How Do I Know the Bible Is True?

Welcome to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris.

We're in a series called How Do I Know? and in it Pastor Robert uses scripture, proven evidence, and personal stories to help us find answers to common questions about faith, the Bible, and how God feels about us. Today's message tackles the question of whether the Bible is true, and I'll tell you what, it's some really good stuff. So let's jump right into this message now. This week I want to talk about how do I know the Bible is true? And this first point is a little bit tongue-in-cheek, okay?

So let me warn you, I know that I do this a lot, I try to warn you when I'm slipping one in on you, you know, so that you don't just discount it. So this is, so I'm answering the question, how do I know the Bible is true? And you have to remember, I'm a believer in Jesus. So this first point is kind of for believers in Jesus, and then we're going to get into some reasoned, logical explanations in point two and three. But the first one I know is a little different, so how do I know the Bible is true? Point number one is the Bible says so. I know that sounds kind of crazy, the Bible says so.

But here's why I'm saying that. If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then you believe that the Bible is God's Word. And what I'm saying is that Jesus verifies that the Bible is true.

And let me explain what I mean by that. Jesus quoted from three-fourths of the books of the Old Testament when he was on this earth, that we have referenced. So there are 39 books of the Old Testament, he quoted from 29 to 30 of those books.

Three-fourths of the books from the Old Testament. So he is verifying the authenticity of the Bible. The other thing is that when Jesus quoted from the Bible, he actually said, the Scriptures say.

The Scriptures say. Now you may not think that's a big deal, but the word Scripture means inspired writings. That's where we get Scripture from, that Scripture part, script, inspired writings.

That's what it means. So every time Jesus was saying the Scriptures say, he was saying the inspired writings, they're inspired by God. And I'll show that to you in a moment in Scripture, the inspired writings say. So Jesus is verifying the authenticity of Scripture. And then let me show you 2 Timothy 3.16. It says, all Scripture, all the inspired writings, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Okay, so that those words given by inspiration of God is the Greek word theo nustos.

Theo means God in the Greek. Nustos means breathes. It comes from the word, the new part of it means breathe and it's air.

It's like if we said you have a pneumatic drill, you have a drill then that runs on air, not on electricity. Many people right now are dying from pneumonia. It's a breathing problem. Actually, now I'm not a medical doctor, but from what I've read, when a person passes away through this pandemic, they're not saying from COVID-19, they're saying from complications from COVID-19. COVID-19 is a virus that can turn into a breathing problem, primarily pneumonia. So that's the problem is the breathing. So even the word pneumonia, that p-n-e-u comes from this Greek word theo nustos, which means breath.

All right, so this is what this means. All scripture is God breathed. Theo nustos. As a matter of fact, the new international version even translates it God breathed. All scripture is breathed by God.

It's the very breath of God. All scripture. So this is how we know the Bible is true.

Because when you speak, you breathe. So if God is speaking, then we know it's true. And all scripture is spoken by God or breathed by God.

Here's the way second Peter one says it verse 20 and 21. Knowing this verse, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy, and again, the reference here is the context is of scripture, prophecy of scripture never came by the will of man. But holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And so they they wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they wrote down what God led them right. We're going to talk later about how many men wrote the Bible, and over which period of time and things like that. But they spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they wrote it. So we have the written Word of God. Now, it is more important than you might think that it's written. You actually want important things written.

Think about when you buy a house. You don't want a word of mouth contract. You want a written contract. There's the the old expression where you put that in writing.

So it's very important that we have it in writing that it's in written form. There was a doctoral student one time, who was doing his dissertation. And he agreed he disagreed with the process, the dissertation process, which the dissertation process is, is that everything you say in there has to be documented.

And he disagreed with that written documentation. And so when he's given his dissertation, he would say things like this. He would make this incredible statement. And then he would say, as told to me by the waiter, it's such and such restaurant.

He's just trying to overemphasize his disagreement with this process. And then he would go a little further. And then he would say, as told to me by the bellboy, it's such and shuts hotel. And little while one of the professors, there's a team of professors, one of them said, wait, hang on a minute.

You can't do this. You have to have a written documentation for your sources. And the students said, why? Why is it important that it's written?

Why is it more important that it's written than if it's verbal? And so the professor said, okay, I see where you're going. Continue. So the student continued. He presented his dissertation. A few weeks later, the professor, his working professor called him and said, hey, good news.

You passed and you're going to get your PhD. You're going to get your doctorate, but we're not going to give it to you in writing. Just take our word for it.

Well, the professor made his point. It's important that it's in writing. I want you to know it's important that it's the written Word of God. And I said, how do I know the Bible is true? And I said, because the Bible says so. But really what I'm saying is because it's written. Because it's written and it's verified.

