The B-I-B-L-E

The Best of Books
Introduction: The B-I-B-L-E

Introduction:
Psalm 12:6-7 says,
The words of the Lord are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.

I’m beginning a series today on the Word of God called “The Best of Books”. I got the name from John Bunyan who wrote this description of the preacher of the Word of God:
…eyes lifted up to heaven, the best of books in his hands, the law of truth was written upon his lips, the world behind his back, he stood as if he pleaded with men.

To Bunyan (who lived in the 17th century), a preacher was not a preacher if his message was not from the best of books any more then a doctor is not a doctor if his remedies are not medicine.

I. What Others Say About The Best of Books:
1. Great Thinkers:
Dickens called the New Testament, “…the very best book that ever was or ever will be known in the world.”[1] The great Enlightenment thinker Emmanuel Kant wrote, “Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity.” And another enlightenment thinker (Voltaire) over 300 years ago predicted that in 100 years, “…there will not be a Bible on earth!” How many of you have heard of that man? Today his house is a distribution center for Bibles According to Corrie Ten Boom.
One of the greatest scientists of all time, Isaac Newton said, “There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history.”

2. Great Leaders And Politicians:
George Washington said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” And Napoleon called it “…no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it.” Queen Victoria who reigned during the height of British Imperialism which spanned Europe, the Americas, Asia, Arabia and Africa said that the Bible, “accounts for the supremacy of England.”

3. Great Theologians
Spurgeon said this about his experience with scripture, “Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up in your very soul, till it saturates your heart!” And A.W. Tozer exhorted,
The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.

Billy Graham said, “The word of God hidden in the heart is a stubborn voice to suppress.” Matthew Henry described God’s Word as shallow enough for a lamb to wade and deep enough for an elephant to drown.

4. The Scripture
C.S. Lewis said that the Bible “…demands incessantly to be taken on its own terms.” In the introduction to his study Bible, John McArthur writes,
“Take the Bible and let it speak for itself. Does it claim to be God’s Word? Yes! Over 2,000 times in the Old Testament alone, the Bible asserts that God spoke what is written within its pages.[2]

It may sound like circular reasoning to say that the Bible calls itself the Word of God but it is not. Nor is it illogical to say that the burden of proof lies on the one who wishes to prove the Bible is not the Word of God. If the Bible claims to be the Word of God, then those who doubt it must prove that it isn’t.[3] Its like if I claim to be Rick Chase and if you do not believe me- it’s not up to me to prove that I am Rick Chase because the evidence is obvious: I look like Rick Chase, I have no reason to claim to be Rick Chase, and everybody who knows me, knows I am Rick Chase. So if you don’t believe me, then you must prove that I am not Rick Chase. And you will do that by interviewing my family members and checking my legal identification. Until it is proven otherwise, you must accept that I am Rick Chase. The same is true with the Bible, it claims to be God’s Word and until it is proven otherwise, it is!

The same is true for any religious text that claims to be the Word of God. If the Bhagavad-Gita claims to be divine in origin, then it is- unless it can be proven not to be, which it can because even casual reading will reveal that it is clearly a collection of myths and human philosophy.

If the Koran claims to be the Word of God, then it must be unless it can be shown not to be the Word of God, which it can: 1) because of the numerous historical inconsistencies between the Koran and the Bible. The writer of the Koran based his history on the Bible, but had a very poor knowledge of the Bible. 2) Also, if you want to read the Koran you must learn Arabic, because apparently the God of the Koran can’t speak any other language. The Bible, on the other hand, has been translated into over 2200 languages and is authoritatively God’s Word in all its beauty and majesty and power in every one of those tongues.

So, let’s look at what the best of books says about itself: From the beginning the Bible claims that God is a speaking God and claims to record His words: The 3rd verse of Genesis reads, “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness” (Gen 1:3).

Perhaps one of the most important and civilizing texts ever written, the Ten Commandments also claims divine origin; Exodus 31:18 says, “…when [God] had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” And towards the end of the Law, Moses testified,
“Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them… (Dt 4:5).

Paul wrote to Timothy in Ephesus claiming that, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness….” (2 Tim 3:16).

Jesus pronounced a blessing for those who read the Bible saying, “…blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28). Nor is the Bible just ink on paper, Ephesians calls it the sword of the Spirit and the book of Hebrews warns that (Heb 4:12):
…the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

And the Psalmist records that scripture alone is able to cause someone to be born again, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul…” (Ps 19:7).

