How We Got Our Bible L2

Opening

Hey, working on the how we got our Bible history of the Bible here this morning and want to continue on we left off last week on the importance of the word I want you to go to Proverbs chapter 30 Proverbs chapter 30 and we're going to be talking this morning about the origination of the text. where it came from and then after that we go on to transmission which means how it was copied and how it was preserved but this morning we're talking about where it came from and I want you to look at Proverbs chapter 30 Proverbs chapter 30 and look at verse 1 the words of excuse me verse 2 he says surely I'm more brutish than any man and have not the understanding of a man so this is a wise man basically admitting that he doesn't have any wisdom that's how you get wisdom he says I'm a brute I neither learned wisdom nor have the knowledge of the holy he says I don't have any wisdom and I don't know the holy and that is the state of man without revelation that is the state of man without the Bible as we showed you last week in Job without revelation you're just left guessing at the most important questions and he says in verse 4 who hath ascended up into heaven or descended so who hath gathered the wind in his fists and he's asking some of the same questions that were asked in the book of Job before there was a Bible who hath bound the waters in a garment so who's doing all this stuff big answers big questions who hath established all the ends of the earth right how did this earth get here why did the waves go so far and not any further right why would the consistency of the sun and the seasons all of these questions that men would have asked prior to revelation prior to God saying oh I'll tell you what happened in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth right okay he says this he says who hath established all the ends of the earth what is his name what's his name who is he and what is his son's name if thou can't tell him by the way these are the right questions philosophy answers the wrong questions right and an honest man answers the right questions who not what but who all right what is his name and what is his son's name if thou can't tell now look at the answer verse 5 what's it say there it is there's the answer every word of God is pure what's his son's name thou shalt call his name Jesus he shall save his people from their sins you get it right the answer is the word of God that's what he says the answer is the words that's where you get the revelation every word of God is pure he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him so trusting his words is trusting him add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar not unto his word of God consider why because they are an exact description of what he wants us to know we'll talk about that more later now I want you to go to the book of Job the book of Job and no this is the oldest book in the Bible and we're not going to it this morning it was written by Elihu the guy that pipes up In chapter, I think it's 32, and he's the young man that sat and listened to the other four speak.

And these men are postulating on the reasons why Job is suffering, and they're taking stabs at it. They're using a mix of divine revelation and their own philosophy, their own reasoning, right? And their conclusion is, Job, you're suffering because you did something wrong, right? And they're wrong about that. Now, Job out and says, I didn't do anything wrong, and he was wrong as well. They were both wrong, so what did they need? They needed the Lord to speak and straighten them out, right? That's the book of Job, right? Job shows us the necessity of revelation. Because, when you read the book of Job, there's amazing things in there, right? And they're saying the right things, but they're drawing the wrong conclusions.

That's why it's such a profitable book to read, right? And you need the Lord to straighten those things out, right? And it's a fantastic book. Now, here in Job chapter 19, Job chapter 19, and look what Job says in his sufferings. He says this, Job 19 and verse 23. Oh, that my words were now written. That's what Job said. Oh, that they were printed in a book. Well, he got that prayer answered, didn't he? That's what he has. He says, I wish someone would write them down. Why do we need words? We need words for revelation, right? Words communicate thoughts. They communicate ideas. They're the fundamental building blocks of learning, right?

Even math, which is numbers, is described by words. You can't describe principles and concepts and scientific theories. And we could go on and on and on without your mind being able to place some label on that, right? So words are how we communicate. That's why you can have a really smart person, right, that you never know it because they never learned to read. My uncle was that way. My uncle never learned to read. He was very intelligent, but he had horrible dyslexia. And back when he was in school, they just said, you're stupid. Well, he was not stupid at all. But because of that, he was the worst conversationalist. Why?

He had no words to describe his thoughts, you see? And so, and we could go on about that, but I think you understand that. So why do we need the words? We need them for revelation. What is knowledge? But also we need them for a record. Job says this. I wish my words were written in a book. I wish I could print them down and describe my exact thoughts. I wish what was happening to me was recorded for other people to hear. And why? Look at Job chapter 31. So we need them for a record. For a record. And I think this is where we left off last week, right?

