- Let's go before the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for the power of your word. We thank you for the truth that it communicates to us, and so now as we bow before your throne, we ask that you would take the truth that we know is real, it's reliable, it's historical, and carve it into our hearts that we might be different people today. That as we hear from you through your word and also look at the truthfulness of your word, and, Father, we would leave this place unbelievably excited to share the hope that we have through Christ. It's in his name that we pray. Amen. Moses was on the edge of the promise land. He was right at the end of his life, and before God would transition leadership to Joshua, he wanted to make sure that he communicated some final words to the nation before they embarked on this new journey of becoming God's people in the promise land. And in order to do that, he wrote down words that were inspired by God. He actually wrote the first five books of the Old Testament, but he wrote these words that we're going to read now. As we do it, we're going to act like the Jewish people this morning. Now, it was their custom and tradition to stand at the reading of God's word, and so what I would like for us to do is everybody stand. And I am going to read from Deuteronomy chapter six. Listen to God's word. "Now this is the commandment, "the statutes and the rules, "that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you "that you may do them in the land "to which you are going over to possess it. "That you may fear the Lord your God, "you and your son, and your son's son "by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, "which I command you all the days of your life "and that your days may be long. "Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, "that it may go well with you, "and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord, "the God of your fathers, has promised you "in a land flowing with milk and honey. "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart "and with all your soul and with all your might. "And these words that I command you today "shall be on your heart. "You shall teach them diligently to your children, "and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, "and when you walk by the way, "and when you lie down, and when you rise." The reading of God's word please be seated. After Moses was finished writing the first five books of the Old Testament, he made 13 copies, one for each of the tribes of Israel, and the 13th copy was placed in the Ark of the Covenant. And he wanted to make sure that each one of these copies was transferred from generation to generation. Why is that the case? Because it's God's truth, and God wanted to ensure that the truthfulness of who he was and how we could have a relationship with him was embraced by the nation, so that they could be the called-out people that God had called them to be. And so that's why today we are going to look at the unshakable truth of God's word. Now, there is one name that comes to mind when we look at the reliability and historicity of God's word that is used by just about every evangelical scholar alive today, and that is the name Josh McDowell. Now Josh is a friend of mine, and he has given me permission to use his material. Many of you know that we're going through the book that he and Sean wrote called "The Unshakeable Truth", and that's the basis behind our series. There's two other resources I wanna draw your attention to. The first is really the book that Josh wrote that changed his life, and it's called "Evidence That Demands A Verdict". It's been rewritten by Josh and Sean McDowell. You're gonna wanna get the updated copy. The second resource that I wanna draw your attention to is called "God-Breathed". Josh wrote that great book, and you'll find it extremely helpful. Now as we go through three questions this morning as we talk about God's word, the first one is this. What is God's word? You may be investigating your relationship with Christ. You may have just crossed over that line. You just became part of Rockpoint Church. What is God's word? Well, simply put, the Bible is God's revelation of himself to us. We've been learning about who God is, about what happened in our world because of sin, and how he can have a relationship with us. It's his revelation to us, his truth, and the Bible declares his ways for us to follow so that we can understand how to have a relationship with this wonderful God who loves us and created us to walk in his ways. Now Paul says this in the New Testament when he wrote in Second Timothy 3:16-17, "All scripture," or it's another name for the Bible, "is breathed out by God," that means inspired. The words that we have in our our Bible are inspired in the original writing by God. He gave it to us. "All of it is breathed out," or inspired by God, "and profitable," for four things he mentions here. "For teaching, for reproof, for correction, "and for training in righteousness that the man of God "may be complete, equipped, for every good word." He's given us the word of God so that every person has what they