I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to the book of Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40, and we'll find our text for this morning, beginning in Isaiah chapter 40 and verse number 8. Continuing this week with our study on some questions about our faith, Last week we talked about why I believe in God. This morning I want to speak to you for the next few moments about why I believe the Bible. Why I believe that the Bible, the book that so many of us are holding even now in our hands or on our laps, is not just another book, but that it is in fact the book of God. That it is God's very words given to man for us to be able to live by. Sometimes people ask us here about Lehigh Valley Baptist Church, what makes us different from other churches. I think one of the things that sets Lehigh Valley Baptist Church apart in a certain way is that we are a Bible preaching and teaching church. That's what we do. That's what our main theme is here. We teach and preach from the Scriptures and we do our very best not to teach or preach anything that is not found in the Word of God. We mean that we really and truly believe that the Bible is true and that God gave it to us because He meant for it to be followed. Today, in a generation where the Bible is discounted, it's criticized because men say it's old-fashioned, it's out of date, the words are archaic, it's too difficult to understand, I am thrilled today in this generation to stand before you and to declare that I still believe that this book is true. I still believe that it is the very Word of God. Now, I believe this morning that the Bible is more than just another book of man. I have in my office a fairly large library. We have in our church a large library, which we give people the opportunity to look through and use books. But the Bible is different than the books in my library, because the Bible is not a book of man about God. It is a book from God to man. And that makes it supernatural. That makes it a special book. When we think about the Bible, it was written in a historical, grammatical context. That is helpful and necessary to understand that context so that we might understand the Scriptures. And yet, though the Bible was written in a certain time period of history, it is still applicable today. It's just as valid today as it was when it was first written. Now, you might ask the question this morning, why do you believe the Bible? Why do you preach the Bible each and every week? And so this morning, I want to give you a brief answer about why I believe in the Bible and why I believe that it is the Word of God and not just fairy tales of men or the words of men about God. This morning, we're not going to have time to deal with all of the specific arguments and objections to the scriptures. You understand that that would require an entire course, perhaps an entire series of Sunday morning messages to address those. However, this morning, we wanna give a brief overview and a defense of the fact that the Bible is the word of God. And so let's look in our Bibles this morning in Isaiah chapter 40, And verse number eight, the theme verse, which we'll take for this morning, and here the prophet writes these words, the grass withereth and the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. God guarantees that His Word is going to stand. This is a promise of God that as we look at the world around us and we see the seasons changing, we see things living and then dying, we realize that even ourselves, we live for a certain period of time and then we're going to die and we're going to cross into eternity, yet God says that His Word is going to stand forever. This morning, let me give you six reasons or six thoughts about why I personally believe that the Bible is true. First of all, I want to say to you this morning that I believe the Bible is true because of its claim. Because of its claim. Would you turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 3? Now, this morning, we understand that not everyone accepts the claim of the Bible about itself, but I think that this is a good place to start and to comprehend and understand this morning that the Bible does in fact claim to be the very words of God. This is important. The Bible makes a bold claim for itself, which then we will set out to try to demonstrate why we believe that claim is true. But I believe the Bible is true and I believe that it is the word of God because the Bible claims to be the word of God. Look with me in 2 Timothy 3, in verse number 16, very familiar verses. The Bible says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Now the word inspiration, which is used there in verse number 16 is a word which we're familiar with. This word means that God literally breathed the words of scripture, that God told the authors what it was that they were to write. Now we'll see this backed up again, but I want you to understand this morning that the Bible claims to be inspired of God. And I want you to understand that when the scriptures speak about inspiration, God means more than the thoughts were inspired, but he means the very words of the Bible were inspired. In other words, we believe in the verbal and plenary inspiration of the scripture. That is that God instructed the authors, the human authors, exactly what to write. God is the one who is behind that. God is particular about the words. Therefore, every word of scripture is important. So I believe the Bible because it