Introduction

Imagine you are in your car and you began flipping through the radio stations. As you are going through all the choices, you realize something strange. The message on each one of those stations is the exactly same. Every one of the station of the radio are all talking about this subject: the greatness of our God. Each station does it is a little different style, but they are all communicating about how great God is

• The Christian station is playing “ How Great is Our God” by Chris Tomlin
• The news-talk station is reading the latest news and then wrapping up the story with a statement about how God is greater than the evil in the world
• The classical station plays Handel’s Messiah and in its unique way proclaims the greatness of God (the Lord our God omnipotent reigneth)
• The man on the country station sings about losing his dog and his pick-up truck breaking down and his wife leaving and then finishes by proclaiming that God is far greater than the trials he’s facing

Every station you tune to is broadcasting the same message. It is strange because it is unnatural for people with so many backgrounds and with so many different styles and voices and tastes to agree on the same truth. For them all to agree on a single truth about God would seem especially unlikely.

• Some were young and some were old
• Some were professional. Others were day laborers.
• Some were Kings, Others were the King’s soldiers. Still others where the kings servants.
• Some were fishermen, others were government employees. And some were farmers

The Bible’s writers were from every conceivable walk of life. Each one of its authors wrote in a slightly different genre. In the Bible we see:

• history,
• statistics,
• poetry,
• travelogue,
• law,
• prophesy,
• genealogies,
• biographies,
• geographical surveys,
• architectural plans,
• love letters,
• doctrinal commentary and
• even song lyrics.

Each writer wrote in a different period in history, in different parts of the world and to different groups of people. Most of the writers never even met each other, so it was not like one writer was simply picking up where the last writer left off. Often decades and even centuries separated the various books of the Bible.

Yet, what is remarkable about the Bible is that each one of its forty writers is unified around a single theme. All of these diverse books tell a unified, coherent story. Across each book, the story outlines:

• how God created mankind,
• how mankind rebelled against God and
• how God provides redemption for his people through Jesus.

The kind of unity we see in the scripture is not natural. [It has to be supernatural] It’s like flicking between sixty-six different radio stations and miraculously, as you are turning the dial, the seemingly unconnected broadcasts create a unified message about our Savior.

What are the odds? They are impossible odds. A book like the Bible does not happen by chance, by accident or as a result of luck. The Bible says that it was written under the inspiration of God Himself. Our text for the last 3 weeks has been 2 Timothy 3:16 which says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…”

The Bible has a single theme and a central figure. Every book of the Bible is ultimately a story about Jesus. Even the books written hundreds and hundreds of years before His coming all testify about His infinite worth. Jesus put it this way:

• In John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures [referring to the Old Testament] because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me…”
• In John 6:40, Jesus said, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
• AND, in John 17:3 Jesus says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Each of the sixty-six documents found in the scriptures ultimately points to Jesus. Turn in your Bible to the book of 2 Peter.

• In 2 Peter 1, the Apostle Peter explains that the Bible was not written by some kind of religious committee.
• Men didn’t gather together to write some stories and myths and legends in order to come up with a new religion.
• He explains that the single-minded clarity we find in the scripture is because its writers encountered God’s majesty and were so moved that they had to write about what they saw or heard or experienced.

2 Peter 1:16 says, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” Peter lived with Jesus. Jesus was a real man, not a distant legend or a myth like the Romans gods. Many of the people who would first read Peter’s letter had met Jesus as well. Peter didn’t make this stuff up. The Bible is an eye-witness account and not some kind of master-planned conspiracy based on myths, legends and folk-lore.

Bible is not a master-planned conspiracy

The Bible doesn’t even follow the typical pattern of “cleverly devised myths.” If someone was going to make up a myth, they usually fill it with faultless heroes and fantastic stories of bravery and courage. They would tell tale after tale of the good guy winning and the bad guys getting what they really deserve – like what we find in the man-made myths of Zeus and Baal. The Bible is not like ancient mythology.

Neither is the Bible like a modern comic book or super hero movie – filled with superhuman people doing extraordinary acts of courage. Instead, the Bible is full of real people who sin and struggle and feel pain in their pursuit of God. The central hero of the Bible is a Savior who suffered throughout his whole life and then died the humiliating death of a criminal. It doesn’t follow the typical pattern of a man-made myth.

