I believe the Bible alone just for Jesus Christ's sake, because no man could ever dream Him up. No man could ever write the words that Jesus wrote.
Nobody's that smart. Nobody could answer the questions that were posed to Him the way He answered them. Always perfect answers. Always perfect actions. Always perfect wisdom. Everything about Jesus was miraculous. Everything. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Several years ago, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania figured out how to reverse the effects of blindness in children using gene therapy. While the children haven't been healed completely, many of them can now see lines on an eye chart and can tell when objects move about the room.
You know, medical advances that can help the blind to see, that's sensational stuff. But as you're about to hear, nothing compares to the healing power that John MacArthur is going to look at today as he continues his current study titled, Is the Bible Reliable? Now to show you the one who could fully restore sight and to help you see what his miracles mean for you today, here's John with a lesson. We come to a subject which I've entitled, The Miraculous Jesus. We've tried to show that in several different ways by talking about inspiration and revelation and some of the reasons we believe the Bible has inspired the testimony of the writers of Scripture, the Lord Jesus Himself, the testimony of the Holy Spirit. We saw that one of the great evidences for the credibility and the validity of the Bible is its miraculous nature.
And we said that any book that is the revelation of God would have to contain miracles because God by definition is supernatural. We are natural. All that is in our world is natural.
This is the natural world. So if the supernatural is to be introduced into the natural, it has to be miraculous. A miracle, you see, is nothing but that, the supernatural interjecting itself into the natural.
You cannot have a disclosure of God who is outside the natural world unless you have a supernatural act. That's a miracle. So one of the reasons we believe the Bible is truly the revelation of God is because it's so full of miracles. And God must be revealed through miracles because His supernaturalness must invade the natural world. If God exists, then miracles must also exist, for if God is, then God does.
If God is, then He acts. And so we're not amazed when we pick up the Bible and find miracles. No, no, on the contrary, we say that because there are so many miracles recorded here, this must be God, for these things are beyond men. Now if you allow for God, then you must allow for God to act and that's all a miracle is and God acts and this is the record of it and this is the revelation of God.
It is not unreasonable to imagine that a God who made everything, who did the stupendous miracle of creation would continue to be interested in what He made and do other miracles, occasionally intervening directly when it suited His purpose. Now because the Bible records these miracles, I say it's the revelation of God because whenever God discloses Himself, it must be miraculous. Now there are only three attitudes you can have toward miracles, just three.
Let me give them to you. Number one, miracles never happened. Miracles never happened and never will happen. Now that's what an atheist would believe.
He would say everything's an accident. The whole existence of the universe is an accident. Nothing ever is miraculous. Nobody made this. It just happened out of nothing.
I can't buy that. If you have no miracles, you have no God. If you have no God, you have no explanation for anything. A second possibility is that miracles did occur in biblical times but they do not occur now.
That's an interesting thought. This means that today no one is empowered to work miracles as they were in Bible times. Now that is interesting because there are many people today who claim to do miracles.
And as I said last time, we throw that term around all over the place. This is a miracle. That's a miracle.
The other is a miracle. Study the Old Testament sometime, you'll find very interesting things. You'll find great large portions of passages of Scripture passed by, great sweeping years of history passed by without any allusion to any miracle.
That's interesting. In fact, in the Old Testament there are really only two periods when miracles existed in a normative sense. One was the day of Moses and miracles were pretty commonplace in the life of Moses, weren't they, especially in the times when he was leading the children of Israel. The second period of time in the Old Testament when miracles appear is during the time of Elijah and Elisha. And miracles seemed to be normative then. Those are really the only two times where miracles are normative. Now there may be sporadic occasions when a miracle happens here or there, but it is definitely the exception and not the rule through the rest of Old Testament history. You see, those were times when God designed to do miracles to reveal Himself miraculously, to show that He was there.
Once that was put down and recorded, that settled the issue. Once those miracles were done and recorded, then the Word says that God exists. The Word gives us the record of those miracles. Is there any need for more miracles?
