DON’T STOP BELIEVING 1 THE BIBLE OUR ROUTE 66
2 Timothy 3:16-17. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
INTRODUCTION: Today, we start a new series called “DON’T STOP BELIEVING.” It’s about fundamental truths that define us as believers. We are going to look at 7 or 8 main topics, like 1) the Bible, 2) God, 3) Jesus, 4) salvation, 5) the Holy Spirit, 6) the resurrection, including final judgment, Heaven, and Hell, and 7) the church. They are fundamental doctrines of the church, including the National Association of Evangelicals and Floodgate. We believe in the Bible. The Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, are infallible, inerrant, and verbally inspired by God. The Bible is the revelation of God to man, the authoritative rule of faith and conduct. Or as the National Association of Evangelicals (45,000 churches and over 40 denominations) puts it, “We believe the Bible to be the inerrant, inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.” Biblical truths are what the church, Christianity, is founded on. You could call them the basics or the bedrock fundamental, non-negotiable truths of our common Faith.
So, ‘Don’t Stop Believing.’ Doctrine, sound doctrine, is essential to our faith. Buckle up, buttercup, and let’s begin with the Bible.
- ROUTE 66 THE BIBLE
2 Peter 1:20-21 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as the Holy Spirit moved them.
Friends: “We believe the Bible.” Why? The Bible is the Word of God. Okay. Why start with the Bible instead of the doctrine of God in our series? Good question. I’m glad you asked. God exists before the Bible. He is first, before everything. As believers, we worship God, not the Bible, and we don’t believe the Bible is more important than God. But without God, we would not have the Bible. However, without the Bible, we could never understand God. We would have opinions. God chose to make Himself known through the Bible.
Is there evidence that the Bible is God’s Word beyond saying it is God’s Word? Yes! God doesn’t blindly require us to believe without substantiation. Consider scriptural harmony. The Bible has 36 different writers over 1600 years, all saying the same thing. The Bible is unified in its message from cover to cover, inspired/dictated by a single author, God, writing across 16 centuries. That’s evidence. Consider fulfilled prophecy. That’s what 2 Peter 1:20-21 is all about, the thousands of fulfilled prophecies. Over 300 address Jesus. Most of the prophetic words were uttered centuries before fulfillment. The prophecies are easy to read, and the fulfillment is historically evident. No other religious writing self-authenticates through fulfilled prophecy. That’s robust evidence.
This is why we trust the Bible. They are not people’s thoughts, ideas, or opinions. It’s the B.I.B.L.E. That’s the book for me. The Bible is God’s Word, the foundation of all our beliefs.
- ROUTE 66 THE CANON
A second question. If the Bible is the ONLY basis of Christian belief, what books are in the Bible, and why? This is the question of “canon.” This canon doesn’t fire cannonballs. Canon is Greek and means “a ruler.” Rulers measure things. Canon means the 66 measured up, belonging to Scripture.
Christians, Jews, and Catholics have canons. Protestants recognize 66 books as Scripture, 39 Old Testament, and 27 New Testament books. Jews only recognize 39. The Catholic church recognizes 73, 66, and seven Apocrypha books they added in the 15th century at Trent. So, who’s right? How can we know what belongs?
The easiest is the Old Testament. Protestants, Catholics, and Jews accept the Old Testament canonically. The New Testament was written in the first century after Jesus ascended. Every credible Christian group accepts the 66, and Jesus prophesied the Scriptures.
In John 14:16-17, 26 Jesus said: I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
Jesus also said in John 15:26-17: When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. And in John 16:12-13, Jesus said: I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
Doing a mashup, Jesus said, “There’s more you need to know, but not now. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. He will tell you the inspired truth. You will tell what He said.” And that’s the rest of the story. The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the New Testament like He inspired the writers of the Old Testament, and the early church accepted the 27 books as early as the middle of the 2nd century, written before 100 AD.
The oldest complete copies of the New Testament date to 300 AD. In 315 AD, Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, identified the 27 New Testament Books as canon. In 382 AD, Jerome translated the New Testament from Greek into Latin. We call it the “Latin Vulgate.” Vulgate means vulgar or common. He added the Apocrypha Books with a note about his uncertainty about whether they were God-inspired. By the year A.D. 397, the church canonized all 66 Books.
By 500 AD, the Bible had been translated into over 500 languages. By 600 AD, it was reduced to one language: Latin! The Catholic Church only allowed Scripture in Latin. If you possessed a non-Latin Bible, you were executed! A new rule said you couldn’t read the Bible without being trained by the church to understand it. Violating that rule meant an automatic sentence to Hell. That gave the church power to rule without question, deceive, and extort money from the masses. You couldn’t question Catholic “Biblical” teachings without reading the Bible. The church capitalized on this forced ignorance for 1,000 years of “Dark and Middle Ages,” from 600 AD to 1,600 AD.
What’s the story of the 14 apocryphal books? The Catholic church added seven to their Bible and added to Esther and Daniel. There is nothing wrong with the apocryphal books. They provide historical information. But it’s not considered part of the Bible for a few reasons.
Why not? The Jews reject them as Scriptural. Second, the New Testament writers always quote the Old Testament as Scripture, except Enoch and a Greek poet (Acts 17:28 For we are also His offspring), and Jude 14-15, where the book of Enoch is quoted about God judging evil men and Jesus coming with 1000’s to execute judgment. Neither are in the Apocrypha. No one accepts the poet or the four books of Enoch as Scripture. Third, the apocryphal books contain questionable theology. The clincher is number four: Jesus never viewed the apocryphal books as Scripture. Jesus accepted the Jewish Scriptures. Luke 24:44: Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me. Jesus, the early church, and the Jews didn’t accept the Apocrypha as Scripture. Even the Catholic church didn’t officially accept them into the canon until 1546 at the Council of Trent.
