How We Got Our Bible L1

Opening

All right, let's look at a couple verses to start out this morning. I want you to go to Psalm 68. Psalm 68. And for a few weeks here, we're going to talk about the book you got sitting in your lap. Psalm 68. There's perhaps an unlimited number of abstractions in the Bible. But the truth that you have the Word of God in your lap is not an abstraction. It is very real. And I want you to look at Psalm 68 this morning. It's practical. It's graspable. Look at Psalm 68 and verse 11. The Bible says the Lord gave the word. Great was the company of those that published it. I want you to hold your place there and look at Psalms chapter 12.

The Bible says that the Lord gave the word. And Psalms chapter 12. The Bible says something else here. And the book you have in your lap was written over the space of 2,000 years. Job probably lived around 18 or 1900 B.C. And then you go all the way forward to 94, 96 A.D. When the last book of your Bible was written, the book of Revelation. That's the space of two millennia. 2,000 years over the course of 2,000 years. It wasn't one guy sitting down writing it. It wasn't one council sitting down and putting it together. It was written by 40 different men, minimum. 40 different men on three different continents over the space of 2,000 years.

And every one of those books, those 66 books that are in that one book, refer to one another. And it's the most amazing book ever written. In Psalms chapter 12 and verse 6, the Bible says the words of the Lord are pure words. As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. And we get a promise here. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. And so the Bible says that the Lord gave the word and he used men to publish it. And then it says that when he gave that word, he promised to preserve that word and keep that word. Now the word Bible, the word Bible, I don't know what I did with my clicker.

Here it is. Yeah. You see that? How many of you got a black Bible this morning? Got a black Bible? Yeah. This is how they used to make them. And they put, you see those ribs on them? They used to put seven seals on them like the book of Revelation. And then they would rib those pages with gold. And that gold represents deity. Or they'd rib them with red, representing the blood of Christ and the blood of the martyrs. But there's a lot tied up in this book. This book represents a lot of things. And it represents the sacrifice of a lot of people. And where did I say go?

I didn't say go anywhere. Yeah, no, we're good here. Now that word Bible. Where did the word Bible come from? This is just a little bit of introduction this morning. Where did it come from? And that word Bible comes from that Greek word biblion. Biblion. Or they used to say, they used to say in Greek, they'd say ta biblia, like that. Ta biblia, right? Which means the books. The books, right? Or, and that's what they are. They're 66 books. But you take this right here, you see B-I-B-L-A, and it became Bible. It became Bible. But that, that word, that original word in Greek, was like this, biblion. And it meant the papyrus plant.

And the papyrus plant, as you kids learned in school, was where the Egyptians got their paper from. It was a reed that grew on the banks of the, in the estuaries of the Nile. And they, they, they, they, they rolled that thing out, and pressed it, and dried it. And they, and they wrote on it. And, and the Greek word for that was biblon, or biblion, or biblos. And, the Egyptians called it papyrus. And, you say that, see that word papyrus right there? All right? Papyrus, that's where you get your word paper. That's where you get your word paper. But the Greek word was biblon, and so that just came to be known, mean anything made of paper was a book.

And that's why in the Bible, when you see, it, it's talking about a scroll, it'll still call it a book. And it's a book because it's made of that paper. That's where you get that term. Now, as far as when it became known as, the Bible, Jerome in the fourth century called it the divine library. Meaning 66 books inspired by God. Other men called it la biblia, or the books as early as 223 AD, soon after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But biblia, that biblia in Greek is plural. That's plural, right? Why is it plural? Because there's 66 books, there's not one book, but they are one book. And what happened was, and I'll just tell you this real quick here, is, and this is just kind of interesting how language develops.

Right? But, in Greek, biblia, biblia is plural. It's plural and feminine. And it means books. Right? But, in Latin, this A right here is a singular ending. It means singular. So when you say, if you would, if you're a Greek, or Latin, and you're using a Greek word, you say biblia in Latin, that would mean, it wouldn't mean plural. It would mean singular. So that's a plural ending in Greek, and it's a singular ending in Latin. And so it became known as the book. Not the books, but the book. The funny thing about that is, is the Bible has always called itself the book. Look at Joshua chapter 23. And, men catch up with God's terminology eventually.

