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Preciousness of the Bible

Bible Value of

The Bible is as necessary to our safe passage through this lifetime as oxygen is to sustain life. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》

Bible Value of

Karen’s mother was startled to find her five-year-old going through a new Bible storybook and circling the word God wherever it appeared on the page. Stifling her first reaction to reprimand the child for defacing a book she quietly asked “Why are you doing that?” Karen’s matter-of-fact answer was: “So that I will know where to find God when I want him.”

Wouldn’t it be nice to have her confidence that all we had to do was open a storybook and find God waiting for us? The truth is we do have such a Book—the Bible. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》

Bible Value of

A.C. Gabaeline rates J.N. Darby as one of the great teachers of the Word of God. Dr. Darby for many years lived among the rustic country people of Ireland—preaching the gospel to these farm families and living at their modest level.

One day an infidel who was very well-known in those times challenged Darby saying “You claim that all Scripture is profitable. What possible earthly value could a verse like 1 Timothy 4:13 have―”The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus when thou comest bring with thee and the books but especially the parchments?” To which Darby replied “Do you know that when I left my ecclesiastical position to come here to live among these very simple persons it was that very verse that kept me from selling my own theological library? Make no mistake about it ” said Darby “all Scripture is inspired of God and all of it is profitable!” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》

Bible Value of

“I believe the Bible is the best gift that God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book. I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” ―― Abraham Lincoln

Bible Value of

The Bible is alive it speaks to me.

It has feet it runs after me.

It has hands it lays hold of me.

―― Martin Luther

Bible Value of

“When home is ruled according to God’s Word angels might be asked to stay with us and they would not find themselves out of their element.” ―― C.H. Spurgeon

Bible Value of

John Wesley once wrote: “I am a creature of a day passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit coming from God and returning to God; just hovering over the great gulf; a few months hence I am no more seen; I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing—the way to heaven…God Himself has condescended to teach the way. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that Book! At any price give me the book of God!” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》

Bible Value of

Andrew Young former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations urged the graduating class of the University of Maryland’s Eastern Shore campus to “get a bible” and read a chapter a day. “It won’t hurt you at all ” he said in his commencement address “and it will give you more illumination and purpose in life. It’s better to invest fifteen dollars in a Bible now than twenty-five dollars an hour for a psychiatrist later.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》

"THE UNIQUENESS OF THE BIBLE"
 
INTRODUCTION
 
1. Perhaps you have heard people say things like...
 a. "Oh
you don't read the Bible
do you?"
 b. "Why
the Bible is just another book; you ought to read..."
 
2. Perhaps you have heard...
 a. A teacher degrade the Bible before his or her students
ridiculing
 those who read it
 b. Those who are proud to have a Bible on their bookshelf
but only
 as one book among other "greats" of literature
 
3. But the Bible is more than simply one of the "greats"; it is
 unique...
 a. Meaning "one and only"
 b. Meaning "different from all others; having no like or equal"
 (Webster's)
 
[Our purpose in this lesson is to review in what way the Bible is
unique
how it is truly "different from all others; having no like or
equal". For example
the Bible is...]
 
I. UNIQUE IN ITS CONTINUITY
 
 A. HERE IS A BOOK THAT WAS WRITTEN...
 1. Over a long period of time
 a. About 1600 years
 b. A span of 40 generations
 2. By approximately 40 authors from every walk of life
 a. Moses
political leader trained in the universities of Egypt
 b. Peter
fisherman
 c. Amos
herdsman
 d. Joshua
military general
  e. Nehemiah
cup bearer to the king of Persia
 f. Daniel
prime minister in the courts of Babylon
 g. Luke
physician
 h. Solomon
philosopher king
 i. Matthew
tax collector
 j. Paul
rabbi and tentmaker
 3. In different places
 a. Moses in the wilderness
 b. Jeremiah in a dungeon
 c. Daniel on a hillside
and in a palace
 d. Paul inside prison walls
 e. Luke while traveling
 f. John in exile on the isle of Patmos
 g. Others in the rigors of a military campaign
 4. At different times
 a. David in times of war
 b. Solomon in times of peace
 5. During different moods
 a. Some writing from the heights of joy
 b. Others from the depths of sorrow and despair
 6. On three continents: Asia
Africa
Europe
 7. In three languages:  Hebrew
Aramaic
Greek
 8. With subject matter involving hundreds of controversial topics

 such as:
 a. The origin of man and the universe
 b. The nature of God
 c. The nature of man
sin
and man's redemption
 