Because oral transmission is not as dependable. We know that, right? Over time, if we played the telephone game where Paul said something and whispered it in everybody's ear, by the time we got to this side of the room, it wouldn't be the same thing, right? Maybe you would have played that game in school. And so a written record is much more factual and much more reliable. Oh, where are we going? Where did I say go? All right. Job 31. You guys with me this morning? Good, good, good. Now look what he says. Oh, that one would hear me. Oh, that one would hear me. Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me, and my adversary had written a book.

We also, we need words for reason, for understanding, to know the why. We need to know the why, right? what this book does? It gives us the why, right? It tells us the why of our sinful condition. It tells us the why of the curses in this world. this book answers all the great questions. He says, what's going on? Why is my adversary, why is the Lord doing this to me, right? Why do I have to put mom in the ground? Why do I have to put dad in the ground? Why do I have to, right? Why is there death? Why is there suffering? That's the subject of Job. Why do the righteous suffer?

That question is made more atheist than any question in history. Why do good things happen, or bad things happen to good people? That question right there is made more atheist than anybody else. We can't, we don't get it. It's too high for us. It's too much for us. How could God let that happen, right? And the Bible explains about sin, and about the curse, and about God's plan for redemption, right? This is why we need these words, okay? Does that make sense? Okay, good. Let's keep going. All right, now, where did the words come from? Well, that's pretty obvious. what the Bible says in John 1? It says, in the beginning was the what?

The Lesson

Word. One of the names of God. His word. This isn't the right slide. That's the right slide. You guys are like, what's he talking about? They're backwards. It's, I'm dyslexic, all right? Won't be the last time, right? But where do they come from? They come from God. They come from God, right? And what? That's the right order in my notes, too. Yeah, so I messed up. That's right. Good. Words. Look at Genesis chapter 1. Look at Genesis chapter 1. Look at Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was out form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Right? The first movement is from God. All life comes from God. Life is movement. Look under a microscope and look at all those things squiggling down there. That's alive. Verse 3. And God's, what? What's the next word? Said. God's the author of words. God's the author of languages. Right? that. Look at Babel. All the world was of one language and of one speech. Right? And the Lord gave them all a bunch of different languages to confuse them. Right? These things come from God. We've talked about some of that in Sunday school before. So God spoke. God spoke. Before there was ever a written word, God spoke. The Bible said, God spake unto Noah.

The Lord said unto Abram. God spake unto Israel in visions of the night. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. So the word originates, obviously, with God speaking. Now, when we get to the book that you have in your lap, which is right here, the Old Testament was written from 1800 B.C. about. That's about probably when Job was written. All right? At least the original form of it. From 800 B.C. to around 400 B.C. And that would be Malachi. That would be the last book in your Old Testament. They say maybe about 397. So it was written, actually written, over the space of about 1,400 years.

And it covers events from 4000 B.C. And really from maternity past all the way into the future. All the way into the future. But at the latest, the actual words on paper began to be preserved with Moses. So Moses started writing down things that were known before. So Moses, obviously, he was born in 1500. Well, the book of Genesis started in about 4000. So 2500 years before Moses. Right? But Moses wrote the book of Genesis, which we'll see later. Okay? So Moses wrote these things down. And these things were given him by revelation. And they were given him by other books that he might have had around back in those days.

Other records. But the actual scriptures began to be written by Moses. And there was a continued line of preservation from then on of Israel's history. And divine writings from there all the way up to what we call the Second Temple Period. Right? Where we get up to Ezra, where the Jews came back to the land. And Ezra was responsible for establishing a group of scribes there. That gave the order of the books their final form. Okay? And we'll talk about that. Now, how did God speak? How did God speak to men? And I think we'll be in order now. Alright? How did he speak? Go to Numbers chapter 12. Numbers chapter 12.

The main ways God spoke. Go to Numbers 12. Numbers chapter 12. Okay? And I want you to hold your place there and look at Hebrews chapter 1. And when you go to Hebrews chapter 1, put a marker in it. Because we'll come back to that a couple times. Hebrews chapter 1. And look what Paul says in the New Testament about this old book. And we're speaking mainly about the Old Testament in this lesson this morning. In Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1. Look what he says. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets. Different times and different ways. God spake unto the fathers by the prophets.