There isn't if we believe this Word. Special times, God chose to confirm His existence and His Word miraculously. Now as you move into the New Testament, you have two more periods of miracles, the time of Jesus Christ and the time of the early church. And again they were preaching Christ. They were laying down not the Old Testament, but what?
The New Testament. And the New Testament was the revelation of God and again God attested His revelation by miracles. And so in the New Testament you have a quantity of miracles appearing to substantiate the revelation of God. So when God disclosed Himself in the Old Testament, which is now written down for all time, and when God disclosed Himself through Christ in the New Testament, which is written down for all time, the miracles were accomplished as a confirmation of that Word. They authenticated Christ.
They authenticated Christ's apostles. Once the evidence was complete and once the witness was written down, it would seem that miracles would no longer be necessary as normative. When the revelation of Christ was complete, when the record of that revelation was written, the miracles no longer had the purpose of confirmation which was their purpose. Now let me just add a couple of verses to your understanding on this so that you have a little more insight.
In 2 Corinthians 12, 12, I'll read them to you. It says, "'Truly the signs of an apostle,'" notice the signs are identified with an apostle, "'were wrought among you in patience and signs, wonders and mighty deeds.'" Now He says here that miracles were signs of an apostle. In other words, He grants miracles to these individuals particularly. In Hebrews 2, 3, it talks about salvation and verse 4 says, "'God also bearing them witness,'" that's talking again about those apostles and prophets of the New Testament, "'God bearing them witness with signs and wonders and diverse miracles.'" Now God used miracles to corroborate the witness of the early preachers. When a man would come into town and preach Jesus Christ and then work miracles, people would tend to believe that He truly was from God. And that was the point. Once that was done and the Spirit gave us the record of it, this testimony is still good.
When a court case is completed today, you can go check the records and that stands as a settled issue. This does too. The verdict is in. God is revealed in this book. Miracles attested to it, they're in here and they have corroborated witnesses of a high quality and in many cases of a great quantity.
Now I want you to notice something. As you study through the New Testament, you find there is a progressive lessening of miracles. It's almost as if they begin to fade away as you get to the closing of the New Testament. The more of the New Testament that is written down, the less miracles become necessary.
And as it all winds out toward the end, you begin to see a fading away of miracles, at least as normative. Once Scripture was complete, the revelation was complete, the disclosure of God was complete, no longer were miracles the test of truth. What's the test of truth today? If a man comes to town, how do you know he's a true prophet? By what he does...whether he does miracles or not? No. By what? Whether he agrees with the Word.
That's the test. The Bible is the true revelation. Baxter says, "'Since the primary purpose for which miracles were performed in biblical times is no longer operative, it is reasonable to believe that miracles performed through the agency of man as in Bible times no longer are to be seen on earth today.'"
Now notice this, and I agree. Miracles performed through the agency of man are not normative today. So-called, quote-unquote, miracle workers are suspect.
Now I don't want you to think that I'm going to shoot down all the people that you care about. And I'm not trying to drop names and attack people, but let me just say this, miracle workers, healers, people who fall into those categories, believe me, are suspect. Without going into a lot of detail from all of the study that I've done, and some very, very recently, my suspicions of them are not lessened in any way, shape or form. Amazingly enough, the miracle workers of today do not tackle the raising of the dead. Another thing, they seem to serve no divine purpose. Beloved, as you study miracles, and I'm not trying to be...I have no ax to grind and I'm not trying to be unkind to these people, I'm trying to point out to you what I believe is the truth of the Word of God. But you study miracles for yourself. In the Bible, and you will find that they happen for a limited time through limited persons. Not everybody did miracles. The apostles and the prophets and our Lord in the New Testament, not everybody. And they were not only for a limited time by limited persons, but they had a limited purpose to confirm revelation. And once revelation is confirmed, they cease to have that purpose. Now you say, well, John, are you saying that there aren't any miracles today?