 B. YET THERE IS HARMONY AND CONTINUITY...
 1. For example:
 a. "The Paradise Lost of the book of Genesis becomes the
  Paradise Regained of Revelation."
 b. "Whereas the gate to the Tree of Life is closed in Genesis

 it is opened forevermore in Revelation." (Geisler and Nix)
 2. Compare the continuity of the Bible with any other writings of
  men
 a. Imagine what you would have it you took just ten authors...
 1) From one walk of life
one generation
one place
one
 time
one mood
one continent
one language
 2) Speaking on just one controversial subject
 b. You would have a conglomeration of conflicting ideas
not
 harmony!
 
[The Bible is truly unique
one of a kind
in its continuity. It is
also...]
 
II. UNIQUE IN ITS TRANSLATION AND CIRCULATION
 
 A. THE TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE...
 1. One of the first major books translated
 a. E.g.
the Septuagint version of the OT
 b. Translated into Greek in 250 B.C.
 2. Between 1950-1960
3000 Bible translators were at work
 -- "By the end of 1993
the whole Bible had been translated into
 337 languages; 2
062 languages have translations of at least
 one book of the Bible." - Guinness Book of World Records (1998)
 
 B. THE CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE...
 1. As of 1804 - 409 million copies
 2. As of 1932 - one and a third billion copies
 -- "The world's best-selling and most widely distributed book is
 the Bible
with an estimated 2.5 billion copies sold
1815-
 1975." - Guinness Book of World Records
 
["No other book has known the anything approaching this constant
circulation" (The Cambridge History of the Bible). You would think that
if a person were sincerely seeking truth
he or she would give serious
consideration to a book that has drawn so much attention! The Bible is
also...]
 
III. UNIQUE IN ITS SURVIVAL
 
 A. ITS SURVIVAL THROUGH TIME...
 1. Though written on material that perishes...
 a. ...having to be copied and recopied for hundreds of years by
 hand
 b. ...its style
correctness
or existence did not diminish
 2. Compared with other ancient writings
the manuscript evidence
 of the Bible:
 a. Is greater than any 10 pieces of classical literature
 combined!
 b. Is sufficient to ensure that we are reading the words of the
 original
 
 B. ITS SURVIVAL THROUGH PERSECUTION...
 1. Many have tried to burn it
ban it
and otherwise outlaw it
 a. From the days of Roman emperors
 b. To the present Communist-dominated countries
 2. Two illustrations of its survival through persecution:
 a. In 303 A.D.
the Roman emperor Diocletian issued an edict to
 stop Christians from worshipping
and to destroy their
 scriptures. Only 25 years later the Roman emperor
 Constantine called for 50 copies of the Bible to be prepared
 at the expense of the government!
 b. Voltaire
French atheist who died in 1778
predicted that
 Christianity would be swept from existence and pass into
 history within 100 years of his time. 50 years after his
 death
the Geneva Bible Society used his printing press and
 house to produce stacks of Bibles!
 -- How true is the statement: "All flesh is as grass
and all
 the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass
 withers
and its flower falls away
but the word of the LORD
 endures forever." - cf. 1 Pe 1:24-25
 
 C. ITS SURVIVAL THROUGH CRITICISM...
 1. "Infidels for 1800 years have been refuting and overthrowing
 this book
and yet it stands today as solid as a rock. Its
 circulation increases
and it is more loved and cherished and
 read today than ever before. Infidels
with all their assault
 make about as much impression on this book as a man with a tack
 hammer on the pyramids of Egypt." - H. L. Hastings
 2. "No other book has been so chopped
knifed
sifted

 scrutinized
and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion
 or psychology...has been subject to such a mass attack as the
 Bible? With such venom and skepticism? With such thoroughness
 and erudition? Upon every chapter
line and tenet? And yet

 the Bible is still loved by millions
read by millions
and
 studied by millions." - Bernard Ramm
 
[Next
consider how the Bible is...]
 
