https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ValidatingTheGoodNews.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Isaiah 41:21-29<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. How do I know<\/i> that the Bible is inspired? How can I be really certain that it comes\nfrom God?\n
A. There are various ways to show that the Bible must have came from God. <\/p>\n
B. Today we will use methods that the Bible itself suggests.<\/p>\nII. If the scriptures and their authors were really inspired, then the things predicted\nwould come true. – Deuteronomy 18:21-22\n A. Isaiah emphasized this point many times. One characteristic that\ndistinguishes God from idols is that God can reveal the future accurately –\nIsaiah 41:21-24\n 1. The challenge to the false idols: Prove yourselves by revealing the\nfuture, good or bad so that we can see if it comes true.\n
2. Or even show the past with accuracy.<\/p>\n 3. God has shown the future in the past and continued to reveal it –\nIsaiah 42:9\n 4. God proves there is no other God by his prophecies that have come\ntrue – Isaiah 45:20-21\n
5. There is no one like God – Isaiah 46:8-11<\/p>\n
B. Jesus showed the truth of himself by predicting his own end.<\/p>\n
1. How many people could do that accurately?<\/p>\n
2. John 2:18-21 – Predicted being raised from the dead after three days.<\/p>\n
3. Mark 8:31 – Predicted suffering, rejection by leaders<\/p>\n C. Many modernists have expressed doubts about when the Scriptures were\nwritten.\n D. Many times books are dated as late as possible because they contain\nprophecies that are too accurate.\n E. Rather than admit that the books are inspired, they date the books to the\ntime prophesy is fulfilled.\n F. The book of Isaiah is an important book because two complete copies were\nfound among the Dead Sea scrolls. These scrolls date to 200 years before\nChrist was born!\n
1. Isaiah 53 contains an incredibly accurate description of the Christ.<\/p>\n
a. Not physically beautiful – vs. 2<\/p>\n
b. Rejected by men – vs. 3<\/p>\n
c. Wounded, bruised, scourged – vs. 5<\/p>\n
d. Mock trial – vs. 7,8<\/p>\n
e. Died “before his time”, without children – vs. 8<\/p>\n
f. Killed with wicked, buried with rich – vs. 9<\/p>\n G. Some may say these don’t count. Jesus knew the Scriptures and made them\ncome true.\n
1. Many of these things were not under Jesus’ direct control.<\/p>\n 2. Most were carried out by non-believers who would rather show that\nthe Scriptures were not fulfilled.\nIII. Another method of verifying the Scriptures are by the miracles that accompanied\nthe prophets of God\n
A. God himself bearing witness through signs and wonders – Hebrews 2:3-4<\/p>\n
B. Moses worked wonders to prove God was with him – Exodus 4:1-9<\/p>\n
1. The children of Israel crossed the Red Sea – Exodus 14:30-31<\/p>\n 2. Yet even the children of Israel, recipients of all these wonders had\ntrouble holding on to their beliefs – Numbers 14:11\n
3. Gideon believe the evidence before him – Judges 6:13-14, 17, 20-22<\/p>\n 4. Elijah dramatically proves God’s existence on Mount Carmel – I\nKings 18:24ff\n
C. How do we know that the miracles were not some parlor trick?<\/p>\n
1. The miracles were not of the type that would be easily bluffed.<\/p>\n 2. Even the enemies of Christ admitted the fact of his miracles. What\nthey disagreed with was the conclusion.\n a. The Jews acknowledge that a man could see, but they looked\neverywhere for evidence that it was not a miracle – John 9:17-21, 26-34\n (1) “Born in sin” refers to the belief that blindness was a\npunishment for sin\n
(2) Thus, they are admitting that he was born blind<\/p>\n b. The leaders did not doubt that Lazarus was raised from the\ndead. They did not want people believing in Jesus as a result –\nJohn 12:9-11\n
IV. A commonly expressed belief is that Jesus never actually said he was God.<\/p>\n A. This is totally false. Jesus claimed to be equal with God the father in many\nplaces.\n 1. The paralyzed man was healed to prove that Jesus had the power to\nforgive sins – something only God could do – Mark 2:5-12\n
2. Jesus claims to be the “I am” – John 8:58<\/p>\n
3. Jesus had glory with God before the world began – John 17:5 <\/p>\n
a. God will not give his glory to another – Isaiah 42:8<\/p>\n
4. Jesus and God are one – John 10:30<\/p>\n
B. Not only that, his claims were accompanied by miracles.<\/p>\n
C. If he was lying, God would not have allowed the miracles to occur.<\/p>\nV. The obvious conclusion is that the Bible is inspired. Jesus did live on this Earth\nand he was more than just a man. He proved without a doubt that he was God in\nthe form of a man.\n
A. John 5:36 – His works bear witness that God sent Jesus<\/p>\n B. John 7:31 – If Jesus was not the Christ, could the Messiah do anything\nmore?\n
C. John 20:30-31 – These were written that you may believe.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 41:21-29 I. How do I know that the Bible is inspired? How can I be really certain that it comes from God? A. There are various ways to show that the Bible must have came from God. B. Today we will use methods that the Bible itself suggests. II. If the scriptures…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[568,219,709,225],"class_list":["post-63633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-accuracy-of-the-bible","tag-bible","tag-evidence","tag-inspiration"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-know-the-bible-is-inspired\/","url_meta":{"origin":63633,"position":0},"title":"How do we know the Bible is inspired?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do we know absolutely that the Bible is the infallible and inspired Word of God? How did the Bible as we know it today come into existence? Answer: Entire books have been written on the subject of the inspiration of the Bible. It is unlikely that I will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27552,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-god-communicates-his-will-to-us-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":63633,"position":1},"title":"How God Communicates His Will to Us in the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Whit Sasser Lessons in Christianity","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94813,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-canon-of-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":63633,"position":2},"title":"The Canon of the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Inspired Books The Canon of the Old Testament - Part 1 The Canon of the Old Testament - Part 2 The New Testament Canon False Books The Book of Enoch The Book of Jasher The Apocrypha New Testament Apocrypha - Infancy Gospels","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37732,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/preaching-the-bloody-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":63633,"position":3},"title":"Preaching the Bloody Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ralph Walker There are portions of the Bible which trouble even the most faith-filled of us - stories of blood, brutality, and barbarism. Those stories and commands provide opportunities for the enemies of God to attack His goodness and ethics. This series explores some of those troubling passages. These\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Bible-and-Sword-300x220.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":42589,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-wondrous-book-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":63633,"position":4},"title":"The Wondrous Book of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Download Audio by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalm 119:17-24 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Eulogy of the Bible \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many years ago, I entered the wonderful temple of God\u2019s revelation. I entered the portico of Genesis and walked down through the Old Testament Art Gallery where the pictures of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61910,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/biblical-infallibility-can-we-trust-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":63633,"position":5},"title":"Biblical Infallibility: Can We Trust the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Trust in the scriptures is important to every Christian. The Bible is the center of our faith. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We are Christians because we believe that God exists and that the Bible is God's word - II Tim. 3:16 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Believing in the Bible's message will save our souls\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}