claims to be inspired of God. I also believe the Bible because it claims to be authoritative. And you'll take note there in the latter part of verse number 16, that God tells us what the Bible is profitable for. The word profitable has the idea that it carries authority. It is good for these areas of life. It's good for doctrine. It's good for reproof. It's good for correction and it's good for instruction in righteousness. All aspects of our Christian walk, all aspects of our spiritual life, the Bible has great authority. Furthermore, in verse number 17, the Bible is so bold as to claim this, that the reason that it's inspired and the reason that it has this authority is that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works. In other words, God says that because his word is inspired, it is also the mechanism of growth. In other places, the Bible is referred to as the milk of the word. It's referred to as the meat of the word. It's referred to as bread, that which we should eat. In other words, we rely upon the scriptures for our spiritual sustenance. And I proposed to you this morning that the Bible claims to have authority, that when God has spoken, there's no need for man to say something different because God has declared. I believe the Bible because of its claim of being inspired of God. I believe the Bible because of its claim to authority. And I believe the Bible because it claims to be the very word of God. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 2 Peter 1. Again, a familiar couple of verses, 2 Peter 1, verses 20 and 21. This is the claim that the Bible makes for itself. First of all, God cautions us in verse number 20, and he says, knowing this, First, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. In other words, there's not a single one of us that can say, well, I have this private revelation from God. You know, God gave me a private revelation that he didn't give to you. No, the scripture is God's revelation to man. We can all look at it. We can read it. And we should, if we think it through, come to the same conclusion about what it means. Now in verse 21, he details how we got the Word of God. And he says this, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man. Stop right there and let's address this because one of the accusations against the Bible is Well, it's just a book about God that some men made up. And yeah, it's got some great things in it, but it's not really the words of God. It's just the words of men about God. And you know, it's just what men wrote. And so it's subject to our opinion and whether we agree or disagree and that sort of thing. Notice in verse 21, that God is very careful to say, this book did not come about by the will of man. It's not as if the biblical authors, even if they could have, gathered in a room and said, hey fellas, let's write a book about God and let's go ahead and write these different things and let's agree on what we're going to say. Now, not only does God say that didn't happen, but also we realize that simply because of the time span over which the Bible was written, the fact that most of these authors never even met one another, never had a chance to sit and converse or to somehow conspire to write this book, then we recognize and realize that this could not have happened. God is clear to say that this book came not by the will of man. Now he describes in verse 21 the process, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. In other words, the Spirit of God moved these men, instructed them exactly what it was that was to be written, Therefore, when we hold this book in our hands, the Bible says this about itself, this is the word of God. This sets this book apart. Now this morning, I believe the Bible because of its claims. Some people are skeptical about the claims of the Bible for itself. So let me give you a second reason why I believe the Bible this morning. I believe the Bible because of its honesty. Because of its honesty now, I have a couple of illustrations up there for you but one of the things when we read the Bible that is so startling is that the Bible is very plain about the faults of those who are the heroes and Actually the authors of the Bible they're the ones who are used of God the human instruments that God used to pin the words of scripture and Oftentimes in their own books. They are writing about themselves in a less than flattering way For instance, consider the life of David, and much of the life of David was written by himself or by someone who knew him personally. In other words, David could have had influence if this was just a book of men concerning what would be in there and what might not. David is known to us as the sweet psalmist of Israel. He's known as a man after God's own heart. And yet when we read the scriptural record, we find that David sometimes sinned against God. For instance, he was guilty of adultery. The Bible clearly details that and tells us about his sin. He was guilty of numbering the people in direct rebellion to God. David had some faults as a father. He was not exactly the kind of father that he should have been. He was guilty of murder by extension of making sure that Bathsheba's husband was killed. And the Bible tells us all these things about David, who is one of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament. You say, why does it do that? Well, I think first of all, to let us see that men are sinners. Men in our natural state and when we get out of fellowship