need to live out this life. So let's turn to the next question and that's this. Why do we have God's word? This is really important. There are three things that we wanna mention here. First, to have a record of all of his ways. From Genesis to Revelation we have this incredible scarlet thread of redemption that shows up, and it's God's plan for us to enter into a relationship with him. He talks to us about who he is and how to walk in all of his ways. The Bible records for us his faithful promises that we can take to the bank, and it tells us with guiding words of wisdom how to live for him. Quite frankly, it's everything that we need to live this life, and that's why Peter says in Second Peter, the second book he wrote in chapter one verse three, "His divine power has granted to us all things," not just some, "all things that pertain to life "and godliness through the knowledge of him "who called us to his own glory and excellence." He's given us everything we need to live this Christian life. Now, it's important to ask the next question then. Well, what does this look like? Well, Peter answered it in First Peter. We studied it this summer. In chapter one verse three he says two things in this verse. He says, "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy." So in other words, he's given us everything we need for life and godliness so that we live holy lives. He says it in the book, "Be holy for I am holy." God tells us that, and that means a life that is set apart. In other words, he wants us to live differently and be transformed by his word, and then he gives us the second reason. He says, "Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone "who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, "yet do it with gentleness and respect." I like to say it this way. He wants us, and he's given us everything we need for life and godliness, so that we live differently and we love radically, and we communicate that word to others. That's why I love that passage. Now it's important to understand the next concept. He's given us his word to be holy, and then to live it out and share it with others. And the process that he uses is this process that we have coined called, "To know, grow, and go." Now, here at Rockpoint, and I'll say that I know there's people listening online, but we have tried to condense down with three simple words what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. We wanted it to be simple for you, and what we mean by a follower of Jesus Christ is a disciple of Jesus Christ, somebody who's learning the word and learning about Jesus and God's word, and then how to follow him. That's really the essence of discipleship. And so we've come up with, as a staff, three words that rhyme, so it's really easy for you to remember, okay, "To know, grow, and go." Hey, why do you come to Rockpoint? To know, grow, and go, so let's take a look at it. We want you to know God. And that happens by trusting Jesus because of his grace. To begin the relationship with the God who created us, to live in relationship with him, to reflect his image to our world, we have to have a relationship with him through Jesus Christ. Why is that? Because we just finished looking at the second unmistakable truth, unshakable truth, and that is sin. We're all sinners. And because sin separates us from a Holy God, God came to us because we could never go up to him. And when a person finally comes, and it really is a point of surrender, quite frankly, to a point where they are willing to admit that they are a sinner and in need of a Savior, and then through repentance and trust, they put their faith in Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully man, died on the cross as payment for our sins, so that we could be forgiven, and rose from the grave, so that he could prove that his claims to be God were true. And God raised him from the dead proving that he accepted his sacrifice on our behalf. Now, does that apply to everybody? No, that's why the word trust is on the screen. You have to come to that point where you put your faith and trust in Jesus as a person. That he died for you on the cross and rose from the grave, and he's the only one that can take you to Heaven. Now when that happens, it's an act of his grace given to you when you receive that gift. It's not something you can do for yourself. And when that takes place and you finally engage in that relationship by trusting him, there's a change. There's a change inside of you. You're changing your course and direction in life, and you begin to follow him because it's not just knowing him and having sin forgiven and life changed and transformed. Now it's the process of growing to be like him, and that's the second word it's growing. I'm growing in Jesus' word and truth, and that's where the Bible comes in. That's where we begin to learn the truth in community with one another, embracing it, reading it, and living it out. Peter says this in First Peter 2:2-3, "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk." He's referring to God's word there. "The spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up "into salvation