Video Transcript: Lesson 1 The Bible

Video: Lesson 1 The Bible

Hi, I'm David Feddes, and I'm Provost of Christian leaders Institute. Welcome to lesson one, in our course of Christian basics this lesson is about the Bible. The material is written by Dr. Ed Roels and I'm presenting it with a few additional comments of my own. As we learn about what the Bible teaches about itself, we're going to learn the importance of the Word of God. 

Introduction.

 Most people in the world believe there is a Higher Power of some kind who is far greater than any person on earth. People have different ideas, however, as to who or what this Higher Power is. Some people do not believe in a personal God at all. Others believe that there are hundreds or even millions of gods. The Bible, however, teaches that there is only one true God and that He alone is worthy of our worship and our praise.

But you may ask, “Why should I trust what the Bible says?” That’s a fair question! It may not be possible to prove to you that the Bible is truly the Word of God, but there are some very good reasons why millions of people do believe that it is. Among those reasons are the following. So let's look at some reasons to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. 

Reason one

No other book in the entire world is as old, ­as trustworthy and as comprehensive as the Bible is in teaching us about God, ourselves, and the future. The Bible begins with the story of the creation of the world and ends with the promise of a new world where there will be no sin, no sickness, no suffering and no death. And in between the accounts of the world’s wonderful beginning and its glorious future, the Bible gives us the history of man’s life on earth, including his fall into sin and his salvation from sin. It also tells us many of the marvelous works of God through the course of human history.

Reason number two, to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. 

The writers of the Bible taught and believed that their writings were inspired by God. Jesus Christ, who is honored and trusted by more people than anyone who has ever lived on this earth, also believed and taught that the Bible is truly the Word of God.

Reason three to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. 

The Bible provides answers to many of our sincere questions about God, our world and ourselves which we cannot find anywhere else. Neither nature nor history nor philosophy nor any other book provides the answers which our minds and hearts are looking for.

Reason four to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. 

The Bible not only teaches us what is right and what is wrong in the sight of God, it also teaches us how we can gain the power to do what is right and overcome what is wrong.

Reason five to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. 

The Bible has many prophecies concerning individuals, nations, and specific events. Many of these prophecies have already been fulfilled exactly as they were foretold. Since many of the Bible’s prophecies have already been fulfilled in the past, we can also trust what it teaches about the future.

 I'll give you a few examples. When the Bible, spoke of the downfall of great cities, some of those cities were the capitals of empires that looked like they could never be conquered. And yet within a few short years, those empires had Fallen. Empires such as Syria and its capital of Nineveh, were empires, such as the Babylonian Empire and its mighty capital of Babylon, which was just wiped down and vanished from the face of the earth, there were prophecies like that and better prophecies. Prophecies of someone who was to come. prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus about him riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. The week he died prophecies about what town he was going to be born in prophecies about his hands and feet being pierced things written hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus came, and then that came true in the life of Jesus. So, when a book, long in advance predicts things that are going to happen and then they do happen. You say, Wow, that is an impressive book. 

Reason number six, to believe that the Bible is the Word of God.

The Bible contains sixty-six different books or documents which were written over a period of 1500 years by forty different men who lived on three different continents. However, each part of the Bible, when properly understood, agrees with all the other parts. You have all these different authors over a long period of time, and yet perfect agreement in the pages of the Bible.

 Reason seven to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. 

Scholars have carefully studied archeological findings and other historical materials which confirm the accuracy of the Bible’s teachings about geography and history. Though the Bible is very old, it is clearly a very trustworthy book in everything it records. 

There have been skeptics who doubted or denied, things that were stated in the Bible about historical people, for instance, there have been some scholars who doubted that King David ever existed until they found stone inscriptions, with things about King David buried in various finds there have been some who denied the existence of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor that the Bible tells us supervise the crucifixion of Jesus, and then they find stones with the name Pontius Pilate ProK curator of Judea inscribed right in stone, and I could give you examples of many other finds but reason seven is simply, we believe the Bible is the Word of God, in part, simply because there's so much evidence from archaeology and other historical discoveries that support what the Bible says reason to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. 

Reason number eight.

We have more ancient copies of the Bible (or parts of the Bible) than any other book that has ever been written. We can have complete confidence that the Bible we have today is essentially unchanged from the time it was first written. There is no other ancient book like it.

 When you look at other ancient books by people like Julius Caesar or Plato, there's only a handful of copies that are from ancient times. Whereas for the Bible, there are literally 1000s of manuscripts or fragments of manuscripts and from those, we can determine what the original text was. And so we have better manuscript basis for knowing what the Bible says than any other book in the history of the world.

 Reason number nine, to believe that the Bible is the Word of God.

The Bible has been the most influential book in the history of the world. It was the first book ever printed. It has been translated into more languages than any other book. It has been distributed more widely than any other book. And God has preserved it from every attempt of people to destroy it.

There have been those who outlawed the Bible who have persecuted, those who had a Bible. But all of those efforts have succeeded in stamping out the Bible, the Bible is more widely distributed than any other book. 