But, it's a collection of books, but it's a singular book. look at, Joshua chapter 23. Joshua chapter 23. And, look what he says in verse 6. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the what? The book. But it's not a book, is it? It's five books. It's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. It's the five books of the law. But he already calls it a single book. Why? It's an authority thing. That's the book. There's many books, but there's only one book. There's only one book. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. And so we call it the Bible. And that just means the book.

Right? And it's a, it's not a book among books. It's a book above books. And look at, and we'll show you why. And this is all introduction this morning, but look at Hebrews chapter 10. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. And look what Jesus Christ says about the Old Testament. In Hebrews chapter 10, verse 6. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the what? The book. It's written of Christ. That Old Testament prophesied of Jesus Christ. And he didn't just call it the books. He called it the book. The book. And it's 66 books, but it's one book because it was put together by God.

And, now look at John chapter 10. John chapter 10. There's a couple other terms, general terms that we use for the Bible. And, John chapter 10. John chapter 10. And I want you to, John chapter 10. And, and why am I telling you this? I'm telling you this because, you always hear people say stuff like this. Well, it wasn't decided that it was the Bible until this certain Christian council. Right? And that's the kind of stuff you get online. Right? Because they trace everything to when a council or a church, made a decision and stamped their authority on this book. But you want to know something about the Bible. The Lord gave the word.

Right? And it is not dependent on the authority of man. And it is not dependent on men saying, okay, this is what we've decided. Right? God makes it known. That's why it's called revelation. And maybe, maybe they, they trace it being called the book only back to the middle ages. But God called it the book in the Bible. Right? And men eventually catch up with what God wants things to be called. And, so don't, don't, don't fall into that trap. John chapter 10. And I want you to look this morning at verse, Jesus Christ says in verse 35, if he called them gods unto whom the word of God came.

He's talking about the Bible. He says, and the, what the scripture cannot be broken. So another term, that we call the Bible is the word of God, the word of God, or the word of the Lord. Look at Jeremiah chapter 36, Jeremiah chapter 36. And we'll get into this more, but what, what does that mean? It means that this book is the words of the Lord. It's what God said. It is what God said in writing. It is a record of what God said. We'll talk more about that. Look at Jeremiah chapter 36, Jeremiah chapter 36. And these are just common names for the Bible in Jeremiah chapter 36. In verse 10, then read Baruch in the book of the words of Jeremiah and the house of the Lord.

The Lesson

And it says in verse 11, when Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan had heard out of the book. What was it? The book was, the book was something that Jeremiah had spoken, Baruch had written, but look what the Bible calls it in verse 11. Had heard out of the book all the what? Words of the Lord. Word of the Lord. So that's what that book is called. It's called the word of God or it's called the word of the Lord. And that's a common term. And then, but more specifically, more specifically, and Christ, probably Christ's favorite term for the Bible was this. And that's the scriptures. Look at Luke chapter 4.

Luke chapter 4. It's called the scriptures. Luke chapter 4. And this is where Jesus Christ went into the synagogue and they had a Bible up there and anyone that wanted to could stand up and they could read a portion of scripture. And maybe say what God had showed them in it. And so Jesus Christ stood up at a lectern, maybe not unlike this right here. And he opened up the Old Testament and he opened it up to the book of Isaiah. And look what it says in Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. And look what he says in verse 16. He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up.

And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. And then he reads it. And look at verse 21. And he began to say unto them, this day is this what? Scripture. Fulfilled in your ears. And that's probably when it comes specifically to the book you have sitting in your lap. That's the best thing to call it. Is scripture. Right? Because sometimes in the Bible, the word of the Lord can refer to God specifically speaking.

