Lesson 3
Part 2

Why do we believe the Bible is true?
There are seven reasons.
You need to write these down.

These seven reasons, basically you can distill down to one or two words.

Number one.
Jesus Christ believed the Bible.
If anybody ever asks you, how do you know the Bible is true?
How do you know Proverbs is true?
How do you know what God’s way is?
How do you know what man’s way is?
How come you’re seeking so much to live your life this way?
How come you want to tell others how to live?
How can you know you’re saved and serving God and all these other points?
What do you tell them?

Jesus believed the Bible. That’s why I believe the Bible. That’s the greatest
reason. In fact, you don’t need a seven, the Bible that you are reading from right now, the Old Testament in
particular, every word that’s in the copy you have was in the Septuagint that Jesus carried around as He walked
in the synagogue and read either from the Septuagint, which was most frequent when he quotes scripture, or from
the Hebrew scriptures.

The reason I know the Bible is true is because Jesus Christ believed the Bible.

Number two.

The absolute testimony of the apostles and prophets, they repeatedly said
when they spoke and wrote these scriptures, they said, “thus says the LORD.”

Number three, because God’s word has survived.
One of the greatest persecutions of all time, in the history of the
church, was in the late third and early fourth century.

As Diocletian systematically tried to eradicate Christianity.
As he went through, he did three things.
He destroyed all church buildings.
He destroyed all copies that he could find of the scriptures.
He killed every pastor of every church throughout the empire.
That’s what the Roman Legionnaires did for 10 years.
You know how I believe the Bible is true?
Because the Bible has survived.

The Christians, you know what they did? They took the scrolls and the manuscripts and the papyri, and
they tore them up in pieces and gave everybody a piece.
So that, only if every Christian was hunted down and found, we would lose all the Bible.
That’s why today, those who study manuscripts of the Bible have
found 25,000 manuscripts of the New Testament.

Now, the Old Testament, like the dead sea scrolls, all of
those copies that Jesus would have read and believed; when we found the dead sea scrolls that were almost
2000 years after the time of Christ.
We found them, and they exactly matched the scriptures that we have.

Number one, Jesus believed it.

Number two, the apostles and prophets believed the Bible
to be true.

Number three, God’s word has survived.

Number four, the absolute unity of scripture.

Number five the prophetic accuracy.

The Bible is unified, even though it was written by 40 different men, living on four continents,
who spoke the word of God, and never met each other.
Across those 1600 years they never saw, many of them, what the others wrote. But what they wrote absolutely
is unified, it fits together.

Every time the Bible talks about the future prophecy. Every prophecy that has come to pass from the scriptures
has been fulfilled. Literally God tells us the future. He writes history in
advance.

Number six, scientific accuracy. In other words, anytime the Bible addresses
science, it’s totally accurate.

Number seven, historic accuracy.

If I ask you why you believe the Bible is true, you should say:
• Because Jesus did,
• Because the apostles and prophets unanimously said they were speaking the word of God.
• Number three, because God’s word has survived from the Romans desiring to destroy it, from
wicked Israelite kings trying to destroy it.

Like they did when they took Jeremiah and cut up his word and burned it in the fireplace, all the way through
the Babylonian captivity. Right up to communism and their desire to eradicate the scriptures, all the way
through my professor at Ohio University, who said the Bible’s not true. The Bible has survived.

• Number four, the absolute unity of the scriptures by those 40 different authors across all those centuries.

• Number five, prophetic accuracy. In fact, the book of Isaiah says the signature of God is that the
Bible’s prophecies come true. God said, I’m the only one that can tell you what’s going to happen in the future.

• Number six, scientific accuracy. Especially, I would say the book of Job, the book of Job talks about ornithology, geodesy,
isostasy, astrophysics. It talks about gravitational tug on stars, that no human has gotten near.
Only in the last a hundred years have we understood what Job says?
About oceanography and deep ocean vents and the current underwater. All of those things, scientifically the
Bible is accurate.

• Number seven, the historic accuracy of the Bible.
If you read the book of Mormon, if you read the Koran, there are so many historic inaccuracies.
Every time archeologists dig up the Middle East, you know what they find?
That everything the Bible says is totally historically accurate.

If we were to give a chart of the Old Testament,
basically the Old Testament is made up of three parts. 17 books of history.

There are five major history books, Genesis to Deuteronomy known as the Pentateuch. Then there
are nine history books that are pre-exilic. That means before the southern kingdom was taken off to Babylon,
then there are three books, the post exilic books. Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, that were written after the
Jewish people returned to Jerusalem.

There are 17 books of prophecy.
Now wait a minute. There are 17 books of history that are major, pre exilic, post exilic.
There are five major prophets. There are nine pre exilic prophets. There are three post
exilic prophets.
Amazing structure. Look at the center, the wisdom books across the top.
Job, a theology of godly suffering.

Psalms a theology of Godly worship.

Ecclesiastes a theology of Godly life.

Song of Solomon a Theology of love.

What’s right in the middle? The book of Proverbs.
The book of Proverbs is teaching us God’s way versus man’s way.
It teaches us how God wants us to live life and we can live it God’s way.
Especially how to live in a way that we get eternal gain.

Wise living is how God describes His will for us in the book of Proverbs.
This is an application of the theme of the book stated in Proverbs 1:7, “the fear of the LORD.”
The overarching theme of the book in the first nine chapters is reverence for God. Reverence for
God is submissive fear of displeasing Him.

God wants to make me teachable, not stubborn. Take your Bible.
You follow along in your Bible and read with me.

God wants to make me teachable, not stubborn because God says wise people receive
and love instruction.
Chapter 18 and verse 15 says this,
15 The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.

If you’re truly saved, if you’re wise, you’re seeking knowledge,
you want the truth.

Now look at chapter 19 and verse 20,
20 Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
“listen to counsel and receive instruction, that
you may be wise in your latter days.”
God wants me to receive and love instruction.

God wants to make me teachable, not stubborn because God says wise people are always seeking
to grow in wisdom.

Now we’ve already read 1:5, but look at chapter 9 of Proverbs and verse 9, let me back
up in my Bible.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a just man, and he
will increase in learning.” We’re seeking to grow.

Look at chapter 10 and verse 14,
Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.
“Wise people store up
knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.”

Are you growing in wisdom?
Do you open the Bible like you open your phone? Or you can’t wait to see the latest picture or the
latest update or the latest whatever on Instagram or Facebook or whatever social platform you use.
Do you look at the Bible like a treasure chest?
Are you constantly wanting to grow in wisdom?
Do you want to live life God’s way?

That’s because saved people are teachable, not stubborn.

I meet people and they say I’m stubborn, that’s not a positive statement.
The best life possible is following Jesus through life.
Look for a second outside of Proverbs at
Psalm 16:11.
“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy
right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

Because Psalm 16:11 distills down the theme of Proverbs that we follow the wisdom of God.
Now this is a distillation of what Proverbs teaches. “You will show me the path of life.” Now this is
talking about God and the wisdom of God incarnate, Jesus Christ, the good shepherd. That’s who David was
talking about. You Lord will show me the path of life, Psalm 16:11, “in your presence is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

The best life possible is following Jesus through life. Psalm 16:11 says, Jesus wants to show me
the path of life. He wants me to stay near Him so I’m full of joy. When I do submit to Him,
I have endless pleasures.