Confident and to share the gospel
Annual Sales: 100 million Bibles are sold or distributed each year worldwide.
Top-Selling Book: The Bible consistently ranks as the best-selling book of all time, with estimates suggesting that around 5 billion copies have been sold since its first printing.
“but test all things. Hold on to what is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21
The Bible is and .
1. The Bible is reliable because it is
Inerrancy: without error
“Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.” Luke 24:27
Over a 1,500 year period, every word written in the Bible points to the message of Jesus and God’s Glory.
The life of Jesus proves biblical inerrancy.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
- It is indisputable that Jesus was born
- It is indisputable that Jesus was killed on a Roman Cross
- There were over 500 eye witness accounts of people seeing the resurrected Jesus
“Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you — unless you believed in vain. For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-6
There are over prophecies in the old testament and Jesus fulfills every single one of them!
One person just completing 48 of the 300 prophesies within the Bible would be a chance of 1 and 10^157.
“to reject the bible’s claims that Jesus is the messiah is to reject fact ‘proved perhaps more absolute than any other fact in the world” – Dr. Peter Stoner
The Manuscripts
- There are over 2,000 manuscripts of the Old Testament
- There are over 24,000 manuscripts of the New Testament
- Jesus quotes the Old Testament over 80 times within the New Testament. This shows the importance of the Old Testament.
The runner up in the manuscript count is Homer’s Iliad, which only has 643 manuscripts, yet there are 4 million instances where words, and the entire meaning of the sentence is in question.
“The entirety of your word is truth, each of your righteous judgments endures forever.” Psalms 119:160
The life of Jesus proves biblical inerrancy.
All 31,102 verses build up to the story and future of Jesus.
Although it sounds different, there is actually no error, just an individual’s point of view and personal perception.
2. The bible is because it is
The Bible is inspired by God means that the writers of the biblical texts were guided by the Holy Spirit to write what God intended to communicate to humanity. This is known as .
Different kind of writing styles:
- Historical writing
- Poetical writing
- Prophetic writing
The Bible is not man trying to search for the divine, rather it’s God revealing himself to man.
Divine inspiration points us to God and to be like Jesus.
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Here’s what God’s and word does in us!
“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
“They claim to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.” Titus 1:16
“We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.” 1 Corinthians 2:13
is not from human wisdom, but from the creator of wisdom.
Man’s wisdom is not going to last the test of time.
“Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21
The Bible is not only reliable, it’s our
Daily reading – happens daily
Devotional reading – happens often for life application
Deep study reading – happens to internalize and to teach
Two challenges for you this week:
- Read the Bible
- Live like Jesus of the Bible
What will you build your life on: lies of the world or truths from the Word of God?