Right? And sometimes word of the Lord can refer to the overall message that God is trying to convey. Right? But the scripture is the actual words of the Lord that he wanted written down and recorded. Right? See? That word. What'd you guys do with my eraser? Oh, there it is. Hey. Hey, buddy. All right. And this is easy enough. Right? But see that word scripture? And I've showed you this before. Scripture. Right? That's Latin. It comes from Latin. Right? Scriptus. And what's that? That means to write. Simply to write. Right? And so a man that writes is called a what? He's called a scribe. Right? And when you write on a piece of paper, you what?

Scribble. Yeah. It even goes a little further than that. See that right there? what the first writing was, including the first writing of the book you have in your lap? It was someone scratching symbols on clay. Right? They scratched it on clay. And that was the first writing, like Babylonian cuneiform. Right? So scripture means something that is written. And Jesus Christ, when he speaks about the words of God in the Old Testament, he calls them scripture. And that's probably the best term for it. Now, there's a few things, and this is all introduction, but there's a few things that set this book apart. There's a few things that make it unique.

Unique among books. Solomon said this. He said, of making of many books, there is no end. There's no end. And there's still a lot of books being written. And thousands, tens of thousands every year. And a lot of them are repeating each other. But there's one book that stands above them all. The Bible is the most popular book of all time. That's one thing that makes it unique. Did you realize, did that? Right? They say right now there's probably six billion Bibles, six billion Bibles minimum in circulation. Right? There's at least seven billion been printed. Right? At least seven billion been printed. And that's eight times as many as any other book.

Right? Maybe the Koran's been printed 800 million to a billion times. And maybe the Chairman Mao, Lectures of Chairman Mao. Right? Has been printed maybe close to a billion times. And of course, that's printed and forced on people. Right? But this book, this book by far, not even close. There's a hundred million Bibles. A hundred million Bibles printed every year. Every year. Still. Right? In the age of atheists and agnostics. There's still a, it's by far, nothing even comes close to the Bible in popularity. And not only that, it transcends races. Right? It's not just white people that read the Bible. Right? There's Bibles in Africa. There's Bibles in China.

There's Bibles in India. There's Bibles in Russia. There's Bibles in Indonesia. There's Bibles in Norway. There's Bibles in Spain. There's Bibles everywhere. There's Bibles in South America. Right? The Bible's been printed in every major language. Every minor language. The only things left is maybe a few dialects in South America, Mexico, and Southeast Asia. And local dialects. But it's been printed and published in every major language. It's the most popular book in the world. Nothing's even close. You know? And that's, by the way, that's something you can ask people when you ask them, have you ever read the Bible? It is the most popular book of all time. You know? You should know a few things that it says.

You know? How can you claim to be educated if you don't know anything about the most popular book of all time? Kind of funny, isn't it? Yeah. Now, the second thing that sets the Bible apart. Look at Isaiah chapter 41. Isaiah chapter 41. Alright. There's another thing that sets this book apart. And this is God's stamp on it. The Bible says in Revelation that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It's the spirit of prophecy. And look at Isaiah chapter 41. And this is what makes this book completely unique. It separates it from any other book in the world. Look at Isaiah chapter 41. And look at verse 4.

It says, Who hath wrought it and done it, calling the generations from the beginning, I the Lord, the first, and with the last, I am He. Look at chapter 44. Isaiah chapter 44 and verse 6. Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first, I am the last. Besides me there is no God. And who as I shall call, and shall declare it, and set in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people. And verse 8. Fear you not, neither be ye afraid. He says, Have not I told thee from that time, and declared it? Ye are even my witnesses.

Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God. No God. I, no, not any. what the Lord says? He says, there is no God like me. There is no God like me. He looks around and he says, Is there any other God like me? And what is the proof that no one else is like Him? Look at Isaiah chapter 48, verse 3. Isaiah chapter 48, verse 3. It says this, I have declared the former things from the beginning. And they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them. I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. Verse 5. I have even from the beginning declared it unto thee.

Now look what he says. Before it came to pass, I showed it thee. That's what he says. What does the Lord say? He says, I declare the end from the beginning. That's why you have the book of Revelation. It's still future. Right? Why? Because God lives in the future. He lives outside of time. He's eternal. He's looking backwards. He writes history in the... He writes the future in the past tense. Who hath declared our report? Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form, nor cominess, or beauty that we should desire him.

