You Can Handle The Truth!

The Bible has been translated into 400 languages and portions into 2500 languages. In one year alone the United Bible Society distributed 633 million portions of Scripture throughout the world. It was written over 1600 years that spanned 40 generations and by 40 different authors from various walks of life. It was written by political leaders and fisherman, a physician and a tax collector. It was written in prisons and in the wilderness, while on travel and in exile, in times of war and peace from the heights of joy to the depths of despair.

It has been written for you and it is uniquely YOU!

· It was written on three continents, Africa, Asia and Europe. It was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek
· It has been preserved under attack Voltaire, French atheist who died in 1778, predicted that Christianity would be swept from existence and pass into history within 100 years of his time. 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society bought his home and used his own printing press to produce Bibles!
· Manuscript evidence of the Bible is overwhelming. There are more than 5600 ancient manuscripts of the Greek NT. Add to that 10000 in Latin and 9300 other early versions and you have 25000. No other ancient document comes close. The next is Homer’s Iliad with 643 and all of them partial. The significance is that the scribes would count the words and even the letters to make sure nothing was omitted. The earliest NT manuscript – a fragment of the gospel of John dates from AD 125 – a span of 30 years! Compare that to Iliad which has as its earliest copy 400 years from when it was written.
· What about the OT…well in 1947 a large collection of manuscripts came to light near the Dead Sea as a shepherd kid threw a rock into a cave and heard a crash and documents were found that were stored in earthen jars. Have you ever been part of one of those time capsule experiments?? Well, this was the biggest one on record. Archaeologists found about 100 000 fragments that were pieced into 800 ancient documents now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many of the manuscripts were manuscripts of the OT. Scriptures. They found a complete copy of the book of Isaiah that was 1000 years older than the previous oldest manuscript. They checked out Isaiah 53 and of the 166 words, only 17 letters were in questions and 10 were a simply a matter of spelling, four letters were stylistic and the remaining comprise the word light. There was only one word in question after 1000 years of transmission!
· Proof from archaeology has found and discovered the seal of King Solomon, King David’s name in stone and a bull the Canaanites worshipped. People used to laugh at the OT references to the Hittite people calling it a fabrication of the Bible. Recent archaeological digs have now found hundreds of references to Hittite people over a 1200 year period in the Middle East.

Internal Uniqueness
· The Bible is full of contradictions is also answered by further in depth study and recognition of the fact that different authors will reflect and emphasize different aspects of the same story. It is a recognition of the fact that God fully used the personalities of those who wrote. You can see Peter’s personality through the way that He communicates God’s Word. He covers many subjects in a short amount of time and Paul in many ways wrote like a lawyer with great logic. 2 Peter 1:20,21
· The Canon of Scripture identified the inspired revelation of God and determined that by the book’s authority in its teachings of Jesus and they looked for statements that gave divine authority such as ‘the Word of the Lord came to’ without apology. They also looked at authorship and authenticity to be consistent with all other revealed texts on the matter. One of the most authoritative was Athanasius who was the bishop of Alexandria and at that council in 367AD put all these books to the test.
· Fulfilled prophecy. Isaiah 9:6,7; Psalm 72:9-11,15; There are 61 major prophecies concerning his life written many hundreds of years before His birth! We’ll discover more on that next week.
· God –breathed – Now some will say this is circular reasoning but the Word itself claims it to be inspired in 2 Timothy 3:16,17. In Bible College we refer to the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Word. We affirm that it is all given by inspiration of God…all 66 books, 41 173 verses. God breathed His words into the very hearts and minds of human souls. Verbal inspiration means that we believe God chose the very words and plenary means the whole thing from Genesis to Revelation, not just certain parts. We also affirm its inerrancy in that the Bible simply tells the truth. "Infidels for 1800 years have been refuting and overthrowing this book, and yet it stands today as solid as a rock. Its circulation increases, and it is more loved and cherished and read today than ever before. - H. L. Hastings “No other book has been so chopped, knifed, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion or psychology...has been subject to such a mass attack as the Bible? With such venom and skepticism? And yet, the Bible is still loved by millions, read by millions, and studied by millions." - Bernard Ramm
So, you maybe are impressed, but you may be asking WIIFM….well, let’s go to one of the most succinct treatise on WIIFM
The writer of this precious poem in Psalm 19 uses five vivid synonyms to describing different dimensions of God’s Word.
law - instruction, or teaching, God has given by direct revelation
statutes - civil and religious appointment of the Mosaic law
precepts - legal pronouncements or rules of divine administration
commands - authoritative commands used as principles on how to live life
ordinances - declarations God has made about Himself, His nature, and His purposes
Listen to these words about the Word: perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, sure, and precious. When the children of God hear these descriptive adjectives, their hearts cannot help but exclaim “Amen!” God’s Word is precious!
He wants to change us. His words convert souls. They make the simple wise. They bring rejoicing to hearts. They enlighten eyes. The counsel of the Lord is unchanging; it endures forever.
He has known the deadly damage of sin from the beginning. His instructions, often are not popular, but they are our GPS…it keeps you from making all those route recalculations!
When many of Jesus’ superficial followers turned and walked away, He asked His disciples, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Peter expressed the sentiment of every child of God: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:67-68).