And we'll talk about that in a second. But I want you to notice that he said he spake unto the fathers by the prophets. Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. By whom he also appointed heir of all things. Okay. So hold your place there in Hebrews. Go back to Numbers chapter 12. Numbers chapter 12. And look what he says in verse 6. And this is one of many verses on this subject. And he said, hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision. And I will speak unto him in a dream.

My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in my house. Him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently. And not in dark speeches. No riddles for Moses. What did the Lord do with Moses and many other prophets? He spoke directly to them. He spoke. They literally heard him speaking. Moses himself was actually in the presence of God and heard God's voice. Right. The Bible says when he departed out of that tabernacle, his face shone. Right. And later on, earlier in Exodus, he says that the Lord, Moses spoke to the Lord face to face as a man speaketh to his friend. What a thing. He had heard the actual words of God as a man to man, we say face to face, man to man.

That's one of the way they got the words was God spoke directly to the prophets. Now I want you to look over here at Genesis 22. Because he said sundry times and in diverse manners. I want you to look at Genesis 22. Genesis 22. All right. Sometimes men heard his voice. Other times he spoke to them by the angel of the Lord, by his angel. Right. And that's that's an appearance of God. It's an appearance of God in angelic form. Right. It's it's the part of God that you can see. We know that you can't see God in his spirit. And that what he says in John. No man has seen God at any time.

Right. You can't see God in his spirit form, but God would appear in an angelic form. It's an angel of the Lord. Right. We know from the New Testament that angel is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. But look what it says here in Genesis chapter 22 and look at verse 11. This is when Abraham's fixing on killing Isaac and the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, he said, here and I, here am I. The Lord also spoke to Moses by his angel and other people. So he spoke by his angel. Now, not only did he speak by his angel and not only did he speak directly to the prophets, but he also spake by the prophets.

So that's what he says in Hebrews. Spake unto the fathers by the prophets. All right. For an example of that, look at Ezekiel chapter two. Well, before you get to Ezekiel, look at Jeremiah. I'll show you, I'll show you Jeremiah. He spake by them. What do you mean? It means he put his words in them. He put his words in, in them. He put his words in their mouth. And when they spoke, they spoke the words of God. That's a wild thing to think about. Right. Why? Because it's coming out of the mouth of a man. But in that moment, they're controlled by the Holy Ghost of God. And out of their mouth.

And that's especially true of the prophets. And you could maybe say that of some of the Psalms. And maybe some of the preaching in the New Testament. That it was actually God's words coming out of their mouth. Where did I say go? Well, Jeremiah 1, look what he says in verse 9. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my, what? Or it's that when Jeremiah prophesied, they weren't his words. That's why they were judged when they didn't obey. Why? Because they weren't Jeremiah's words. Right? They're God's words. Now, preaching is not necessarily the same way. Right?

We understand that a preacher in this day and age preaches the word of God. Right? And it's the word of God that ministers you. And he explains it. Right? And yet, he expounds and opens and alleges from the scripture. But not everything that a pastor or a preacher says are the very words of God. Only these are the very words of God. A pastor is to help us understand the words of God. Okay? Alright, look at Ezekiel. Look at Ezekiel chapter 1. Ezekiel chapter 1. Or, yeah. I think it's... Actually, that's not what I... I mean, that's good, too. But I want you to look at Ezekiel 3, verse 10.

Verse 10 says, Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. Verse 11 says, And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them. Ezekiel 2:10 says, And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. Chapter 3, verse 1: Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So in this case, God had Ezekiel eat the words that he wrote on a roll, on a scroll. That's not a roll like a dinner roll.

That's a thing you roll up, like a scroll. That's an early flash drive, is what that is. Because he ate the scroll, and then he preached the words of that scroll to the people. God put his words in his mouth. Put his words in his mouth. Okay, so he spake by the prophets. Right? Exodus 24, 3. And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments. Sometimes they repeated the words of the Lord, that he had first initially said to them. All right, not only that, but he spoke by Christ. Right? What does he say in Hebrews chapter 1? He says in verse 2, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by who?