if indeed you have tasted "that the Lord is good." In other words, he hasn't given us his word to be smarter sinners, okay, but to change our life and to transform us. And the moment you put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ, it's amazing what happens. You really see this with adults who have made the transition from a life of sin to trusting Christ as Savior all of a sudden they're like, "I wasn't interested in this before, "but all of a sudden I kind of wanna find out "more about who Jesus Christ really is." Why is that? Because there's been a change, and there's a willingness now to begin to follow. And we walk alongside of you to help you embrace that new life and transformation that comes, and this is why I referenced earlier, we're gonna come back to it, Second Timothy 3:16-17, "All scripture is breathed out by God "and profitable," for what, four things? Teaching, why, because there's some things about reality that I need to know, and that's why we're going through the series. "For reproof," and what's reprove for? I sin. Anybody else want to would raise their hand? Come on, do you sin or not? Yeah, we all do some of you are looking down at your notes. You sin too, right? You're sinners. Right, well, we need that sometimes, and that's what happens when we look at the mirror of God's word. My life is not lining up. It's not accurately reflecting the character of God. Well, we also need some correction because from time to time we start believing things that aren't true. This is especially important in the culture in which we live. You've got to take the grid of scripture and sift the culture through it, and that's what correction is for. And then, "For training in righteousness," because we need to grow. "That the man of God," or person who is a follower of Jesus Christ that's what's meant, "May be complete, equipped for every single good work." And when we do, there's a promise. Psalm 119:1-3 says this, "Blessed are those whose way is blameless "who walk in the law of the Lord. "Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, "who seek him with their whole heart, "who also do no wrong, "but walk in his ways. We have the promise of his protection and provision according to his will in our life because we follow his ways, and we finally experience the joy and the wonder and the blessing of his life. But it's not just meant for us. That's why we've given you the third word in this simple discipleship process called, "Go" and that's "Helping Others Do The Same". We take our commission from the Great Commission when Jesus told us in Matthew chapter 28:19-20, "Go, go, therefore," and here's the command, "Make disciples. "Make disciples of all nations or all people groups." That's the idea. "Baptizing them in the name of the Father "and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Here it is: How do we make disciples? "Teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you, "and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age." Well, we're also to live like him for his glory and good. He's given us the word of God, so that we can live like him for his glory and for his good. That's why I love John 15. John 15 is really a center point to my life when I get back into God's word, and in John 15:10-11, Jesus says these very important words. He says, "If you keep my commandments," or the word of God is the idea, everything he's taught, Genesis to Revelation, "you will abide in my love just as I have kept "my Father's commandments and abide in his love. "These things I have spoken to you." Notice this. "That my joy may be in you, "and that your joy may be full." You wanna live a joyful life? Get connected to Jesus Christ. Follow his ways he will transform you. He will change you. You will experience the blessing and the joy and the wonder. You'll be protected from the guilt and shame of sin. Now the next question that is critically, critically important as we work our way through this, is where we're gonna spend the bulk of our time, and that's this: How do we know God's word is reliable? Now I love doing this. I don't do it very often, but today is one of those unique days where I get to do what I really love to do and talk to you not only about God's word, but actually take a look at its reliability. The Bible is the primary means, by which, we know how to have a relationship with God. In other words, our eternity is at stake by the truthfulness that is found in this book, and that's why it is so important for us to look at three important areas. You'll see them in your notes. First, that God's words have been relayed accurately to us. If my eternity's at stake, this is really, really important stuff. You see, the Bible was written during a 1500 year span through more than 40 generations by more than 40 different authors from every walk of life. There were shepherds and soldiers. There were kings. There were poor people. There were rich people and tax collectors and fishermen and tent makers. It was written in a variety of different places from deserts to dungeons. It was written on three different continents, Asia, Europe, and Africa. It was