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Biblical Authentication. Series: Apologetics 101 Text: 1Corinthians 2:6-8. Reason for Apologetics.
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Biblical Authentication Series: Apologetics 101 Text: 1Corinthians 2:6-8
Reason for Apologetics • The Church is facing one of the biggest crisis in its history, in the sense that the challenges and attacks from the last 3-4 generations of skeptics, have found the average Christian defenceless. • However, the Word of God says, "When the Enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of God will raise a standard against him!" (Isaiah 59:19) • I have noticed that in the last number of years there has been a steady increase of quality books on apologetics in Christian Bookstores; more and more authors are answering the need to equip the Body of Christ with answers to the tough questions being asked today [God is raising the standard].
The Need is Two fold • We have a need to equip Christians to defend our faith with reasonable arguments for two reasons: 1) To adequately answer the questions and arguments of enquirers and offenders of Christianity. 2) To protect the flock of God from deception. • Paul’s Fear: 2Co. 11:3 “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
Apologetic Teachers • A fantastic place to start your apologetic studies would be to read the works and watch the videos of some of the leading apologetic thinkers on earth. • William Lane Craig www.reasonablefaith.org • John Lennox www.johnlennox.org • Ravi Zacharias www.rzim.org • Michael Liconawww.risen-jesus.com
Videos to Watch • Lee Strobel: -A Case for Christ -A Case for the Creator -A Case for Faith • Debates: -There are many debates that you can watch on Youtube of William Lane Craig, John Lennox and Ravi Zacharias and others.
Videos which Reveal Truth about our Modern Culture • To be able to accurately discern between the morality as presented in the Bible to the influence which our modern culture has had upon all of us, watch: -They Sold Their Souls for Rock and Roll – Joe Schimmel -Hells Bells part 1 and 2 by Eric Holmberg -Megiddo 1 and 2 by Adullam Films -Hollywood’s War on God by Joe Schimmel
Apologetics Books to Read • Every good Christian Bookstore should have an apologetics section, some great books to look into is: -Books by Lee Strobel -Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis -Has Science Buried God by John Lennox -Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig -The Real Face of Atheism by Ravi Zacharias -The Christ Files by John Dickson (Highly Recommended by Pastor Neil Ryan) • Spend some time in the Apologetics Section and get an idea of the quality books there are on the subject.
Authenticity of the Bible • You will find that you will often be confronted with the question “Why should I believe in a book which was written by men?” • Well you know what, if I did not believe that the Bible was divine, I would not believe in it. • But here are 2 answers which I will offer today: • One is to turn the question on them, “Well everything you believe, you admit to be written by men, so why do you believe what you do?” • The second answer is because of the authentication codes which are throughout the text of Scripture. • Is. 46:9-10 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
Chuck MisslerAuthenticity of the Bible • In my opinion, from all my research, Chuck Missler is the best Bible teacher and interpreter of prophecy in the World today. • Chuck said in session 1 of the video series ‘Prophecy 101’: • “Since God has the technology to create us, He certainly has the means to get a message to us; but how does He authenticate His message so that we know that it is really from Him and not a contrivance or a fraud?”
Authentication Codes of the Bible • To get a more complete briefing on what I mean by authentication codes in the Bible, please spend the time and watch session 1 of the video, “Prophecy 101” by Chuck Missler, you can view it on Youtube. • The Bible is the only Book on earth which not only contains over 2500 prophecies but around 2000 of them have been fulfilled to the letter, no errors. • These fulfilled OT prophecies were not added later after the fact, but were translated to Greek in the Septuagint 300 years BC and many have been fulfilled after that translation was completed. • No other ancient book has been authenticated through this means, not the Koran, Hindu’s Veda; Bhagavad-Gita; the book of Mormon, Nostradamus, nor occultic mediums etc.
The Coming of Christ • The coming of Jesus Christ alone authenticates the Bible as well as authenticates the Deity of Christ. • Over 300 prophecies were fulfilled in the life of Christ, He is the only person in history that had His entire life laid out in Scripture and then lived it out to the letter. • Some people will try to tell you that Jesus deliberately set out to fulfill prophecy, however Prophecies like Micah 5:2 that He would be born in Bethlehem could not be fulfilled in this way.
The Coming of Christ • Lord Kelvin pointed out that until we measure a thing we really know very little about it. • By quantifying and systematically studying all the Scriptures relating to different matters in the Bible, we can conclude by probability alone that the Bible had to have been written outside of our time domain and of extraterrestrial origin. • In the video ‘Prophecy 101 – session 1” by Chuck Missler, he points out, on very conservative estimates, that the probability of any one man fulfilling even 8 prophecies in a lifetime would be 1:1028 • When Chuck ran the figures upon the liklihood of one man fulfilling just 48 prophecies of the 300 to choose from, and again using very conservative figures, the result was 1:10157
One man fulfilling 8 prophecies in a lifetime would be 1:1028which is the equivalent of filling up the state of Texas with silver dollars 2 feet deep and plunging your hand in somewhere in Texas and pulling out the only marked silver dollar.
The Coming of Christ • So what this proves is that God had to have seen the end from the beginning. • God could see the life of Christ on earth as it happened and described it to the prophets hundreds of years earlier in detail. • From that perspective we can only conclude that the chances that the Bible was not a work of God, is improbable and out of the question.
End from the Beginning • God sees the end from the beginning, in that sense we can understand God as "One who inhabits all time." He is not bound by time, but knows every moment as if it has happened. However, we don't have that capacity, and have to live it out. So it is not that we have lived it before, but rather as we live it out we confirm God's all knowingness (omniscience) and it turns out exactly as He already knows because He inhabits all time and cannot help but know the outcome. So in that sense when Jesus is called the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, He is confirming the truth that He is not just everywhere present in the universe at once, at any moment, but He is everywhere present in all time and outside of time, in all eternity at once.
The End From the Beginning • Just in relation to the 1st coming of the Messiah Jeshua, the chances that the man Jesus could fulfil over 300 prophecies of OT Scripture proves without a shadow of a doubt that the giver of the prophecies could foresee the end from the beginning. • Is. 46:9-10 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. • So from the standpoint of Christ fulfilling over 300 OT prophecies authenticates Himself as God (which is what the prophets voiced in their prophecies) as well as the Bible as the inspired Word of God. • When we understand the Bible by its patterns in prophecy and by reckoning the complete work of prophecy we can't help but come to the conclusion that the Bible is an authentic and reliable text given to us by the hand of our Creator God who had the means to get a message to us and authenticate His message.