By his son. John 3, 34. He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God. And incidentally, Jesus Christ was called a prophet. He was called a prophet. So he spoke by Christ. These are the main ways that God spoke. All right, of course, now look at Hebrews chapter 2. Not only that, but he spake by the New Testament prophets. Right? The New Testament were called, the founders of the church were called apostles and prophets. Right? And there's a reason that they were called apostles and prophets. Right? Apostle has to do with being sent with a particular message. That's what apostle means. It means a sent one. But a prophet is someone that would refer more to the Old Testament office.

Right? And so they also were prophets. And God's words were in their mouths. And especially with, of course, with the epistles. But look what he says in Hebrews chapter 2. And look at what he says here in verse 2. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord? So that message of salvation was at the first began to be spoken of by the Lord. Right? Jesus Christ. He had the words of God. But look what it says. And was what?

Confirmed unto us by them that heard him. God also bearing them witness. So God bore witness not only to the words of Christ, but to the words of the men that heard him. The apostles that heard him. Right? And so all of your books of the New Testament were written by apostles. Right? And Paul calls them, in Ephesians chapter 2 and Ephesians chapter 4, he calls them apostles and prophets. And so we'll get to the New Testament later, but those are the main ways that God spoke. All right? So these statements in Hebrews, basically, they cover the entire Old Testament, and most, if not all, of the New Testament. And what is he saying?

He's saying that which was spoken of God was given to us by the Old Testament prophets, prophets, and Jesus Christ, and then those that heard him, the apostles. Now, the prophets. The prophets were very special. They're very special. I want you to look at Amos chapter 3. Amos chapter 3. And one of the, when we talk about the books of the Bible and what was accepted into the Bible, we use this word. We use the word canon. Right? And it comes from a Latin word meaning rule or ruler. Right? Rule or ruler. And so when we say the canon of Scripture, right, we accept 66 books as canonical. In other words, those are the books that are the rule.

They are the standard. Not only are they the rule by which we measure everything else, but they are to rule us. Right? It's called the canon of Scripture. Right? 39 Old Testament books, 27 New Testament books. Okay? And one of the tests of authenticity for the canon, right, among Jewish rabbis or Jewish scribes was, were the words written or preserved or spoken by a prophet? Because a prophet was given the words of God. And they knew that those were the words of God. And so that, that prophet, that was an Old Testament office that God used. Right? And very important. And you can even see a line of succession in the prophets in the Old Testament.

Okay? Remember how Elisha, Elijah anointed Elisha to be prophet in his room. Right? And then, those guys had these, for lack of a better word, colleges. Right? Where they, where they taught the sons of the prophets. Right? These guys, these are the guys that were the students of the prophets. Okay? And so there was a tradition not only of a Levitical priesthood, but also of prophets. And so those were two major offices in the Old Testament. The priesthood and the prophets. The difference between prophets and priests is priests were out of the tribe of Levi, whereas prophets could come from different tribes. Right? That's probably one of the main differences.

Okay? Where did I say go now? All right. Amos chapter 3. Look at Amos chapter 3. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to who? Unto his servants the prophets. Unto his servants the prophets. So, what's the Lord say? In Deuteronomy 29, 29. Deuteronomy 29, 29. He says this, The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things that are revealed are for us and for our children. So God revealed truth to his prophets. That's how they got the words. Mainly, that's how they got the words of God in the Old Testament was through the prophets. Now, the words of those prophets were put into writing.

Right? In fact, that's why the Bible uses this term often. And you'll see this in the New Testament. You got the right thing there? Yeah. But all this was done, Matthew 26, 56, that the, what is that? The what? The scriptures of the what? Right? So notice, that's one of the titles that he gives to the Old Testament is the scriptures of the prophets. By the way, what did we learn last week about scriptures? They're what? Given by what? All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Breathed out by God, which we will talk about. Okay? And so, that's a title for the Old Testament is the prophets. Right? Luke 24, 27, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Right? So Moses and the prophets were considered scripture. Paul says in Romans 1, 2, which he promised before, speaking of Jesus Christ, by his prophets in the holy scriptures. So those scriptures were connected to the words of the prophets. Now, and I wrote a few of these down. There's a bunch more. Right? But Abraham was called a prophet. You got the prophet list there? That's some of them. You guys know some of these guys. In Genesis 20, now therefore restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee. Abraham was a prophet. Right? So a prophet was someone that had a unique relationship with God.