No. Listen, some of the greatest miracles are going to happen in the future. You know what the next big miracle is going to be? The rapture.
Wow! Is that a miracle? God's going to invade this natural world and yank all the Christians out.
He's going to turn off gravity for us and we're gone. That's a miracle. You read the book of Revelation and read about the tribulation, there's going to be plenty of miracles. And let me say this, and God can do miracles right now too. And I'm not saying He can't because if I say God is, I have to say God can act, right? And I can't stand in here with my little puny theology and say, look God, in order for you to be consistent, don't do anything for a while.
I can't say that. I'll tell you, God can do miracles whenever He wants, but I do not believe that He is doing miracles through the agency of men as normative in this age. Because the purpose of those was to confirm the revelation, that's done. Yes, I believe God can supernaturally heal. I believe He does it in response to prayer. I believe God can do the supernatural miracle of the new birth and that's the one that boggles me the greatest. I believe God can do any miracles that He wants to do. But I don't believe that miracles are normative for today.
I notice that the faith healers have to take airplanes to their meetings. They may have read through Acts a lot of times, but they haven't found out how Philip did it yet. You say, but John, aren't you ignoring John 14, 12?
No, that's why I brought it up. Turn to it. It says this, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my Father. Now some people say, well don't you see, John, there's that verse that says we're going to do what Jesus did, beloved.
Let me give you a good argument on that verse. First of all, I never met anybody yet in my life who did what Jesus did in terms of physical miracles. Have you? Do you know anybody that could at will raise the dead?
No. Do you know anybody in this world who knew everything that was in the heart of everybody and never need to ask any question about anything? Do you know anybody who could go fishing and call all the fish to the side of the boat that he wanted them on? Have you met anybody yet who walks on water?
Do you know anybody who when he decided to go to heaven stood on a cliff and said goodbye and ascended? No, you see, that isn't what he's saying. That's obvious.
That's obvious. You say, well if it isn't the physical that he's talking about, what is he really saying? He's saying, watch this, he's saying greater.
Now I'm going to mark this. In a sense, he's talking primarily to his apostles and he's saying you're going to do greater. Now I believe that greater is not necessarily in power, but in extent. You see, Jesus' ministry was so confined to such a small area and immediately when the church was born, the apostles and the prophets went everywhere. And look at Peter, for example. The Bible says everywhere he went, people were healed and people would drag friends into the shadow of Peter because they thought he had so much power that even his shadow could heal. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of miracles were done that Jesus was limited in the volume of miracles, but greater extent, far greater would be accomplished through the apostles just by the virtue that they were more than He and His power working through them. And notice that he isn't saying they had the power.
No, no. Peter and John at the gate, beautiful in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk. But I do believe the implication is spiritual miracles, conversions to Christ, building the church, transformed lives. These did happen and I think that's what our Lord promised. You know, every time you lead somebody to Jesus Christ, you're in on a miracle, a fantastic miracle.
Well God intended miracles to authenticate His revelation. And you know, the best way to see this is to look at Jesus. Look at John 5. You know, if I didn't believe the Bible for any other reason, I'd believe the Bible for Jesus' sake. I mean, I cannot get around the person of Jesus Christ. When I read the Bible, I know this is God's Word because of Christ.
You say, what are you saying? I'm saying this, friends, listen, no human genius could ever invent a Jesus Christ. No human mind and no committee of theologians could ever dream up an individual like this. This has to be God in human flesh.
The human mind could never even conceive of such a person. God intended miracles then to authenticate His truth and God recorded for us the miraculous life of Jesus Christ to show us that it was God in human flesh, Jesus Christ with none other than God Himself. Look at John 5 verse 18. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him because He not only had broken the Sabbath but said also that God was His Father making Himself equal with God. It never ceases to amaze me that Jehovah's Witnesses are always arguing about the fact that Jesus was not equal with God. It's also interesting that Jesus said He was. Now whether you want to quibble over John 1, 1 or not, whether it's a God, the God or whatever there, the fact is Jesus made that claim to be equal with God. And even if some people in our world haven't figured out that He made that claim, the Jews knew He made that claim and that's what irritated them so much. But it was bad enough to make the claim what really miffed them was He supported it.