The men who wrote the Bible had absolutely nothing to gain in terms of power, prestige or fame. The very opposite was true. They had everything to lose. Peter, for example, was put into prison on a number of occasions. His unrelenting and continual proclamation of the gospel eventually earned him a gruesome death sentence.

Jesus himself never promised prosperity for his followers. Instead He said, ““If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23) These are not the words of a man-made mythological hero. So if there was so much to lose for writing about Jesus, why did Peter and the other writers of the Bible continue to proclaim truths about Him?

The writers of the Bible were eyewitnesses

When you witness something remarkable – something that forever changes your life – it’s hard to keep quiet about it. In 2 Peter 1:16, Peter tells us about his motivation for writing about Jesus. He says that he was an “eyewitnesses of his majesty.” Jesus had radically changed Peter and it was impossible for Peter to be silent about Him.

In 2 Peter 1:17-18, Peter recalls a time when he heard a voice from heaven confirming the identity of Christ. In verse 17, Peter recalls hearing this voice as saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” Then he adds, “…we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

What needs to be underscored here is Peter’s first-hand account of Jesus’ ministry. He said, “we ourselves heard this very voice…”

• Peter isn’t reporting second hand information.
• He is not recalling a myth or a tale he heard.

His writing is not speculation. He saw the life of Jesus first hand and he is willing to give his life to tell others about what he saw. They couldn’t “shush” Peter.

• They threatened him and He just kept on talking.
• They threw Peter in a dungeon, and he continued to preach

You might say that he was “unshushable.” This man who once denied Jesus was completely changed through Jesus’ ministry, through the indwelling Holy Spirit and through the power of the written Word. The only way they could make him quiet about Jesus was to kill him… and that is exactly what they did…

But Peter wasn’t the only witness. There were multiple witnesses who saw the miraculous ministry of Jesus in the New Testament. These witnesses were people who were completely changed and brought to a new spiritual life as a result of their encounter with Jesus.

The Bible wasn’t written by crazy men with wild-eyed delusions. Its authors were not lonely religious lunatics who had spent too much time in the desert. The historical events recorded in the Bible were confirmed by numerous witnesses. Some events had hundreds or even thousands of witnesses.

Luke was a Biblical writer who was also a doctor and a historian. He authored one of the four biographies of Jesus at the beginning of the New Testament that we often refer to as the” Gospel According to Luke.” Luke’s writing contains careful research and investigation about the person of Jesus and the spread of the early church. Central to his investigation was the testimony of eyewitnesses. Luke 1:1-2 begins with this statement:

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us…”

The Gospel of Luke is a collection of eyewitness testimonies. Paul was another eyewitness. When Paul writes about the resurrection of Jesus, he’s not writing about something that only a few, select people had observed. Paul was not relying on the testimony of just a couple of guys who thought they may have seen a man who looked like Jesus, but who could have been mistaken.

No. Paul was relying on both his own encounter with Jesus as well as the testimony of hundreds of people who had seen Jesus alive after his crucifixion. Over 500 people report to have seen the risen Savior. When Paul was writing, many of those witnesses would have still been alive. He could have easily said to a critic, “If you don’t believe me, ask that guy. He also saw the living Christ with his very own eyes.”

If the claim of Jesus’ resurrection could have been easily shot down, then it would have been. In fact, it would have been in the best interest of the Roman government and the Jewish authorities to discredit the claims of those who had seen Jesus. A risen Savior, a King of the Jews and a verifiable Messiah represented a serious threat to their positions of influence and authority.

If they simply produced Jesus’ crucified body, they could have easily disproven the resurrection. (It had been carefully guarded after all.) They never produced a body. It says a lot that they couldn’t disprove the claims of these witnesses. Jesus’ resurrection was very public. A lot of people saw him. There was no longer a body. It was impossible to ignore.

But the most compelling proof that Jesus is alive and that the Bible is true and reliable is that Jesus changed people’s lives (and He still does). After witnessing the resurrection of Jesus and receiving the power of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were transformed from a group of reluctant and questioning followers to being bold, confident and courageous leaders.

It is no different today. The truth contained in the Bible continues to transform people’s lives. I said last week that the most trustworthy tool or the most authoritative work has to stand on its own merit. We have to ask, “Does it work?”

• So do the principles in the Bible do what they claim to do?
• Are people brought to new spiritual life through its teaching?
• Do people know God better because of what it says?

