Amen. All right, well you're there in 2 Timothy chapter number 3. I'd like you to
keep your place there in 2 Timothy. We're going to be coming back to this
passage throughout the sermon, but if you would go with me just real quickly to
the book of Ephesians. Keep your finger there in 2 Timothy. We're going to come
right back to it, but go to Ephesians chapter number 4. In the New Testament you've
got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter number 4, and on Sunday nights we've been going through this
series entitled Declaring Doctrine, and we are basically just doing a systematic
study of just the major doctrines in the Word of God, and if you remember this is
now our fourth week. We began in week number 1 with a sermon entitled The
Importance of Doctrine, and we talked about why knowing doctrine is important.
Then in week 2 we talked about the doctrine of revelation, how God reveals
himself through creation, through conscience. Then we began to talk about
specific. That's general revelation. Then we talked about specific revelation. We
talked about the doctrine of the Word of God, and tonight we're going to continue
with that mindset, but I want to show you Ephesians 4, 14 just because we're going
to be in this series on Sunday nights for a while, and I want to remind you why
it's important for us to learn doctrine. Ephesians 4 and verse 14, the Bible says
this, that we henceforth, and if you know the context you know that he's
talking about the perfecting of the saints, and the unity of the faith, and
all those things. Then he says that we henceforth be no more children tossed to
and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, and the truth is this,
that out there you're going to hear all sorts of different doctrines from all
sorts of different people, and you can get carried, if you're not rooted and
grounded in the Word of God, you can be carried about with every wind of
doctrine, and notice, I want you to notice these words, by the sleight of men.
See that word sleight? You ever heard of a magician, and they talk
about the sleight of hand, and it's the idea of keeping something from you,
tricking you when someone does a magic trick, and they're actually just tricking
you in some way, making you think something that's not true, and that's
what Paul says here about those who preach false doctrine. He says when you
are carried about with every wind of doctrine, he says it's by the sleight of
men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and look there
are a lot of people out there, if you turn on the Christian radio station, if
you turn on the Christian television station, if you are listening, and I'm all
for YouTube, and we're on YouTube, and all that, but there's a lot of false
doctrine on YouTube. There's a lot of people out there that want to lie to
you, and want to tell you false doctrine, so we're studying, and we're taking the
time to learn doctrine on Sunday nights, because we want you to not be henceforth,
to henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro. We want you to be mature, to
grow, to be rooted and grounded in what you believe, and look, part of me was
hesitant to even start this series, because of the fact that when you tell
people, oh we're gonna be learning doctrine, you know, in the flesh you might
think, oh that's boring, or oh that's not interesting, but it is important in
the Christian life, that you not only know what you believe, but why you
believe it, and what we know, and what we believe, and what we
are leaning on, is actually from the Word of God. Now go back to 2nd Timothy, if
you would, and let me just say this, last time we were in this series, I preached a
sermon on the doctrine of the Word of God, and we talked about the doctrine of
the Word of God, how we got the Word of God, inspiration and preservation, we
talked about illumination and all those things. Tonight we're gonna continue with
the subject of the Word of God, and this is not a series on the Word of God, it's
a series on doctrine, but you can't talk about doctrine without understanding the
Word of God, and tonight's sermon will be a little different than how I usually
preach. I'm gonna go ahead and give you that disclaimer, and tonight I'm
preaching a sermon entitled, What is the Bible? And we're answering this
question, what exactly is the Bible? Now next week I would encourage you to stick
with us, because next week we're gonna talk about the reliability of the Bible.
Today we're gonna talk about what the Bible is and how we got it, and then next
week we're gonna talk about whether it's a reliable book. Now of course you and I
believe it's a reliable book, but we're gonna look at Scripture as to how we
know that it is reliable. The Bible is the important piece of the Christian
life, because it's how God reveals himself, specifically reveals himself, to
mankind and to us. Are you there in 2nd Timothy 3? Look at verse 16,
all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and all Scripture is profitable.