written in three different languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. It records stories and songs and historical facts that are absolutely amazing. And when you look at the continuity of the Bible written over this timeframe with that many authors and generations, and finding a continuity and unity with the scarlet thread of redemption flowing from Genesis to Revelation, it is absolutely astounding. It is a miracle. And since God's word is the only way we can find life, God wants to make sure that it's copied accurately. It's preserved for us today. Jesus ensures us that his word is eternal and it will last. Notice what he says in Matthew 5:18, "For truly I say to you until Heaven and Earth pass away, "not an iota or a jot, "not a dot or a tittle," and in brackets the reason why I put that in is because some of your translations actually have those words, so he says, "Not an iota or a jot, "not a dot or a tittle will pass away "from the Law until all is accomplished." Now I wanna show you what those are. This is a jot. It's the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It's on your left. That's the farthest circle that is there. Here's what it looks like on a closeup. It's the smallest tiny letter. So that's what Jesus is referring to. He says, "You know, all is gonna be there. "I say to you until Heaven and Earth pass away, not a jot." Okay, "will pass away until the Law is completed." That's what it looks like. Here it is in the actual Hebrew script. Now a tittle what's that? You've probably never heard that one before. That is an ornamentation. It's not even a letter, okay? And it's above the Hebrew letters. So let me show you what that looks like. Here you can see some pictures. Right above the text just like in the Torah to my right, you can find them if you came up and looked at it. Here's a close up, so now you can really see it. And, oftentimes, depending on the ornamentation, it was called a crown. The point that Jesus is saying, and this is so significant, that every single little detail matters. Every letter was inspired, and every bit of God's word is gonna be fulfilled, why? Because Isaiah chapter 40 tells us, "The grass withers, the flower fades, "but the word of God, what, stands forever." And every little detail actually matters. It's so important to grasp, and he guarded its transmission. He wants to make sure that we have it accurately. Now we don't have the original autographs. Okay, that's what you refer to those copies or those books that Moses wrote with his own hand? We don't have those. A lot of it is due to the fact that many of the things that were written were written on pieces of papyri like this. Okay, this is actual papyri. It's a leaf that's grown over in Egypt, and they pressed it together. And as you can see, it's kind of frail. It's actually terribly hard to write on. I've tried it, and it frays. And the original autographs that were inspired by God, the ink faded and they were destroyed and things happened. So God wanted to ensure that the process of copying, let's start with the case of the Old Testament, was done accurately, so that we can have some assurance that what we have today is right and real and accurate and reliable. Now off to my right we have what is called the Rockpoint Torah scroll. We actually have a Torah scroll that was donated to us. This Torah scroll, and we call it Torah, but it's the first five books of our Bible, the Pentateuch, like I said, Genesis through Deuteronomy. This one's dated about 1700. It survived the Holocaust. There are some really old ones. I've actually seen and been in the same room of the oldest scroll that's dated. It dates to about 1050 AD. I can't tell you where I saw it, or I'd have to kill you, okay. It's actually quite cool. And to ensure that it was copied correctly, there are scholars that arose that are called scribes. Now this individual actually was writing out God's word and recording it, copying it up on Masada over in Israel. So if you join us in 2021, you'll have a chance perhaps to see this individual. And eventually scribes emerged to make sure that God's word was copied. The most famous is the Masoretic scribes. They emerged about 500 to 900 AD, okay. And they began to copy God's word to make sure that it was effectively copied for us. Now writing a Torah scroll if you would hand copy the scroll, it takes about 2,000 hours or one to three years, a very lengthy process, and they're very, very expensive to produce. What I want you to see is this. To be a certified scribe though, you have to memorize, not just go to a book like I do. You have to memorize 4,000 regulations to produce something like this. It's absolutely astounding. Now, a friend of mine, Dr. Carroll, who's been here in spoken to Rockpoint Church, he's handled more scrolls than anybody alive today. He actually asked a friend of his, who's a scribe over in Israel, how many errors he finds? Now he has copied God's word, he's a rabbi, for 25 years, and he actually told him. And Dr. Carroll writes it in a book. He says that he will find most of them as he copies the scroll, but then he goes through it a