Most importantly we should remember that the Bible, both the Old and the New Testament, reveals Christ our saviour so that we can believe in him and benefit from his offer of grace: You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me (Jn 5:39).

I have one warning about the proper use of scripture and then I want to suggest the overarching theme that unifies the 66 books of the Old and New Testament which was written over a period of about 2000 years on three continents and in three different languages.

II. How to Interpret the Bible:
First the warning: this book can and more often then not, is abused. Peter says two types of people can misinterpret the scriptures. Turn to 2 Peter 3:16,
as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
It seems, according to Peter, people twist scripture either because they are untaught (ignorant) or because they are unstable. The former twist scripture either because they are too lazy to study (they’re too unlearned to know that they are unlearned) or they twist scripture and teach things without being taught because they are rebellious and unwilling to be corrected. These people know enough to be dangerous.

The 2nd group twist scripture because they are unstable. The Greek word, Asteriktos has the idea of a ship that is tossed by the waves. Ephesians 4:14 describes them as “…tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting….” Paul’s calls them wolves and in 2 Cor 11:13 he describes them this way:
13For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into  an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

The Bible is a big book. It contains all kinds of literary genres including Law, History, Poetic, Wisdom, Apocalyptic, Gospel and Epistle. This is where most people get themselves into trouble. You can’t read history the way you read Epistle. History is largely descriptive, whereas Epistle is largely prescriptive. That means that when 1 Samuel describes David slaying Goliath with a stone, it is not commanding Christians to do the same every time someone mocks Jesus. The same thing is true with Apocalyptic literature- the whole point of apocalyptic literature is that it uses figurative language that is often open to misinterpretation. We don’t begin to build our doctrine of the end times in Daniel or in Revelation. We only go to those books after first reading what Jesus has clearly taught in the sermons like the Olivet Discourse and what Paul and the other Apostles has taught in his Epistles.

We also avoid a lot of error when we check our interpretations of scripture with what the church has always taught regarding that text. That’s why we use reliable commentaries and study the church fathers. If your interpretation of a scripture is novel and unique, then it’s likely wrong.

III. What the Bible is All About:
Now for the theme and then we will go into a quick application. John Macarthur says it better then I could. He writes,

God for His own glory has chosen to create and gather to Himself a group of people to be the subjects of His eternal kingdom, to praise, honor, and serve Him forever and through whom He will display His wisdom, power, mercy, grace, and glory.[4]

In order to do that, God must judge evil and redeem His elect without compromising his justice. Hence the cross. Macarthur outlines five recurring motifs which are the lenses through which we interpret every every parable, every Psalm, every prophesy, and every Epistles. The five motifs which are most often revealed and explained in the Bible are:

1. The Revelation of the Character of God
2. The Revelation of Divine Judgment for Sin and Disobedience
3. The Revelation of Divine Blessing for Faith and Obedience
4. The Revelation of the Lord Savior and Sacrifice for Sin
5. The Revelation of the Kingdom and Glory of the Lord Savior[5]

Application:
Let’s close with this application. Take your bible in your hand and close your eyes. Now think about this. What you are pressing into yourself has more power then ten thousand dictators with atomic bombs. It is more ancient then the pyramids. It is more majestic then the most expansive mountain ranges. It is more beautiful then one million Mona Lisas. It is more true then the truest truth ever uttered by the most pure of men. Use it very carefully. Use it!


Notes:
[1] Mark Twain observed, “Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.”
[2]MacArthur, J. J. (1997, c1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Ge 1:1). Nashville: Word Pub.
[3] The cynic might say, “Well, doesn’t that apply to any book that claims divine origin?” Yes. If you lay all divine books side by side and use the same reasoning and critical analysis for each, only the Bible will stand up to the most rigorous criticism. The Bible’s claim to divinity is an exclusive claim. All are religious texts are imposters, which we must expose. If five people all claim to be Rick Chase, then we must find out who is the real Rick Chase because only one person can be (I don't mean 5 guys with the same name, i mean five guys who claim to be the same person). If five books claim to be divine and yet contradict one another then they must all be examined to discover which is the true divine Word. Only God's Word stands up. The others must therefor be jettisoned, just as the impersonators of Rick Chase must be corrected.
[4]MacArthur, J. J. (1997, c1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Ge 1:1). Nashville: Word Pub.
[5]MacArthur, J. J. (1997, c1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Ge 1:1). Nashville: Word Pub.