He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. See? God's already in the future, so he can look back. There's no one else like them. And he recorded those things in his book. In his book. And there's no other book like it. 48 particular prophecies, specific prophecies concerning Christ. Right? The latest was 400 years before he was born. Isaiah's 700 years before he's born. Prophesied that he'd ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. Prophesied that he'd be born of a virgin. Prophesied that not a bone would be broken. Prophesied that he'd be killed by crucifixion. Something unknown to Jews. On and on. 48 specific prophecies. Hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was even born.

And recorded by four eyewitnesses. Right? No other book. Not even close. Muhammad doesn't even attempt it. Doesn't even attempt it. Right? That's the stamp of divine authenticity on this book. Is God prophesied things and doesn't even blink. There's at least 500 prophecies in this book that haven't even been fulfilled yet. He prophesied that the Jews would reject him. Be scattered from their land. And then come back in a deplorable state just like they are today. Right? Yeah. That's 35. what's going on in Israel right now? Was prophesied 3,500 years ago by a sheep herder in the Sinaitic desert. He does that all the time and doesn't even blink. Yeah. Of course I tell the future.

I know everything. There's. You can't find that in any other religious book. Yeah. Who was it? Brigham Young or Joseph Smith or one of those guys couldn't even. They prophesied that the slaves in this country would never be free because God cursed the black man. Right? That didn't even. That prophecy didn't even hold up for 20 years. Couldn't even hold up for 20 years. And on and on and on we go. Okay? So prophecy makes this book entirely unique. All right? And then thirdly, the internal claims. And that is the things that this book says about itself that no other book says about itself. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3.

Internal claims. And I think I got those. No, I don't. Maybe I do. Do I have those? I don't think I have those. All right. Oh, there they are. There's some internal claims. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3. Look what he says in verse 2 Timothy chapter 3 and look what he says in verse 16. He says this. All what? Scripture. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. This book claims to be inspired. Inspired. What is that? Like respiration. To be inspired means to have the spirit. Right? To be given enlightenment or understanding by the spirit.

And he says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Hold your place there. Look at Job. Job chapter 32. That's what the Bible says about itself. It says this book is given by inspiration of God. Right? This book. What does that mean? It means this book didn't come out of the mind and heart of man. It didn't. You say men wrote it. I know. That's what's crazy. The Lord said men wrote it. But this book came out of my mind. It came out of my heart. It came out of my spirit. Right? And that term inspiration is only used a couple of times in the Bible. Look at Job chapter 32.

Job chapter 32. And I'll explain this to you. Job chapter 32. And this is Elihu. And he's waiting until Job and all his friends speak. And he's been listening to them say some stuff. And drawing the wrong conclusions. And saying a bunch of stupid stuff. And he was the youngest. So he sat and listened. But look what he says in verse 7. He says, I said days should speak and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man. And the what? The inspiration. Right? See that? Spire. See that? See that spire right there? S-P-I-R. Right? That's where you get the word spirit. Right? That's where you get the word spirit.

And that's God putting his spirit in man and giving him understanding. There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the almighty giveth him understanding. So God knows everything. God is light. God is all knowledge. And God through his spirit gives you understanding in truth. Now I want you to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. So what's Elihu saying? I'm listening to you guys speak. But the inspiration of the almighty. God put some understanding in me. His spirit came in me and gave me some understanding. Look at what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And look what he says in verse 11.

For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him. Right? I don't know what's in you. I don't know. I don't get what's going on in your heart and in your mind. Only you do. Now look what he says. Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the what? The spirit of God. Right? So God, his spirit, has infinite knowledge and infinite understanding. Right? And it goes way beyond what we have and what we know. And only God knows all of that spirit. Right? Look at what it says here in 2 Peter. Right? Look at 2 Peter. 2 Peter.

Chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 20. It's speaking of the Bible because he says that in verse 19. Verse 20. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the what? Okay? So this book, this book is not some guy sitting down and thinking some stuff up and making some stuff up. It's not of private interpretation. Look what he says. But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the what? Inspiration. Right? So God, God, listen, God's spirit gives understanding. And sometimes he put that understanding in man. And what he says about this book is that this book came through his spirit and through his understanding.

