IS THE BIBLE GOD’S WORD? (3 OF 3)
Unchanging Faith ❧ Part 5
Selected Passages ❧ Pastor, Dr. John Denney
A short number of weeks ago we began a series of messages entitled: Unchanging Faith: What Every Believer Should Know and Why It Is Important. I want to begin this morning by sharing with you why I believe this series is so important. One of the common ailments many believers struggle with is doubt. On the surface they will tell you they believe the Bible is God’s Word, that salvation and forgiveness can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you dig down a little deeper, past the layer of superficial confidence, past the obligatory response we’re expected to give, you’ll find there are a lot of deep questions and some pretty alarming concerns. If left unanswered, those deep questions and alarming concerns can strike terror into the heart and soul of the believer – especially when crisis hits. We may think the problem is our doubts, but it really isn’t. It is what we do with our doubts that matters. Hellen Keller, who was severely battered by the winds of doubt due to suffering from a lifetime of living in utter blindness, wrote: It need not discourage us if we are full of doubts. Healthy questions keep faith dynamic. Unless we start with doubts we cannot have a deep-rooted faith. One who believes lightly and unthinkingly has not much of a faith. He who has a faith which is not to be shaken has won it through blood and tears – has worked his way from doubt to truth as one who reaches a clearing through a thicket of brambles and thorns. I don’t want to pretend even for a moment that as believers we don’t have moments, or even seemingly endless long seasons, where our faith is being battered and shaken by the hammering winds of doubt. Each new day of following Jesus feels like we’re working our way through a dense thicket of brambles and thorns.
I was reminded this week of Paul’s opening words in 2 Thessalonians 1: Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing (2 Thessalonians 1:3, NLT). Did you catch that? Paul couldn’t help being thankful for them. Why? Because their faith was flourishing. Notice, the biproduct of a sincere growing faith is an increased love for others. Paul was writing to a group of struggling believers. Their faith was being tested and tried by dangerous enemies from within and without. Paul is saying to them, “I want you to know something; God is not going to waste your pain or your struggles. He is using them so that your faith will flourish.” As long as you’re alive this side of eternity, your faith in Christ will be in a constant state of growth. Doubts are part of the terrain we walk to exercise our faith. Someone has said, Doubt makes mountains that only faith can move. Even the great Apostle Paul understood this struggle. In his final words he said: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7, NAS). Our faith is a fight, and Paul reminds us it is well worth it. That’s why this series is so important. It is to grow our faith.
Today we’re answering the question: Is the Bible God’s Word? Up to this point we’ve looked at two of four answers or unwavering statements to this question: The Bible is credible, reliable. This morning we’ll look at the last two unwavering statements: The Bible is unchangeable, and it is indestructible.
- It is unchangeable. God warns us over and over that we’re to be careful not to add to or take away from His Word. In Deuteronomy 4 He says: You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you (Deuteronomy 4:2). Again in chapter 12 He says: Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it (Deuteronomy 12:32). Proverbs warns: Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar (Proverbs 30:6). Concerning the book of Revelation itself, God warns I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book (Revelation 22:18). Do not add or take away from God’s Word. Had Adam and Eve only taken God’s warning to heart and ignored Satan’s question: Indeed, has God said? (Gen. 3:1). We would not be in the mess we’re in today! Like bookends, from the beginning of the Bible to its end, God solemnly warns us not to change His Word.
A couple of weeks ago we saw that when it comes to ancient literature, there is no equal to the Bible. Where other ancient works have a very small number of copies (in the single digits or maybe double), the Bible has thousands! In the OT alone there are 10,000 copies in the Hebrew language dating as far back as 250BC. The NT has over 5,000 copies Koine Greek. When you compare these thousands of copies with each other, they verify their message is 100% in agreement. Except for minor variations they agree word for word! No other ancient document comes even close to this overwhelming accuracy. God has supernaturally preserved His Word.
Why is this so critical? Apart from the God’s Word, Special Revelation, we would not know God’s forgiveness. Without God’s Word even the wisest or even the noblest of mankind would fail to discover His redemption in Christ. When we change God’s Word it’s like changing the only reliable map to Heaven.