Profitable for what? Notice the first thing on the list, for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Why do we need the
Bible? We need the Bible for doctrine, we need the Bible for reproof, we need the
Bible for correction, we need the Bible for instruction. Notice verse 17, that the
man of God may be perfect, that word means complete, mature, thoroughly
furnished, that means equipped or ready unto all good works. So look, if we don't
have the Bible we don't have anything, and we need to know that we have the
Bible, we need to know where the Bible came from, and so I want to answer for
you tonight this question, what is the Bible? What is the Bible? Now for some of
you, and maybe you're newer Christians or newer in Christianity, you've never had
somebody teach you this, this might be extremely interesting, for some of you it
may just be a review, but that's okay, it's good for you to review the things
that you already know. Keep your place there in 2nd Timothy 3, that's our, we're
going to be going back and forth from there tonight, but go up in the book of
Revelation if you would, Revelation chapter number 20. Last book in the New
Testament should be fairly easy to find, Revelation chapter 20. Tonight we're
going to learn about what is the Bible. What is the Bible? And this is just by
way of introduction, but I want to go ahead and teach you this and make
sure you know this, the Bible is a book made up of many books, and I know you
know that, but it's good for us to understand that the Bible is a book
that is made up of many books, and the Bible even says this in Revelation 20 in
verse 11, the Bible says this, and I saw a great white throne. Now I'm not
preaching on the doctrine of judgment in this series, I'll do a sermon called the
doctrine of judgment and we'll talk about the different judgments that will,
that all human beings will partake in, or we will partake in one or the other one
of these judgments in the end times. I'm not preaching on that, but I just want
you to know that the great white throne judgment is not the judgment of
believers. The believers are judged in what's called the judgment seat of
Christ. The great white throne is where unbelievers are judged, and I want you
to notice what the Bible says, that's what we're reading about in Revelation 20 in
verse 11. It says, I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was now, and there was found no
place for them. So notice, there's heaven and earth have fled away, there's
nowhere to be but here. Everyone will be at the great white throne. Now those of
us that are believers will not be judged as a great white throne, but we will be
present at the great white throne. Notice verse 12, and I saw the dead. These are
unbelievers. Believers are never referred to as dead. If you'll notice in your New
Testament, whenever a believer dies, they are referred to as sleeping. You say, why
is that? Because you wake up out of sleep, and one day at the resurrection you're
going to wake up out of sleep, but here we are referring to the dead, those who
are unsaved, and I saw the dead small and great stand before God. Now I want you to
notice this phrase, and the books were opened. You say, well what's that? Well
notice, then it says, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. Now
usually when we talk about this great white throne, we like to focus on the
book of life, and I want to encourage you, if you're interested in learning, there's
a lot of misconceptions about the book of life in our series on the seven
churches of Revelation. We're gonna dig into this idea of the book of life. It's
mentioned in those chapters, and we're gonna go through and study it, and make
sure you understand it, but at that great white throne, the book of life is open,
and basically everyone's names of those who are saved are in this book, and at
the judgment of unbelievers, the Bible tells us the book of life is opened,
because obviously if you're saved, your name's there. If you're not saved, your
name's blotted out, is what the Bible says, but I want you to notice it says
that the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the
book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which are written in
the books according to their works, and I want you to notice at this great white
throne, we're told that a book is opened, the book of life, but then it says the
books were opened, and you know, what is that referring to? What is that talking
about? I believe that's talking about the Bible, that the Bible was open. You say
well I thought the Bible was a book, why does it say books? Well here's the thing,
the Bible is a book made up of many books. In fact, the word Bible, you will
not find the word Bible in the Bible. The word Bible itself is simply a
transliteration of the Greek word biblos. Now a lot of times when we
talk about the Bible, we talk about translations, translating one word into
another language. A transliteration is not the same as a translation. A
transliteration is when you just take a word from one language, and you just
bring that word into another language, and that's what the word Bible is. The
word Bible is just a transliteration of the Greek word biblos, and the Greek word
biblos means book, and the word Bible simply means the book, and it's really
just a book made up of many books, and specifically 66 books, 39 books in the
Old Testament, and 27 books in the New Testament. The books of the Bible make up
this Bible, and here's the thing, at the Great White Throne, the Bible says that
the books are going to be open, and I'm not preaching about the Great White
Throne, but I do want to just look at this passage and answer some questions
because whenever we come here, people always ask these questions, and I want
to answer them for you. They're gonna be judged, notice what it says at verse 12,
according to their works, and sometimes people will ask, well wait a minute, I
thought salvation was not of works. If salvation is not of works, why are these
people being judged according to their works? Well remember that these are
unsaved people. These people are unbelievers. In fact, go with me just
real quickly to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter number 7, and here's the
interesting thing about unsaved people, is that generally speaking, unsaved
people want to be judged by their works. You say, what do you mean by that?
Well, go out soul-winding with us. Knock on doors. Ask people, do you know for sure
if you're not today, are you on your way to heaven? Oh yeah, I'm very religious. What
are you trusting in to get you to heaven? Well, I got baptized. Well, I got catechized.
Well, I go to the confessional booth. Well, I repented of my sins. Well, I used to do
this, and I used to smoke, and I used to do drugs, and I stopped doing, I
repented of all that. Generally speaking, people want to be judged by their works.
