad, but now in more [36:56] archaeological digs we’re finding them even close. Some even think we may have found a few copies of Paul’s writings [37:00] from the time in which Paul wrote them. And you know what they’re finding?

[37:06] Translations that we have are more and more accurate [37:09] all the time based on the historical manuscripts [37:14] that we are finding. The older documents we find, [37:20] the closer we see that our translations are, and the better our translations are even getting. [37:25] So what translation do we use here at the Village? We use the English Standard Version. [37:28] Whenever someone preaches, they preach from the English Standard Version.

[37:33] The English Standard Version came out in 2001. This is a word-by-word translation [37:39] of the Scriptures. I’ve used the NIV, I’ve used the New American Standard [37:44] for a great deal of my life. I used the King James Version, all of them, [37:48] except for the NIV, or word-for-word. The NIV is a thought-for-thought translation. [37:54] And we use the ESV because it is accurate [37:58] and very readable. We do not use the NIV

[38:03] from the pulpit or in our community groups as the leaders because it is a thought-for-thought [38:09] translation. Now, it’s very close, but it’s not as close. [38:14] And I prefer to be as close as possible. So I use the ESV. [38:18] And a thought-for-thought is, what’s the main idea of that thought? Well, it’s translated this way. [38:21] Word-for-word is what literal word is used there. So we use the English Standard Version [38:27] because it’s really, in my opinion, for the current time that we have, the most accurate translation.

[38:33] So if you ask me, Steve, what translation of Scripture should I be using? I’ll tell you the English Standard Version [38:39] because it’s just, quite frankly, the best. [38:42] Now, there are some places that you might look at. If you know Greek and Hebrew, [38:47] which I know all of you spend a lot of time studying Greek and Hebrew, you may be like, [38:51] well, I don’t know about that. Well, yeah, that happens. There’s one place in John 1 [38:57] or something that I know of, but it’s good. Trust me.

[39:01] Now, if you want to get a Greek New Testament, that’s even better. But good luck with that. [39:06] I don’t even preach from a Greek New Testament, and I know a little bit, but who wants to do that? [39:13] I trust this. It’s good. [39:17] Now, can anything else be added to Scripture? And we’ve got a really good book. [39:22] No. Malachi 3 and 4 end the era of the Old Testament with the coming, [39:28] with the expected coming of the Messiah. So that’s why the Old Testament ended.

[39:33] The New Testament ends in Revelation, chapter 22, verses 18 through 21.

[39:43] I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, [39:48] God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words [39:54] of the book of the prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, [39:58] which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon. Amen. [40:03] Come, Lord Jesus.

[40:06] The New Testament ends with the expectation of the coming of Jesus Christ to fulfill His kingdom. [40:13] And we’ll talk about that in a few weeks. Now, the Bible is authoritative. [40:18] At the end of 2 Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 16, we read this.

[40:24] It’s profitable for teaching, for proof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. [40:31] That the man of God may be competent and equipped for every good work. [40:36] Now, as Scripture says this, it leads us to believe some very important things. [40:40] You know what that is? If I believe that this is the Word of God, [40:45] OK, if I believe that, I should probably read it. [40:52] I mean, that’s just logic, right? If God has spoken, if the Creator has revealed Himself,

[40:58] if He has revealed what life is about, if He has revealed what life is for, [41:03] I should probably take into consideration for the way that I live my life [41:08] and the things that I devote my life to, what this book says. [41:13] But many people claim that this is the Word of God and then just pay lip service and don’t read it. [41:18] It’s less important to me that you’re going to agree with me on that, even though that’s pretty important. [41:25] But that’s less important to me than you actually reading it.

[41:29] Saying it’s the Word of God doesn’t mean anything. What you say doesn’t show me what you believe. [41:35] What you do shows me what you believe. So if you live as if this is not the Word of God, [41:42] then say that this is the Word of God. It’s completely worthless. [41:47] It’s like believing I have the cure to the disease that I have, but I’m not going to take that cure. [41:53] That doesn’t make any sense. But the question must come up because most of us understand [41:59] what Peter writes in 2 Peter chapter 3 when he says some of the writings of Paul are a little bit confusing.

[42:07] The Bible can be hard to understand at times. All of it’s true, Mark Driscoll says, [42:12] but not all of it is equally clear.

[42:16] How do we read this authoritative New Testament? Or Scripture, New and Old Testament. [42:24] We have to ask ourselves three questions. And F.F. Bruce tells you to do this in his book, [42:27] Reading the Bible for All It’s Worth. Great advice. He simplifies what seminarians make very complicated.

[42:34] When you read a verse, and this is going to be hard for a lot of you who love those coffee cup verses, [42:41] those inspirational ones, you can’t always get the full meaning from one verse. [42:48] And it’s a good way to get yourself in trouble and take a lot of things out of context. [42:52] Ask Harold Camping who keeps saying Jesus is coming back on specific dates and he doesn’t do it. [42:57] Harold should follow this advice. First question you have to ask yourself, [43:00] where does this verse fit in the context of this entire chapter?

[43:05] Don’t just read the one verse. Do the work. Read the whole chapter. [43:10] I’ve used this quote before. R. Warren tells us, [43:13] we cannot hope to grow spiritually if we devote three hours a day to television and three minutes a day to Scripture.