Let me give you a couple of examples of this. For many years our nation understood the Gospel was rooted and founded solely in the clear teaching of the Bible. Then came the mid 1800’s. An explosion of cults took place. At that time the world’s largest cult was founded, the Mormons. Since that time Christianity has been plagued with literally hundreds of cultic groups (David Regan, Lamplighter, July 2006). Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, claimed God had given him additional special or new revelation to the Bible. God’s “new revelation” to Joseph Smith made some urgent and needed course corrections regarding God’s plan of salvation for the world. Changes, by the way, that completely contradict the Bible. In 1825 Joseph Smith published the Book of Mormon: the cornerstone of Mormon belief. By the time a short seventy-three years passed (1898), the book had undergone some 2,038 corrections. By 1959 it had undergone more than 3,000 changes in grammar and doctrine (Hoekema, Mormonism, pp. 91-2). In a little over a century (134 years), this “new revelation” from God to Joseph Smith underwent more than 3,000 changes! The Bible, on the other hand, is thousands of years old with thousands of copies, some spanning a thousand plus years from each other, yet there are zero “0” doctrinal changes!
Let me give you another example. One of the questions many people struggle with is whether the Apocrypha is part of the Bible or not. The Apocrypha, meaning “hidden” refers to a group of 15 or so books written between 300BC and 100AD after the last book in the OT. From the beginning the books of the Apocrypha were considered as extrabiblical writings and not the Bible itself. Here are a number of reasons why: 1) The Apocrypha is never quoted in the NT. Yet, thirty-six books of the thirty-nine OT books are quoted in the NT (with the exception of Esther, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes). 2) Jesus never quoted from the Apocrypha. In fact, Jesus’ makes a sweeping statement of what the books of the OT are in Luke 11:51. He says, “from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zecharia” He’s saying God’s Word spans from Genesis to 2 Chronicles (the last book in the Hebrew order of the OT). He never mentions or includes the Apocrypha. 3) The Apocrypha itself does not claim to be inspired. In fact, it agrees with the prophet Malachi saying the next time God speaks through Special Revelation will be when He sends the one who will prepare the way for the Messiah (Mal. 4:5-6) who is John the Baptist (Mtt. 11:14). 4) They contradict the Bible itself.
Jesus warns us concerning the last days in Matthew 24: If anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:23-24). In other words, there will be the Joseph Smiths and many others who will try to mislead you. He says do not believe them. Stand fast in God’s unchanging Word. Nothing more needs to be written or known for our salvation in Christ. the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints(Jude 3). God’s Word is unchangeable.
- It is indestructible . We would expect if God wrote a book, it would not only be unchangeable, but it would be indestructible as well. No other book in history has been so severely attacked as the Bible. Kings, rulers, governments, academics, philosophers, atheists alike have tried to destroy it, alter it, mock it, vilify it, disprove it and yet not only has the Bible survived— it has thrived. To this day the Bible remains the most popular and the most widely published book in all the world. It is proven to be not only indestructible, but unstoppable.
Voltaire a noted French historian, philosopher, and novelist and one of the Bible’s greatest critics stated that within one hundred years the Bible would be “…swept from existence and passed into history” (ETDV, p.20). In 1778, Voltaire proudly boasted, “It took 12 men to start Christianity; one (referring to himself) will destroy it.” Later, that very year, he died. Within 50 years of his death the Geneva Bible Society used Voltaire’s house to print stacks of Bibles. God has a sense of humor!
Lew Wallace (1827-1905) who served as a writer, a Civil War general, a governor of the territory of New Mexico and U.S. ambassador to Turkey, was a known atheist. For two years, he studied at the leading libraries in Europe seeking information for his book that he believed would disprove the Bible and “forever destroy Christianity.” While writing the second chapter of this book, he found himself on his knees praying to Jesus. Because of the indisputable evidence, he could no longer deny that the Bible was the word of God. Later, he wrote “Ben Hur,” one of the greatest English novels ever written concerning the time of Christ.
Psalm 2 asks: Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed…He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them (Ps. 2:1-2.4).