with God are capable of doing terrible things. And so it's there to show us that, but it's also there to show us, you know, David didn't cover up his sin. When David wrote about his sin in Psalm 51, he was so plain and clear that what he had done was a sin against God. He was clear in that prayer, which God inspired him to write. And those words are inspired of God. He shares with us the anguish of his sin, the sorrow, the fact that he came to God for forgiveness. And so the book is unusual in that it details the faults of its heroes. One of the New Testament heroes that comes to mind is the Apostle Peter. He was what we would consider to be the foremost apostle. He was often the one in the lead. After Jesus raised from the dead and ascended back into heaven, Peter became the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. They looked to him for leadership. And yet as we read in the Gospels, we find Many, many times that Peter was rebuked of the Lord. We find and you say, well, what is the significance of that? Well, Peter would have known at least Mark who wrote the gospel of Mark and could have influenced some of the things that he would put in there if it was just a book of man. He would have known Luke. He would have known some of these other authors, Matthew. He could have dealt with John and said, hey, leave out some of those less than flattering things about me. Because you recall, there were times, for instance, when Jesus looked at Peter and said, Peter, get me behind the Satan. Now, that's not something that I would want recorded in the Scriptures for all posterity to see. I wouldn't want, then, for the illustration or the story about Peter's betrayal of the Lord, about the fact that he walked away from the Lord and denied Christ three times. I would want that blotted out of the record. But, you know, the Bible is so clear about the faults of its heroes. which causes us to say the Bible is an authentic book. The Bible is not just out to cover things over. If the Bible was written by men, they would seek to hide their faults rather than to preserve them for all generations to know. So I believe the Bible because of its claim, and I believe the Bible because of its honesty. Third of all, I believe the Bible because of its accuracy. its accuracy. Now, there's a number of ways that I believe the Bible demonstrates its accuracy. I want you to turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 33. And let's first of all consider the fact that the Bible is accurate scientifically. Now, the Bible is not a science textbook, but there are places where the Bible makes mentions of different scientific facts or laws. For instance, did you know that the Bible details the first and second law of thermodynamics, which were not discovered till much later after the writing of the scriptures and yet they're detailed in the word of God. But here in Jeremiah chapter 33 and verse number 22, take note of this. Here's this prophecy and Jeremiah, of course, we preached through this book not too long ago. Jeremiah 33, look at verse 22. And here God says this, as the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David, my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. Now you say, what is significant about that? Well, in verse 22, when he speaks about the host of heaven, he's speaking about the heavenly bodies, the stars, the moons, the planets that are out there for us to observe. You understand that in Jeremiah's day and time, that all they had was the eye to be able to look up into the heavens. And if all you had was the eye to be able to look up, and actually there were some scientists before the invention of telescopes and magnifying lenses, who took it upon themselves to look at the sky and to number and catalog all the stars that they could see. And there was actually a fella who said, it's done. All the stars are numbered. Now, if that had been the case, this verse would not be true because God says the host of heaven cannot be numbered. It cannot be counted. Now today, With the invention of modern lenses, telescopes, and machinery that we can look out into the heavens, scientists realize more and more that the farther they can look, the more stars they can see. And it seems as if there is no end to the stars that can be seen, seemingly in fulfillment of this particular verse, which simply tells us the host of heaven cannot be numbered. So if you ask me, well, pastor, do you believe they'll ever get to the point where they can catalog and number all the stars? I don't, because God says they cannot be numbered. I think that God has set that in such a way that we will never reach the end of it. Job 26, seven is another example. In the book of Job 26 and verse number seven, the Bible says this, he stretcheth the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing. Hangeth the earth upon nothing. Now, Job was one of the most ancient writers of the Bible, and during that time, space travel, pictures from outer space, looking back at planet Earth, were unheard of. And yet, somehow, Job seemed to know that the earth was hanging on nothing. You know, in ancient mythology, there were those who believed that the earth was resting on the shoulders of some god. There were those who believed they had different theories about how the earth was where it was, but you know what Job tells us? It just hangs there on nothing. And interestingly enough, as man has gone out into outer space, he's found that one of the