Proverbs 23:23

A Chinese ophthalmologist tried to warn of the coronavirus but was silenced by the Chinese government.

It is physically dangerous to silence truth. How much more so in religious matters?

Micaiah – I Kings 22

• Micaiah was pressured to speak favorable words to the king. He refused to say anything besides what God commanded him to.

The truth is true, no matter what.

• Let’s list a few things that don’t change the truth…

  • Preference – Cain, Genesis 4:3-5

  • Emotion – Jacob, Genesis 37:34

  • Leadership – Aaron, Exodus 32:3-4

  • Criticism – Korah, Numbers 16:3

  • Persistence – Balak, Numbers 22-24

  • Majority – Elijah, I Kings 18:19

  • Tradition – False teachers, Colossians 2:16-17

  • Imagination – False teachers, Colossians 2:20-23

    • Paul may have been specifically teaching against ascetic Gnosticism here.

Next steps

• Understand that people are motivated by bias, desire, fear, anger, etc.
  • Mark 15:10; Acts 17:5; John 12:42
• We need to develop a love for truth.
  • Proverbs 23:23; John 17:17; 8:32
• Keep teaching the truth courageously.
  • Acts 4:19-20; Romans 1; Genesis 1; I Corinthians 1

II Peter 3:3-7

Special pleading, continued:

• Spiritual importance, continued:

  • Can these questions be applied to themselves?

    • “There is no truth.” – “Is that true?”

    • “We can’t know anything.” – “Then how do you know that?”

    • “All truth is relative.” – “Is that truth relative?”

Strawman

• What is it?

  • Ephesians 4:1-3

  • Mark 14:55-58; John 2:19

  • “Changing or exaggerating the position of an opponent to make it easier to refute.”

• Spiritual importance

  • This type of tactic is often seen in debates between creation and evolution:

    • “Creationists do not believe that animals change. But clearly, animals do change. Therefore, creationists are mistaken.”

    • “Creationists do not believe in science.”

    • “Creationists believe that species never change in any way.”

    • “Creationists say there are no good mutations.”

    • “The Bible teaches that the earth has literal pillars and corners and cannot be moved. It is clearly wrong. (Isaiah 11:12; Psalms 75:3)”

      • Both contexts are clearly figurative.

    • “Creationists don’t believe in the scientific method. They say you should just look to the Bible for all your answers.”

    • “Creationists don’t believe in rationality. They take things on blind faith instead.”

  • Think of how Bible discussions might devolve into unprofitable spats if we mischaracterize what the other person believes.

    • “Oh, you don’t believe baptism is necessary for salvation? In other words, you don’t believe God is sovereign!”

    • “Oh, you don’t believe baptism is necessary for salvation? In other words, you think we should just throw the Bible away!”

    • “You Calvinists don’t believe in obedience!”

    • “You atheists don’t believe in morality.”

  • I Corinthians 13:4-7 – Christians are to correct those in opposition with gentleness and patience.

Why is it necessary to study evidence for the Bible?

• Do you really believe the Bible?

• A survey of 10,000 ministers in various denominations in the US in 1987 showed that most did not!

How can we prove the Bible is literally the word of God?

• Internal evidence

  • Acts 18:28

  • Prophecies of the Messiah

    • At least 16 were fulfilled in a 24-hour period, many by Jesus’ enemies.

    • Zechariah 9:9; 11:12-13; 13:7; Isaiah 53:7; Psalms 22:16, …

• External evidence

  • Psalm 8:8 – “paths of the seas” (written ca. 1000 B.C.)

    • Admiral Maury, “Pathfinder of the Sea” discovered fixed paths in the sea in 1855 A.D.

  • Isaiah 40:22 – “circle of the earth” (written ca. 700 B.C.)

    • 1492 A.D. – Christopher Columbus

    • 1520 A.D. – Man discovers the world is round. Ferdinand Magellan’s crew circumnavigates the globe.

  • Leviticus 17:11 – “life of the flesh is in the blood” (“life” used in the sense of “breath”) (written ca. 1450 B.C.)

    • 19th century – Still practicing blood letting.

    • George Washington killed by blood letting.

  • Job 38:1-6, 12-14 – “changed like clay under the seal”, i.e., the earth rotates like clay under a seal (written ca. 2000 B.C.)

    • 1851 – Foucault’s Pendulum demonstrated the rotation of the earth.

  • Jeremiah 33:22 – “the host of heaven cannot be numbered”

    • Hebrews 11:12

    • 150 B.C. – Hipparchus: < 3000 stars

    • 150 A.D. – Ptolemy: 1020 stars listed

    • 1608 A.D. – Galileo: Stars uncountable

    • Current estimates: More than 2 trillion galaxies, more than 7x1022 total stars

  • Genesis 17:11-12 – circumcision on the 8th day (written ca. 1450 B.C.)

    • There is a cascade of reactions involved in the clotting of blood, which results in production of fibrin.

    • Fibrin clot acts like a stringy fishnet to hold red blood cells together.

    • Vitamin K is required by the liver for the formation of prothrombin and Facts XII, IX, and X. Vitamin K is generated by bacteria in the body.

    • Prothrombin peaks at 110% of normal on day 8, making it the best day for surgery.

Faith is a must! Hebrews 11:6

There are those who claim to believe in the God of the Bible, but actually do not.

• Jews?
  • Do not accept Jesus as God.
• Muslims?
  • Accept Jesus as a prophet, but not as God.
• Jehovah’s Witnesses?
  • Teach Jesus as a created being.
• Mormons?
  • Believe humans can become gods, that there is a hierarchy.
• United Pentecostals?
  • Do not believe in the three persons of God.
• Some preachers say Jesus had doubts about who He was or that He was divested of divinity.

Who is the God of creation?

• Genesis 1:26-27

• Immutable, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, sinless

• Father (John 3:16), Son (Hebrews 1:8), and Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4)

  • One God, three separate individuals.

  • Paganism/polytheism is belief in multiple deities. God is one!

• Exodus 5:1-2 – Pharaoh asked this question.

• Exodus 3:13-14; 6:2-3 – Jehovah is the personal name for God, for the Godhead. The name means, “I am” or “the existing one.”

• Matthew 3:3 – Jesus is Jehovah! (quoting Isaiah 40:3)

  • John 8:57-59, 24

• Jehovah is one God. Three persons with the same attributes.

  • Immutable

  • Omniscient

    • Psalms 139:1-6; Matthew 12:25

    • I Kings 8:39 – Only God knows the hearts of men.

    • Matthew 12:25; Luke 6:8-11 – Jesus had this ability.

  • Omnipotent

    • Genesis 17:1; 1:26-27

    • John 1:1-3, 14

    • Colossians 1:16-17

    • John 10:17-18

    • John 2:19

    • Jesus retained his power and raised Himself from the dead.

  • Omnipresent

    • Psalms 139:7-12; Colossians 2:9; John 1:48-50 – The all-seeing eye of God!

    • John 3:13

  • Sinlessly perfect

    • Hebrews 6:18

    • Hebrews 4:15 – Jesus was tempted but was sinlessly perfect.

    • Jesus never wanted to commit sin. We should learn from His example.

Hebrews 10:31; Isaiah 45:9; II Thessalonians 1:7-9

The gospel – the good news.

• Obeying the gospel: II Thessalonians 1:3-9

• Romans 14:11