IV. UNIQUE IN ITS TEACHING
 
 A. A BOOK OF PROPHECY...
 1. "It is the only volume ever produced in which is to be found a
 large body of prophecies relating to individual nations (more
 than ten in Isaiah alone)
Israel
all the peoples of the
 earth
certain cities
the coming Messiah and His kingdom."
 - Wilbur Smith
 2. There is no other book of religious antiquity which provides so
 many explicit prophecies:
 a. So distant in the future
 b. Which came to pass
 
 B. A BOOK OF HISTORY...
 1. The Old Testament "embodies the oldest history writing extant"
 (Cambridge Ancient History)
 2. The Hebrews are the only race of people that can give such a
 clear and accurate picture of their origins
 3. "...in all of my archaeological investigation I have never
 found one artifact of antiquity that contradicts any statement
 of the Word of God." - Nelson Glueck
 
 C. A BOOK OF PERSONALITIES...
 1. The Bible deals frankly with the sins of its characters
even
 its heroes:
  a. Adam and Eve - putting off responsibility on to others
 b. Noah - drunkenness
 c. Abraham - cowardice
lying to save his skin
 d. Moses - disobedience to God
 e. David - lying
adultery
murder
 f. Peter - denying the Lord
causing division through hypocrisy
 g. Churches - divided
arrogant
materialistic
 2. The Bible has the habit of telling it like it was
and is
 unique in its portrayal of its key personalities
 
[Finally
we briefly note that Bible is...]
 
V. UNIQUE IN ITS INFLUENCE
 
 A. UPON THE LITERATURE OF THE WORLD...
 1. "If every Bible in any considerable city were destroyed
the
 book could be restored in all its essential parts from the
 quotations on the shelves of the city public library" (The
 Greatest English Classic)
 2. No one can truly be called "educated" who is ignorant of the
 Bible
for they would be ignorant of that which has influenced
 so many great writers
 
 B. UPON THE WORLD ITSELF...
 1. Our judicial system is based upon many of the principles found
 in the Bible
 2. Our standards of morality owe much to the Judeo-Christian ethic
 3. Even within the ancient characters of the Chinese language
are
 references to the Genesis story of Adam and Eve
the garden

 and the Flood
 
CONCLUSION
 
1. All of this is not offered to prove the Bible to be the Word of
 God...
 a. Though its continuity and fulfilled prophecy are certainly
 evidences of it
 b. Rather that it is truly a unique book ("different from all others;
 having no like or equal")
 
2. Of course
I believe that what makes it unique is...
 a. Its origin - it comes from the mind of the One True God
 b. Its process of revelation - it came by the work of the Holy
 Spirit
who guided the many writers and made their works
 harmonious
 c. Its central message - that Jesus Christ is the Messiah
the Son
 of God who is the only Lord and Savior of mankind
 
3. Because of its uniqueness
I believe it may be rightly stated:
 
 "If you are an intelligent person
you will read the one book that
 has drawn more attention than any other
_IF_ you are searching for
 the truth."
 
Of course
as unique as the Bible may be
it is of little value unless
we receive it in our hearts and work it out in our lives:
 
 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness

 and receive with meekness the implanted word
which is able to
 save your souls.
 
 But be doers of the word
and not hearers only
deceiving
 yourselves.
 
 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer
he is
 like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he
 observes himself
goes away
and immediately forgets what kind
 of man he was.
 
 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues
 in it
and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work
this
 one will be blessed in what he does.
  - Ja 1:21-25
 
May we never neglect this unique Book
but receive it into our hearts
and lives the way God intended!
 
Note: Much of the material for this lesson was taken from "Evidence
That Demands A Verdict"
Vol. 1
by Josh McDowell.

－－《Executable Outlines》