It's authenticated because it's been written down. Okay. So here's point number two. It's amazing. It's amazing. Let me just give you a little of amazing facts. Now, I want to just for a moment compare the Bible to Buddhist teachings and to the Quran, but not in an argumentative way and not in a put-down way of any person who's a Buddhist or a Muslim. Okay, I'm not trying to put you down. I'm just simply taking some facts and comparing the two, contrast the two so you understand how amazing the Bible is.

Okay. Buddhist sayings are from one man. And the Quran is from one man, from Muhammad. And it's from 23 years of his life, from the time he was 40 until he died at 63. And the sayings were comprised posthumously after he died. So it was comprised by scholars around him who'd been writing scribes after he died, the Book of Graham. And all I'm saying is, I'm just quoting a fact, you can go and read about this, that they're each from one man, one man.

One man sayings, okay, over a short period of time, one life, one lifespan. The Bible is by 40 men over 1,500 years. It began to be written about 1480 BC, 1450 to 1480 BC. And then it went to about 70 AD. So for about 1,500 years, 40 different writers.

Here's what I want you to get. The collusion factor alone is amazing. Over 1,500 years, 40 different writers, and there's a single thread running through it all and no discrepancies.

It's amazing. In my opinion, it's an inspired book, inspired by God. It would be incredible for 40 different writers, even in one lifetime, to be able to be so coherent and so cohesive. But this was over 1,500 years.

Let me tell you a few more facts. Isaiah talks about the virgin birth 700 years before. Micah, 700 years before as well, tells us the city in which he's born. Zechariah describes the way he will die in detail.

So does David. David describes crucifixion a thousand years before it happens to Christ. He writes a thousand years before Christ. And get this, 500 years before crucifixion is invented.

The first person we know of crucified, 497 BC, David writes around 1,000 BC and describes crucifixion. David also says that they would gamble for his clothing a thousand years before it happens. Daniel, 500 years BC, talks about an empire that would rise up and cover the earth, and then that empire would be suddenly cut off and become four empires. Those four empires then would become two empires. Those two empires would become one empire. And during that last empire, the Messiah would be born. So Daniel writes this, 500 years before, in 300 BC, Alexander the Great arises, becomes the greatest empire in the world.

It is suddenly cut off. He dies at 32. He has four generals. Those four generals become the rulers. It turns into four kingdoms, four empires.

But two of them are strong and two aren't. Those four turn into the Seleucid and the Ptolemaic empires. This is all history. Those two turn into the Roman Empire. And during the Roman Empire, Jesus is born. There are people who don't believe the Bible, don't believe in Christianity, that say the mathematical odds against Daniel's prophecy are astronomical. And yet he prophesied that.

How? How could these men, Daniel, Micah, Zachariah, David, hundreds of years before Christ, say these things unless they were divinely inspired? So I'm asking the question, and in some ways you're asking me this question, how do you know, Pastor Robert, the Bible's true?

Well, I'd like to, not argumentatively, not argumentatively, I'd like to ask you a question. How do you know it's not true? As a matter of fact, it would actually be easy to falsify the Bible if it could be falsified.

It'd be easy. The Bible would name some cities that never existed. Or the Bible would say this city was 500 miles away and it'd be a hundred miles away. But it's never been falsified. Two thousand years since Christ, and 3,500 years since the inscripturation process began, the Bible has been more studied than any other book, and more scrutinized than any other book, and can't be falsified. Dr. Bruce Metzger from Princeton Theological Seminary said, it is safe for any scholar to say that 99.6% of the Bible has been corroborated by other historical documents. Remember, oh, this book was written over 1,500 years by 40 different writers. It's phenomenal. Voltaire, the French philosopher, said in a hundred years, the Bible will be a forgotten book.

A hundred years later, Voltaire was dead and his house was owned by the French Bible Society. The Bible's still here, and you're not. It's amazing. So let me give you an illustration.

I've given this illustration before, but it's just worth repeating. So Dr. Peter Stoner, who's the professor emeritus of science at Westmont College. So he's not a theological professor. He's a science professor. He decided to do a study with 600 students.

His findings were verified by the American Scientific Affiliation. Again, not a Christian organization. 600 students to see what are the mathematical odds that Jesus fulfilled all 53 messianic prophecies. There are 53 messianic prophecies in over 300 references. Some people say 300 messianic prophecies. It's over 300 references, but 53 prophecies.

And they realized it was too daunting. They couldn't even do that. So they decided to take the eight, I want you to think about this, eight of the 53 messianic prophecies that are verified that Jesus fulfilled by history. In other words, take the New Testament out of it. Just take the eight Old Testament Jewish scriptures, messianic prophecies, take the eight that Jesus fulfilled that history says that he fulfilled.

