The Bible is God's Word

Hallelujah. Now let's give him praise. Lord, we lift you up. Hallelujah. Thankful with the presence of the Lord that is here today. God, your touch, your spirit, Lord, your glory. Let it fill this house in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Man, that song I thought as we were singing that, there's that key there. It said our hearts are prepared for you. That's what he's looking for. He said, "I'm standing at the door and knocking and anyone that will open up, I'll come in and sup with them and they with me." Amen.

You just feel like opening up today? Lord, whatever you have in Jesus' name. Why don't you just lift a hand and tell him that? Lord, we want to open up to your word. We want to open up God to your spirit. Open up Lord to what you want to do today, Jesus. To come prepared, Lord. Hallelujah for whatever you have in Jesus' name. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Well, he is in the house today. Good to feel the presence of the Lord. Amen.

Good to feel him and know he is here. I mean that he is real. Thankful for the God that we serve. Thankful to see faithful saints of God today. Good Welcome each and every one of you, those that are joining online. Guests, just so glad that you are able to be with us. I'm going to read three short passages of scripture before we get into the lesson today. I'm going to read from Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10. Psalm 119 verse 89 and then John 17 and 17.

So, Isaiah said this, actually the Lord said it through Isaiah. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me. Aren't you glad to know that God? Amen. We're not serving some lesser God. I mean we're serving the son. I am the one. I am God. There is none like me. And then he said, "Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done." Saying, "My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure." Psalm 119 verse 89 says this, "Forever, oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven." And then Jesus said in John 17:17, "Sanctify them through thy truth.

Thy word is truth." Our next series of lessons we're beginning today will look at this great book that we call the Holy Bible. And although typically we keep teach the content of the Bible for the next several weeks, we are going to teach about the Bible. So, we're going to talk about this great book and why it is so great and and and so we have a better understanding of this word. Now, that type of lesson this type of lesson is called apologetics. It's defending the Bible use usually in the face of unbelief.

It's to try to convince others that yes, this is true. And I'm convinced that most everyone in this class already believes that. That's why you're here week after week. If you didn't believe it, you'd say, "Well, I don't think I'm going to go and listen to that anymore." Yet, sometimes it is helpful to understand why we believe these things. I think it's important that we look at that and we think about it. Peter instructed us in 1 Peter 3:15, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is within you with meekness and fear." So, we ought to be prepared to defend the word of God and what we believe in our doctrine and the teachings.

So, this series of lesson will help us do that particularly when talking to those who maybe don't see the Bible quite as we do. Now, before I go any further, I have to offer this disclaimer. The Bible itself is not a book of apologetics. It doesn't try to make arguments to say, "This is true and here's why." It never seeks to validate its claims. It speaks from a perspective of absolute authority. Genesis 1:1 begins, "In the beginning God." No question. Not Well, here here's why I believe there was a God or here's here's how to help you understand that.

There's no empirical evidence offered and unlike philosophy, arguments are not made to validate the claims of God's existence. The biblical proclamation of God as an a priori assumption, that's what we call that. That is a belief in God as seen as something that is it's universally true. We don't need verification or testing and that's the approach it takes. And so, it begins with the assumption in the beginning God. It proceeds with a belief in a God and talks about his workings and in the end declaring that he is the great I am that was and is and is to come.

He will always be. That is a God and that is what our the word of God proclaims and in doing so, it proclaims God's word to humankind. Verses in many chapters, particularly in the Old Testament, you read, "Thus saith the Lord." Or the word of the Lord came unto me or the word of the Lord was sent unto so-and-so. It just declares, "This is God's word." Now, while a carnal mind may not accept the Bible for what it claims to be, the church we must approach it from that viewpoint, right?

Of the Bible itself. And I think if we do anything more or less is to miss the very intent of the word of God. So, with that in mind and and we'll go on. Let's dive into this lesson. The lesson today is titled, "The Bible is God's word." As I said, I think most of us, probably all of us here, believe that. But But why do we say that? Is it just because we've been told it is? Are there some things we know about the Bible that can prove that it is the word of God?