If you are looking for certainty that the Bible really is from God, the most persuasive evidence is found in the people who are transformed by it.

The Bible transform’s lives

People who have been transformed by the scriptures are hard to ignore. I have seen people who were consumed with themselves be completely undone and re-formed through the scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit. These people who were once self-centered are now self-sacrificing. What does that? What kind of power takes a life, consumed with itself, and reshape it so it is centered on others?

The Bible still transforms people in supernatural ways. But I thought that instead of trying to make a case for the Bible’s life-changing power, I would simply let some of the people here at Canyon give a testimony about how the Bible shaped their lives.

Raw local honey is more than just sweet. Researchers have found that, in moderation, it has many health benefits. Research suggests that local, raw honey is full of minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and powerful antioxidants. It has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties.

They have also found the local, raw honey in beneficial in:

• Helping digestion
• Strengthening the immune system
• Eliminating allergies
• Stabilizing and balancing blood pressure
• Calming nerves
• Relieving pain
• Treating ulcers, Sore throats, Colds and Indigestion

Now if I had a jar of honey, how would I know if it is raw, vitamin-rich, local honey?

• I could read the label, but the label could be wrong
• I could look at the color, I’ve seen motor oil with a similar golden shade. (And you wouldn’t want to eat that)

The best way to see if the honey is the real thing is to pick up a spoonful and try it and see what it does. The Bible makes a surprisingly similar analogy about itself.

• The Bible is labeled as the holy scriptures (it says Holy Bible right on the cover).
• It looks like the holy scripture.
• But the best evidence for determining whether or not it is really authentic is to taste and see and savor the Bible for yourself.

Life Application: The Bible was meant to be tasted

Last week we unpacked Psalm 19. That passage ended with this phrase,

“the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.

Later, another psalm (from the first week of our study on the inerrancy of the Bible) also has the same theme of the Bible being sweet. Psalm 119:103 says,

“How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

God’s words aren’t simply meant to be seen or heard. They are meant to be tasted. Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!” You can’t keep the Word of God at arm’s length and still benefit from it. You have to taste is for yourself!

My family likes to watch the Food Network. There is show after show about how to make these incredible looking meals, but it always comes up short (in my opinion) because you don’t get to taste the food for yourself. But the Food Network is very motivating. The knowledge of how to combine ingredients together in new and unique ways has motivated my kids to get into the kitchen and try it out for themselves.

The knowledge of the Bible is also really motivating. But it is not helpful until we sample it for ourselves.

• Until we take the Bible inside of us….
• And let it become a part of who we are….
• Those who drink deeply of spiritual truth are both well fed and transformed by it.

The whole point of the Bible is not to know about God, but to Know God. It is just as ironic to meet a person who knows about food, but has never tasted it as it is to meet a person who knows all about God, but who does not actually know Him. AW Tozer says

“The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God… that they may enter into Him…. That they may delight in His presence…. [that they] may taste and know the sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.”

In other words, the Bible is for tasting. You’ve seen the label that says “Holy Bible.” You’ve looked inside and it sure looks like scripture. Now it’s time to taste the sweetness. Proverbs 24:13 says,

“My son, eat honey, for it is good,
and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.”

This is a picture of a wild bee hive. I wonder who the first person was who looked at that hive and thought, “That sure looks good. I’m going to try it.” Harvesting honey is difficult and risky and even dangerous, but the reward is both sweet to the taste and nourishing to the body.

Wisdom from God’s Word is like honey for you and me. Gathering truth from God’s Word can be difficult and risky and even dangerous, but the reward is both the sweetness of the Word itself and the knowledge of essential spiritual truths we need for life today. God’s Word is essential for navigating our way through this dark and dangerous world: Jesus says (in Matt 4:4),

“It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Let me give you this challenge. Perhaps you are still skeptical about the power of God’s word. So why don’t you open it up every day this week and see if it does not change you and enrich your soul.

Teaching Outline

Bible is not a master-planned conspiracy – 2 Peter 1:16, Luke 9:23

The writers of the Bible were eyewitnesses – 2 Peter 1:16-18, Luke 1:1-2

The Bible transforms lives.

Application: The Bible was meant to be tasted – Psalm 19:9-10, 34:8, 119:108

The whole point of the Bible to not to know about God, but to Know God

God’s Word is essential for navigating our way through this dark and dangerous world – Matt 4:4