Not through yours. And not through mine. Right? Go back to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. So, look what he says here. In 2 Timothy chapter 3. And look what he says in verse 14. He says, But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And that from a child thou hast known the what? Now isn't that something? This is an amazing thing. Timothy knew the Holy Scriptures. So you think he had Moses' clay tablet in his living room? No. But he knew the Holy Scriptures. He had a copy of the Holy Scriptures. Now look what he says.

That from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise into salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. what he's telling them? He's telling them that everything in that book, all of it, all of it is profitable for something. Because it's given by inspiration of God. It came out of the mind and heart and understanding of God. It's not just that a holy man thought of some good things and wrote it down. God got involved in the development of the Scriptures. It's given by inspiration of God.

And so when you, the Bible says about itself, when I am reading this book, I am reading the mind and heart of God. What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so knoweth no man the things of the spirit of God, but the spirit of God. But then he says in the next verse, but God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit. The spirit searcheth the deep things, even the deep things of God. And so what you are doing when you are reading this book is you are looking into the deep things of God that he has scribbled down for you and I.

What a claim. There's no other book that claims that. No other book. Alright? Not only that, look at Hosea chapter 8. Look at Hosea chapter 8. You don't have to sit there and I just wish I knew what God had for me. You do. It's sitting in your lap. I just wish I knew that if God were here today, what he would say. You do. It's sitting in your lap. That's a wild thing. You say, I don't believe that. Well, let's go. Let's look then. Look at Hosea. You see the stuff this book claims? That's why you got to get rid of it. You got to get rid of it.

Right? It's all or nothing with this book. It's all or nothing. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Right? Not there's many ways to God. And well, what? If you can get there with your Koran, well then, blessings on you. It doesn't say anything like that. This doesn't fit in a one world government. It doesn't fit in a let's all get along, one sex, one religion. Right? One... Well, anyways. Look at Hosea. Look at Hosea chapter. Where did I say go? Okay. Hosea 8. Look what he says in verse... Huh. This is the Lord pleading with Israel.

He's pleading with Israel. Now look what the Lord says. This is the Lord. Look at verse 12. You reading it? Shelby, read Hosea 8.12 for us out loud. Hosea 8.12. Oh. Who wrote it? Who's talking? God Almighty's talking, Hosea. what the Lord says? He says, I wrote it. That's what he says. He says, I wrote it. Yeah, well, no men wrote it. Look, if you get a letter, if you get a letter, from Donald Trump thanking you for your donation because he needed it, and he signs it at the bottom, Donald Trump, you could, right, you could say Donald Trump wrote me a letter, but his secretary printed it, right?

He might have told them what to write, but it's still a letter from him. Have you ever got a letter from someone's secretary? Right? But what? It's as if they wrote it. And what the Lord says? He says, I wrote it. I wrote it. Look what it says. I'll give you another one. Look at 2 Kings. 2 Kings. 2 Kings 17. So what else this book claims? It claims that the words that are written, the words that are written are the very words of God, which means that it's just as if God said them. Right. Which means that if Jesus Christ was here today, he'd probably stand up and read you out of this book.

Right. Yeah. Look at 2 Kings chapter 17. 2 Kings chapter 17. And look what it says here in verse 37. Speaking of the Lord in verse 36, verse 37, and the statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do. Did you, did you, did you catch it? Which he wrote for you. Who? God almighty. He says he wrote them. He wrote them. So you already read it in Jeremiah where Jeremiah spoke to Brooke and Brooke wrote them down and went and read it in the ears of the king. And the Bible called those words that were given to Jeremiah, that were dictated to Brooke, which were written on a piece of paper.

The Bible calls those things the words of the Lord. So what the Bible claims? It claims that the things written here are the very words of God. And Jesus Christ calls it the word of the Lord. And he calls it scripture. And the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God, which means that God almighty was involved in every step of developing and preserving the book that you have in your lap. And if you don't believe that, you might as well not even come back. Because this, this is, this is the basis of, of, of our faith. The Bible says without faith, it's impossible to please him. Right?