Say, how did He do that? Look at verse 23, that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. Here's the claim again, He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father who has sent Him.
Equality. Verse 32, there is another that bears witness of Me and I know the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. Verse 36, I have greater witness than that of John, watch, for the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of Me that the Father has sent Me. What then was the great testimony to His deity? His what?
His works. Listen friends, when a person comes along and says, I'm God, that doesn't end the case. You know, I believe Jesus was God because He claimed it but He supported it. You know, a lot of people might say, I'm God. Like the guy in the mental institution, you know, who said, I'm Napoleon, I'm Napoleon. Somebody said, what do you mean you're Napoleon? Who told you that? He said, God did.
The guy in the next bed said, oh no, I didn't. But there are plenty of people who claim to be God but there's only one who ever substantiated the claim. You know, there was Theudas who claimed to be the Messiah and so he dove off the temple and the dive was great, the landing killed him. John chapter 10, Jesus says, My works are enough to prove who I am.
His miracles showed that He was God revealed. John 10 24, Then came the Jews round about Him and said unto Him, How long dost Thou make us to doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. They want to know if He's the Messiah.
Jesus answered them, I told you and you believe not. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me, His works. Look at verse 37, If I do not the works of My Father, don't believe Me. But if I do, though you believe not Me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me and I in Him.
Isn't that tremendous? Listen, the testimony that this is the Word of God is the miracles. The testimony that Jesus is the living Word of God is the miracles that He did. As Christians, we do not stand ashamed of miracles. No, miracles give validity to the claims of Scripture to be the Word of God and the claims of Christ to be the living Word of God. In John 14 11, Jesus said, Believe Me, or literally believe My Word that I am in the Father and the Father in Me.
In other words, believe that I'm God or else if you're not going to believe My words, believe Me for the very...what?...works' sake. How could you deny the things that He did? You say, well, it's only recorded history. Well look, friend, recorded history doesn't make it less true. Look at all the witnesses of the record. Read its history.
This is a history book. It's credible as history. The encyclopedias contain more historical data on Jesus Christ than on a lot of other famous historical people.
The evidence is in on who He was. In Luke 7 20, a marvelous interview with John the Baptist and Jesus. And, of course, there's a transition from John to Jesus in the history of Israel. The interview is conducted in the absence of John who sends some messengers to Jesus. In verse 20, the men were come unto Him and they said, John the Baptist sent us unto you saying, Art thou He that should come or look we for another?
Hey, John wants to know if you're the Messiah that he's been announcing. Verse 21, And in that same hour He cured many of their infirmities and plagues and of evil spirits and unto many that were blind He gave sight. They came and asked the question, He didn't answer it, He just did miracles, just a whole slew of miracles. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way and tell John what things you've seen and heard, how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.
You can imagine they said, Okay, okay, and they were gone. The convincing argument for the deity of Christ is not just His words but His works. Beloved, I believe the Bible is the Word of God because it contains miracles and that means God is in the book. I believe Jesus is God because He did miracles and that means God was in Christ. I don't back down from miracles.
My, I'm so glad for them because then I know it's God. You give me a book that doesn't have any miracles and all you've done is hand me another human philosophy and I'm not interested. Now the miracles then were for the purpose of revealing the Christ.
He says that. Believe me for the work's sake. Once He'd done the miracles, they were recorded in the book. Friends, the evidence is there and if you're running around expecting another miracle, it will not happen.
Jesus said if they don't believe the Word, they won't believe though somebody is raised from the dead. This is the testimony. I tell you, I don't see how anybody can study this book objectively and read it with an open mind and an open heart and conclude anything else but that God wrote it and Jesus is God.
