God's Last Words

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY

Several years ago Roy Firestone interviewed the legendary basketball player Kareem Abdul Jabar. During the interview, Firestone asked Jabar if there was one coach that he had during his career that influenced him the most. Immediately, Jabar answered, “Yes, John Wooten of UCLA.”

Firestone then asked him what it was that made him so special. Kareem’s answer is worth noting. He said, “He was an ardent student and teacher of the fundamentals of basketball.” He then went on to tell the story of how on the very first day of practice, Coach Wooten taught the whole team how to put on their socks so as to never get a blister, and how to tie their shoes so that they will never come untied. Now that is basic!

I am proud to call myself a “fundamentalist.” Why? Not because I am narrow minded and mean spirited like some would think. No! It is because I believe in the “fundamentals of the faith.” What is the hallmark of a fundamentalist? What is the foundation of our Christian faith? What is the bedrock of our belief system?

Some would say it is the fact that we believe in one God, and that He is a Trinity. Others say that it is the fact that Jesus shed His blood for us. Still others would say that the love of God is the foundation. All of these are to be held in the highest regard, yet I believe that the foundation of the Christian faith is a belief, rather, a conviction that the Bible is the Word of God! We could know none of these apart from His Word!

Bob Jones Sr. said, “A fundamentalist is a person who is converted and born again through faith in the blood of Christ, who believes that the Bible is God’s Word, who is willing to defend the Scripture with his life’s blood, who preaches and proclaims the Word, and who seeks to obey it.”

Vince Lombardi was one of the winningest coaches who ever coached in the NFL. Once, after losing a game, he called for a team meeting in the locker room. As he faced these season hardened men who knew football in and out, he held up a football and announced, “Men, this is a football!”

He then began to remind them of some of the basics of the game and said, “Men, we must get back to the basics.” Lombardi knew the importance of never forgetting the basics of the game. He believed that the strength of their game lay in the foundations of football – the very basics.

The same is true of the Christian life! If we forget that the basic premise of Christianity is that we are a people of the Book, we will lose out on this game called life! The problem is that many times the Bible becomes so familiar to us that we pay it very little attention. However, our faith in the Bible should make us what we are! Kellogg’s Corn Flakes ran an ad years ago which said, “Taste them again for the first time.” Today, I invite you to taste the Bible again for the first time!

THE BIBLE IS PROFITABLE: II TIMOTHY 3: 16-17 says: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The word “inspiration” is "theo-neustos" in the Greek and simply means, “God- breathed.” These verses testify to the unique character of the Scripture and means that the Bible is the result of God’s creative breath.

B.B. Warfield said, “The Bible is the Word of God in such a way that when the Bible speaks, God speaks.” II Peter 1: 20-21 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

The Bible came from God through the men who wrote it. God inspired these human authors so that, using their individual personalities, they composed and recorded without error God’s Word to man.

The Bible is the greatest book ever written. It is not simply one book, but an entire library of books covering the whole range of literature.

It has history, poetry, drama, biography, prophecy, philosophy, science, and inspirational reading. The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years, by over 40 authors, in several different countries. It has been translated into more than 2000 languages and still remains the number one selling book in the world.

It is a book of divine instruction. It offers comfort in sorrow, guidance in perplexity, advice for our problems, rebuke for our sins, and daily inspiration for every need. It tells us what to believe (doctrine).

It tells us what is wrong (convicts us of sin). It tells us how to fix what is wrong (grace of Jesus Christ). The Bible is thoroughly complete: it provides all we need for life and ministry.

The Bible alone truly answers life’s greatest questions. “Where have I come from?” “Where am I going?” “Why am I here?” “How can I know the truth?”

It reveals the truth about God, explains the origin of man, points out the only way of salvation and eternal life, and answers the age-old problems of sin and suffering.

THE BIBLE IS POWERFUL: HEBREWS 4: 12 tells us: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

The Bible is alive, God’s word is not archaic, old, or out of date – It is alive! It deals with the problems of today as easily as it dealt with the problems of yesterday! People are still led by God’s Word today.

The Bible is active, God’s word is not inept or inactive – it is at work today just as it was in years gone by. People are still saved by the power of God’s word!

THE BIBLE IS PRESERVED: PSALM 12: 6 tells us: “And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.” Despite many translations and efforts to water it down God's Word has remained.

THE BIBLE IS PERMANENT: PSALM 119:89: The songwriter wrote, “The Bible stands like a rock undaunted, mid the raging storms of time. It’s pages burn with the truth eternal, and they glow with a light sublime.”

The Word of God has been complete in heaven for all eternity and, try as they have, no-one can ever destroy it! It is indestructible because God has promised so! Jesus believed that even the Vowel marking in the Hebrew Old Testament would last forever.

Matthew 5:18 “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law until all be fulfilled.”

The jot is the smallest Hebrew letter, “yohd,” which looks like an apostrophe (‘). A tittle is a very small extension on several Hebrew letters which the letters from others that are similar to them.

Thomas Payne said that within one generation the Bible would no longer be printed. However, upon his death the same printing press he used to print "The Reason of man," was being used to print new Bibles!

THE BIBLE IS PERFECT: (PROVERBS 30:5 says: “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”  The word “flawless” in verse 5 literally means “refined, purged, separated from impurities.”

 

Therefore, the Word of God is completely free from imperfections.

Norman Geisler, a great Systematic Theologian, writing of the inerrancy of the Scriptures, proclaimed, “As any student of reason knows, this is a valid line of reasoning. So, if the premise is true, the conclusion is also true. The Bible clearly declares itself to be the Word of God. It also informs us that God cannot err. The conclusion then is inevitable. The bible cannot err. If the Bible erred in anything it affirms, then God would be mistaken. But God cannot make mistakes.”

The Bible is historically correct. The Bible contains much history. As a result, men have subjected it to intense historical investigation. The most significant area of investigation comes from the science called archeology.

William Albright wrote, “There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the historicity of the Old Testament tradition.”

Frederick Owen concludes, “After one-hundred sixty-five years of archaeological research it may be stated that the large amount of learned men have pooled their efforts and picked up the threads of ancient life from a thousand city mounds and woven them into a pattern which agrees perfectly with the lives and recorded deed of bible characters.”

Second, the Bible is scientifically correct. The Bible gives the most accurate, definite, brief statement of the blood in the body. Scientists have never been able to form a better statement. However, the Bible made the statement over 3,500 years ago, and science has only discovered it in the last 150 years.

Long before men learned by scientific investigation the facts about the earth and the universe, the Bible revealed many of the facts we now know to be true. In every area, which the Bible speaks, the Bible is correct. It is our final authority!

Joshua 1: 8 says “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success.”

Psalm 119: 97 “O how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day long.”

Recent attacks on the Bible follow the age-old example of the serpent speaking to the woman in the Garden of Eden, “Did God really say…” and attack the fundamental understanding of human sexuality and creation itself.

Yet no amount of human hoping, guessing, criticism, wishing, and reimagining will ever change one single letter or word of God’s Holy Scriptures. No matter how humans want to change sin into acceptable behavior God still hates their sin.

We cannot know God apart from His Holy Word! Therefore, if you do not have a relationship with the Bible, you have no relationship with God! If fundamentalists believe the Bible, then call me one! Amen.