In fact, Jesus said, Matthew chapter 7, referring to the great white throne
judgment, he's teaching about the great white throne judgment, Matthew 7 verse 21,
he says, but not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, many, notice
what he says, many will say to me in that day, in what day? The day of judgment, the
great white throne judgment. He says, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord. Now
look, if you were standing before God, and he's about to throw you into hell, what
would you say? I mean, I know what I'd say. I'd say, wait a minute, God, you said,
whosoever calleth upon the name of your son shall be saved. You said, believe I'm
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You said, I had eternal security.
You said that you'd forgiven me of all my, I mean, is that what you would say? Now
we're not gonna have to say that because God already knows your name's in the book
of life if you believe that, but if I was standing before God and he's about to throw
me in hell, I would say, your Bible says that all I had to do was believe, faith, call upon
you, and that you would save me. Now notice what these people say. They say, Jesus says
there, many will say to me in that day, verse 22, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Look, these are religious people that'll be at the great white throne. They're about
to get thrown into hell, and you know what they're talking about? Their works. Well,
didn't we live a good life? Didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we cast out devils? Didn't
we do many wonderful works? Verse 23, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew
you. Notice, it's not that they lost their salvation. They were never saved. I never
knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. See, at the great white throne, the Bible
tells us that the books will be open, and the book of life will be open, and unbelievers
will be standing there, and Catholics and Muslims and Jews and Mormons and Jehovah's
Witnesses and all sorts of false religions are going to stand before God and say, but
I lived a good life, and I did good things, and I prophesied, and I taught Sunday school,
and I did this, and I did that, and God's going to say, well, I'm going to judge you
based off of the books. You know what I think he's going to do? I think he's going to open
Romans chapter three and say, well, let's see what the Bible says. Mr. Many Wonderful
Works, because this is what you'll be judged by. As it is written, there is none righteous,
no, not one. There is none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after God.
They all got out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth
good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre. With their tongues they have used
deceit. The poison of ashes in their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way
of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now, we know
that what think so ever the law say to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in the sight, for by the law is the knowledge
of sin. And here's what the Bible teaches. At the great white throne, they're going to
be judged by this book, by these books, because the Bible is a book made up of books. And
don't let that confuse you. People say, oh, but he's judging them according to their works.
They want to be judged by their works. And they're going to be found wanting. They're
going to come short of the glory of God. So the Bible is a book made up of many books.
Go to Luke chapter 24, if you would, in Luke chapter 24, you have Matthew, Mark, Luke,
chapter 24. And let me talk to you about the organization of the Bible. Because the Bible
is a book made up of many books, 66 books to be exact. And I want you to notice, and
you may have never noticed this, that your Bible is organized in a specific way for a
reason. Now, I want you to look down at Luke 24. While we do that, I'm going to ask the
ushers to come through. And I've got a handout I want them to give all the adults. So any
kid that can read, if you can read and up, you can get one of these handouts. I think
we should have enough for everybody. While they do that, look at Luke 24 and verse 44.
Luke 24 and verse 44, the Bible says this, and he said unto them, these are the words
which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which
were written. And I want you to notice, Jesus is speaking about the Bible. And I want you
to notice what he says. He says, which were written in the law of Moses. He says, he's
talking about the Bible, and he calls it the law of Moses. And he says this, and in the
prophets, and then he says this, and in Psalms concerning me. And here's what I want you
to understand. The Bible is a book made up of many books, and it is organized in our
Bible based on categories. And even Jesus acknowledged the fact. He said, look, the
Bible, he said, you have heard, he said, while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled. He said, fulfilled of me, which were written of me. Jesus would say, what
were they written, in what parts of the Bible? He says, in the law, in the prophets, and
in Psalms. And Jesus divided the Bible into categories. Some of the Bible is considered
law. Some of it is considered Psalms. Some of it is considered prophecy. Look at Luke
chapter 16 and verse number 16. You're there in Luke 24, just head back to Luke 16. Look
at verse 16. Luke 16, 16. Notice what the Bible says. The law and the prophets were
until John. Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached and every man presses into
it. Now again, I told you at the beginning of the sermon, this sermon is going to be
a little different. Tonight's sermon is going to be maybe more teachy, might feel like a
college lecture. I'm going to try to spruce it up and make it as dynamic and applicable
as possible, and we'll definitely have some application. But I want to begin by just explaining
to you that your Bible, because the whole point of this series is just to strengthen
you to become a mature Christian who understands, hopefully if you've been with us, you understand
the doctrine of general revelation, specific revelation, the word of God, the importance
of doctrine. Now I just want you to know, what is the Bible? And here's what you need
to know about the Bible. The Bible is a book made up of many books, and those books are
organized in your Bible by category. And you may have never noticed this, but in your
Bible, the books are organized by category. If you look at your hand out there, I want
you to notice the Old Testament. When you begin the Old Testament, you've got five books
of the Old Testament to begin your Bible, and it's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy. Generally, these books are considered to be written by Moses. They're called the
Law of Moses by Jesus, and these five books of the Bible are called the Law, or they're
called the Pentateuch. And the word Pentateuch simply is referring to five, just like we've
got a building in Washington called the Pentagon with five sides. You've got the five books
that make up the Law, and they are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. So
when Jesus said, hey, things have to be fulfilled that were written of me in the Law of Moses,
that's what he's referring to. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, that is the
Law, or the Pentateuch. Then you've got a section in your Old Testament that would be
considered the historical books. And these are the books that deal with the history of
the nation of Israel. These are usually the narratives, meaning they're the stories, right?