[43:20] The second question is, where does this chapter fit in the context of the whole book? [43:27] If you’re reading the book of Romans, Romans 3.23, where does it fit in the context of the whole book?

[43:38] Finally, where does this book fit in the context of the entire Bible? [43:47] You say, wait a second, well that means I need to know what it all says.

[43:51] It’s all the Word of God. [43:53] Some of you may bring up, a lot of the evidence you’ve used for it being the Word of God is from inside of the Bible. [43:58] That’s just circular reasoning. [44:01] Here’s why that’s sufficient. [44:03] If I refer to another source that says the Bible is the Word of God as proof that the Bible is the Word of God, [44:09] then that source has authority over the Bible.

[44:13] I believe the Bible has ultimate authority.

[44:17] Here’s the thing, the Scriptures in Aaron, it does not deny, excuse me, it does not put forth any fact that’s not true. [44:25] I’ll finish after I say this and then another thing.

[44:30] Here’s the key, if you look in the Old Testament, it’s more accurate than the history that they have of that era. [44:36] The Old Testament is extremely accurate in its dating. [44:41] The New Testament as well. [44:42] But where you try to pigeonhole the Scripture as being inaccurate, you cannot do it. [44:48] That which takes faith is that which is miraculous.

[44:54] And it takes faith to believe in those things. [44:58] But whereas the Scriptures seem for historical accuracy, it’s completely accurate.

[45:05] Athanasius completely agreed, and he was one of the greatest historians and theologians of all time, [45:09] and he completely agreed that the Scriptures are the Word of God, and he based a great deal of it on the historically accurate dating [45:14] that the Old Testament gives us of many things that many people did not even know happened at that time, [45:18] but then archaeology has shown us it did happen then, like the fall of Jericho. [45:23] People were amazed and they were like, I cannot believe the Bible says that the walls of Jericho fell, and then they found it.

[45:32] Now, the Bible is absolutely authoritative. [45:36] When we study his Word, we get to a place where we completely understand one key great fact, [45:44] that it is one seamless story of God redeeming man. [45:50] These are not 66 disconnected books written in chicken soup for the soul fashion, [45:56] where one does not have anything to do with the other, and you just start where you want and end where you want. [46:01] No, this is one seamless story.

[46:03] Creation, fall, redemption, restoration, and we see ultimately that the Bible is the story of Jesus.

[46:15] It is all the story of Jesus. [46:16] Jesus does not come on the scene and then disqualify everything from the Old Testament. [46:20] No, everything from the Old Testament leads to Jesus, and everything in the New Testament is either about him [46:25] or shows you how to live in him and looks forward to his second coming. [46:29] We see a very important thing in Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2. [46:33] It says,

[46:48] In other words, Jesus is the ultimate point of Scripture. [46:54] Jesus is the central character of Scripture. [46:56] Redemption is the theme of Scripture. [46:59] The cross and the resurrection are the climax of Scripture. [47:02] And the conclusion of Scripture is found in the kingdom that is to come [47:06] and the restoration of all things that God has ever created to perfect glorification of himself

[47:13] in the end in his kingdom through the work of redemption. [47:18] It’s one long story. [47:20] There’s one arc, one theme, and it is God redeeming us, [47:25] and we must devote our lives to this book. [47:29] We must be understood as people of the book. [47:32] This book is our final authority.

[47:34] But here’s the key. [47:36] If you do not devote your life, if you do not devote your time to knowing this book, [47:42] studying this book, you cannot hope to live in the life that is given you through this book. [47:48] You cannot know Jesus properly without this book. [47:51] God does not speak past this book. [47:54] He speaks to this book.

[47:56] The Holy Spirit, when he is leading your life, he will lead you directly to this book. [48:01] We must be people who will stop being lazy, [48:05] who will stop devoting our lives to a hundred other absolutely pointless things [48:10] and let God worry about the journey of my life [48:13] because I’m in the journey of his life in the scriptures. [48:18] Saturate your life with it.

[48:20] Stop saturating your life with other things. [48:25] Stop trusting in other things.

[48:29] Most of us spend more time devoted to sports and leisure [48:33] than we devote our lives to the Word of God.

[48:40] Out of everything we’ve talked about today, [48:42] how can we hope to live the mission of Jesus in this culture [48:48] and take the gospel of Jesus to this culture [48:52] when we don’t even know the whole gospel?

[48:57] The gospel isn’t a few years of Jesus’ physical life. [49:04] The gospel begins in Genesis 1 [49:07] and ends in Revelation 22.

[49:13] Jesus loves you enough that he’s made himself completely known.

[49:20] You can know him. [49:23] Father, thank you so much.

[49:29] God, there’s so much more that can be said about your Word.

[49:36] Lord, I pray today that you would burden us. [49:43] Spirit, I pray. [49:46] Lord, in 1 Corinthians 2 it says that [49:51] you speak to us through your Spirit. [49:53] The scripture is something that spiritually discerned. [49:55] Holy Spirit, draw us to the scriptures.

[49:59] When you speak into our lives, you take us to your Word.

[50:05] May you do that today.