So what you got to do? You got to believe what God said about his book. You have to believe that. You always start with faith. And, look what it says here in, Romans chapter. Well, just look at John chapter 12. There's another wild claim that this book makes about itself. It says that this book will judge men. Imagine that. Imagine standing before God and being like, hey, I think I'm a pretty good guy. And he flops this open and says, okay. How about this one? when God judges men and they're going to say, I didn't know. And he's going to say, you didn't know? There were 7 billion of these floating around.

Look at John chapter 12. John chapter 12. Look what he says in verse 47. If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not. For I came not to judge. That's not the right verse. That's not the right verse. Oh, sorry. It's verse 48. Yeah. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken. Look what it says. The same shall judge him in the last day. You can write down Romans chapter three, verses one through four. And the Bible says that book, the oracles of God that were written down and copied and preserved by the Jews.

The Bible says that they're written so that God will be justified when he condemns. All right. So what the Bible says about itself? It says that it's going to condemn men on judgment day. That's quite a claim. It's quite a claim. Now look at first. First Peter chapter one. Something else that the Bible says about itself. The Bible says this in first Peter chapter one. In verse 23, he says this being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which what? Liveth. Abideth forever. Forever. The Bible says about itself. It says it's eternal. It'll live forever. And then it's alive. Luke chapter. Yeah. The Bible says the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two.

It's short. This book is actually alive. It's the only book in the world that reads you when you're reading it. Yeah, it's the only book in the world you can read. Go to bed. Wake up the next day. Read the same chapter and say, I didn't see that yesterday. Would you get up and run away in the night? You ever notice that? How come I never saw that before? Not the weirdest thing. What? It's alive, man. It's alive. It's a living thing. Luke 21 33. He says this. He says heaven and earth shall pass away. But my words shall not pass away. Heaven and earth shall pass away. But my words.

That's what the Bible says about itself. Now I want you to go back here to Psalms 19. Psalms 19. Now there was a time when there was no Bible. There was no Bible. And how did God talk to men. And what we're going to do. What we're going to do here. We had to start out with that. Because you have to see what the Bible says about itself. Because the touchstone of any study of anything divine is the touchstone is always faith. You have to start with belief. James said he that cometh to God must believe that he is. And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently see him.

So you always start with faith. You always start with believing what God says. Alright. This is what God says about his word. Now we're going to talk about how we got it. And talk about how we got it. And there was a time when men had no Bible. And I'm a book guy. I like to read. I can't imagine not having a Bible. I can't imagine those guys go on that TV show alone. And they go up in the woods for three months. And every time I think the same thing. Up there for three months without a book. I don't even know how I could do it. But there was a time when no one had a Bible.

No one had a Bible. Look at. And God revealed himself to men. He revealed himself to men. And look at Psalms chapter 19. And there were three ways that he revealed himself. And we've been over this in the book of Romans. So we'll do it quickly. He revealed himself in nature. He revealed himself in conscience and conversation. And he revealed himself by speaking. That's how God revealed himself before there was a Bible. Look at Psalms chapter 19. Psalms chapter 19. And look what it says in verse 1. The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament showeth his handiwork. Right? Day to day other speech. Night to night showeth knowledge.

There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. What's he saying? He's saying that God has declared some things in nature. He's declared some things. He's talking about the stars. Right? In the book of Job. In the book of Job. They talk about Orion. And they talk about Maserath. They talk about Pleiades. They talk about the stars. And God revealed himself in nature to men. It says the heavens declare the glory of God. That is that man can look up and know that there's a God. That know that there's something out there. And that's proven by the fact that you can't go anywhere. The deepest, darkest bush.

Right? Your tribe you happen to uncover in the most remote regions of the earth. They're going to have some concept of a power beyond them. Yeah. Some concept. Right? You have to go to college to get stupid enough to learn that there's no God. The Bible says the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. God reveals it to men. And one of the ways that he revealed it to men was in nature. And that's why he took Abraham out and he showed him the stars. And we could go on and on about that. But I want you to look at Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Men are also, men also know that they are accountable to God in their conscience.