You read Leviticus and Numbers, it's a lot of laws, which is why it's called the Law.
And then you get into Joshua and Judges, it's a lot of stories, because these are historical
books. You've got the book of Joshua, dealing with basically from the death of Moses, the
children of Israel entering into the Promised Land and conquering, coming out of the wilderness
into the Promised Land. You've got the book of Judges, which takes place after the death
of Joshua before the children of Israel have a king, and they are being ruled for about
200 and some odd years by judges. Then you have the book of Ruth, which is a story of
David's great-grandmother, and it really tells us the story of David and King David. Then
you've got the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, which begin with the first king of Israel, Saul,
and take us through the life of David. 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles take us through
the kings, through Solomon, through the split of the kingdom, the northern kingdom, the
southern kingdom, and all of those kings. Then you've got Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. This
is all the history after the kings, when they've been taken over by Babylon and by
the Assyrians, when the kingdom has been brought into captivity. These books are grouped together
because they're the historical books. They're the historical books of the Bible. You've
got the Law, or the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. You've got
the historical books, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah,
Esther. Those books are divided between Joshua, Judges, Ruth, which is pre-king, 1 Samuel,
1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, which is during the kings or with the kings, and Ezra, Nehemiah,
Esther, which is after the kings or into the captivity. Then you've got what we call the
poetic books, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. These are books that are
poetic. They're poetry. They're music. Psalms is a book of music. Song of Solomon is a song.
It is a book of music. Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, these are poetic-type books. The book of Job,
you've got a narrative in the first two chapters, and you've got a narrative in the last chapter.
But other than that, it's just a lot of going back and forth, conversation, and a lot of
poetry and things of that. So you've got the poetic book. Then you've got the prophets.
The Old Testament ends with a section of all of the prophetic books put together, and
those books are divided into two categories. You've got the major prophets and the minor
prophets. Now, the only difference between the major prophets and the minor prophets
is not that one is more important than the other one. It just has to do with the size
of the books. So you've got the major prophets, which are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations,
Ezekiel, Daniel, and then you've got the minor prophets, which is Hosea, Joel, Amos,
Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Isaac, Uriah, Malachi. And by the
way, these books are placed in chronological order. When you've got Isaiah's prophecy,
you've got Isaiah prophesying. Remember, we preached through the entire book of Isaiah
on Wednesday night several years ago. You've got Isaiah prophesying about the Assyrian
impending Assyrian takeover of the nation of Judah. Now, that never happens. Thanks
to King Hezekiah and to God moving, the Assyrians take over the northern kingdom, but they never
take over the southern kingdom. But Isaiah's prophesying about that impending doom. And
then in the middle of the book of Isaiah, there's a shift where the Babylonians come
in, and now it's all about Babylon coming to destroy the southern kingdom of Israel.
Jeremiah and Lamentations is all about the Babylonians taking over the southern kingdom
of Israel. Ezekiel, remember we just did the book of Ezekiel last year. We went through
every chapter of Ezekiel. Ezekiel's in captivity, and he's already in Babylon. So these books
are in chronological order. Isaiah is before the Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah Lamentations
is the Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel, Daniel is after the Babylonian captivity. By the
way, the minor prophets are also in chronological order. You've got Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah.
A lot of these are contemporaries with Isaiah. And then you've got Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk.