Right? Who God spoke to them, and God spoke through them. Right? They were foretellers, but they were also foretellers. Right? They told the future, but they also put the truth forward. Okay? So these are prophets, and there were, there was a, hey, who else was a prophet that's not on that list? Who was, who would be a prophet before Abraham? Someone, okay? I don't think he was before Abraham, but yeah. Okay. Good. Sure. Noah, right? Right? The New Testament tells us about Noah, right? Who's another one? You mentioned it, right? The Bible said, Enoch prophesied, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints. Right? So there, there was a line, there was a succession of prophets.

I don't believe that God ever left that area of the world from Noah onward, even before Noah, probably all the way back from Canaan, where you see the children of Seth began to call on the name of the Lord. I think there was always someone giving a warning. We talked about that in the book of Romans. Okay? But these men were prophets. They had a unique relationship with God. Moses was, of course, the big one. He said in Deuteronomy 18, a prophet will the Lord raise up unto you like unto me. The Bible says there was not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses who the Lord knew face to face.

Closing

Moses was in a league of his own when it came to his relationship with God. Just the Lord raised him up special, special. But he was a prophet. Joshua was a prophet. Which is interesting. Why? Because Joshua wrote the book of Joshua probably. We'll see that. Okay? And Joshua prophesied that if anybody rebuilt Jericho, right, he'd build it with his kids. Right? And that happened. That came to pass. The Bible says it happened according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun in 1 Kings 16.34. Alright? When you get on to Judges, alright, you have Joshua, then you have Judges, Ruth, right, and then you have this guy shows up, his name's Samuel.

The Bible says in 1 Samuel, I want you to see this one, 1 Samuel 3. Look at 1 Samuel 3. 1 Samuel 3. And 1 Samuel 3. And there's two books named after him. He's probably responsible for the book of Judges and the book of Ruth. And 1 Samuel 3. And look what he says here in verse 20. And all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. Now look what it says. For the Lord revealed himself to who? Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. Alright? So Samuel was a prophet.

By the way, he anointed Saul and Saul prophesied. He anointed David and David prophesied. Alright? So there's a continual line of prophets speaking the word of the Lord. Now there's a lot more and we're not going to go over all of them. But the Bible calls Gad a prophet in 1 Samuel 22. Nathan's a prophet. 2 Samuel 7. Right? Ahijah the prophet. Micaiah the prophet in 1 Kings. Then of course we have Elijah in 1 Kings 18. And Elisha in 2 Kings 9. Elisha the prophet. There's Shemiah the prophet. Right? Then there's Zechariah and there's Oded. There's a guy named Oded even. Right? Of course we have Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Now I want you to look. So there's a line all the way down of prophets. All the way down. Daniel is called a prophet in Matthew chapter 24. Spoken of by Daniel the prophet. Right? So from Moses all the way to the end of Israel's history. Right? And into their captivity. So Daniel Moses is a prophet which is which is which is let's just say historically Exodus say Exodus 20. Right? And then all the way to Daniel. Right? Which is the time of the captivity. Right? And he died in maybe around 525 B.C. So he's 525 B.C. And Moses is about 1500 B.C. Right? So Moses was a prophet. The Bible calls him a prophet.

And Daniel was a prophet. Right? You have a continual succession of prophets all the way through Israel's history. Now I want you to look at Deuteronomy 18. How are we doing here? Is it already seven after? Nuts! Have I been going that hard Brother Joe? I thought I've been going for 10 minutes. I've been going for 35 minutes. I don't even know where I said to go. Deuteronomy. Okay. Alright. Deuteronomy 18. Look at 15. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me to him shall ye hearken. That's a prophecy of Jesus Christ. But notice that the prophets he laid out some he laid out some rules for them.