Sometime ago I found a poem entitled: The Anvil of God’s Word. It says it well:“Last eve I paused beside the blacksmith’s door, and heard the anvil ring the vesper chime; Then looking in, I saw upon the floor, old hammers, worn with beating years of time. “‘How many anvils have you had,’ said I, ‘To wear and batter all these hammers so?’ ‘Just one,’ said he, and then with twinkling eye, ‘The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.’ “And so, I thought, the Anvil of God’s Word for ages skeptic blows have beat upon; Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard, the Anvil is unharmed, the hammers gone.”
This is exactly what Jesus meant when He said in John 10: Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). He reiterated it again in Matt 24: Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away (Matthew 24:35). In Isaiah it says: The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8). In Isaiah 55 God says: So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11). The well-known Bible authority and professor Bernard Ramm once wrote, “A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put” (ETDV, p. 23).
My prayer for you today is that God grows your faith so as to move the mountains of doubt. If you are struggling with doubt, I want to encourage you, you’re not alone. In fact, it may be surprised to know you’re in good company.
Few if any would guess that Billy Graham had a sever battle with doubt, but he did. He later wrote about it in his autobiography. At the beginning of his ministry, Billy Graham was confident that the Bible was the true Word of God. But then he read some authors who did not believe the Bible was the Word of God. And now his good friend Chuck Templeton was telling him that not everything in the Bible was true. So this raised troubling questions for Billy Graham — questions he knew he needed to answer. So what did he do? He began with careful study. He read scholars on both sides. And he studied what the Bible taught about itself. But the battle was just beginning. Sometime later both he and his friend Chuck Templeton were scheduled to speak at a conference in the mountains east of Los Angeles. As they talked between meetings, Chuck openly mocked Billy — Billy, you’re fifty years out of date. People no longer accept the Bible as being inspired the way you do. Your faith is too simple. Your language is out of date. You’re going to have to learn the new jargon if you’re going to be successful in ministry.
Chuck’s comments were not only painful, they also shook Billy’s confidence in the Bible.
But at the conference Billy also had the opportunity to talk with famous Bible teacher Henrietta Mears, who was the conference director. She was confident in the truth of the Scriptures, with a deep understanding of the Word of God and an ability to answer questions about the Bible. These conversations were helpful. But still, as Billy put it: “I ached as if I were on the rack, with Miss Mears stretching me one way and Chuck Templeton stretching me the other.”
One evening he went to his room to once again study God’s Word alone. So one evening he went to his room to study God’s Word alone. He saw how Jesus taught that the Old Testament was completely true. He studied how Jesus said the stories of Noah and Jonah actually happened as described in the Old Testament. He read all the verses he could find about the Bible’s truth and authority. He saw again that the Bible did claim to be the perfectly true Word of God. But he could tell the issue was not yet settled in his heart.
So he left his room and walked out into the forest. It was a warm August night. It was late. The moon was out. He came to a tree stump, where he knelt down, with his Bible on the stump in front of him. And he prayed something like this — O God! There are many things in this book I do not understand. There are many problems with it for which I have no solution … I can’t answer some of the questions Chuck and others are raising. But even though he was praying sincerely, he could tell something was still unresolved. And then he said the Holy Spirit finally enabled him to pray — Father, I am going to accept this as Thy Word — by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be Your inspired Word.
Following this he said — When I got up from my knees at Forest Home that August night, my eyes stung with tears. I sensed the presence and power of God as I had not sensed it in months. Not all my questions were answered, but a major bridge had been crossed. In my heart and mind, I knew a spiritual battle in my soul had been fought and won (Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham, pp.135-139). Billy Graham’s faith remained solid to his dying breath. He could say like the Apostle Paul, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7, NAS). That is my earnest hope for each one of us.
God never asks us to trust Him with a blind faith; to shut our minds, ignore our doubts. Our doubts prompt us to find answers. And God has given us more than enough answers! But ultimately, there comes a point when what we’re struggling with is not answers but surrender. Our struggle is not in our mind as much as it is in our heart; we’re unwilling to fully believe, fully surrender to God and His Word. Maybe you need to bundle up your doubts and take them to God like Billy Graham did.
There you have it. The Bible is credible, reliable, unchangeable, and indestructible. I’m convinced that when we believe it, obey it, study it, we become like it.