You're going to have the contemporaries with Jeremiah. And then towards the end there,
you're going to have the contemporaries with, once you get into Haggai and Zedekiah and
Malachi, you've got contemporaries with Ezra, Nehemiah, and it's after the captivity. So
here's all I want you to know, and I want you to just be aware of this, that your Bible
is made up of many books, and those books are placed in order based on categories. You've
got the law, you've got the historical books, you've got the poetic books, the major prophets,
the minor prophets. Now that's the Old Testament. What about the New Testament? Well, the New
Testament, in a similar way, you've got the gospels. And these are, of course, the story
of Jesus Christ. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John deal with the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
And this is really, probably, if I can say, the most important books in the entire Bible. The
gospels is kind of in the center. It's the first thing you read when you get into the New Testament,
because everything in the Old Testament is leading up to Jesus, and everything after is just
referring back to Jesus. So you've got the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Then,
in a similar way to the Old Testament, you've got a historical book, the book of Acts, or
sometimes called the Acts of the Apostles. And it's really the history of the New Testament church,
and how the local church was launched, and how missions was launched, and how Paul took the
gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. Then you've got what are known as the church epistles.
These are letters that were written to churches. The book of Romans was written to the church at
Rome. 1st and 2nd Corinthians to the church at Corinth. Galatians to the church in Galatia.
Ephesians to the church at Ephesus. In our Sunday morning series, the seven churches of Revelation,
we're going to have a whole sermon about the church of Ephesus. Philippians to the church at
Philippi. Colossians to the church at Colossae. 1st and 2nd Thessalonians to the church of the
Thessalonians. So you've got these church epistles or these letters that were written to
churches. Then you've got what's known as the pastoral epistles. These are books that were
written to a pastor, and they're basically about ministry. They're kind of the manual for ministry.
This is where you find the qualifications for a pastor and a lot of just church settings. You've
got 1st and 2nd Timothy that Paul wrote to a young pastor named Timothy. And you've got the
book of Titus, which Paul wrote to a young pastor named Titus. Then you have what is known as the
general epistles. These are the epistles that were just kind of generally written to a group
of people or to an individual. So you have Philemon, which is a book by Paul written to
Philemon. You've got the book of Hebrews, which we don't know who the writer of Hebrews is. I tend
to think it's Paul. Some people disagree with that, but it was written to just kind of the
Hebrews or those who are the physical descendants of Abraham. And the whole book of Hebrews is kind
of teaching the descendants of Abraham, the Hebrews, how to be New Testament Christians and
how the Old Testament and the New Testament correlate together and how we connect the two.
You've got the book of James. It was written by James to a bunch of believers. You've got 1st and
2nd Peter, written by Peter. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, written by John. And then you've got the book of
Jude. These are known as the general epistles. Then you have what's known as the apocalypse,
which is the book of Revelation, which is end times prophecy. And again, I just want you to be
aware. As Christians, shouldn't you know something about your... I mean, you're basing your whole
life on this Bible, right, in this book. You should kind of know how it's organized and the
fact that people say, oh, you believe the Bible is just a book. Well, no, actually it's 66 books.
It's not so much a Bible as it is a library. And it's organized in these categories. And Jesus,
you know, confirmed that because he said, we read it there in Luke 24, he said, there's things
written of me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalm. So you have the law,
the Pentateuch, the historical books, the poetic books, the major prophets, the minor prophets,
the gospels, church history, church epistles, pastoral epistles, general epistles, and prophecy
or apocalypse. Go to the book of Jeremiah, if you would, Jeremiah chapter number one. If you start
at the center of your Bible, you're more than likely found in the book of Psalms. Right after
Psalms, you have Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter
number one. So that's the organization of the Bible, how the Bible is organized. Now, let's just
real quickly talk about the origins of the Bible. Where did the Bible come from? Now, we talked
about in the doctrine of the word of God, how God revealed himself. Remember, through inspiration,
the holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Then it was written down,
which is preservation. The same God that used sinful men to inspire his word, we believe that
same God can use sinful men to preserve his word through writings. And we're going to have a whole
sermon called the doctrine of the King James Bible. And we're going to talk about what we
believe about that and why we believe the King James Bible is the inspired, preserved word of
God. Then we talked about illumination, how unbelievers can't understand the Bible. God
has to illuminate it for us through the Holy Spirit. Only saved people can really understand
the Bible. What I want to talk to you about is just practically speaking, though, when we talk
about holy men of God spake and they wrote, how did that happen? Who did that, the origins of the
Bible? Where did it come from? All right. First of all, and I'd encourage you to just write this
down. It's just good for you to kind of have this knowledge. And it's this, the Bible was written
on three different continents. The Bible was written on three different continents. And we
could spend the whole night just going over things. People are supposed to be here in like
20 minutes. I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to give you some examples. Okay. One
continent that it was written on was Asia. Now the nation of Israel is in the continent of Asia and
Babylon is in the continent of Asia. Those are some examples I want to show you. If you're there
in Jeremiah 1, look at verse 1. The Bible says this, the words of Jeremiah, the son of Helkiah,
of the priests that were in Anathon, notice, in the land of Benjamin. Now Benjamin was a tribe
in the southern kingdom of Judah, which is in the land of Israel, which is in Asia. So the
vast majority of the Bible was written, you know, and took place in the stories in the nation of
Israel. So that's clear. But I want you to, it's not just Israel. Notice also in Ezekiel 1, you're
there in Jeremiah, go Lamentations and then Ezekiel. Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel,
Ezekiel chapter 1, and just look at verse 1. Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 1. Now stay with me.