oldest authors of the Bible knew exactly what he was talking about. You say, how did he know that? Did he travel to space? I propose to you that God knew and he told Job what to write. Therefore, the Bible is accurate in this way. Another example, one which many of you have heard before, but Leviticus chapter 17 and verse number 11 tells us that the life of the flesh is in the blood. that the blood is important. And you do know that during a certain period of history in mankind, there was thought to be a solution, which was to bleed people. They would use leeches or cuttings to bleed off. And they thought, if we can just remove this bad blood out of people's bodies, then they'll get better and everything. But the problem was that they were actually killing people. because they were removing too much blood. Modern science today understands, hey, the blood is necessary. You have to have blood in order to survive, and the blood has to be circulating. Do you know our bodies are so delicate? And the Bible understands that. He says the life of the flesh is in the blood. Scientifically, I could give you many other examples this morning, but I'm just saying to you today that the Bible is accurate when it speaks about matters of science. Historically, the Bible has been demonstrated to be accurate. I don't have time to give you all of the illustrations that we could use this morning, but suffice it to say that the Bible has been subjected to the most stringent tests of criticism. That is of historical and scholarly criticism to determine whether a book is true and whether it holds up to the proofs. It has been tested in ways that no other historical record or book has ever been subjected to because men are so eager to discredit the Bible. And yet the Bible again and again and again has passed the test that men have placed before it. The Bible has been proven as the most historically accurate ancient text. in existence today. There is no peer to hold up against the Bible and say, this is pretty close because the Bible is that far ahead of every other ancient text. By the way, that's agreed upon by scholars from all different walks of life. The Bible is a remarkable book. Some people say, well, aren't the stories of the Bible just legend? Aren't they just these fabulous tales that have been made up and put in over time, and people have inserted them in the text, and they've kind of crept in through scribes errors and things like that? Actually, the Bible has been examined from that particular standpoint, and rather than being legend, most of the stories of the Bible have been verified by other sources of non-biblical history. Let me give you a couple of examples. For instance, the fall of Babylon to the Medes and the Persians, which is detailed in the Old Testament in the book of Daniel, and also the release of the Jewish captives by Cyrus the Great, which is detailed in the book of Ezra and some other books as well. These are corroborated or verified in something that is known as the Cyrus Cylinder. It's a verified historical object which records some parts of history from the Medo-Persian Empire, and it verifies that what the Bible says is true. Now, I'm not saying to you that we have to have all this external proof, but I am saying that if we expect the Bible to be historically true, then we should expect that there's going to be some corroboration. In the New Testament, a historian named Flavius Josephus backs up the fact that the New Testament is valid historically. There's many other things which we could point out in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Further, when we consider the historical accuracy of the Bible, now listen to me carefully. Archeologically, there are those who go and they dig and they look for artifacts pertaining to ancient history. In 1958, there was a fellow whose name was Dr. Donald Wiseman. He wrote a book titled, Illustrations from Biblical Archeology. In that book, Dr. Wiseman stated that there are 25,000 sites of archeology pertaining to the Bible and not one of those 25,000 sites has been proven categorically to deny the Bible. Now you say, well, I saw something on the History Channel one time where somebody was saying this about this archeological dig. Understand that archeology is a science which is greatly influenced by your perspective. And so sometimes when those explanations are given on the History Channel, it would be nice if they would bring a biblical scholar in to say, but let me explain how this could be explained through the lens of the Bible being true. So be careful what you accept and understand that archaeologists are also influenced by bias. But 25,000 finds, if the Bible was not true, you would think there would be some clear things which could be pointed to and say, this is definitely a contradiction to the scripture. But Dr. Wiseman, who was an archaeologist, said that's not the case. 25,000 digs. And by the way, that was 1958. There's been more digs since then, and still The case is the same. The Bible is corroborated by archaeological discoveries. So we see that the Bible is accurate historically. We also see, not only scientifically and historically, but we see that the Bible is accurate prophetically. Let me just mention a couple of things to you briefly. The Bible is full of prophecy from beginning to end. Some of those prophecies have not yet been fulfilled, but many of the prophecies from the Old Testament were fulfilled, and we see them fulfilled in