Reason ten to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. 

Millions of people have been dramatically changed for good through reading, studying, and believing what the Bible teaches. The Bible does not simply give us information about things that happened in the past. It gives us guidelines for living in the present and provides us with encouragement and hope regarding the future. It teaches us how we can find forgiveness, happiness and peace in our present life and shows us the way to an eternal life of glory, delight and joy in the presence of the one true God who created us and loves us.

So those are 10 very strong reasons to take the Bible seriously, and to take to heart the claim that the Bible is the Word of God. And above and beyond all these reasons, there is simply the fact of reading the Bible for yourself. And when you read it, you're very often will find a voice, a sense of authority, addressing you, people who were in Jesus’ presence sometimes were amazed at His teaching because he taught them as a throat with authority and not as other teachers, and perhaps the main reason to believe the Bible is simply its voice when you hear it. The Holy Spirit can touch your heart and help you to realize and recognize that that book you are reading is the word of God Himself.

Let's then deal with a few of the questions and basic answers about the Bible, and some scripture passages which tell us these answers.

 Where did the Bible come from? Question number one.

Where did it come from? Every book of the Bible has a human author, but God himself was the ultimate author. According to 2 Timothy 3:16, the Bible is “God-breathed.” This means that God supernaturally “breathed out” his message through the human writers in such a way that the words they wrote were truly the words of God himself. Sometimes God spoke to the writers directly. Sometimes he dictated things to them. At other times he helped them to search out the truth so that they could share it with others. At all times he guided them in such a way that they wrote down in their own personal styles the things he wanted them to write. He also kept them from making errors in all that they wrote. 

So, the Bible has human authors, But working within those human authors is THE GREAT DIVINE author himself, the Lord God, and He made sure that his truth was written down in understandable human words. 

Scripture references to support this,

II Timothy three verse 16 says: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness."

So, there you have the origin of Scripture as well as its purposes and impact.

 II Peter one verse 21 says: "For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit"

 That's an excellent summary of how the Bible came to be man spoke and wrote from God, as they were carried along by God's Holy Spirit.

 Question two What can we gain by studying the Bible?

 First

The Bible teaches us many important truths that we cannot learn anywhere else. so if we want to learn those truths. We better go to the Bible. 

Second

 The Bible introduces us to the real, living God. If you want to hear the voice of the true God. The Bible is his foremost way of speaking.

 Third

The Bible teaches us how to live in a way that honors and pleases God. You want to live by guesswork and just by imagining what God wants, or do you want to know the Bible teaches us how to live in a way that honors and pleases God.

 Fourth

 The Bible promises us many wonderful blessings if we follow its teachings. We need promises don't we? We need encouragement, we need something that motivates us and empowers us, and the Bible gives us God's blessings and God's promises, and that strengthens us to know Him and to live for Him. 

And fifth

The Bible shows us how we may have an everlasting life full of joy and peace. A lot of people read diet books, exercise books, other things that may help them with their health. And if they have a particular disease, they really study up on that disease, and they listen to everything their doctor says about that disease. Because they want to get over it. Well, if you've got a problem and the Bible has the answer, then study that Bible very carefully. We've got a problem, we die. The Bible shows the way to everlasting life. That is an awful lot to gain. By studying the Bible. 

Here are some scripture references. 

Jesus Himself spoke and said, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

 I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11) So God's word keeps us from sin.

The rules of the LORD are true . . . In keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:9-11)

Blessed is the man . . . whose delight is in the law of the LORD . . . He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)

 This is a person who delights in God's word, who meditates on it day and night, and is fed by it, like a stream of water feeds the roots of a tree, a tree that then flourishes and prospers. That's the beautiful picture. In Psalm chapter one, and it shows us the amazing impact that studying and meditating on the Bible can have in our lives. 

Question three, can we trust what the Bible says?

Yes! God's Word is true in every way and all its promises will be fulfilled. We should recognize, however, that some parts of the Bible were written in a poetic style or with figures of speech that should not be interpreted literally. So the Bible does use figures of speech and we should understand them in that manner. But, having said all that, the Bible is absolutely true and reliable in everything that it intends to teach.

 God never lies. That's why we can trust what the Bible says the Bible is God's word and God doesn't lie.

 Scripture references

Psalm 33 Verse four, for the word of the Lord is upright. Psalm 111 Verse seven, all God's precepts are trustworthy. Psalm 119 Verse 160 The sum of Your Word is true in every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

 Question four, what did Jesus teach about the Bible?

 it's very important to know what the founder and savior of the Christian faith Himself taught about the Bible, what does Jesus teach well, when Jesus lived on earth, the New Testament had not yet been written. However, Jesus quoted from the Old Testament, recognized it as the True Word of God. He taught that it was completely trustworthy. He said that all its prophecies would surely be fulfilled. And He declared that the scriptures were pointing to himself. Let's look at some

 scripture references.