I'm going to give you something practical here at the end, but I want you to get this information.
And you know, part of the reason that I'm motivated to preach these sermons is because our church,
you may or may not know this, our church has actually started four different churches. In
September, our church will be 10 years old. And in those 10 years, we've started a church in
Vancouver, Washington. We've started a church in Boise, Idaho. We started a church in Fresno,
California. And we started two churches in the Philippines. We've started five churches. I said
four because I was thinking one of the Philippines. We actually have a second church in the Philippines.
And you know, that's only the first 10 years. And Lord willing, we're going to have decades
of doing this, starting churches. We're training men for the ministry. We're training men for
the ministry even right now. And I want the people and the men especially that come out of
this church to know just basic things about the Bible, to know basic doctrine. So here's what you
should know. The Bible is written on three different continents. One was Asia, Ezekiel 1, 1. Now it
came to pass in the 30th year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was
among, this is Ezekiel speaking, as I was among the captives by the river Kibar, which is Babylon,
which is modern day Iraq, that the heavens were open and I saw the visions of God. So he's sitting
in what you and I would call Iraq, which is in Asia. The book of Ezekiel was written in Asia. So
the Bible is written on three different continents, one being Asia, the other one being Africa. The
Bible, part of the Bible is written in Africa. Go to Numbers chapter number 1. Numbers chapter 1,
in the beginning of the Bible, you have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, those Pentateuch
books. Numbers chapter 1, look at verse 1. Numbers 1, 1. Numbers 1, 1, the Bible says,
and the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. So in the wilderness of Sinai, or
something that's called the wilderness of sin, which is, if you look at a map, it's a peninsula
that's basically between the continent of Africa and the continent of Asia, is where the Sinai
peninsula is in the wilderness of Sinai, but it's considered part of Africa or part of the African
continent. So here we see Numbers was given, the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai,
while he's in the continent of Africa. Then part of the Bible was written in the continent of
Europe. Go to Philippians in the New Testament, chapter number 4. Philippians chapter number 4.
If you kept your place in 2 Timothy, continue to keep your place there, but from 2 Timothy,
if you're going backwards, you've got 1 Timothy, 2 and 1 Thessalonians, Colossians,
Philippians. Philippians chapter number 4, and look at verse number 22. Obviously, Paul was all
over the place. I'll just give you one example how we know that he was in Asia, excuse me, Europe,
and he was in Turkey, and he was in Rome, which is in Europe, and history tells us that, but he
tells us that in his writings as well. Philippians 4, look at verse 22. All the saints salute you.
This is Paul writing the book of Philippians while he's in prison in Rome, and in the book
of Philippians, you'll find the key words of Philippians. He keeps saying, rejoice, rejoice,
rejoice, rejoice in the Lord, have joy in the Lord. He's sitting in a prison, and he's encouraging
the Philippian church to be happy and to be joyful, kind of what we were talking about this
morning. Look, contentment is not based on your circumstances. It's based on your frame of mind,
and if you just have joy in the Lord, then you can have joy anywhere. Philippians 4,
22, notice what he says. He says, all the saints salute you, and then he's telling the Philippians,
he's in Rome, he's saying, all the saints in Rome salute you, and I think he kind of throws
this in just to kind of drop a name, I guess, just kind of show people the impact he's making.