history. Let me give you an example. In Isaiah 44 and 45, the Bible, through the prophet Isaiah, the Bible names specifically Cyrus. and says that Cyrus would reign. He would reign over the kingdoms of the world. He would be a powerful king. This prophecy was made before the Medo-Persian empire was even a mover and shaker in the world. This was during the time that Babylon was ruling and Isaiah made this prophecy early in the Babylonian reign. And he says, hey, Cyrus is going to reign. He also prophesied that Cyrus was going to be the one responsible for the people going back to the land. What an amazing prophecy which was carried out and history verifies that that prophecy from Isaiah 44 and 45 came exactly true, exactly like God said. There are multitudes of prophecies concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, which were made in the Old Testament, fulfilled in the person of Christ. We're not going to deal with those today because we're gonna save those for a future message concerning Jesus Christ and why I believe in Jesus Christ. Another example from Joshua 6, and verse 25, when Joshua and the people of Israel conquered the city of Jericho, there was a curse pronounced upon that city, and the curse went something like this, that the person who rebuilds this city will be cursed by God. He's going to lose his sons if he rebuilds this city many years later. It's detailed in first Kings 1634 there was a fellow who took it upon himself to rebuild the city of Jericho and just like the Bible predicted in Joshua 6 25 he lost his firstborn and his lastborn son and As he was rebuilding the city of Jericho, the curse was fulfilled, the prophetic curse, just like God said. We could go on and on this morning. The Bible is full of prophecy, which has been verified to have been fulfilled. You say, well, I heard one time that Nostradamus has a lot of prophecy. There's no prophecy like the Bible. The Bible is unique in this area. There's so much prophecy and so much that is verifiable I think also the Bible is accurate Practically and let me just mention this briefly. This is not a minor point However, there is no book that has the kind of wisdom that this book has you say well I read some books one time that seemed to be really good You know, the interesting thing is most of the books that have wisdom that are written by men Gain their wisdom from this book They gain their principles from this book. It's interesting how much our very culture is influenced by the Bible. I just thought about the dozens, hundreds of wise sayings in the book of Proverbs alone. Where do you find wisdom like that in the world? You can go to Proverbs and there's 31 chapters of wisdom that is pure gold, practical living wisdom, exactly how we should live and how we should order our lives. Even secular scholars, people who disdain the Bible will say, you know, I consider the teachings of Jesus to be of great worth because they're so glorious and magnificent. The teachings of Jesus in the gospel are universally recognized for their wisdom and their practicality. Almost everyone, without exception, says the teachings of Jesus are the most life-changing and world-changing teachings that have ever come into this world. Do you think that's by accident? Do you think that somehow we could say, this all happened merely as subterfuge, as some kind of a sleight of hand of men trying to write a book, and they accidentally included such great wisdom for us? And so when I think of the Bible, I say the Bible is accurate, historically, scientifically, prophetically, and practically, the Bible is an accurate book. Now go back to our text in Isaiah chapter 40 and verse number 8, and the fourth reason why I believe the Bible is because of its indestructibility. Isaiah chapter 40, I believe that the Bible is an indestructible book. You say, that's a bold claim. Are you saying that the Bible is never going to be destroyed? I am saying that. Actually, God is saying that. God has promised that his word will never be destroyed. Isaiah 40 in verse eight, which we read at the beginning of the message says this, the grass withereth, "'The flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever.'" The Bible is going to remain. The Bible has been targeted like no other book. In many generations, there are those who have targeted the Bible for destruction, but the Bible has endured outright attacks time and time and time and time again. For thousands of years, the Bible has stood as a standard of truth, despite the attacks of men. I thought of some of the attacks upon the word of God, and I was reminded of the attacks of time. You know, there are very few books that have survived as long as the Bible. We have in our hands a copy of the words of God. For instance, the book of Job, which is a very ancient book. The books of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, written thousands of years ago. translated into multiple languages and passed down to us today accurately so that we can read the very words of God from an ancient text. And so when we think about the attacks of time, we realize that there's very few, if any, books that have survived as long as the Bible. It stands in a class alone as an ancient book that's still commonly read and distributed today. Indeed, translated into multiple languages so that people across the world can read the Bible in their own tongue. Not only the attacks of time, but I was reminded of the attacks of tyrants. There were