Are Are we sure? They're They're important questions and when asked, we we should have some answers. Now, as with any line of reasoning, there are good points and there are great points and maybe some not-so-great points. There are There are implications. There are things that Well, I look at it and this is why I believe that even though I'm not sure. You know, there are circumstantial evidence, if you will. There and there are hard facts. Of course, the Bible tells us it's God's word. Says it right out and it is But here's the thing, it is possible anyone could make that claim in a book.

I could write a book and say, "This is the word of the Lord." and then go off on some tangent of what doesn't mean it's true. Fact, the the Book of Mormon in a lot of ways does that. Today Today we're going to look at reasons that we can believe that this is God's word. In so doing that, we're going to do it through several different avenues. Some of them will help us understand why it is a true word. Some of us will help it help us to see that why Well, it's probable this is God's word and it when we read it that it it would make us think.

And I think some of us will show us explicitly that it is divinely inspired. So, while we may not have one incontrovertible fact that would prove it is God's word to a skeptic to say, "Here's how we know." yet when taken together, I think we're going to see that there there's no more readily conceivable conclusion than to say, "This is God's word." So, we begin with some of those that maybe are a little bit more obscure and that maybe some would not agree with uh and it will and then to those that would help us think it might be true, and then we will go on to some tighter, if you will, arguments.

So, the Bible is its own testimony. The Bible talks about itself. Now, we would certainly expect the word of God to identify itself as such and it does as we already mentioned, "Thus saith the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord that came to this prophet or came to that person." So, the Bible does indeed claim to be inspired. It claims to be infallible. It is the word of God. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for us. And so, of all of the book books of the world's great religions, really only the Bible and the Quran make those claims that this is the word of God.

The others don't. They're just they they might have wisdom in them. They might have the wisdom of man, the wisdom of others written down in there, but they do not claim to be the word of God. And so because of that, I would guess that's probably one of the weakest arguments to use in the face of unbelievers to say, "Well, it says it is." Okay. But it does, so we will take for what it's worth. But not only does the Bible claim divine inspiration, but when we look at Jesus, Jesus accepted the entire Old Testament as the word of God.

He commissioned the writers in the New Testament to proclaim his gospel to the world, and he promised that the spirit of God would lead them into all truth. And he said that his words preserved in the New Testament, he said they are spirit and they are life. He said they will not pass away. Heaven and earth will, but my words will not. So, those claims all there are equivalent to asserting Jesus asserting that he's his words are the word of God. So, to reject the Bible then is to reject Jesus' authority.

I know there's a lot in the world world that that look to Jesus as as a great prophet. Some look to him as as different things. They accept him as a man of integrity, and he was just a great teacher and all these things. Yet, if they reject the authority of scripture, really they're rejecting what Jesus said. Either the Bible is the word of God as Jesus claimed, or else he was deceiving us. If the Bible is not God's word, then he was not righteous and noble and wise.

For if he were, he wouldn't tell us a lie, right? He would not. So, again, that's argument might mean little to those who don't accept Jesus as anything more than a historical figure, but at least to those that believe in him and say, you know, I think he is whether they believe he's a third person in the Trinity, whether they believe he is the almighty God, however they accept him, if they believe that at all, then they have to take his testimony to say that this word of God is true.

The next set of arguments has to do with the character of the Bible. What what we see when we read it. Now, we've probably all read many different kinds of books. There's all kinds of self-help books out there. Everything you go through, anything you want to look at, you can find just hundreds, thousands of books that will address that topic and tell you how to handle it, how to improve, how to take care of it, do all those things. But the Bible is unique because of its perception of right and wrong, of what is moral and what is immoral, of what is sin and what is righteousness.

And And we can see that under several different headings. Number one, its content teaches us about God. Tells us about him. It reveals him to us. It talks to us about our human nature. It addresses the idea of sin, which no other literature really does unless they're quoting Bible. It talks to us about salvation, which no other literature can do. Can talk about reforming, it can talk about how to improve yourself, but it can't talk about how you're being saved unless it looks to the word of God.

Looks to the Bible. It can't talk to us about judgment and eternity because really if it's not in here, then it's just man making up his ideas about what it is. So, it deals with humanity's deepest spiritual questions and why are we here and why are we and and our aspirations of what God wants us to be if if indeed there is a God and and certainly we expect the word of God to handle all those things, and the Bible does. So, I think we can look to it as a guide and say, "Yes, it appears to be the word of God." Another thing is the the fact that the Bible does not just offer self-help.