What are the books of the Bible? The 66. When we say, “We believe the Bible,” we mean the 66 Old and New Testament books and nothing else. Sola Scriptura.
- ROUTE 66 THE ROAD MAP
Scriptural authority addresses the map we follow. “We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.” This is important. When biblical doctrine conflicts with other teachings, opinions, or how you may feel about an issue, God’s word must have full and final authority. Scripture is God’s unique, complete, and final authority on all matters of faith and practice. We rely on Scripture’s authority about our beliefs and how to live. If you want to know the truth about God, Christ, sin, death, heaven, and hell, read the Bible and trust what you read. If you want to test the truth of someone’s teaching, measure it with the canon. Scripture gives us truth and reliable information.
Proverbs 30:5 says: “Every word of God is flawless.” Psalm 19:7-8 says: The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. God’s word is perfect. What happens when you fully trust biblical authority in your life? Your soul revives, you become wise, and you get joy for your heart and light for your eyes.
So, where does the English version come from? There’s a map of blood and tears. The English Bible parallels the Reformation that started with John Wycliffe. Pope Leo X established the “selling of indulgences” to extort money. He sold forgiveness of sins. Pay money and indulge in sin. Purgatory was created in 1274 at the Council of Lyon. It relates to indulgences, as you could purchase freedom from purgatory. The church taught, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the troubled soul from Purgatory springs!” Pope Leo X once said, “The fable of Christ has been quite profitable to us!”
Then, Wycliffe’s Bible. Wycliffe preached about the importance of reading the Bible. He translated the Bible into English from Latin in 1382. Wycliffe opposed the teaching of the Catholic Church. Infuriated by his teachings and his translation, the Pope, 44 years after martyrdom, ordered Wycliffe’s bones to be dug up, crushed, and scattered in the river!
John Hus, a Wycliffe disciple, continued Wycliffe’s ideas: read the Bible in their language and oppose the tyranny of the Roman church, which executed anyone with a non-Latin Bible. Hus was burned at the stake in 1415, with pages from Wycliffe’s translation as kindling. Hus shouted, “In 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.” 102 years later, in 1517, Luther nailed his 95 Theses of Contention on the Wittenberg’s church door. Hus’ prophesy came true!
In 1445, the Gutenberg Press was invented. Now, the Bible could be mass-produced. In the 1490s, an Oxford professor, Thomas Linacre, compared the Greek and Latin Vulgate and wrote, “Either this (the original Greek) is not the Gospel, or we are not Christians.” The church no longer preached the message of the Gospel, with Catholics still killing anyone they caught reading the Bible in any language other than Latin. Linacre was martyred.
John Colet, another Oxford Professor and London’s Mayor son, translated the Greek New Testament into English for students and the public at Saint Paul’s Cathedral. People hungered to hear and understand God’s Word. Within six months, 20,000 people packed out the church, with more than 20K outside! Because of his dad and his friends, he avoided execution.
In 1526, William Tyndale translated the Bible from Greek into English. He was burned at the stake. King James commissioned the 1611 version in the 1530s as a replacement, which Rome authorized. The King James Bible became the Vulgate for the English language. Refugees fleeing Queen Mary and the subsequent English rulers’ persecution in the 17th century brought the KJV to the New World. She liked to burn reformers at the stake by the hundreds for the “crime” of being a Protestant. She was a devout Catholic who wanted to end Protestantism and the Anglican Church. We call this time the Marian Exile, as refugees fled England with little hope of ever seeing their home or friends again.
Next, we need to look at infallibility and the keyword inspired. Returning to our faith statement: “We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.” The word infallible means “perfect, completely dependable, flawless.” Infallibility and inspiration go together. Infallible means they are God’s trusted words to man. The apostle Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. God-breathed or inspired for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction. Straight from the mouth of God.
We determine trustworthiness by examining a writer’s sources. Writers are only as good as their sources. Scripture has the ultimate source: God. God is all-wise, all-powerful, all-knowing, infallible, and of absolute veracity and truth. You won’t find anything better!
Scripture is infallible because 1) God, the source, is infallible, and 2) God worked through the process of inspiration to ensure that the final product was infallible. By God-inspiring Scripture, they are perfect, completely dependable, and flawless.
God has supernaturally guided the creation of the Bible. I use King Jimmy, our New King James, but the New English Translation and the New American Standard are excellent, and the NIV is okay. If you are unsure about your translation, ask. I would gladly look at it to ensure you understand God’s word well.
CONCLUSION: Remember, friends, the Bible is our sole basis of belief. The canon of the Bible contains 66 books, no more, no less. The Scriptures are infallible, inspired by inerrant truth. The Bible is our authority in life. It is a wholly trustworthy and reliable guide for faith and practice.
So, I say, read your Bible! Study daily, memorize, and learn. The Bible is the foundation for everything you do and believe as a Christian. It will point you to Jesus because the Bible points to Christ. As you read the words of Scripture, you will draw close to God because they are His words, His revelation.
DON’T STOP BELIEVING THE BIBLE
ROUTE 66
2 Timothy 3:16-17. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Peter 1:20-21 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as the Holy Spirit moved them.
John 14:16-17, 26 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth…. The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 15:26-17 When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
John 16:12-13 I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is flawless.
Psalm 19:7-8 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.