He says, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household, and here's what he's saying. He's
saying, Caesar, the Roman emperor, Paul had converted some people who worked and lived
with Caesar because he's in Europe, because he's in Rome, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with you all. Amen. So the Bible is written on three different continents, Asia, Africa,
and Europe. Not only that, but maybe you can write this down. The Bible is written in three
different languages. Go to Genesis chapter 24, if you would. Genesis 24, first book in the Bible,
should be fairly easy to find. Genesis 24, but let me explain this to you. The Bible is written
in three different languages. The Old Testament was primarily written in Hebrew, and the New
Testament was primarily written in Greek. There are a few sections of our Bible that were written
in Aramaic. Portions of Daniel and portions of the book of Ezra were written in Aramaic. So what
you have when you look at this book called the Bible, you've got a book that's actually made up
of multiple books, and they are organized in different categories, and they're organized by
their categories, whether they're a legal book or a historical book or a poetic book or a prophetic
book. And those books were written on three different continents, and they were written in
three different languages, and they were written in a variety of literary forms. And we've already
talked about this, so I don't want to talk about it too much, but you've got legal documents,
you've got historical documents, you've got poetic documents, you've got prophetic documents. These
have different literary forms. They're not similar in the way they are written, because they're
written by a vast majority of authors. And here's the other kind of stat I want to give you, and
the Bible was written by 40 different human authors. Forty different human authors wrote
the Bible in a variety of literary forms on three different continents in three different languages.
And this variety of authors, it's a huge variety. I mean, you've got rich and poor, you've got
politically powerful and politically connected and not politically powerful and not politically
connected. You've got portions of the Bible that were written by kings that are political leaders.
You've got portions of the Bible that were written by priests and Levites that are basically full
time spiritual leaders. You've got portions of the Bible that were written by scribes. You've
got a couple of books in the Bible that was written by a physician, a doctor. You've got
parts of the Bible written by Paul, who was a scholar. You've got parts of the Bible written
by herdsmen and fishermen. Our Bible was written by 40 different authors from all sorts of
different backgrounds, from all sorts of different places, with all sorts of different educations,
all sorts of different cultures they came from, three different continents, three different
languages, and it was written over a period of, some say, 1400, 1500, up to 1600 years. This is
our Bible. This is the Bible. What's interesting to me, you say, well, why is it that God would
have it? Why wouldn't He just have it written in one place? I thought it was just written in Israel,
in one language. Well, I think God did that for one reason. I just want to show you one verse on
that. Proverbs 24 and verse 3, the Bible says this, and I will make thee swear by the Lord.
And the word Lord there is talking about God, Almighty God, Jehovah God. Genesis 24, verse 3,
and I will make thee swear by the Lord. Notice what it says about the Lord, the God of heaven and the
God of the earth. See, our God is the God of the entire earth. He's not the God of one region. He's
not the God of one section. He's not the God of one location. He's not just the God of the Jews
and the God of the Americans. He's the God of the entire world. Part of the Bible is written in Asia.
Asia, by and large, rejects God. But you know what? God is the God of Asia, and He's the God
of Africa, and He's the God of Europe, and He's the God of the Americas. He's the God of heaven.
He's the God of earth. He's the God of languages. So He had the Bible written. He's the God of the
poor and the rich, the educated and uneducated. And for that reason, His Bible, His book was
written in a variety of ways. Forty different authors. Fifteen, sixteen hundred years. Rich,
poor, well-educated, not educated, well-connected, not connected, fishermen, scholars, kings. Three
different continents, three different languages. And here's what's really interesting about the
Bible, if you would go back to Luke 24. Wouldn't you think with everything that I've said to you
so far, you've got a book that's made up of many books, a book written by all sorts of human
authors, written on different continents, in different languages, over a vast period of time.
Wouldn't you think that the Bible would just be a book filled of ramblings and incoherent sayings?
I mean, could you imagine if we started writing a story right now? It's like, okay, I'm gonna write
part of the story, and then you're gonna write part of the story, and then someone over there
is gonna write part of the story, and then someone over there is gonna write part of the story, but
we're gonna be on different continents, and we're gonna be speaking different languages, and we're
not even gonna live at the same time. I mean, if we brought that book together, it'd probably be a
lot of nonsense. It'd probably be pretty incoherent. What's interesting about the Bible is that the
Bible as a whole is one cohesive, united book. Luke 24, look at verse 25. This is what Jesus said.
Then he said unto them, O fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. What
prophets, Jesus? And he would say, you know the prophets. Some of them were herdsmen. Some of them
were scribes. Some of them were priests and Levites. Some of them had education, and some of them had
not. They lived over hundreds of years. You know the prophets, multiple prophets, writing all sorts
of different things, but he says, you have not believed all that the prophets have spoken. And
he says, here's what they said. Ought not Christ have suffered these things and to enter into his
glory? And then this is what Jesus does in verse 27. And beginning at Moses, Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the Pentateuch, the law, and all the prophets, minor, major prophets,
he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Because from Genesis to
Revelation, there is one theme throughout the whole Bible, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this book is a coherent book. It's the story of one man, the God-man, Jesus. Go to John chapter
5. Let me show it to you in another passage. Look at verse 45. John 5, verse 45. John 5, 45, the
Bible says this. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. This is Jesus speaking. There
is one that accuses you, even Moses. He's talking to the Pharisees who are of Jewish descent, and
he's saying, look, you think you're trusting in Moses, but Moses is the one that's going to accuse
you in whom you trust. Then he says this in verse 46. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have
believed me, for he wrote of me. He said, no, no, wait a minute. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
they wrote of you, Jesus. And Jesus said, no, Moses wrote of me too. And Joshua wrote of me.