second time, and he finds approximately a hundred more errors, and he fixes them. And then he gives it to a friend, and the friend reviews it. I'll show you a picture of three different scribes doing it in just a minute, and he finds probably 40. And then they give it to a computer, or put it on a computer, and the computer finds a few more. Now here's what I want you to focus on. I don't want you to focus on the errors. I want you to focus on the corrections. Because it's the corrections that tell us that they are so detailed in their regulations, they wanna make sure that God's word is communicated accurately in every single detail. Now the scroll over to my right is written on animal skin, and just a few of the regulations will help you understand a little bit more about it. Every single page has to have the exact same number of columns on it for a kosher scroll. When you go through the scroll, you have to make sure when you write the consonants, because only consonants are recorded, not vowel points, that there is a thread width between each consonant. Has to be, it's part of the regulations. When they come to the end of the book, there has to be three lines spaces before the next book that is there. When they come to the book of Deuteronomy, it has to finish with a full line. If I take you to the end of the scroll, you would see this. And more importantly than many of the regulations, they cannot copy it from memory. They actually have to have the copy right in front of them, and then they have to produce their copy. And they have to go letter, by letter, letter, by letter. And if my memory hasn't failed me, they, in some cases, have to actually pronounce the letter. Now when it comes to God's word or God's name, the holy name of God, Yahweh, here's what would happen. A Sofer, or a scribe, was supposed to use a separate quilt pen, which was usually a goose feather, quill pen, for the name of God. Couldn't use the other quill he's been writing the Torah with. So what would happen is he would come to the word right before the holy name of God. He would come to the last letter of that word. He would take the quill pin he would set it down, and then he would go through a process of washing his hands and purifying himself so that he would sanctify, set aside himself and set aside the ink. And then he would pick up the quill pen used only to record the very holy name of God. He would dip it in the ink, and then he would write the last letter, according to some older traditions, of the word prior to the holy name of God. Do you wanna know why he did that? He did it so that the holy name of God would not be blotted by the ink. He would finish the last letter, and then he would write the holy name of God to make sure that it was recorded accurately. Now if a mistake was uncovered, they had to be corrected within 30 days, or the scroll was completely invalidated. And then the test is carefully checked, or the text is carefully checked, for up to three different kinds of scribes. Now let me blow you away by another thing that they did. The middle letter there are 304,805 letters in the Torah, and you can find the middle letter in Leviticus 11:42. So in order to ensure that it was completely accurate if I laid this thing out, it would go way across the stage here. They would count 152,402 letters all the way to the middle letter, which is found in Leviticus 11:42. And then they would count 152,402 letters just to make sure they had the right one there. How many of you want to do that? And how about the middle word? There are 79,847 words in the Torah. The middle word is found in Leviticus chapter 13:33, and so what they would do is they would count 39,923 up to the middle word, and then they would count 39,923 after the middle word to make sure that it was completely accurate. So how does this hold up? If we were to evaluate it, is there an example for us to really take a look at? Absolutely, practically every modern English translation was based on a single Hebrew manuscript known as the "Leningrad Codex". Codex means book. It's dated 1009. This is the Masoretic text, so it's almost identical to the one that's in my office. Okay, except the one in my office has not this, okay. This "Leningrad Codex" is over in the National Library of Russia. Here's a picture of its cover. It's dated at 1009, but what happened in 1947 was we discovered the Dead Sea scrolls over in Qumran. It's another place you'll go with us. Some of you that have been to Israel know there. And when they took a look at the 1,050 scrolls and 300 of them are biblical, they dated them to 250 BC to AD 60. Now some of you are extremely bright, so you're beginning to ask the question. "How does it hold up based on the manuscript that we have?" And so with the Dead Sea scrolls, that means we now have a Hebrew manuscript that dates over 1250 years earlier than the Masoretic text, the Codex that we have, the "Leningrad Codex", of which your Bible follows. So we're evaluating your translation with those Dead Sea scrolls right now. So let's narrow it down just to the Isaiah scroll because it's the only complete scroll of an Old Testament