those kings, those in authority through history who said, we've got to annihilate. We've got to get rid of the Bible. Let's do everything we can to stamp out the Bible. They would collect as many Bibles as they could. They would pile them in great stacks and they would light them on fire. They would find the people who had the Bibles and they would affix them to a stake above those Bibles. They would burn them with the flames from those Bibles to try to get rid of those dissenters. And so these men, these evil and wicked men, often backed up by a false religious system, tried their very best to get rid of the Word of God. And yet time after time after time, the Bible endured and those tyrants went out into eternity. The stories are actually quite remarkable when we consider how God used a number of different men and groups of men for the preservation of Scripture. And yet today, those kings are long dead, those religious leaders are long dead, but we still have the Bible in our hands. Not only the attacks of time and the attacks of tyrants, but the attacks of textual critics. And today there are those who set themselves and they say, I'm going to show you why the Bible isn't true. And they've got these different arguments. And if you're not careful, they might shake your faith, but understand that there is an answer to the attacks of the textual critics. But you know, many of those textual critics and textual criticism, you say, how long has that been around? Well, since Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, it's been there, yea, hath God said, questioning whether that should really be in the Bible or this should be in the Bible. The attacks upon God's Word have been since the beginning of time. And yet we understand that still the Bible stands against the attacks of textual critics. It is not my purpose this morning to preach about why it is that we use and preach from exclusively the King James Version or the Authorized Version in the English language. But I do want you to understand that I believe that the King James Version is God's preserved and inspired word in the English language It carries all the authority of the original writings of God for us today. It's been preserved for us, and I'm thankful for that. Despite these attacks, the Bible continues to stand. We could give an illustration for the sake of time. We don't have the time this morning to detail how for almost 500 years in the Middle Ages, what is often known even in secular history as the Dark Ages, there was a desire to put down the Word of God, to destroy the Word of God. to somehow get rid of the common people having access to the Word of God, and yet God prevailed, and the Word of God endures today. I believe in the Word of God because of its indestructibility. Fifth of all this morning, I believe in the word of God because of its power. I believe that the Bible is a powerful book. Turn with me if you would to Hebrews and chapter four. Hebrews and chapter four, the Bible tells us something about itself here. And then I want to expand upon this for a few moments. In Hebrews chapter four, And verse number 12, the Bible says this, it makes this claim about itself, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Bible claims to be a very powerful book, The word quick, which is used in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse number 12, is an old English word, which means that it is full of life and vitality. This is not some kind of a dusty, dry tome that you could go and blow the dust off of in the library and hardly get anything out of it. This book lives and breathes. The life of God. And when we pick up this book, we find that it applies to our life. And we say, this book speaks to my heart. This book impresses me with the truth of God. That's because it's God's Word. It's quick. It's alive. It's full of vitality. It's a living book, not a dead book. That explains why the Bible is just as applicable today as it was the day that it was first penned. Today, when we read the Scripture, we can come away with great lessons for our life, because God allowed the Bible to be written in such a way that it applies to every generation, every culture, every people group, every language can benefit from the Word of God. The Bible is described here in verse number 12 as piercing, even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. Do you know that's the difference between physical and spiritual life? That's the difference between physical and spiritual death. When we speak about the soul, we understand that every individual, every living person is a soul. They have a soul. But then we think about the spirit and we understand that man is a three-part being, but apart from God, he is dead in his spirit. He's dead in trespasses and sins. And the Bible is able to separate between that distinction of the soul and the spirit. It's that powerful of a book. The Bible is described in verse 12 here in Hebrews 4 as also being able to discern or judge between our thoughts and the intents of our heart. How often have I sat with an open Bible considering a decision in my life and had the Bible cut right to the point and helped me to understand why my motives were wrong or somehow needed to be adjusted or what God's will was. God's word is powerful. It speaks to our lives today. There are countless men, women, and young people who could stand and testify of the Bible's power to change a life. The vitality of this book is something that causes me to believe in it. Finally, sixth of all this morning, I believe in the Bible because of its theme. And I want you to turn with me to the book of John chapter five, John chapter five, 66 books. 