I fought the Law and the Law won! v7a
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
First, "the law of the Lord." That is the widest term for all the written revelation God has given us. "The law of the Lord is perfect." It is complete, there is nothing left out. It is comprehensive, it does everything that we need it to do. There is no part of your life, no problem that you will ever face in your life, no question with which you will ever be troubled, that the Word of God does not speak to and illuminate and meet. So it is perfect, "reviving the soul."
A better word for reviving is transforming! Scripture has a supernatural way of life change affecting you to the very core of your being. It was through the reading of God’s Word that God spoke to me and forever charted the course of the direction of my life.
Can you share with me the power of a specific verse that God used to transform your life?

Are you in the know?? v7b
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." Sure means "dependable, reliable." You can count upon this word to be true. Therefore you do not need to know a lot about everything else. The simple person is referring to being open minded in the wrong sense….being so open minded that you brain leaks out! It is the kind of discernment to see that walking into certain situations will only be self destructive. It enables you to make wise choices, being skilled at daily living. As I shared a few weeks ago, we talked about the shift that moves from the soul to action, from action to decision, from decision to habit and finally habit to stronghold
The Word of God is not against knowledge; it is only against knowledge which does not begin at the right place. But even if you do not have a lot of knowledge, even if you are "simple" in terms of education you can still be made wise by trusting Scripture because it is sure, it is reliable. That is why we are challenged:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. {Prov 3:5 RSV}There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. {Prov 14:12, 16:25 RSV}
It enables you to keep from falling into the same pitfalls or repeating the same mistakes.

I’ve got the joy, joy, joy , joy - down in my heart to stay! v8
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.
Precepts refer to God’s rulings, His prescription and principles and there is the resulting joy.
Examples:
· They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength
· You reap what you sow
· Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled
Jeremiah 15:16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty.
Luke 24:27-32 the disciples reflect on how their hearts burned within them when Jesus explained or expounded the Scriptures concerning Himself to them.

You light up my life! v9a
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
Often people will say that the Word of God is confusing and there are certainly passages that force you to dig deeper, but what I have found is this, when it comes to character development, mainly being conformed to Christ’s image, the Bible is really clear
On the fear of the Lord
If you fear God in this life, you will not have to fear Him in the life to come. James Macdonald
The fear of the Lord is pure. It is without blemish. It is uncompromised, undiluted and is strength from cover to cover. It grants us a source of stability.

It is "enduring for ever." Once you enter into the fear of the Lord in its rightful sense you find that this produces a quality of life which enables you to consider this question…in the light of eternity, how much difference is this going to make….or my mom’s always soothing words to the youngest of five boys…”if this is the worst thing that is going to happen, you are not off that bad!’
Ordinances are not just for reverends! v9b

The ordinances of the Lord are sure, and altogether righteous.
Ordinances – another word is judgment – describing God’s verdict
He will set everything straight guaranteed. He will ultimately right every wrong and silence his critics.
The final word…
They are also wealth-producing, enriching, "more to be desired than gold," he goes on to say. And they are wonderfully pleasant, marvelously pleasure-producing:

sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. {Psa 19:10b-11 RSV}

You might say, "I don't see these things in the Bible. I read my Bible and it's supposed to do that for you, but when I read it I don't find these things." Do you know why'?
It is he who does all these wonderful things for us. It is the Lord who forgives and transforms and cleanses and enlightens and makes us to rejoice. It is God, it is the Lord Jesus. And as we find him in the pages of Scripture these wonderful things happen to us.

The Takeaway

EIIFM...everything is in it for me! As we desire to live a life of godliness and contentment we will find satisfaction here.

From experience I have discovered the Bible to be:

convicting – Hebrews 4:12 I have seen the penetrating power of God’s Word challenge the lives of our people as well as myself
freeing – John 8:32 It has enabled so many to be free debilitating patterns of destructive behaviour.
comforting – Psalm 23 In times of loss or sickness, I have seen it transform a person’s outlook and bring hope and healing.
exactly what I need –

and exactly what I don’t need. John 5:39…It is not to pump my head full of knowledge, but full of love and appreciation for all that He has done for me.
For Small Groups and Discussion

1. What about the Bible’s external uniqueness stands out most to you?

2. Practice sharing in the group how you would share with a non-Christian about how the Bible is inspired?

3. Talk about from experience how you have discovered the Bible to be:

convicting –
freeing –.
comforting –
___________

4. How can guilt be a positive motivating factor in your life? When does it become negative as it relates to spiritual disciplines?
5. How can we be guilty of the same thing Jesus condemned the Pharisees for as it related to God’s Word in John 5:39,40