They're born with it. They have to be educated out of it. Romans chapter 1. And you already know this. But look what it says in verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. For that which may be known of God is manifest in them. For God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. Being understood by the things that are made. Even his eternal power in Godhead. So that they were without excuse. Verse 21. Because that when they what? New God. Look at Romans chapter 2.

And look at verse 14. For when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things. By nature the things contained in the law. These having not the law are a law unto themselves. Right? So there's people that have no Bible but they believe murder is wrong. People have no Bible but they believe adultery is wrong. There's people that have no Bible but they believe stealing is wrong. Yeah. Right. Where do they get that? Verse 15. Which show the work of the law written in their hearts. God wrote it there. God's a writer. That's why the Bible calls them the author and finisher of our faith. Which have not the law do by nature things contained in the law.

These having not the law are a law unto themselves that show the work of the law written in their hearts. Their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean. While accusing or else excusing one another. So what people are doing? They're sitting around in the gate. They're sitting around the campfire. They're sitting out in the sweat lodge. They're drinking coffee in Arabia. They're smoking hash in Africa. Whatever they're doing. They're sitting around. They're talking. Right? They're in the common area down at the university. What do you think about? You know? Right? That's what they're doing. Their thoughts to average. Right? But while accusing or excusing one another. These guys are having conversation.

And God revealed things to men. And then man thought about it. And talked about it. And developed systems. So you have the old code of Hammurabi in Babylon. Which is just a corruption. Right? Of the Mosaic law. And you have the epic of Gilgamesh. Which is a. Just a far out corruption. Of Noah's flood. Right? You have. If you. And I've already taught you all this in the book of Romans. But you have. Even in this country. You've got legends of. Of a God making men and women out of red clay. Right? And it's. It's stuff that we know from the Bible. But how did they know it? How did they know it?

Well. They knew it from God speaking. Look at Genesis chapter 2. Oh boy. Look at the time. Right? Direct speaking. God directly spoke to people. Directly spoke to them. Yeah. Talk to them. Genesis chapter 2 verse 16. And the Lord God what? Commanded man. He talked to them. Look at Genesis 4. Genesis 4. Verse 6. What's it say? Someone read it. Genesis 4. 6. Yeah. The Lord said unto Cain. Right? The Lord spake unto Noah. And the Lord spake unto Abraham. Didn't he? The Lord spoke. And that's what God would do. He would speak. And even those first two things. Nature and conscience. Those were things that were enlightened by God speaking.

Closing

Right? I mean you had to. You had to. Someone at some point had to. Had to describe to you what those stars represented. And what that sun represented. Right? Man. Listen. And this is the thing you have to understand. The Bible says. The world by wisdom knew not God. Right? And revelation is God showing to man what cannot be known outside of him showing it. Right? About himself. Right? About his law. About his truth. And about ourselves. There are things that have to be revealed. They cannot be learned just through wisdom. Right? Listen. All science builds on former understanding. And what someone else discovered. And the world by wisdom knew not God.

That baby. That goose that's flying to the south. who showed them how to do that? The generation before. Those elk that go to the high country in the summer. And they come down to the low country in the winter. What are they doing? They learn something that they learned from their mothers. Right? There are certain truths that you can't know. Unless someone showed them to you. Right? If someone stuck you on a desert island somewhere. Right? And left you there for 30 years with enough food and water. Enough food and water. Right? They wouldn't show up and see you with a nuclear reactor. They wouldn't. No. Right? You have to have some truth revealed to you.

Right? And there are certain things that God reveals to man. And if he wouldn't reveal it. Man would never know it. Right? And God works through revelation. And he revealed himself through speaking. All right? Now I want you to look. I've got to finish. Look at Job chapter 4. Here's the problem. Here's the problem with early revelation is that it was limited. It was limited and easily corrupted. Right? So the God that every man knew from Noah. Right? Became a coyote. He became a snake. He became a cow in Egypt. Right? A bull in Canaan. Right? That's what he became. He became Thor. He became Zeus. He became Odin. He became Ra.