Verse 18. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee. I will put my words in his mouth. He shall speak unto him all that I command them. It shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken to my words which he shall speak see how many times the Bible says words little w words it's not it's not just this it's not just word people always call the Bible the word of God that's actually a title for Jesus Christ right and they do it to be reverential but the other reason they do it is because they don't believe the words the particular words are anything special all right but we'll talk about that later but look what he says in verse 20 but the prophet that shall presume to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak or that shall speak in the name of other gods even that prophet shall die so see the Lord laid out some responsibilities and some requirements right for the prophets and the prophets were God's primary means of communication okay look at 2 Samuel go back to 2 Samuel real quick and look at 2 Samuel 23 they were God's primary means of communication look at 2 Samuel 23 so David is called a prophet in Acts chapter 2 him being a prophet the Bible says Acts chapter 2 verse 30 look what it says in 2 Samuel 23 and look at verse 1 now these be the last words of David the son of Jesse verse 2 what's he say the spirit of the Lord what's the next three words spake by me and his word was in my tongue alright so God's words were actually spoken by David go back here to Zechariah which is over there close to the beginning of the New Testament second to the last book in your Old Testament Zechariah I misspelled Zechariah 7 look at Zechariah 7 Zechariah 7 verse 12 yea they made their hearts as an adamant stone lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent in his spirit by the what right so the Lord sent his words through the prophets in fact almost every one of the prophetic books starts out with a phrase like this the word of the Lord that came unto Isaiah the word of the Lord that came unto Hosea the word of the Lord which he spake by Nahum just all the way through right he spake by these prophets he used these men now 2 Peter chapter 2 Peter chapter 2 and this is the traditional and also the standard explanation right for how we got the Old Testament okay and I want you to look at 2 Peter in the New Testament 2 Peter chapter 2 but I want you to think about this for a second and help me out with this okay because I think this will make sense 2 Peter chapter it's not 2 Peter 2 it's 2 Peter 1 2 Peter 1 I mean you can go to 2 but I'm going to be in 1 2 Peter chapter 1 he says in verse 19 we have also a more sure word speaking of the Bible of what prophecy verse 20 knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is any private interpretation that is that the prophets didn't think it up on their own it's not private it's not private right that inspiration that was in them was not something that they conjured up right they didn't sit in the lotus position and concentrate on the doorknob and follow the eight fold path to nirvana they didn't do that right they were given something by God almighty look what he says in verse 21 for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man see he explains verse 20 and verse 21 see how the bible does that not of any private interpretation what is private interpretation it's a prophecy that comes by the will of man right what's a prophecy that comes by the will of man brother Potter is so annoying I have got a sermon for him on Sunday right that's a prophecy that comes by the will of man right sorry brother I had to pick on somebody right that's by the will of man right that's not how the bible came about right holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy ghost by the way it's a sacred thing that we do proclaiming the word of God amen we ought to keep ourselves out of it as much as possible amen and but look what he says for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy ghost so this is a general statement about the prophecy of the old testament right they spake as they were moved by the holy ghost okay so when we think of inspiration and well maybe we can't this week but we speak of inspiration that word when we think of the old testament we look inspiration is generally described this way okay God filled a man and sometimes Hollywood will do it like this the guy will go his eyes will roll back in his head have like an epileptic fit right I don't think that's how it worked at all I don't think that's how it worked at all you don't see that in the scripture now there are dreams there are visions there are trances but sometimes it's just a guy standing up saying thus saith the Lord the Holy Spirit filled a man and controlled a man okay so they do it like this they say God filled a man and then there was someone there writing his words down all right so the idea is that the inspiration took place in the prophet right and then the scribe recorded those inspired words okay that's the standard explanation does that make sense that's the standard explanation for inspiration I'm going to tell you the problem with that the problem with that is that's not the only way it was given right was it a spirit that filled the man did it not fill the scribe right was it just dictation to a secretary right and this is we'll finish here but this is this is what we call source material of the Old Testament all right look at Exodus 20 look at Exodus 24 really quick couple more minutes we'll end here but this will help you this will help you right because when the interpretation of all we went over the verse last week all scriptures given by inspiration of God right they relegate the inspiration to the man of God speaking all right can someone give me just thinking about the Old Testament can someone give me a problem with that basic explanation like okay anybody think of a problem with that explanation okay yeah what I'm talking about is more the source material that's very true brother Dan what I