Okay? What are the mathematical odds that one person would do that? Here are the mathematical odds. One in 10 to the 17th power. This is 100 quadrillion. The number is 100 quadrillion.

One in 10 to the 17th power. Now, we can't even fathom 100 quadrillion. So they decided to come with the illustration to figure it out. So they said they took all the 100 quadrillion and decided the square feet and cubic if you lay them side by side, end to end. And so if you took a silver dollar and put it down in the state of Texas, and you surrounded it with silver dollars where each of them touched, and then you kept going out and you covered the state of Texas, then you'd have to go back and stack another one on top and keep going until the stack was two feet high.

Two feet high. That's 100 quadrillion. And the odds, think about it, some of you might not realize what odds means, one out of 10 would be if you put 10 pieces of paper in a hat and you put a mark on one and you shuffle them up and you blindfolded a person, that person has a one in 10 chances of pulling the mark, the one with the marker on it.

Okay? So if you took these silver dollars, covered the state of Texas, two feet high, and put a mark on one, and you drop a person in the state of Texas, maybe in the middle, and you say you can walk north, south, east, or west. But at some point you got to reach down from the top, the bottom, the middle, wherever, and pick one silver dollar. That's the odds that he would pick the one with the mark in it.

Those are the odds that Jesus fulfilled eight of the Messianic prophecies that history says he fulfilled. Remember my point is, it's amazing. It's amazing, the Bible.

And here's point number three. I know the author personally. Now, we're talking about how do I know the Bible is true? I know the author personally. But let me explain that because you might say, well, Pastor Robert, you said there are 40 authors.

I know I did not. I said there are 40 writers. There's only one author.

His name's God. Because 40 men could not have written this book, and yet be as cohesive as it is. There's one author. His name is God, but he used 40 different men, and they wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

That's what we talked about. And the Bible is summed up in one person. His name is Jesus Christ. God put a void in every human being that only Jesus can fill. John 539, Jesus said, you search the scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the scriptures point to me. Jesus verifies the Bible.

And let me tell you the greatest way he verifies the Bible. If Jesus had been a charlatan, he could have made one statement differently than he made it. He could have said, I'm gonna rise from the grave spiritually. Spiritually. And then when his bones and his remains were still in the grave, you might say, well, he didn't rise from the grave, and we'd say, yeah, but he said he'd do it spiritually. But Jesus isn't a charlatan, and he didn't say he would rise spiritually. He said he would rise bodily. Now listen.

Listen. Over 2,000 years, Mohammed's remains are in the tomb. Buddha's remains are in the tomb. I'm not trying to be negative. I'm just stating fact. Over 2,000 years, come on, think about it, no archaeologist has ever discovered the remains of the body of Jesus Christ. That's fact.

Scientific fact. He said, I'll rise from the grave. He did. Some people say, well, he wasn't dead. You let a Roman soldier put a spear through your heart to see if you're dead or not. He was dead. Secondly, even if he wasn't dead at that time, he would have died at some point.

But there aren't any remains. Now, we're asking these questions, how do I know? So when we talk about Jesus rising from the grave in the Bible, predicting it, and predicting Jesus' life, I've got seven questions for you.

Okay? Seven questions. And I'll put the reference beside them, but I just want to ask these questions.

Here they are. How did he arrange to be born into a specific family? I want you to think about that. How did he arrange to be born into a specific family? Here's the next question. How did he arrange to be born in a specific city in which his parents didn't live? I don't know if you've ever thought about that. Bethlehem was not where his parents lived.

They had to travel there at exactly the time when Mary would give birth, at exactly the time the star appeared. How did he arrange, here's the next question, his own death, and specifically by crucifixion between two criminals? Pretty good questions, aren't they? Fourth question.

How did he arrange to have his executioners gamble for his clothing? Fifth question. How did he arrange to be crucified on the exact day that the Jews sacrificed a spotless lamb for their sins?

Exact day. Sixth question. How did he arrange to have the executioners break the legs of the two victims on each side, but not his own? Prophesied a thousand years before.

And last question. How did he arrange to come back to life on the exact day that he said he would? Here's the answer, because he's God, and the Bible is true. We want you to take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared today and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. If you want to connect with us or check out some of Pastor Robert's other messages, visit pastorrobert.com. And if you haven't already, go follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so we can be a part of your community. We hope you enjoyed today's message. Next time, Pastor Robert is concluding the How Do I Know series with a message about how we know Jesus is the way. Believe me, you are not going to want to miss it. We pray that you have a blessed week.