It doesn't just talk about good things to do. It teaches us what it means to be holy, what it means to live moral, what it means to love one another. It talks about justice and truth and grace and mercy in a way that no other book can, unless of course it's talking about the Bible. No other book or religion so totally identifies God with love the way the Bible does. Other religions don't consider God love. In some religions, God is a god to be appeased or somebody that you have to offer sacrifices to and hope that he he he will bless, but there's there's really not that idea of a god that loves us.

No other ancient book or no other religion of as of the Bible times has the Bible's unique emphasis on one God and on the ethical conduct of man. The Bible contains the the highest moral teachings of any book in the world. And it is there. It talks about what is right, how we ought to live, how we ought to conduct ourselves. And the world's most moral book would not proclaim itself, if you think about it, if it's teaching morality itself, then it wouldn't be false. If so, it would be the world's biggest lie.

And I don't think that the word of God would not claim to say, "Here is the way. Here are the paths. Walk therein." knowing that it was a lie. When it's teaching us how to live morally. Another interesting thing, when we look at the Bible itself, it was written by many different authors, approximately 40 different writers over a period of about 1,500 years as they began to to write scripture and to put this together. Yet, when we read it, it presents a consistent message and theme.

It talks about the same things and and and it you it is consistent from Genesis to Revelation. It is unified, unlike sacred books of other major religions. It it it is one story, the story of all humanity and God's working in that humanity. And so, it presents a coherent morality, isn't Well, we'll put this in here and this guy felt like this was what morality meant and then we'll write stick this chapter in and he had a different viewpoint on it and then this one here had something totally different coming from a different No, they all say the same thing.

One basic plan of salvation, one God that that redeems his people. And so, we see this, one program for the future. You can read the Old Testament, you can read the New Testament, and it all comes down to the same thing. We have easily more than 40 people in here, but if we picked 40 of you and said, "All of you start writing a chapter and we're going to put it all together into one book." And we'll see how it comes out. It'd be a mess.

If someone wasn't guiding it, someone wasn't behind it. I'm thankful God was behind this book. Giving us his precious word. And then there there are some other areas that we can look at. Another is a historical and scientific verification verification. Now, that next line of reasoning, I don't think this necessarily will prove that the Bible is God's word, but what it does help us understand that the Bible is not a work of fiction. Some people view it as that. They look at it as just a bunch of stories that were made up.

But but it is a true history of events and that those events are are sprinkled throughout with divine intervention. may not serve directly as a proof, but it does explain many of the things that history does not. And when we look at history, researchers confirm numerous historical accounts in the scriptures from the patriarchal period of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Israelites being in Egypt, the the conquest of Canaan, the kingdom of Solomon, to the Babylonian captivity to Palestine in the New Testament times. All of the traditions from these lands agree that on these points and we can see these happening just about every tradition of every nation agrees with the biblical account of Noah's flood.

And there have been archives of ancient Egypt and Assyria and Babylonia have verified biblical incidents as well as the names of kings and people and generals and pharaohs and and all these things. And archaeologists have long used the Bible to find things or to say, "Well, maybe it's in this area." while they're doing digs because they they see it in the word of God and they will go to those positions. Probably one of the most interesting books on the subject I've read is called The Bible as History.

I bought it as a paperback. It was about that thick and um a small book, but it was written by an archaeologist who was not a Christian. He was an archaeologist and he was working out throughout the Middle East doing digs in all different kinds of places. But as he worked, he he kept coming across things that sounded familiar and looked familiar and they were spoken of in the Bible. And so he didn't write the book to prove or disprove the Bible, but what he wanted to say was "I went here and it's in the Bible." And then I was digging over here and behold, it's in the Bible.

The Bible talked about it. And I was digging over here and it's just like the Bible said. And so he made all these points of contacts between the Bible said and what they had dug up. And to him it convinced him, "Well, obviously the Bible is true history. And several significant historical part points in the Bible lesson record things that we read it's interesting because secular sources at one time were either completely silent or they seem to contradict it. People looked at it and they they said, "Well, I'm just not so sure.