And the book of Judges, it's all about me. And all these books, there's a scarlet thread that
connects the entire Bible, and it is the story of the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to Acts chapter 10.
Acts chapter 10. You're there in John. Just flip one book over to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 10,
look at verse 43. Acts 10, 43. Acts 10, 43, the Bible says this, to him, talking about Jesus,
to him give all the prophets witness. You know what the book of Acts tells us? It tells us that
every prophetic book in the entire Bible is all about Jesus. To him give all the prophets witness,
that through his name, who so believeth in him shall receive remission of sin.
And here's what I want you to understand. This Bible that you and I hold in our hands,
this book that is really made up of 66 books that was written over 1600 years,
that was written on three different continents, in three different languages,
by 40 different authors is one cohesive, united book about the Lord Jesus Christ.
But wouldn't you expect it to be just a bunch of randomness? You know that other false sacred books
were written by one man? Now, if a false sacred book is written by one man, wouldn't you expect
that book to be cohesive if it's written by one man? The Quran was written by one person, Muhammad.
The Analects of Confucius were written by one person, Confucius. The Writings of Buddha were
written by one person, Buddha. The Book of Mormon was written by one person, Joseph Smith.
And here's what's interesting. If you read the Book of Mormon, it's a bunch of nonsense.
I mean, it's a bunch of just ridiculous stories put together, a bunch of just, it doesn't make
any sense. And you'd think, you'd think it's written by one man, Joseph Smith, that it would
have a coherent sense to it, but it doesn't. You read the Quran, bunch of nonsense. You think that
it's written by one man, Muhammad. He could just get one kind of thought idea, but you read the
Quran, if you've ever tried, I mean, don't try it, it's a bunch of foolishness, but if you've ever
tried to read the Quran, it's a bunch of foolishness, nonsense. False sacred, so-called
sacred books were written by one man, Quran by one man, The Analects of Confucius, one man.
The Writings of Buddha, one man. Book of Mormon, one man. Written by one man, you'd expect them
to be cohesive, and they're not. The Bible was written by 40 men, and it's cohesive.
It's united, and it makes sense, and we can go back and reference back and forth, and go in,
and if you show up to the sermons here, you know, you'll see us go to here and go to there,
and this talks about this, and this connects with this, and this is talking about that.
It's all connected, and people will say to us, go back to 2 Timothy 3, the pizza's here,
I gotta finish up. 2 Timothy 3, people say to us, oh, I can't believe the Bible,
because that was written by a man, and you know what your response should be?
Well, no, actually it was written by 40 men,
over 1600 years, on three different continents, in three different languages,
and the fact that 40 men over 1600 years, on three continents, with three languages,
could write a cohesive book should prove to you that it was actually written by God.
2 Timothy 3, 16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
So don't let anybody scare you, the Bible was written by a man.
One man couldn't write, one man can't live 1600 years,
on three different continents, three different languages?
One man wrote legal, poetic, historical, and prophetic documents?
Actually, it was written by a variety, and you say, well, why would God do that?
To show you that this book was not written by any one man.
This was written by God. It's God's book.
Now, if you're holding the Quran written by one guy, maybe that one guy lied to you.
If you're holding the Book of Mormon written by one man, maybe that one guy lied to you.
But this book was written by God.
So I hope you understand what we hold in our hands.
This book is actually a book made up of many books,
many authors, over hundreds of years, different places, different cultures, different continents,
and the only way it can all be bound together as one book that makes sense is if God did it.
And in case you don't know, God did it.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word, and thank you for the Bible.
Thank you for the fact that you could have done whatever you wanted,
but you didn't give us the Bible through just one man at one time.
In the scope of time, but you revealed yourself to many men.
Different cultures, different educations, different political standings,
different times during history, different places, different languages.
You gave us one cohesive book to show us that it was written by you.
And Lord, we love you for it.
We pray that you would help us to always be grounded upon the word of God,
not written by amen, but written by God who used many men to bring us his word.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray.
Amen.