want to direct it toward is the actual initial words of God that were written down right think about Balaam the false prophet right someone recorded that story right think about all the friends of Job someone recorded that story think about the words of the devil someone recorded that story look at look at look at Exodus chapter 24 Exodus chapter 24 and look what the Bible says here in Exodus chapter 24 and look at what he says in verse and this is what we call faith building blocks of faith with the word of God okay because if we don't have this book we have nothing it's just what you feel today amen Exodus 24 look what he says in verse 12 and the Lord said to Moses come up unto me in the mountain be there and I will give thee two tables of stone and a law and the commandments what say did that some parts of this book the originals were actually written by the finger of God in fact David was given the instructions for the tabernacle 1st chronicles 28 it says that God wrote them for him you have God writing on the wall in Daniel you have Christ writing on the ground in John the first time God wrote in the Bible he took his finger and he scratched in clay and when Jesus Christ showed up he stooped down on the ground and he scratched in clay that's why John 8 belongs in the Bible by the way and God's a writer he's called the author and finisher of course he'd be a writer he'd be the best writer there ever was right God wrote some of this book all right now some of it is divine revelation what do you mean by revelation like Ezekiel 1 the vision that God gave to Ezekiel some of these guys had a vision Ezekiel 1 also Daniel 9 the Bible says that Daniel had a vision and then he went and wrote it down Daniel didn't have a vision and then speak by the Holy ghost to a scribe or to a secretary he had a vision and he wrote it down some of the Bible was not someone recording a sermon some of the Bible was not someone recording a guy doing this thing it was Ezekiel had a vision the vision of Isaiah right he had a vision and he recorded the vision does that make sense so some of it came by divine revelation all right in other words the Lord was talking to one of his I just can't even imagine hey take this down you want to write this down you know I don't think that God everything that God ever said to anyone everyone became part of scripture we know that's not true right so there were times when the Lord is like this is what you want to write down right we know there's other books there's other writings there's other prophecies they didn't all end up in the Bible right I'm getting at something here look at Exodus 34 look at verse 27 look what he says and the Lord said unto Moses what is it write thou these words so the Lord is giving Moses instructions about the law and he says write what you've heard down what do we call that we call this source material in other words there are 14 books listed in the Bible in the Old Testament that aren't part of the biblical canon right you don't have to look for and dig these things up right they're source material in the same sense that Moses would have written something down but not everything right David or Samuel would recorded an event with Saul but that doesn't mean he recorded every detail those events so people that try to dig around for other books around the time of the Old Testament that doesn't mean that they're scripture right there's the book of Jasher right there's the book of Nathan the prophet of Gad the prophet there's the book of the Acts of Solomon there's the book of the wars of the Lord what is this is probably other written records of things going on that the authors like maybe for Genesis would have taken and compiled an overview right Genesis 1 to Genesis 12 covers the space of 2,000 years okay now so there was official records of the law you can write down 1 Kings 14 29 and there's a lot of other references for that okay then look at Proverbs 25 and we'll be done sorry this is really tough to do this lesson in 40 minutes it's just it's okay you're fine I don't know maybe you're fine I don't even know why I ask because I don't care I don't repent I never change so I don't even get why I say anything you know Proverbs 20 it really is this man honoreth me with his lips but his heart is far from thee you know all right look at Proverbs 25 these are also a wise guy he uttered a lot of Proverbs and people wrote them down and some of those things that they wrote down ended up in the Bible but not every wise thing that he ever said ended up in the Bible okay by the way people that say oh I don't believe that the Bible is inspired only the originals are inspired the originals themselves are copies there you go smart Alec okay when you say that inspiration let's end in 2nd Timothy 3 right when you when you say that inspiration is only when God fills a man and then it's recorded right you take away from God's divine involvement in the establishment of the text okay look at if that is true then perhaps not even the original writings are inspired but only the guy that was speaking them because I mean who knows maybe Baruch's shorthand wasn't all that good that day and he messed a little bit up you think the Lord cares about that no he doesn't look what it says in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 right it doesn't say all scripture is spoken by God although it is right it says that all scripture is given by inspiration which means from the very beginning and I've showed you five examples in scripture that it was more than just the prophet speaking it was God almighty getting involved in the establishment and the writing of this book and then he went and breathed on it right that's the bible way of teaching that right the scholar's way is at one time there was inspired words and we're lucky to maybe guess at what we have now right okay father we love you thank you for the word of god and I pray you bless our break in the next service amen okay hope that's a help to you this morning get we'll get into the manuscripts next week