I read this in the Bible we don't see that." Well, as time goes on and as more happened many of that has been proved and vindicated that this is the true word of God. Some examples they didn't believe Nineveh existed. Till they found it. They didn't believe in the Hittites that the Bible talks about. Till they found evidence of it. They didn't believe that camels were domesticated in Abraham's time. They didn't believe that that could happen when it talks about them riding their camels and and doing things in Abraham's day.

Sure enough they found evidence of that. They weren't sure about writing in Moses' day. Could he have really written that? There was was Yes, there was writing in the time of Moses. It's interesting in the New Testament they they looked at Acts and when when you read through Acts Luke is always very careful. He talks about Sergius Paulus and he talks about others and he explains their position in the government. This is a a governor. This one was this. This one was that. This one was over this precinct and they thought, "Well, we don't know that any of that existed or that they used those names." Well, they found out they did.

As archaeologist has gone through. For years scholars looked at the Greek of the the New Testament and it was different than the Greek that you would read in Homer and that you would read in some of the the classical Greek literature and it was it was written differently and they said, "Well, it doesn't just make sense. It's unusual." Until finally the more they dug and the more they looked around they found a lot of documents and clay shards with stuff written on them and they determined the New Testament was written in the common dialect of the first century.

It wasn't scholarly language, it was just people talking about what God had done. The the work of the Greek New Testament. Of course, archaeology itself can't prove that the Bible is the word of God, but it has the potential to either corroborate with it or discredit the accounts in the Bible. One person said this, it was in Time magazine. "Archaeological digging continues to turn up new evidence that the Bible is often surprisingly accurate in historical particulars. Surprise?" More so than earlier generations of scholars ever suspected.

So, we can believe this is a true book. It is true. Now, agreement with science. The Bible is not written as a science book, and I know sometimes people go a little too extreme with with that. Well, this is this happened while science has said this and this and this. The Bible does not contradict true science. It may contradict man's ideas. Ever hear something called a theory? Thinking of one right now. You've all heard of theory of evolution. What is a theory? That's a hypothesis that has to be tested, right?

You remember the scientific method from way back in school. You come up with a theory. I think maybe this. And then you have to prove it, and you have to test it, and you have to gather evidence. Well, they're still calling it the theory of evolution. How could such an ancient book avoid so many misinterpretations unless it was divinely inspired? Think about that. You know, some scientists do still debate the evidence of a flood. The book I I talking about, he has a chapter. It's called digging up the flood.

They were digging in an area and they got down they were finding stuff that was, you know, from the Bronze Age, the metal things and they went down and and they were about to close up camp. They said, "Well, we've dug everything." They they would send shafts down and pull them up to see what was in it and he stopped and they said, "Well, you know, let's do one more. Let's go just a little bit deeper." Well, he did and underneath that layer, he said, was pure mud.

Just nothing in it. And they said, "Well, go a little deeper." A little deeper. So, they did and it was like 10 15 ft of this mud. They got through it and all of a sudden he started pulling up clay things. And articles from a time before the age of the the Bronze Age. And he realized so they started digging around different areas, you know, let's go over a couple miles and and shoot and they found another same thing and the same thing and he said, "Obviously," he said, "there must have been a flood or something comparable that covered up everything that was there and now we're seeing what is on top of that." Of course, as we said, we already know that through history they've looked through almost every society, every nation, every culture throughout the world has a flood story.

They may not know they may not use Noah's name. They may take talk a little bit different, but they know that there was a no there was a flood. In fact, one person said there is this said archaeologist, she said, "There is no question that there was a flood and there is also no question that it was a universal flood." And the shells of creatures long since dead together with man's earliest written records on fragments of clay offer compelling evidence that there was once indeed a vast universal flood.

The Bible sometimes alludes to scientific truth. So, as I said, it it's not written to be a science book. But there are many things. The Bible talks about the the life of the flesh is in the blood. People didn't understand that until about the 15th, 16th century. When suddenly it was written, "Blood circulates and brings oxygen throughout your body." And it finally was discovered that the the Bible knew that years ago. That's what's life. The the vital role of the heart in blood circulation. We see this in Proverbs.

And it never came out until just a few hundred years ago. The fact that the earth is just hanging in the space. That's what Job talks about. You hung it there. What's holding it up? What I mean, there was all kinds of theories before that. The fact that the earth was round. Isaiah talks about the circle of the earth. The immense number of stars, more than we can see. Human beings really didn't grasp that until recently. And so, the fact that that mankind himself is made from the earth.