book that we found there. The others are fragments. This one was dated about 125 to 150 BC. Here's the way it looks like on a chart. There's an 1100 year gap from when it was written, okay, or the copy that we have in 150 because it was written about 680 to 750 BC, before the time of Christ, but the copy that we have is 150 BC. And then you go all the way up to the "Leningrad Codex" and you have 1009. So let's take a look. It's a 1,000 year gap that we have to cover to go back to the Dead Sea scroll. How does the "Leningrad Codex" that your Old Testament's based on hold up? Well, let's zero it down a little bit more. Let's go to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 records for us the chapter that describes the suffering and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on behalf of our sin. So let's take a look. It is identical over 1100 years word for word in more than 95% of the text. Only 4% would be described as a spelling error. Now we have spelling errors today or spelling variations. I mean, if you look at old English, they spelled things a whole lot different than the English that I use, and only 1%, only 1% is in question over 1100 years. Here's another way to look at it. There are 680 letters, Hebrew letters in Isaiah 53. That means only 17 letters are in question. What does that look like? Let's look just at the 17 letters. Ten were spelling variations. Not a significant issue at all. Four were simply stylistic changes have no bearing on meaning whatsoever. Three only in question through a thousand years of copying, and those three Hebrew letters make up the word light, which is recorded at the end of Isaiah 53:11, and it doesn't change the meaning whatsoever. This left only three letters in question, not words, but letters over an 1100 year gap. So when you pick up your Old Testament, I can guarantee you with almost 100% accuracy. I said almost. That's why Dr. Flint, I heard him speak in Dallas. He says this, he's a Dead Sea scroll expert, "The Dead Sea scrolls confirm that your Bible "was handed down 99% accurately and faithful." Well, let's jump right into the New Testament, okay. This one uses some of the same things that we talked about in the Old Testament, but God began to use a different way. And when we talk about evaluating ancient documents and ancient manuscripts, there are two primary things. It's called the bibliographical texts. You'll see that up on the screen in just a minute, a test, I should say. But here's the two issues. Reliability is determined by the time gap between the original when it was written, and the earliest manuscript that we have, and then how many manuscript copies that we have. So these two principles are used, whether it's Homer or any other form of ancient literature. I'm gonna show you that right now. Caesar's "Gallic Wars", he wrote them in 58 to 50. Julius Caesar was the one who's credited for the advancement of the Roman Empire. The earliest copy that we have though is ninth century AD. It's a thousand year time gap, and we only have 261 manuscripts. Well, let's look at Herodotus. Perhaps you're familiar with him. He was a Greek historian. Lived in the fifth century, the earliest manuscript that we have of his writings is 150 to 50 BC, and we only have one little fragment, okay, or fragment. I'm not even exactly sure how big it is. But it's a 400 year time gap, and we only have a 106 manuscripts. Now you've heard of this guy, right? Plato, you studied him in history. Hopefully they still teach him in high school and college. The earliest manuscript that we have was third century. Now he lived 400 BC, so that's pretty darn close to when he lived. Two are from the third century that he originally wrote, and we have about 237 manuscripts. Let's look at this guy because he is a famous historian. Maybe you haven't read about him, but he talks about the history of Rome. His name is Livy, and 64, 59 BC. Well, the earliest manuscript that we have is one partial copy from the fourth century. The other 19 are mostly from the 10th century. That means we have a time gap of 400 to a 1,000 year time gap, 473 manuscripts. Now I've just given you a couple of examples, but much of what you believe about the ancient world, Greek history and Rome are based on these manuscripts. So now based on the number of manuscripts that you have and the time gap, let's look at the Bible. The Bible has 66,000 plus, did you catch that, of translations both Old Testament and New Testament. And as I said, it's called the bibliographical test, but it means the reliability. What's the time gap and how many copies do we have? So let's compare that 66,000 plus of all those original copies that have the original language and translations and fragments pull it all together, you get 66,000 Old Testament and New Testament. How does that compare to the number two manuscript authority next to the New Testament? Well, it's Homer's "Iliad". Anybody hear of that one? Okay, you were forced to study that. Okay, we have 1800 manuscripts. What does that look like graphically? Look at this. Thank you, 66,000 compared to 1800. So in other words, over the years as we