It's all here. So God authenticates Himself and Christ authenticates Himself as God in the Bible. And as I said, I'd believe the Bible alone just for Jesus Christ's sake because no man could ever dream Him up. No human deeds could ever be the pattern for this life. No man could ever write the words that Jesus wrote.
Nobody's that smart. Nobody could answer the questions that were posed to Him the way He answered them. Always perfect answers, always perfect actions, always perfect wisdom. Philip Schaff said, The life and character of Jesus Christ is the Holy of Holies in the history of the world. Even the skeptic H.G. Wells in the May 1935 edition of Reader's Digest said this, When I was asked which single individual has left the most permanent impression on the world, the manner of the question almost carried the implication that it was Jesus of Nazareth. I agreed, end quote. Skeptic H.G.
Wells. Schaff said something we're familiar with. This Jesus of Nazareth without money and arms conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed and Napoleon. Without science and learning He has shed more light on things human and divine than all the philosophers and scholars combined. Without the eloquence of schools He spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet. Without writing a single line He has set more pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times, end quote. Everything about Jesus was miraculous.
Everything. That's John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. John's current study here on Grace to You is called, Is the Bible Reliable? John, anyone who has heard you preach knows that you are passionate about the reliability and the sufficiency and the authority of Scripture. And I think they also know that you're committed to cutting the word straight, even when that means cutting across the grain of modern Christianity. You have some thoughts on that. Well, the simple thought is everything is to be tested by the Scripture.
Everything. Everything is to be measured by what does the Bible say and what is an accurate interpretation of Scripture. It's one thing to look and see what it says, but it's so important to understand not only what it says on its face, but what it means by what it says. And therein lies the real challenge of biblical interpretation. The key to everything is to understand the revelation of God. If you understand the word of God, if you understand what it says, what it means, what it implies, and how it must be applied in your life, then you have accessed the divine treasure house of truth that will save and sanctify and fill your life with endless blessing. There is no greater task, no greater ministry, no greater duty, responsibility, than to study, proclaim, uphold Scripture, including the hard truths. And that's what we have been doing for many decades now, every way possible. Radio books, podcasts, television, apps, more.
And if anything shows up in the future, we'll jump into that as well. We just want to get the word of God out as to what it says and what it means. And that's all you need. The word of God is sufficient for all things related to life and godliness. And whatever the future holds, whatever the world becomes as it spins out of control, heading fast toward the return of Christ, whatever the future brings, as long as Jesus hasn't come and set up his kingdom, we'll be here committed to unleashing God's truth one verse at a time.
And it'll always be me, you hear, doing the unleashing. That's the blessing of recorded technology. So we'll keep ministering as wide a scale as God allows for us. And it's growing all the time, and we're grateful for that. So just know I cherish the opportunity to teach you the Bible every day on this station. Continue to join me in thanking God for these daily times of study of his supernatural truth.
Thanks John. Friend, another group that would be great to thank is the team at this radio station. Call or send them an email when you can. And keep in mind, we'd love to hear how you're benefiting from Grace to You, so send us a note today. You can email us at letters at gty.org. Once more, that's letters at gty.org. Or if you prefer regular mail, you can write to Grace to You, P.O.
Box 4000, Panorama City, California 91412. And while you're at the website gty.org, take advantage of the thousands of free resources that you'll find available there. At the Grace to You blog, you can learn about topics like the love of God and how to overcome temptation. You can also read daily devotionals from John and follow along with the reading plan from the MacArthur Daily Bible. And John's entire sermon archive, more than 3600 sermons, is available for free download in MP3 and transcript format. And if you're looking for a book by John like The War on Children or The Vanishing Conscience or one of his commentaries, you'll find him at great prices and shipping is free. Again, head to our website, gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and our staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for starting your week here with us and join us again tomorrow to find out how the miracles of Jesus 2,000 years ago affect your life today. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace to You.