The same elements. They are there. The wind circuits, the way the wind blows. Ecclesiastics talks about the the fact that the water that the rain that waters the land is water that evaporates up. It goes up into the air, and it comes back down. That was understood way back in Bible times. And so, there are many things that we can read in the word of God that provide answers for fundamental questions of science has has no explanation. The origins of of man, the origin of the universe, life, human language, different language groups, all these different things.

We can see in the word of God. One man gave this summary of Genesis and science. He said, "The book of Genesis has held up well under the scrutiny of modern geology and archaeology. Physics, moreover, describe the beginning of the universe basically virtually the same terms as Genesis. It came together basically out of nothing. They can't explain what happened. Now, they call it a big bang. But from a single point in time, all of a sudden, everything was there. You figure that out. Scientists still can't.

There's big bang. How What What caused it? Where did it come from? Well, they don't know. Maybe they ought to read. Let there be. And there was. So So many of these proofs we looked at involved the content of the Bible. There's some other reasons we can look at this Bible and know that it is true. People have transmitted this Bible over thousands of years. Sometimes over oral traditions, sometimes handwritten copies throughout most of history. And it's interesting. Here we are some almost 2,000 years from the times of Jesus, and we look at the word of God that we have and in the '50s, of course, they found the Dead Sea Scrolls.

And people were questioning, well, this this document came from the 15th century. This one maybe from the, you know, 1,000 AD and this one from maybe 4 or 500 uh AD. How do we know that any of these are true? And then they dig up these scrolls and begin to open them and they're from the time of Jesus. And guess what? They say basically the exact same thing. God has preserved his words. And And I find it interesting because people will look at the word of God and say, "Well, how do you all know that's true?

You You talk about it. It came from ancient You know, they don't question Homer, Plato, Aristotle. These people that wrote back in, you know, time of Jesus or maybe a couple hundred years be few hundred years before him. They don't question that and say, "Well, how do we know this is a real copy?" Yet, when you come to the Bible, there are thousands of documents. Those books, you're lucky if you have one or two from that ancient time. But, God has preserved his word. It is dis- withstood centuries of attack by enemies.

It Romans attempted to destroy it physically. There's times when they've, you know, tried to burn every Bible, get rid of it. We don't want any record of it. Medieval attempts to ban it from the math masses, atheistic attempts to discredit it, prove it false. It's endured closer scrutiny than any other book. I mean, you you get people that study the Bible and study its text. I mean, it's every word and every line and this this this and this and here and they put it together. Only divine providence could have preserved this word.

Not only that, but if it's God's word, he would seek to the widest possible distribution, if at all possible. The Bible is the most universal book in the world in terms of applicability, translation, and distribution. Complete Bible has been translated into the languages of over 90% of the world's population. The total circulation is estimated be over 4 billion Bibles. I mean, they're everywhere. No other book has even come close to such a widespread distribution. Must be something about this word. And here's the other truth. No other book has done more for human society than the word of God.

The Bible has inspired much of the world's finest music, sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, all those kind of things, the fundamental laws of many nations, even though they don't want to claim any anything, you know, they don't want to claim that it was influenced by God or anything like that. Yet, the morals that the Bible teaches, those things are in so many of the world's greatest social reforms, and those kind of things. No book can claim anything like what the Bible has had an impact on our world.

Maybe God's working behind there, you think? Amen. And then there is some different things. All of these we've studied point to the truth of scripture. But, they only hint at, or or maybe you can look at it and say, "Why?" It appears there's something happening behind the scenes. It appears that there's some There must be some divine working and intervention. And as such, none of these can prove that the Bible is God's word. But, I think these last two categories will bring us much closer to that goal.

Because the Bible is the word of God, the Bible has the power to change lives. Many books might strike the heart of its readers. Many of them might encourage them to reform, to change, or to take care of something else. But, it's only the Bible, it's only the word of God that can change a life. As you pray and study the Bible, the spirit will work in you and confirm to us that this is the word of God. And when we believe and we obey the scripture, and we obey the gospel, when we're born again of water and of spirit, we receive that same experience they did on the day of Pentecost.