have discovered these biblical manuscripts, it keeps growing, and the more we uncover archeology and archeological finds, and we look at archeology I should say, and the more we do our homework and discover the Dead Sea scrolls, all of a sudden this is what that would look like when it is compared to the average classical work. It's absolutely over whelming. Now, if we just look at the Greek language and the copies that we have. Dan Wallace who taught when I was down at Dallas Theological Seminary, he's still down there, he says that, "We've got 5,838 "known Greek New Testament manuscripts." If you were to stack up the average classical work with all the pages, it would be four feet. The World Trade Center when it was standing, you can see the size there 1,776 feet. The next is the New Testament. If you were to stack it, it'd be a mile high. And then if you were to go to the Old Testament, it would be a mile and a half. And if you would combine the both of them with over 66,000 manuscripts, it would be two and a half miles high, and that would be more than 2.6 pages of text. And I'm gonna show you something that's really cool. The earliest fragment that we have of the New Testament is called the John Rylands' manuscript. It's over in the United Kingdom, and it is a portion of John 18:31-33. And on the back side of it, it's a piece of papyri, so it's just like this, is portions of the verses 37 through 38. John wrote his gospel anywhere between 95 to 100 AD, and the manuscript copy that we have, this fragment of "The Gospel of John" dates to 125 to 130 AD that is a 30 year. Are you listening to me? That is a 30 year time gap. Here's a picture of it. This is not the actual one. This is a facsimile, which is a really, really close copy of it. I took this picture when I was over in St Peter's Russia. And as I was visiting with Dr. Carroll, he explained to me where they found this fragment. It's a great story you wanna hear it? Thank you. I'm gonna tell you anyway. They found it in a garbage heap, a collection of garbage. Now you wanna notice what it says? In John chapter 18:31 through 33 this is the very section of "The Gospel of John" where Jesus is telling Pilate he is the King of the Jews. And then in verses 37 and 38 on the backside of this fragment is the actual passage where Pilate finally gets to the end of himself. He's looking at the person of truth, and he throws up his hands probably and says, "What is truth?" And they took that portion. This actually could be the original, or at least a copy of the original. It's that darn close. And they said, "It's garbage." We're gonna throw it over here. But God in his incredible power and foresight protected God's word in a pile of garbage, and now we have a living document that is alive. And Pilate is no more, and the Roman Empire is no more. "But the grass withers and the flower fades away, "but the word of God stands forever." Isn't that cool? How does it compare with the rest of the New Testament? We've got various New Testament books and pages from AD 200, a hundred year time gap. Most of the New Testament that you have, we've got record of these books in the original Koine Greek language that date to 250. That's 150 year time gap from when they were written. And then you have a complete New Testament that we have. AD 325 that's a 225 year time gap. The oldest copy of the book of Luke that I saw dates to about 1100, and it's down at Dallas Seminary. It's Dan Wallace collection. I've actually seen it. It's amazing to me. Think about this. How much do you believe about George Washington that was written 300 years after George Washington that you believe in the history books? Think about this, the total Greek and non-Greek manuscripts, that means other translations, add up to 23,986 just of the New Testament. It's absolutely astounding, and here's what I want you to understand. There is no major doctrine of your faith regarding the salvation that is found through Christ and Christ alone and who God is. There is no Orthodox doctrine of our faith that is in question whatsoever in all of those manuscripts. Now, I'm gonna be intellectually honest with you today. Can I do that? All right, here's what happened. Why don't we have more of the ancient writings of Homer and those kinds of things? Well, part of it is because they were written on stuff like this and it deteriorated. Plus they were stored in the Library of Alexandria, and that was burned. By the time you got to the fourth century, quite frankly, unfortunately, the Roman Empire supposedly converted to a Christian empire. I'm not so sure that happened under Constantine, but they went around and they destroyed all these ancient documents. And the Muslims came along with the launch of Islam, and they're still doing it today with ISIS in places like Aleppo. They're taking the word of God and destroying it. That's why we don't have those copies anymore. However, if you were to use the two pieces of criteria to sift through ancient literature and the Bible through the time gap and the amount of manuscripts, here's the way I like to say it. Everything that you were taught about Rome, everything