40 different authors, writing over a period of some 1600 years, from different parts of the world, in different languages. These men were used of God to write this book from heaven. And God has sent it to us because there's a theme that he wanted to develop, and that theme is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. As such, from the very earliest book, To the very latest book, we find that Jesus is the theme of the Bible. Every single book of the Bible highlights the Lord Jesus Christ in some way or fashion. How did Job, the most ancient man who ever wrote in the scriptures, know that he could say that he was going to see his Redeemer? And he said this, I know that my Redeemer liveth. and shall stand upon the earth in the latter days." How did Job know such a thing when Jesus had not even come and become flesh for man and died on the cross at that point? How is it that in the book of Revelation, which so many people see as mysterious, They look at that and they say, what is this book all about? It's all about Jesus. It's all about the coming King. It's all about the one who's coming back to claim his own. In John 5 and 39, the very words of Jesus himself to men who were skeptically looking at him, And he said, search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. He said, if you'll just read the Old Testament Scriptures, if you'll just read the pages of the Word of God, then you'll find that I'm revealed in the Scriptures. The Bible reveals Jesus Christ, the written word amplifies the living word and Jesus in John chapter one is called the word who became flesh. He is the living word of God and he's in complete agreement with the written. Word of God and we see that the Bible has a common theme from start to finish now This is quite remarkable when we consider the way in which the Bible was written The time period through which it was written the different men that they didn't know each other some of them spoke different languages were from different cultures and and places and yet God used them to write a remarkable book, which is about none other than Jesus Christ, the Savior who would come and die on the cross for our sins. This book is all about Jesus. Sometimes you say, I just don't know where to start, as I'm reading in some of these books, it's so confusing. Let me give you a suggestion, look for Jesus. Try to find an illustration. You say, I got hung up in the book of Exodus reading about the tabernacle. Why don't you think about Jesus? You'll find that the tabernacle is a tremendous metaphor and illustration of the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. And on and on and on we could go, I believe in the Bible because of its theme, its highlighting of Jesus Christ. Now this morning, I do believe the Bible. I do believe that the Bible is the very word of God. I believe that it's more than just the words of man. I believe that it carries authority. I believe that the Bible is something that we ought to pay attention to. And because I believe in the Bible this morning, there are several responses that I should have and you should have with our life. First of all, I read the Bible. I read the Bible. I make it my goal to read through the Bible at least one time every year. Most years I read through the Bible more than once, but I want to read through the Bible all the way from cover to cover at least once a year. You say, why is that? Because it's God's word and I want to know what God says. I'm not content to read it just once or twice. I wanna read it through and through and through because the Bible has an effect on my life. I suggest to you this morning that if you're a professing Christian, and I'm not gonna ask how many of you have ever read through the Bible, but actually the truth is that it sometimes is embarrassing to understand how few Christians have ever read the complete Bible from Genesis to Revelation. If your faith is in this book and what God has said, let me suggest that you read it. But read it. Don't just read a verse here and there. Don't just read a snatch, but read it for understanding. Second of all, because I believe this book, I study it. Because I believe that this is more than just a novel. This is more than some kind of a history book that I'm going to skim through and try to get from cover to cover to say I finished it. I'm gonna study this book because I have found, because this book is alive and because it's powerful, this book has truth for our lives. There is much to be learned in this book. Sometimes people ask me, pastor, how do you know what to preach on? It seems like you would run out of material after a while. You know what the truth is? I have this whole book. And I have found that the more I study this book, the more material I find. I'm fully convinced of this. I'll never run out of material before I run out of breath. There's plenty for us to study and find out about the Word of God. The fascinating thing about the Bible is it's simple enough for a child to understand. You say, oh, I doubt that. It's very complicated. My children are reading through the Bible. And most days we talk about what they're reading and my son says, hey, Papa, I read this. I think this is what this means. You know what? He's nine years old and he can understand what