God's spirit, the Bible says, bears witness to our spirit that we're children of God. And we begin to see that, "Hey, this is more than just words. It's alive. It's happening in my life today." We know it's true because we've experienced the message of the word of God. Amen. We felt the load of sin lifted up on us, the sin that was talked about from Genesis throughout the Bible. We see the power of the Holy Ghost move in our lives. The word of God changing us.

This word of God has transforming power. No wonder it's His word. What's so different about the Bible? You can read any other literature from and maybe it will make you wiser in the ways of man, maybe it will make you understand or think you understand some things about God, but it's not going to change your life. The Bible this abiding message and its transforming power. Psalm 119 said, "This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy word hath quickened me or hath brought me to life." What other word can do that?

You don't read anything else and say, "Wow, I feel alive in God." Paul makes that connection between the word and a transformed life. He said, "Whosoever whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Then he goes through that thing, "Whosoever call How will they call if they haven't believed? How are they going to believe if they haven't heard? How shall they can hear without a preacher?" And then he concludes, "So then, the faith comes by hearing and hearing ultimately by the word of God." What was Paul talking about?

He was talking about this book right here. Wasn't talking about anything else. He said, "When this word goes forth, lives can be changed." You call in the name of the Lord as this word has to say, He will work in your life. When the word of God goes forth, they receive it in faith. We are transformed by its power. No other book can do that. And it's that attribute, if nothing else, of the word of God, that it is proof that this is God's word. The key here is you got to be willing to hear it and obey it.

Or as David said, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Get in his word. Now, there will some that will just doubt it, and you say, "Well, if you do this, this will happen. God will work in your life." Well, because they don't believe, they say, "I'm not going to do that." That's your choice, but I'm telling you this is the God power of God's word. Here's another thing, the Bible changes the lives of those who believe and obey its teaching. Not only does he fill them with the Holy Ghost, sinners are converted supernaturally.

They are regenerated. Habits, addictions, lifestyles are are often changed, sometimes just in in an instant. Those that are chronic liars, or alcoholics, or drug addicts, and and many other different things, it it can all just miraculously and be converted and liberated through the preaching of God's word. He will change a life. Someone asked me one time, "I don't understand when I read the Bible, I see Peter, you know, in the Gospels, and and he's cursing Jesus, and I don't know who this man is, and just, you know, a few days later, he's standing proclaiming the word of God." What happened?

Well, what happened? Read the Read the whole chapter. What happened is the Holy Ghost fell on him. Power of God. And where do we get that? Through the word of God. And not only that, but God has originally He authenticated the message of scripture by the miraculous. When we apply the Bible to our lives, there are promises given and experience miracles as described in the Bible. People, yes, speak in tongues as the Bible teaches. Supernatural healings and and healing and and deliverance from afflictions and demonic powers, and God answers prayer to those who pray in accordance with the Bible.

In fact, the Bible encourages us to to claim its promises and see that they are true. And fulfilled promises that can miracles demonstrate the truth that this is God's word. Now, I've got 6 minutes left and here is the best proof that this is the word of God. There's no book like this book. Although it was penned by man, and inspiration comes from God. Man can write history, fiction, novels, poetry, documentaries. He can make forecasts, he can make predictions, but the Bible is unique. Don't you love looking at the forecast for the weather?

Is it going to rain today? Well, I don't know. There's this chance, that chance, and you go outside and it just dumps. Is it going to rain today? No, it's going to be sunny all day and and it rains or it doesn't rain. It's a prediction. It's a guess. Forecast looks at available and they're getting better at it. They're not there yet. You know, it looks at available data, current conditions, past events, and try to determine, you know, what it's going to do. But but it is a prediction.

It does not tell the future. It's not the same as a prophecy. A prediction is based on extrapolation of existing facts or or what you might think, but prophecy is very different. Prophecy is God declaring the future before it happens. What book can do that? Unless they're quoting the Bible. Notice in Isaiah that we read, God said, "I declare the end from the beginning." Here's what's going to happen. You're not going to find that in any other book. God doesn't just think these events were having.

He doesn't just foreknew well, I if everything works right, maybe this is what He tells it, here's what's going to happen. And when God says it, it will. He said, "My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure." Find another book that can say that. The Bible is a book of prophecy in that it is a written record of what God has done and what he will do. It's the only true prophetic book of all the books of major religions. It's the only book containing many specific predictions that have actually come to pass without error.