that you were taught about Aristotle and Plato in your history books. Hopefully they still teach this stuff. Everything you know about Egypt and Rome and Greek history, all of that if you say as a skeptic, "I reject the Bible and all of this evidence. "I'm just gonna turn around." It's closer to the original writing. We have way more copies of everything. If you say as a skeptic, "I'm gonna throw all of that out," to be intellectually honest you have to actually throw out everything you know about ancient history from Egypt, to Rome, to Greek, to the Babylonian Empire, all of it gone, forget it, walk away from it. You can't believe one piece of that information, and I will guarantee you with a 100% accuracy, if you went to Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford University, and you approached a scholar who doesn't believe in the Bible, who rejects all of this manuscript evidence, and you say, "Based on those two principles "that you use for your own ancient literature, "we now have to reject everything "that you know about the ancient world," and they would have a heart attack on the spot. That's the book we have, folks. It is incredibly true. It is there for us. And next, God's words have been recorded exactly for us. Why, because we have eyewitness accounts. We have individuals that were right there that observed it or contacted others. Paul even says in First Corinthians 15 when he talks about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he says, "Look, Jesus appeared to over 500 people." This is no, you know, smoking and mirror deal. He didn't say that it's in the original Greek, "But go talk to them!" That's why John says in John 21:24, "This is the disciple who's bearing witness "about these things, and who has been, "who has written these things "and we know that his testimony is true." And now you add the third thing that talks to us about the reliability of the Bible and that's God's words have been reinforced externally. I can take you over to Israel. I can take you throughout Greece, and I can show you exactly stuff that happened in the Bible. It's right there. And every time they find something with archeology, once again it supports the truthfulness of God's word. They doubted King David even existed several years ago until they found his name on a stone up in Tel Dan. You wanna hear something that's really cool. Voltaire was a French skeptic in the 18th century. He said that a hundred years after his life, that the Bible would be a mere footnote to human history. Fifty years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society moved into his house, and they used his printing press to print versions of the Bible and send them around the world. Why? Because, "The grass withers and the flower fades. "But the word of God stands forever." Hebrews 4:12 says, "The word of God is living and active "and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing "to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, "and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." It changes and transforms lives because it's alive, and it's real and it's reliable. It's true. And John tells us this at the end of his book. He says, "Now Jesus did many other signs "in the presence of the disciples, "which are not written in this book, "but these are written so that you may believe "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, "and that by believing you may have life in his name." So my question to you is this. Do you believe? Have you put your trust in Christ alone as Savior and Lord? And maybe you have, but maybe you've been going down the wrong road. Maybe today is that day when all of a sudden the Spirit of God has taken this factual data and said to you, "It's true. "What are you doing with your life?" You know those moments when you just feel like God does this to you? And maybe it's time for you to rededicate your life to the truthfulness of his word, to the hope that you've placed in Jesus Christ alone, and begin to live for him. And then maybe there's some of you that are here that have been ashamed of this book, and you're not so sure you can defend it. I've just given you so much data. You're gonna blow away your friends. So what do you need to do? You need to go, and you need to take the message of life and demonstrate to others the hope that is found through Christ and Christ alone so that you can live differently and you can love radically. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the power of your word. Lord, as we wrap up our time here with just a few more words, I asked that by your Holy Spirit, who is right here with us in this room working on our hearts and lives convicting us, changing us, encouraging us, challenging us, do your work in our hearts through the truthfulness of your word that we might leave this place transformed, excited about the truth and hope that's found through Christ and Christ alone. And then, Lord, bring into our path those that need to hear this message. And may we communicate it with a sense of joy and confidence like we've never had before. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.