 Jesus said in John 17 Verse 17 When he was praying to His Father, Your Word is truth. Jesus said in Matthew five verse 18 until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota. Not a die, he means not the least struggle pan will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Jesus said in John 10 Verse 35 Scripture cannot be broken, cuts pretty clear, isn't it, scripture cannot be broken. If you wonder about Jesus’ view of the Bible, there you have it in a nutshell.

In John five verse 39 He pointed out how the scriptures are meant to lead people to Him. Jesus said, you diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them. You possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testified about me, so the whole Bible, the Old Testament as well as the New Testament is written mainly to testify about Jesus in Luke 24 Verse 27, We read that beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus explained to his disciples in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself, Jesus did this, after he had risen from the dead and conquered death. And the disciples still didn't understand from the scriptures that he had to rise from the dead, that he had to first die and pay for their sins, there's a lot they didn't understand. But after he rose from the dead, then Jesus explained to them fully, how all the Old Testament scriptures, had been pointing to this. 

Question five, since the Bible was written many years ago, can it still be of help to us today?

 might say oh, it's kind of outdated, you know, we don't really trust old stuff anymore we need new up to date stuff so can we trust an old book still today. Absolutely! The Bible is a living book which speaks to the hearts of people in every age, in every place and in every situation. Its truths continue to be a guide, an inspiration, a comfort, and a challenge to people around the world. God's word never goes out of date. 

Scripture references.

 Hebrews four verse 12 says: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 

Again, Second Timothy three verse 16 and 17, All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training and righteousness That the man of God may be complete equipped for every good word. What a wonderful summary of what the Bible is for. It is in every age, good to teach, to correct us to help us straight now and then to guide us and train us in righteousness, to help a man of God and to be equipped, mature, strong, for every good work. The Bible is never out of date, the best way for us to go out of date is to ignore the Bible. So we, we realize fully that God's word is always living active powerful and useful. 

Question six, how can the Bible be a guide for us?

The Bible teaches us what is right and what is wrong in the sight of God. It also gives us important moral guidelines for every area of life—marriage, family, work, education, recreation, leisure, business, politics, and personal relationships. Though the Bible does not deal with every possible situation that may arise, it does give us general principles which can be helpful throughout our entire lives no matter where we live or what we are doing.

 So, the Bible doesn't necessarily say okay this is the job you should take, but it gives overall principles of work and tells us the importance of diligence. The badness of laziness, and to do everything as under the Lord and not just working for our own boss in the area of education. It tells parents to teach their children, to instruct them in the ways of the Lord, the value of wisdom, and I could go on and on. But the basic principle is the Bible has these areas of life, that it covers by the principles that it teaches and by the wisdom from God that it reveals.

Scripture references

How can a young man keep his way pure asks, Psalm 119 verse nine and the answer by guarding it according to your word? Psalm 119 Verse 105 says your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119 Verse 59 says, When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies, for that matter. The whole of Psalm 119, the longest chapter of the Bible 176 verses is all about the benefits and power of God's Word. Proverbs six verse 23 says where the commandment is allowed, and the teaching a light, and the reproofs disciplines are the way of life. So, you don't want to be running around in the dark, have a lamb, a light, and that's what God's word is.

Question seven, what are some of the other ways that the Bible can help us in our everyday life?

 The Bible provides us with comfort in times of sorrow, encouragement in times of special need, hope in times of distress, inspiration in times of personal challenge, peace in times of turmoil, and assurance of God’s loving presence at all times.

 Scripture references

 Psalm 19 Verse seven, the love of art is perfect reviving the soul.

 Psalm 19 Verse eight, the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart causing the heart to rejoice.

 Psalm 119 Verse 165 Great peace have those who love your law, none that can make them stumble.

 Psalm 119 Verse 93 I will never forget your pre satins, for buying them. You have given me life.

 This is my comfort in my affliction says Psalm 119 Verse 50 That your promise, gives me life.

 And Romans 15 Verse four, whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. You want hope, you want encouragement, you want life, you want your soul revived? That’s what the Scriptures do. What an amazing blessing God gifts through his book. 

Finally Question Eight, what can we receive from reading and studying the Bible?

The greatest benefit we can receive through reading, studying and believing the Bible is knowing God and finding the way to eternal life through faith in Jesus. All other blessings we receive in this life may be temporary, but the life we receive through faith in Jesus is eternal and glorious. Nothing compares to receiving eternal life and so that is the greatest benefit to be able to live in the presence of God and enjoy Him and be embraced by His love and His goodness, forever. 

Scripture references. 

Second Timothy three verse 15. From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:15)

The apostle John near the end of the gospel that he wrote about the life of Jesus These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)

 Later on, John wrote a letter, and his first letter, he said, I am writing these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. The Bible is a precious treasure from God. God could have remained silent. He chose to speak, and he chose to have his thoughts, his speech his actions we written down and recorded in a way that would bless and save people, every age, people in every part of the world what a precious gift He has given us in the Bible. May we take that gift to heart and delight in it.