And so the Bible asks us to test its truth. In fact, this is interesting in Isaiah in Isaiah 41, God actually challenges us. He said, "Bring forth your strong reasons. Present your case. Bring bring it forth." says the King of Jacob. "Let them bring forth and show us what will happen." So get one of your other religions or one of your other books. Bring it forth and show us what is going to happen. He said, "Let them show the former things, what they were, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them or declare to us things to come." Show the things that they're come here after that we may know that you are gods.

You ever read Nostradamus? I'm not recommending it. It makes almost no sense. And yet people look at it and I think here's what he was predicting. Yeah, God doesn't do that to us. He said, "Here's what's going to happen." There's going to be a judgment day. There's going to be an Armageddon. There's going to be a day that we're with him in heaven. He tells us exactly what has happened. Someone predict estimated that a fourth of all the verses in the Bible are predictive. Almost 1,200 events predicted very literally and and then some even symbolically.

But they come to pass. We don't have time to do them all. Just just look briefly, very briefly. A lot of prophecies concerning Israel. You read those in the Old Testament. We're getting ready. We are working on studying started Wednesday night uh the minor prophets. Things we talked about. Israel, you're going to be carried away. Judah, you're going to be carried away. It gets more specific that you're going to be carried away for 70 years and I'm going to send you back. It's exactly what happened.

In the New Testament, Jesus foretold the judgment of Tyre and Sidon and Bethsaida and Capernaum and the destruction of Jerusalem. It happened. Prophecies concerning the Gentile nations. Among other things, it foretold the futures of Babylon and Egypt and Ammon and Moab and Edom and the Philistines and and all these different places were foretold in the Bible and it happened. It talked about it during the days of Babylon that there's going to be the Medeo-Persians and the Greeks and the Romans. It was all prophesied by Daniel.

And so all these things are there. Some people even looked at Daniel in Daniel 11. It talks about a conflict between Syria and Egypt that would happen in the Hellenistic period and and uh before right shortly before the times of Jesus. And it's in such great detail that some liberal scholars said, "Well, he probably wrote it after the fact." Then they dug up the Dead Sea Scrolls and said, "Oh, wait. Wait a minute." Evidently wrote it long before that. God fulfills his word. We don't have time to go into all the prophecies of Jesus.

His time of birth, the place, all those different things so well predicted. And if all that's happening, it's going to come true. So, we've looked at many reasons why this book could be or should be considered God's word. And I think it's that last avenue of thought, when we look at prophecy. What we see is that prophecy is the ultimate proof that the Bible is the word of God. I love the words of Peter. He experienced the life and ministry of Jesus on earth. He saw water turned to wine.

He saw dead people raised. He saw blind eyes open. He saw lame healed. He saw withered hands stretched forth and and be healed. Saw all those different things. Calming of the storm. Casting out devils. All these things that happened. Even walked on water himself for a short period of time. But the high point was when Jesus took him up in the mountain and revealed his power and his glory. And Peter realized, "You're the son of God. You're who you say you are. You're You're not You're not just a man.

There's something unique about you." He understood that. Yeah, even Peter realized that his personal experience would never convince others. He needed something else. I'm out of time. Let me read this and we'll close. Second Peter chapter 1 verse 16. We have not followed cunningly devised fables. We're not just making up some cute story. When we made known unto you the power and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we were an eyewitness of his majesty. He said, "When he received from God the Father honor and glory, a voice coming from the glory, 'This is my beloved son.' And the voice which we heard with him when we were in the holy mount." He said, "I saw that with my own eyes.

So, I'm not making this stuff up." But then he turns to us and he said, "But we have a something even greater. We have a more sure word of prophecy. Wherein to you do well to take heed. It's a light that shines in a dark place till the day dawn and the day star arise in your heart. Prophecy alone will convince this is the word of God. He has said it and he has done it in the past and he is saying it today and it will happen.

Aren't you thankful his word? Let's stand and thank him. So thankful God to know that this Bible so much more than a book. It is the word of God to us. It has the words of salvation, the words that change our lives. We give you thanks for it in Jesus' name. Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. We're going to continue looking at some different aspects of this word in future next coming up lessons. Amen. You can take a break.