That's what God became. He got corrupted. The early revelation was corrupted. And it was corrupted by the man's nature. And just by man's inability to keep things straight. Right? You're talking about telephone on Wednesday night. Where you say one thing to Brianna. And she says it to Jace. And we go like this. We go around the room. By the time he gets over here to Brother Shane. It's a totally different thing. Right? And that's the problem with oral tradition. Right? I mean have you ever looked at those big buffalo hides. That the Blackfeet. And the Sioux. And the Crow. Recorded their life on? You know. You got. A couple symbols here.

And what's that? Bad winter. And that's cool. But. That's. That's not going to pass on. You know. It's not like the Library of Congress. Right? So then. In January and February. They'd sit in their lodges. And the old people would pass on the knowledge. And that's how they knew. Every plant out there. They knew. You know. What it was good for. For medicine. And for. You know. And for food. And these kind of things. And they knew when to go hunt the buffalo. And they knew when to go dig the bitter roots. And they knew when to go. Dig the camis plant. And they knew all this stuff. This was passed down.

But if. Boy. If. If there was a. A plague. And the old people got wiped out. Because it was passed on. Oral. Orally. Wasn't. Nothing. Was written. Down. Wasn't written down. And so they lost it all. Right? what it takes to. That's why everybody knows everything now. Because everything that's been written. Is accessible to everybody. Right? Writing is obviously far superior to any other type of communication. Besides the fact that it. We have to. We have to use words to communicate. You can't teach concepts. You can't teach scientific principles. Without having words. That's how we fit them in our mind. And learn them. Right? That's why people that may be very smart.

But never learn to read. Have trouble communicating. Right? Because they don't have words to put to thoughts. Right? And we could go on and on about that. But it's nest. Look at Job chapter 4. Look at Job chapter 4. Oh, we've got to finish here. Job chapter 4. And this is what you get. This is the oldest book in the Bible. And here's a bunch of guys sitting around with Job. And what does it say in verse 7? It says, Remember, I pray thee, whoever perished being innocent. Or where were the righteous cut off? what they're saying to Job? They're saying the reason you're sick. And the reason all these bad things have happened.

Has happened to you. Is because you did something wrong. Right? What is this an example of? This is an example of limited understanding prior to having some things written down and revealed. Right? And so early revelation was easily corrupted. Right? Can you imagine if the records of our revolutionary war were passed down just by words? Just by people talking and we didn't actually have anything written down? Can you imagine what we'd maybe come up with by now? After 200 years? The superiority of the written record is obvious. Right? And the Bible says the Lord gave the word. And so the written word is necessary. And I want to end there.

Look at Psalms 19. So the early revelation was easily corrupted. It was corrupted by human error just by the fact that when you repeat something, a lot of errors come in. It was limited in scope. Meaning it was only the people that God spoke directly to. It was limited in specifics. Right? You can look up at the stars maybe in nature and in your conscience understand that there's a God and that you're accountable to someone. But it doesn't tell you anything about Jesus. It doesn't tell you anything about blood sacrifice. Right? You have to have someone speak that to you. Look what it says here in Psalms 19. And it says about the heavens declare the glory of God.

The firmament showeth his handiwork. But look what it says in verse 7. The law of the Lord is what? what's far superior to that early revelation? Is the written record. In Proverbs 30 he says what is his name speaking of God and what is his son's name if thou canst tell. How are you going to know about God? The next verse says every word of God is pure. Right? The written word is absolutely necessary. Right? That's why when any time you do anything serious you write it out in a contract. Very specifically. And God did the same thing for us. He didn't leave us guessing. He didn't leave us guessing what his mind was.

He didn't leave us guessing what his word was. He didn't leave us guessing what his will was. He didn't leave us guessing where we came from or where we're going. He didn't leave us guessing for any of that. He wrote it down. And he said that he preserved it. And he said that what is written down came out of his mind and his heart. Father love you. Thank you for the word of God. I pray you bless this study as it goes on the next few weeks. In the name of our Lord Jesus I pray. Amen.