the Bible means. It's able to be comprehended. So it's accessible to a child. but it is also profound and deep enough for the most learned scholar to sink their life into understanding and comprehending all that the Bible teaches. We never will run out of what we could study. Read it and study it. I suggest to you that you learn to study the scriptures. Third of all, We should memorize and meditate upon it. Now I put those two together because when we hide God's word in our heart, we will also be thinking about it or meditating upon it. And this is where there's great spiritual power. When we learn to put God's word in our mind and in our heart, it begins to affect the way that we think. When we begin to talk, instead of talking in the colloquialisms and the phrases of our culture, instead we are talking with the words of God. We're speaking sound counsel from the scriptures. This is a profitable goal for every believer, for every person to memorize and meditate on the word of God. You say, how much should I memorize? As much as you can. You know, there's different levels of memorizing. Don't dismiss yourself and say, I just can't memorize anything. Yes, you can. You can memorize things that you want to memorize. And if you will work at it, you can memorize the scriptures. By the way, the more that you memorize, you might find that your memorization ability and your thinking ability will actually grow. You will benefit mentally from the exercise of memorization. You say, how much should we memorize? You should memorize as much as you can. You know, if you could memorize the whole New Testament, I'd say hallelujah, do it. If you could memorize the whole book of Psalms, if you could memorize the whole Bible from cover to cover, you say that's impossible. It's not impossible. I met a man some years ago who memorized the entire Bible, Genesis to Revelation. I didn't believe it, so I put him to the test. He said, go ahead and ask me a verse. I gave him a reference. I just took it off the top of my head. As it turns out, it wasn't even a valid reference. He said, actually, that chapter only has this many verses, so that can't be a verse. All right, I was convinced. I checked him and he was right. And you know what? He got a great reward for his memorization of the scripture. Now he had an above average ability for memorization, but I am saying to you, memorize the scripture, meditate upon it, make it a part of your life. But you know, last of all, finally, and most important, because I believe in the Bible, I wanna live it. I want to live it. Hey, we could be Bible believers. Hallelujah. I believe the Bible's from God. I believe that King James Version. I believe the Bible is inspired. I believe in the verbal plenary inspiration, the full preservation of scripture, but you don't do anything with it. You don't live it. You don't obey what God says to do. What good does the Bible do in your life? If it's just a mirror that you come to and say, boy, I'm a mess. Well, I got to get going with my life. Oh, we shouldn't treat the Bible like that. We should live it. We should live this book because this book has the power to change our lives. This morning, I stand before you as someone who is fully convinced of the truth and the veracity of the word of God. I believe that this book is actually the very words of God given to us, preserved for us today so that it can change our lives. I believe the Bible. Do you believe the Bible? Maybe you're here this morning and you say well, I don't believe the Bible I've heard that it can't be trusted. It's fables of men and you've got all these different things Let me just challenge you with something. First of all, have you ever read the Bible? Most people who say, I do not agree with the Bible have never read the Bible. Second of all, have you ever sat down with someone who could give you an explanation for some of the things that you believe are game enders or somehow cause you to doubt the veracity of the scripture? Did you ever consider there might be a different explanation? Most people hear something in a classroom from a professor and they go their whole life saying, I heard a professor say one time that this is true. Check it out for yourself. Do you believe the Bible? Have you taken the time to examine it carefully? I propose to you today that this book, the book of God, is worthy of your attention today. I believe the Bible. Do you? Let's all stand with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. No one's looking around. The musicians are going to come to play the invitation hymn. Perhaps God has spoken to your heart. Maybe this morning you need to come and thank God for the Bible. Maybe you need to come and make an agreement with God that you're going to read the Bible in 2015 like you never have before. Maybe you've been faithful in your reading of the scripture and you say, you know what? I haven't been studying it. I've not been memorizing it. I've not been applying it to my life. Maybe God has spoken to you in some way. The musicians are going to play the invitation hymn, trust and obey. When we really believe the Bible is God's Word, then we should live it. We should obey it. It should make a difference in our life. How has God spoken to your heart this morning? Heavenly Father, would you have your will in your way? May Christ be glorified in our responses to the message this morning. And we ask and pray all these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen.