Participants: Pr. Kenneth Cox
Series Code: GMTB
Program Code: GMTB000041
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00:19 Well good evening and welcome
00:20 to Give Me The Bible, 00:22 and this is a series 00:23 with Pastor Kenneth Cox. 00:25 And it's a series of twelve different subjects 00:29 and each subject is covered with five different lectures. 00:34 And this... we've been going on now for a number of months, 00:37 and people all over the world have been watching this. 00:41 And they have been ordering something 00:43 that I'm going to share with you. 00:46 Because if you don't realize this, all of these are available 00:50 on DVD. And you can order them 00:53 by simply calling the 800 number that you see on the screen 00:57 right at this very time. 00:59 And I invite you to do that. 01:01 A lot of people are sharing these with their friends. 01:05 I was talking to someone in Florida who had been taking 01:09 these subjects and inviting their friends 01:13 to come into their home and playing these subjects for them. 01:16 And my friend, I hope that you 01:19 make it your project to reach out to somebody 01:24 this particular year, 01:25 and you can really do it by using this series. 01:29 Now you can order all twelve... 01:31 and some people have been doing that. 01:33 Or if there's one particular one 01:35 on the Sabbath or on the state of the dead, 01:37 or one of the prophecy subjects 01:39 that you would like to have in your library, 01:42 then you feel free to order just that one. 01:47 But which ever, be sure to call. 01:50 And by the way when you do call, 01:51 remember that the Kenneth Cox Ministries 01:53 is supported by your generosity. 01:57 And I will tell you that this ministry is reaching out 02:00 around the world. And we just praise God 02:03 for the way He has used the Kenneth Cox Ministries. 02:07 Now tonight we're going to enjoy some music by Joe Pearles. 02:12 This is a very special evening, 02:14 and Take Away Jesus is the title of this song. 02:30 You can take all the pleasures I have to enjoy... 02:36 I'd still have a peace in my heart. 02:42 Take all the things that money could buy 02:48 I've got a mansion that time cannot scar. 02:54 But take away Jesus 02:57 and I have nothing to give. 03:02 Take away Jesus 03:06 and I have no reason to live. 03:11 Without a heaven 03:14 just bury me in the sand. 03:20 Take away Jesus 03:23 and I'd be a miserable man. 03:37 You can take all the flowers that bloom in the spring... 03:43 I'd still have a rose in my life. 03:49 Take all the water out of the ocean 03:55 I've got a river that never runs dry. 04:01 But take away Jesus 04:04 and I have nothing to give. 04:10 Take away Jesus 04:13 and I have no reason to live. 04:19 Without a heaven 04:22 just bury me in the sand. 04:28 Take away Jesus 04:30 and I'd be a miserable man. 04:36 Take away Jesus 04:39 and I'd have nothing to give. 04:45 Take away Jesus 04:48 and I'd have no reason to live. 04:54 Without a heaven 04:57 just bury me in the sand. 05:02 Take away Jesus 05:06 and I'd be a miserable man. 05:22 Amen. 05:24 Thank you Joe Pearles! Enjoy that? 05:28 Well, we'd like to welcome all of you that are joining us 05:32 by television or joining us by the radio... 05:37 listening on the radio. 05:38 Those of you that are here, 05:39 welcome! Welcome to another 05:42 production of Give Me The Bible. 05:44 We hope that as we're going 05:46 through these subjects 05:47 month by month 05:48 that they're helping you understand the Bible better 05:52 and better. That's the purpose of them, 05:54 and we want them to be helpful to you. 05:57 This particular month we're spending on the Bible. 06:01 Your Bible and You. 06:04 This is something that we felt was needed, 06:07 and so we hope that it will bless you in a special way. 06:10 Tonight we're talking about Where Did Your Bible Come From? 06:14 Our next presentation will be entitled 06:18 Which Translation Is Best? 06:20 Which translation is best... 06:22 because we have lots of different translations. 06:25 So which is the best one? 06:27 That's what we're going to take a look on 06:29 in the next presentation. 06:30 Then after that presentation we're going to be talking about 06:35 How Do You Know Your Bible's True? 06:38 How do you know that it's true? 06:42 Is there any evidence or anything to tell you 06:44 that this book is indeed true? 06:47 See? And then after that one we're going to have a 06:51 presentation on What The Bible Can Do For You. 06:55 Why should I read it? 06:57 What... what will it do for me? 06:59 What does it do? 07:00 That's what we're going to take a look at. 07:02 And we're going to close this series with the subject 07:05 How To Study Your Bible. 07:06 So those are the subjects we're going to be looking at 07:09 during this series, and we hope it will bless you. 07:12 It's very important that we understand that... 07:16 we know what the Word of God does for us. 07:19 That little poem that I've shared with you 07:20 night after night that says What says the Bible, 07:24 the blessed Bible? This my only question be. 07:28 The teachings of men so often mislead us. 07:32 What says the Word of God to me? 07:36 That's what we want to find out. 07:38 And so we're going to take a look at God's Word. 07:41 Find out what the scripture tells us about it 07:43 and see if it won't help us as we continue to study 07:47 God's Word and find out if it's something that I can trust. 07:51 You know? How do I study it? 07:54 What... what time should I spend with the Word of God? 07:58 These are questions that we want to look at 08:01 that we hope will bless you in a special way. 08:05 Tonight we're very happy to have Joe Pearles 08:08 back with us again. I know you're blessed. 08:11 I am always blessed when he sings for us. 08:14 And tonight he's going to sing a song entitled 08:16 If He Hung the Moon. 08:33 In the beginning 08:39 of time 08:41 He was the Creator. 08:49 Into existence 08:55 He spoke; 08:57 the heaven glowed. 09:05 And with one mighty swoop 09:10 of His hand 09:12 He threw out the stars. 09:16 He knew where they'd land 09:20 So if you're just drifting 09:26 along, 09:28 then I have good news. 09:36 And if He hung the moon 09:44 I know He will help you. 09:51 And if He keeps the sparrow 09:57 in flight, 10:00 He'll help you too. 10:07 Consider the lilies 10:12 of the field... 10:16 How much more He loves you! 10:23 In the beginning of time 10:27 you were on His mind 10:31 when He hung the moon. 10:39 Now if you feel like 10:45 the world is heavy on your shoulders 10:55 and even the closest 10:59 friend in life 11:03 is slipping away. 11:11 Though you have tried so hard 11:16 and lost... 11:19 there is still hope. 11:23 Look to the cross. 11:26 There you will see just how much 11:32 the Savior really loves you today. 11:42 And if He hung the moon 11:50 I know He will help you. 11:57 And if He holds the sparrow 12:03 in flight, 12:06 He'll hold you too. 12:14 Remember the sparrow 12:19 He knows; 12:21 He knows how He loves you. 12:29 In the beginning of time 12:34 you were on His mind 12:37 when He hung the moon. 12:45 In the beginning of time 12:50 you were on His mind 12:57 when He hung the moon... 13:05 He hung the moon. 13:34 Father in Heaven, 13:36 tonight as we open Your Word, 13:42 we look at where it came from, 13:46 what the history is 13:49 and how it applies to our lives, 13:52 we ask that You would give us understanding. 13:56 Give us wisdom. 13:59 Lord, help us to comprehend 14:02 spiritual things. 14:05 May the Holy Spirit be present. 14:08 May it open our eyes. 14:11 May our hearts be receptive to Your Word 14:14 and may each one of us be blessed in a special way. 14:19 For this we ask in Christ's name, Amen. 14:31 When I first became a Christian 14:36 and started going to church 14:40 no one told me anything about where the Bible came from. 14:46 I didn't know anything about it. 14:49 And as I think back on it, 14:53 when I went away to school 14:57 I still didn't know anything about the Bible... 15:00 other than I read the Bible and that type of thing. 15:03 But knowing anything of the background of the Bible, 15:06 where it came from, what was involved... 15:08 I didn't know anything about it. 15:10 It was just a book that had been there 15:13 all... as long as I could remember. 15:16 And my parents said it was a Bible and it was special 15:19 and this type of thing, and I accepted that. 15:22 But as far as knowing anything about it 15:25 and the background of it... I didn't! 15:27 That was totally something that no one ever said. 15:33 And I have to be honest... 15:35 I went through the college 15:40 and seminary and still didn't know much about it. 15:46 Just wasn't... wasn't made a subject that was stressed at all 15:52 and anything said about it. 15:54 But as the years have gone by, 15:56 I have realized that it's extremely important 16:00 that you and I know something about the Word of God. 16:04 Where it comes from; what's involved in it. 16:07 So tonight we're going to take a look 16:09 at where your Bible came from. 16:11 First thing we want to establish 16:13 is the scripture make it very clear 16:17 as to what the origin of God's Word is. 16:21 And this is what it says: 16:38 So it tells us clearly that the origin of scripture 16:42 is from God... not man. 16:45 That' what the Word of God says. That's where it came from. 16:48 Now, you may feel like this book 16:51 is a good history book. 16:55 You may feel like it's a good book of literature. 17:02 If you read it and study it, 17:05 it's a good book of grammar and all. 17:10 No question about it. 17:11 But I want to say this book is more than that. 17:15 This book is divine. 17:18 See? Divine. 17:21 And we need to understand that 17:24 because it says this here in God's Word: 17:37 So now, as we're talking about the Word 17:40 we're beginning to see the origin of it 17:42 and where it came from. 17:43 And essentially if that's where it had been left 17:47 I guess we still would have said "Yes, this is the Word of God. " 17:51 But to you and to me, 17:53 something much greater than that took place when it said here: 18:13 So we are finding that the Word of God became flesh. 18:17 And in Jesus Christ we find a revelation 18:23 of God. It's there. 18:26 That's what He told us, 18:28 and that's what He told us where we were to look. 18:31 In other words, He told us clearly 18:33 that we needed to spend time in the Word of God 18:37 to understand Him 18:39 and to understand what God said about Him. 18:42 As He was talking to the Pharisees 18:44 He said this to them: 18:57 These... "these are they which testify of Me. " 19:04 So that's what the scripture does... 19:06 all the way through from Genesis to Revelation 19:09 it testifies of Jesus Christ. 19:12 Tells us about Jesus Christ. 19:14 That's what the scripture does 19:17 as we go through the Word of God and we read it. 19:20 Now, the question we need then to ask this evening 19:24 is: when was it written down? 19:29 When... when did the Word of God come into being and all? 19:34 There's an interesting thing here that says... 19:37 speaking of Adam... and it says this about him: 19:48 So He took Adam, put him in the Garden of Eden 19:51 where he was to till and keep it. 20:02 So He put Adam and Eve in the garden. 20:04 And it says that God came down in the cool of the evening 20:08 and talked to them... visited with them. 20:11 I mean face to face. 20:13 They had communication... open communication with God there. 20:17 They didn't need anything written down 20:21 because they could talk to God face to face. 20:24 But the scripture says here: 20:36 Have you thought about that? 20:38 Now when it says he lived 930 years, 20:42 those are years like ours. 20:45 And if you need proof of that 20:47 then you just need to go and read about the flood 20:49 because it will tell you exactly those years were like our years. 20:53 And so it says he lived 930 years 20:57 and he died. 21:00 Have you put that together? 21:02 That means that Adam lived from the day he was created 21:08 to the day of Noah. 21:14 OK? 21:16 Lived from the time he was created to the day of Noah. 21:20 And then it says: 21:28 After the flood he lived 350 years. 21:31 But then it says this: 21:39 So, in the life of two men 21:43 we've got 1810 years. 21:48 Now you stop and think: here Adam... 21:51 Adam talked to the Lord face to face. 21:54 So he had direct communication. 21:57 There wasn't a need for the written word, folks, 22:01 because in the life of two men you had a clear revelation 22:04 of what God wanted and what He expected. 22:07 They were there; they understood it. 22:09 Adam was there; Noah understood it. 22:13 It was clear. And you find that Noah 22:16 lived clear to the day of Abraham. 22:23 OK? 22:25 Clear to the day of Abraham. 22:27 And by the time you reach Abraham the scripture says 22:30 he lived to be 175 years old. 22:33 And so in the life of three men 22:36 you've got 2000 years 22:39 in which you have people that understood clearly 22:45 what God wanted. And so the need 22:48 of written communication was not necessarily needed. 22:53 But then the children of Israel 22:56 went into slavery... 23:00 400 years of slavery. 23:06 Now God spoke of Abraham and said Abraham 23:10 was His what? Remember what it says? 23:13 Said he was His friend. 23:15 And it says that He spoke and talked with Abraham. 23:19 So he... he had communication with God; 23:21 he knew what the Lord wanted. 23:23 But when the children of Israel went into slavery, 23:26 here you have 400 years without it. 23:29 So when they come out of Egypt 23:34 then you come face to face 23:37 with the need of written word. 23:40 See? Now there needs to be something written down 23:45 so they know what God wants and what He expects of them. 23:50 And so the first recorded words 23:54 of scripture are these found in Exodus which says: 24:11 First written words God wrote. 24:15 God wrote those with His own finger 24:19 on tables of stone. 24:21 So there was no question here: 24:24 this is the first written recorded Word of God 24:29 on the Ten Commandments. 24:31 Now, as we take a look from that at the Old Testament, 24:37 we find the Old Testament is made up of books 24:41 and pamphlets and letters written by different writers. 24:46 In fact, written by 27 different writers... 24:50 those 39 books in the Old Testament. 24:53 The most prolific writer of all of them was Moses. 24:58 Moses wrote the first five books of your Bible - 25:03 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 25:08 And those five books are called the Pentateuch. 25:13 That's what they're called. 25:14 The five books are called the Pentateuch. 25:17 Moses wrote them. 25:19 Now probably the best we can tell 25:23 the oldest book in the Bible is the book of Job. 25:28 And from all indications Moses wrote it also. 25:33 So that's the oldest book in God's Word was Job. 25:37 Then you have the Pentateuch that Moses wrote. 25:41 This began... this began what was called 25:45 the canon or the Old Testament. 25:50 And this became - as we'll talk about - 25:52 the basis of inspiration. 25:54 And I'll go into that in another presentation. 25:58 But this became the basis of inspiration: 26:02 that Moses wrote those first five books. 26:06 OK. Then after that other books were added. 26:09 The next book that was added was...? 26:12 See how you know. 26:14 Joshua, OK. 26:16 And then we have different ones that came... 26:19 and Judges and so forth. 26:20 Those were the ones that were added to it. 26:23 These were written on scrolls. 26:27 OK? That's what they were written on. 26:30 And scrolls were made from animal skins. 26:34 They could be made from a deer or a lamb - 26:40 sheep - or from a cow. 26:43 One thing they were never... 26:44 scrolls were never made from pigs. 26:48 Pigs were unclean, and they certainly would not 26:53 in any way would they write the Word of God 26:56 on a pig skin. That just didn't happen! 26:58 OK? But these were scrolls that they put together 27:03 and that they wrote the Word of God on. 27:06 Now a scroll, folks, 27:09 can be very, very long. 27:14 A scroll can be over 150 feet. 27:19 A scroll... one scroll. Over 150 feet. 27:23 Now you stop and think about that. 27:25 Here it is over 150 feet long 27:28 and a sheep - the skin of a sheep - might be 2 or 3 feet. 27:34 So if you make it out of sheep skin, 27:36 you've got to have a whole flock of sheep to make 1 scroll. 27:40 OK? But they wrote it on scrolls, 27:44 and these scrolls were very, very special to them. 27:48 Now, when the first five books - 27:53 the Pentateuch that Moses wrote - 27:57 was put in a scroll, that became known as the Torah. 28:04 If it did not have the first five books of Moses 28:08 or just part of them, it was not considered the Torah. 28:12 It had to have all five books 28:15 in order to be the Torah. 28:17 And this was what they read and studied. 28:19 And as time passed, other books were added 28:24 to the Word of God. 28:26 They were added step by step. 28:29 And as they were added 28:31 they became known as the canon. 28:34 Now the Jewish people looked upon the Word of God 28:38 in a very special way. And by the way, 28:41 if you can see those two Jewish boys, they are holding a scroll. 28:46 That's what's in that large container they're holding 28:49 is a scroll. 28:50 And they treated that in a special way. 28:52 I can remember I was over in Israel 28:56 and I had gotten up early that morning 29:00 because I wanted to go down to the Western Wall. 29:03 The Western Wall, folks... There's a huge, huge courtyard. 29:08 And I just wanted to go down there and sit down. 29:12 And I took my Bible with me and just had my own devotion. 29:17 I just went there to spend a little time. 29:19 Well, I get down here to this Western Wall 29:22 and that courtyard is absolutely filled with people. 29:26 I mean it's packed with people. 29:29 And I went over and kind of had a seat 29:32 and watched what was going on. 29:34 And over by the Wall there were some rabbis 29:38 and they were carrying one of these scrolls 29:40 all wrapped up like that. 29:42 And they were doing different things with it there 29:45 and all and chanting stuff and so forth... 29:48 And then a couple of those rabbis began to march 29:53 around the Wall there. 29:55 And some other... other priests and all... 29:59 began to follow them and the people following them. 30:01 And they marched around this, and as they did 30:04 they came right by where I was sitting. 30:07 And as they were going by 30:09 I spoke to one of the men there 30:11 and I said: "What's happening here? 30:14 What's taking place here? " 30:16 He said: "Oh, we're having a funeral. " 30:19 I said: "You're having a funeral? " 30:21 I said: "Somebody very, very important 30:24 must have passed away. " 30:26 He said: "Oh, somebody broke into our synagogue 30:30 and mutilated the Torah. " 30:33 They took it and cut it and all. 30:36 And they said: "We're having a burial for the Torah 30:39 or the scroll. " You see, they look upon the 30:43 Word of God as life. 30:47 They consider it life. They will only bury it. 30:52 When they've got to get rid of it, they bury it 30:55 because they consider it life. 30:58 So they consider it very, very special. 31:01 In fact, the scripture says this about the Word of God: 31:22 So they consider the Word of God something that's living. 31:28 And so when something happens to it 31:31 they take it out and bury it. 31:34 Very, very special to them. 31:41 How do we... you know, how did it come about and all? 31:44 The Jewish rabbis, and particularly the scribes, 31:50 were meticulous when it came to recording the Word of God. 31:56 Tell you what they did. 31:58 If a scribe was translating the Word of God 32:02 and if there was a mistake made, 32:06 they didn't just cross out the mistake or try to erase it. 32:10 They took that whole panel in that scroll 32:15 and took it out... the whole panel. 32:18 They took it out; put a new panel in; 32:21 and then continued writing. 32:24 That's what they did to make sure 32:26 that it was recorded accurately. 32:28 To make sure it was exactly what it said. 32:32 This went on until we reach 32:35 the... about 700 AD. 32:40 700 AD there was a group of Jewish scholars by the name of 32:44 Masoretes. The Masoretes had committed themselves 32:50 to make sure that the Word or the Old Testament - 32:54 the Hebrew Bible, would be translated accurately 32:59 in every way. 33:00 So they were more than meticulous. 33:05 I mean, before... before they would record 33:10 the Word of God, nothing - absolutely nothing - 33:14 could be written down by memory. 33:19 Would not allow it. 33:20 Could not be written by memory. 33:22 That scribe had to look at that word intently 33:27 and he had to pronounce it out loud 33:30 before he wrote it down. 33:32 And then, if it so happened 33:36 that in writing he got two letters close together 33:42 so they touched one another, 33:44 he had to take the whole panel out and start over. 33:48 There was that much... Not only that, 33:51 when he got through recording a particular chapter 33:54 he had to go through and count every word 33:59 and make sure the count of that one 34:02 agreed with the original. 34:04 That's what they had to do. 34:06 To keep the Word of God they made absolutely sure 34:09 that it was the Word of God 34:11 and it was kept accurately in every way. 34:14 This is not something, folks, that was done haphazardly. 34:18 This is not something that great care 34:21 wasn't taken about. 34:22 Something that was done 34:23 meticulously and done 34:25 to make sure that the Word of 34:26 God was recorded in a way 34:29 that it would not be lost or inaccurate. 34:33 And so they recorded the Word of God. 34:35 Oh, here a few years back now 34:38 there was a great lot of interest because they found 34:44 out in the desert a cave. 34:48 And in this cave were fragments 34:53 of scripture. 34:56 In fact, they checked these. 34:58 These became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. 35:03 In the Dead Sea Scrolls, folks, 35:06 there was over 1100 fragments and portions 35:12 of the scripture found. In fact, 35:14 every book - portions of every book 35:21 in the Old Testament - was found 35:23 except the book of Esther. 35:26 That's the only one that wasn't found. 35:29 But portions of every one of them was found 35:32 except the book of Esther. 35:35 And they found the book of Isaiah 35:38 almost totally complete. 35:42 And they put it very... that's the book of Isaiah 35:45 that they found there in the Dead Sea Scrolls. 35:49 And they spent - the Jewish scholars - spent 35:54 ten years on the book of Isaiah. 35:58 I mean studying it. 36:00 Every detail. Ten years, and they found that there was 36:04 absolutely no difference to speak of 36:07 in any way between it and what the Masoretes had done. 36:12 It was accurate all the way through. 36:15 So when I pick up the Bible 36:18 I don't have to have any doubts about the Old Testament. 36:21 You know, it's there. It's the Word of God. 36:24 I can know that. It's been kept faithfully over the years. 36:28 I don't have to be in doubt about what it has to say 36:32 or what is given. So by the time 36:36 we reach about 500 BC - 36:42 maybe 400 BC - 36:44 the canon, or the 39 books of the Old Testament, 36:49 was established. That was pretty well set. 36:52 But by the time we reach two centuries before Christ 36:58 this is when they put the Apocryphal books 37:03 into the Old Testament. 37:05 Now the Apocryphal books are history books 37:08 that cover the period of time about 400 years before Christ. 37:13 That's what they cover, 37:15 and they're Apocryphal books. 37:17 And the Jewish people never saw them, folks, 37:20 as part of the canon. 37:23 They had them in the Bible, 37:26 but not as part of the canon. 37:28 The Hebrew Bible was written in Hebrew. 37:31 The Apocrypha was written in Greek. 37:33 So they were not put there together, but they WERE 37:37 a source of Jewish history. 37:39 And they were put in and kept that way. 37:42 This was the Apocryphal writings of the Old Testament. 37:47 Do you understand what I'm talking about? 37:49 I'm talking about such books as Maccabees and Judas 37:52 and these different Apocryphal books that were there 37:55 that gave some of the history of the Jewish people. 37:58 OK. This was the Old Testament. 38:02 As we get on a little farther 38:05 finally the Old Testament was taken and translated 38:10 from Hebrew into Greek. 38:12 And this became known as the Septuagint. 38:16 That is... when you speak of the Septuagint 38:19 or you read about it or you hear somebody say something 38:21 about it, that is the Old Testament in Greek. 38:25 OK? it was put in Greek form. 38:29 So this is kind of how the Old Testament came to you 38:32 and to me. Now can I share some trivia with you? 38:36 Huh? 38:37 OK. I'm going to tell you how 38:40 to remember how many books are in the Bible. 38:45 I'm going to tell you how never to forget it. 38:48 You know. Do you know how many books are in the Bible? 38:51 Yeah, 66 books in the Bible. 38:54 OK. But now I'm going to tell you how to remember that. 38:58 Never forget it. And how many are in the Old Testament 39:00 and how many in the New Testament. 39:01 So you've got the words Old Testament there on the screen, 39:04 right? In old, how many letters are there? 39:09 Three. 39:11 In Testament how many are there? 39:14 Nine. That's how many books are in the Old Testament. 39:17 OK. So if can you remember Old Testament 39:21 you can always remember how many books are in it 39:23 because there's 3 in Old and 9 in Testament. 39:26 So that tells you clearly how many are there. 39:28 OK. So now you know how many books are in the Old Testament. 39:32 And that is something that has come down to us 39:35 in a special way and has been a great, great blessing. 39:39 As you read the Old Testament, understand what took place. 39:43 OK. Let's go to the New Testament. 39:46 The New Testament now comes on in a different way, 39:51 and you need to understand the background of the New Testament. 39:55 Because when you understand that 39:57 then a lot of things begin to clear up on it. 40:00 You've got to understand that something took place. 40:14 Folks, with the birth of Jesus Christ 40:18 things drastically changed. 40:22 Drastically changed... because up to that time 40:27 the Old Testament was contained with the Jewish people. 40:35 It was a Hebrew book; it was with the Jewish people. 40:39 With the coming of Jesus Christ 40:42 the Roman Empire had also come into existence. 40:47 And the Romans... the Romans had now made 40:52 the pathways safe. 40:54 They had made the waterways safe. 40:57 They made travel, so people could go 41:00 many, many different places. 41:01 And now the gospel was not confined to the Jews. 41:09 The gospel was made available to...? 41:13 Anybody. 41:15 It was open to everyone. 41:18 And so no longer was it confined to the Jewish nation. 41:21 It was open to everyone. 41:23 So out of Jerusalem we find them going 41:28 many, many different places. 41:30 In fact, there's a text in the Bible that says 41:33 those that were scattered abroad 41:35 went everywhere preaching the Word. 41:38 And they went out preaching the Word of God. 41:41 Taking the Word of God with them and preaching it 41:44 every place they went. 41:46 The writings, if you please, of the New Testament: 41:50 27 books in the New Testament. 41:55 How many writers? 41:57 Eight, OK? 42:00 Eight. Those that wrote the gospels was 42:04 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 42:09 They wrote and described the life of Jesus Christ. 42:14 That's what they recorded for us. 42:17 Marvelous as you read through the life of Jesus Christ 42:21 as they tell the incidents that took place in His life. 42:26 Then, the writing of Paul... 42:30 Paul wrote 13. 42:34 Of the 27 books in the New Testament 42:37 Paul wrote 13 of them! 42:40 We refer to those as Epistles. 42:44 Some of them were books, some of them were letters. 42:47 Just many different things that he wrote... 42:49 they are the Epistles. 42:51 And Peter and James and Jude wrote the others. 42:56 So those are the books 42:58 and those are the writers 43:00 of the New Testament. 43:02 By the time we reach 43:04 100 AD, 43:07 the canon of the New Testament is pretty much settled. 43:12 The 27 books are there. 43:16 And these people that went everywhere preaching the Word 43:19 they took this with them on scrolls 43:22 and they went everywhere talking about the Word of God. 43:26 Preaching it. 43:27 Do you know what the main thing they preached back then? 43:33 What do you think they really preached back then? 43:35 The main thing they preached back then was the resurrection. 43:40 The resurrection of Jesus Christ. 43:43 And, of course, the disciples could say they saw it. 43:48 Paul makes a big deal out of it 43:51 because he said that he was an apostle out of time. 43:57 That he saw Jesus Christ in vision, 44:00 and he makes a big thing about this fact. 44:02 That He IS the resurrected Lord. 44:06 Something that he believed and he taught. 44:08 So you have the New Testament given to them at that time. 44:11 It was written on papyrus. 44:15 Now papyrus is a paper-like substance 44:20 that's made from a reed called papyrus. 44:23 And they took it and they beat it 44:25 and from that pulp they made sheets. 44:29 And because it could be made in sheets, 44:31 it was made much into like a book. 44:34 And this became how the New Testament was done. 44:38 And so they didn't have to carry great big scrolls any longer. 44:42 They could take the Word of God and carry it with them 44:45 and go different places and preach the Word of God. 44:48 And so the whole concept in how the Word of God spread 44:52 was totally different. 44:54 OK? 44:56 Now I told you I'd tell you how to remember how many 44:59 books were in the Bible. 45:01 How many are in the New Testament. 45:03 New has how many letters? 45:06 Three. 45:07 And Testament has nine. 45:10 And three times nine is? 27. 45:15 So there you have it. 45:16 That's how many books are in the New Testament is 27, 45:20 39 in the old, giving you 66 books 45:26 in the Bible. 45:28 OK. Now let me explain something that happened 45:31 because we'll deal in another session on this more 45:36 but you need to understand what happened here. 45:38 The Word of God spread with great rapidity, folks. 45:42 In fact, by the time we reach 300 AD 45:45 half of the Roman Empire has become Christian. 45:49 And these people went everywhere, as it said, 45:51 preaching the Word. And they went out 45:53 and they taught it and they preached it. 45:55 And by the time you reach 500 AD, 46:01 the New Testament - the Bible, particularly the New Testament - 46:05 has been translated in over 500 different languages. 46:13 You think about that. 46:15 By the time we reach 500 AD the New Testament has been 46:19 translated in over 500 different languages. 46:25 OK? 46:28 By the time... by the time 46:33 you reach 600 AD, 46:37 there is only one. 46:42 All there is available to the people is Latin. 46:47 Jerome, 328 AD, 46:53 translated the Bible from then Greek and so forth 46:58 into Latin, and this became known as the Vulgate. 47:04 The church took the Vulgate version 47:11 and took every other one and made it an offense 47:16 for them to have the Word of God 47:19 in any other language than Latin. 47:22 And dear friends, let me tell you something... 47:24 the only Bible that was there for a thousand years - 47:30 from 400 AD to 1400 AD - 47:34 was only Latin. 47:36 And most of the people couldn't read Latin. 47:41 In fact, mainly the only ones that could read Latin 47:45 were the priests. 47:46 And the scripture was taken and chained to library walls 47:51 and told the people they couldn't understand it. 47:54 And therefore an understanding of it was taken away 47:57 from all of them. 48:00 Couldn't read the Word of God. 48:07 Well as time has passed, they have found 48:11 some old, old manuscripts. 48:19 This happens to be in the Vatican in Rome. 48:24 That's where this manuscript is kept. 48:26 Uh, along came a man by the name of Constantine Tischendorf. 48:33 And he was a German scholar. 48:35 And he was rummaging around in an old monastery 48:39 at the foot of Mt. Sinai 48:41 and in the trash in this Monastery of St. Catherine, 48:46 that's where that is, 48:48 he found a copy of the Word of God in the trash. 48:52 And he pulled it out, and it became known 48:56 as an old manuscript, it's a very old one, 49:00 and it's called the Codex Sinaiticus. 49:04 And that was found in 1844 AD. 49:09 OK. 49:10 Then some years later 49:13 in Egypt - in Alexandria, Egypt - 49:17 they found another manuscript: 49:20 and it's called the Codex Alexandrinus. 49:24 And those are the oldest manuscripts. 49:28 They date back to 200 and 300 AD. 49:32 That's where they come from. 49:34 Now folks, I've got to say a lot more about these, 49:37 but I don't have time tonight. 49:39 We'll do it in our next presentation, because these 49:43 are very, very important 49:45 that you understand what's involved in these. 49:48 But this became the source of our Bibles... 49:53 where they translated them from, many of them. 49:56 BUT, something happened. 49:59 In 1380 AD a man by the name of John Wycliffe 50:05 who was known as the Morning Star of the Reformation 50:10 comes on the scene of action. 50:12 And John Wycliffe sat down and he translates 50:16 the Bible from Greek to English. 50:21 That's the first one that comes into English 50:25 is by Wycliffe... 1380 AD. 50:29 He was persecuted unmercifully for doing this. 50:33 He had a group of followers that followed him 50:35 called the Lollards. 50:37 And they tried to make this available to the people. 50:40 The church - the established church - fought it horribly. 50:44 In fact, they sent a delegation down and arrested Wycliffe 50:48 to burn him at the stake. 50:50 And he died on them before they got him to the stake. 50:53 That's the only thing that kept them from burning him 50:55 at the stake. If fact, it so infuriated the Pope 50:59 that 44 years after his death 51:03 he had him dug up and his bones crushed 51:07 and thrown on the river. 51:10 Thought that this would put an end to it... 51:13 that that would settle it. 51:15 But the scripture says something, folks. 51:30 Morning Star of the Reformation 51:33 translated the scripture into English. 51:35 It also says this to us: 51:50 And so the Word of God went out. 51:53 Well, that put it into English. 51:56 When we hit the 1500s, 51:59 something begins to happen. 52:02 Along comes a man that takes the Word of God 52:06 and his name is Erasmus. 52:10 Erasmus knows that the Vulgate translation into Latin 52:16 has got flaw after flaw after flaw in it. 52:20 And he sits down, and something had happened. 52:24 As the Reformation broke, 52:26 then all these translations in other languages 52:30 began to surface. 52:32 And as they began to surface, 52:35 then Erasmus gathered some of these 52:38 and they began to translate 52:40 the Word of God from these different languages 52:42 back into the Greek. 52:43 And I'll talk more about this. 52:45 This became known as the received text. 52:49 And so Erasmus translated the Word of God. 52:52 And by the way, it was what Erasmus translated 52:56 that Martin Luther put his Bible into German. 53:00 And so you have the beginning of a change. 53:04 That's why Wycliffe is called 53:05 the Morning Star of the Reformation 53:08 is because from him it began to grow, and the Word of God 53:12 began to be made available to the people. 53:15 So you can see, the Word of God has a great, great history. 53:19 Wonderful as God has given His Word, that we can read it, 53:24 understand it, and follow it. 53:26 By all means, Give Me The Bible. 53:33 Give me the Bible 53:38 when my heart is broken. 53:43 When sin and grief 53:47 have filled my soul with fear. 53:52 Give me the precious 53:56 words by Jesus spoken. 54:01 Hold up my faith 54:04 to show my Savior's near. 54:10 Give me the Bible, 54:15 holy message shining. 54:19 Thy light shall guide me 54:24 in the narrow way. 54:28 Precept and promise, 54:33 law and love combining. 54:37 Till night shall vanish 54:42 in eternal 54:46 day. 54:50 Let us pray. 54:52 Father in Heaven, 54:54 thank you. Thank you for looking after Your Word 55:00 all these years. 55:02 We can see how it has been preserved 55:06 and brought down to us today 55:08 that we can read it and we can know 55:13 what You have done for each of us 55:16 and the great plan of salvation's available 55:18 for each. 55:20 Lord help us not to leave it laying on some shelf... 55:26 but to pick it up and day by day read it. 55:31 Give us Your Spirit so that we will understand it. 55:36 This we ask in Christ's name, Amen. 55:40 Well, our next presentation is: Which Translation Is Best? 55:46 Because today we don't have one or two translations... 55:50 we have dozens of translations. 55:53 How can I know which translation is the best one to read? 55:56 What's available to me? 55:58 So you want to be with us when we talk about God's Word. 56:02 Good night. God bless you. 56:05 Water can be both inspiring and awesome. 56:09 As it flows from the hills and the mountains 56:12 water changes the destiny of every living creature 56:17 it comes in contact with. 56:19 Not a single living thing 56:21 can survive without water for long. 56:23 But despite its beauty 56:26 the power of water can cut channels through rocks 56:29 and change the landscape forever. 56:32 In John chapter 7 56:34 Jesus stood and cried out saying: 56:37 "If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. 56:40 He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, 56:44 out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. " 56:48 As He did so many times, 56:50 Jesus explained the spiritual things of God 56:54 through nature... like flowing water. 56:57 This living water is a life-changing source. 57:00 It can change the landscape of our lives 57:03 and flow through us to change the lives of others. 57:08 Folks, we all need water to live... 57:13 but we also need living water. 57:16 Jesus is that living water, 57:19 and through His Spirit we can bring life to those around us. 57:23 The only goal we have at this ministry 57:26 is to offer living water to all mankind. 57:30 There are thousands - no millions - 57:34 who still long for this water: the living water of life. 57:38 Won't you help us quench their thirst? 57:41 Please consider what you can do 57:43 for those who still don't know about Jesus. 57:46 As the Holy Spirit impresses, 57:47 please send your tax-deductible gifts to: 58:01 Thank you for helping us spread the light of God's Word 58:04 through television and radio. 58:06 Your gifts help bring the blessed hope of salvation 58:08 to millions around the world. |
Revised 2014-12-17