Second Peter chapter 1 the verse that I want to start in is there in verse number 21 where the Bible reads, "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." Tonight's sermon is called "Where did we get the Bible?" Where did this book, the Bible come from? How did it make it's way unto us? We all have it hopefully in our lap right now or in our hand as we hear preaching and we believe that it's the most important book in the world and not only that but it is our final authority for all matters of faith and practice. We believe it's the word of God. That it's without error. How did this book get to us today?
Now go through into Hebrews chapter one. Just a few pages from where you are there in second Peter. Just flip a few pages to the left and you will find the book of Hebrews. Look at Hebrews chapter one verse one because we are going to go all the way back to the beginning of time. Adam and Eve and then of course later we have Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These early Bible characters. Now they didn't walk around with a Bible in their hand like we do. They didn't have Genesis through Revelation to read from. They were actually living out the stories that would later be written in the Bible. The question is did they have God's word? Of course the answer is yes because God has always revealed his word unto mankind from the beginning of time. God's word is not new and there has never been a time on this Earth when God's wasn't there in some form. Now look at Hebrews chapter one verse one. The Bible reads, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners." Divers means various manners. He spoke in multiple different ways the Bible is saying.
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds." Now this is being written unto the Hebrews. This is called the episcopal to the Hebrews. The Bible here is saying to the Hebrews that God spake to their fathers or their ancestors in time past by the prophets. God used prophets that would speak the word of God unto their ancestors and now in these last days he is saying in the New Testament, God has spoken unto us by his son.
In the next few chapters he goes on to explain how Jesus Christ is greater than any other prophet. He is greater then Moses. He is greater than the angels. He is actually God in the flesh and he is the creator and on and on. That is all found in the first three chapters of the book of Hebrews. The point I want to make here is that before God's word was a written word that was in a book called the Bible, it was spoken by man of God. It was spoken by prophets in time past. Now if you would flip back to the book of Exodus and chapter 24. While you are turning there let me just go into that a little further. As you read the old testament, you will often see all throughout the old Testament whether you are reading in the books of Moses or whether you are reading in the book of Joshua, the book of Judges. Whether you are reading in the books of first second Kings, first second Chronicles.
Just all throughout the old Testament, one thing that you will consistently see is man of God speaking the word of God through inspiration of the Holy Ghost where the spirit of the Lord will come upon a prophet and he will speak God's word. He will preach God's word. Many of these prophets are not really prophets that we would know of by name because they don't have famous names. Some of them God doesn't even give us our name. They will just say, "A man of God came and the spirit of the Lord came upon him and here is what he spoke."
Then other times it will be a prophet that you've never heard of like Oded the prophet. Oded is not one that is up there with Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel in our minds but this was none the less a prophet of the Lord that God sent to speak his word. Nathan the prophet was one and even Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, the brother of Cain is referred to by Jesus as a prophet who spoke God's word. We don't see his prophecies recorded. We don't see any of his preaching but none the less we know he was a prophet. We know that Enoch was a prophet.
God used men to speak his word verbally from the beginning of time. From the days of Abel, Enoch, Noah, people before the flood, it has always been on this Earth. It was a verbal word before it was a written word. When did it begin to be written down? Well the first books of the Bible that are actually written down are the first five books in your Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These books are known as the law of Moses or the books of Moses. They come to us at the time of Moses. Just to quickly get your mind in the right time frame, I will just briefly explain to you how we get to the time of Moses. Of course, we have the time leading up to the flood, there is a flood in the days of Noah. Then after the flood God divides man into nations and he chooses one man that would found a special nation that would be a pattern nation that would show the light of God's word onto the Gentiles and of course that man is Abraham.
Through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, comes the nation of Israel. Then Israel is in Egypt in captivity for 400 years and then Moses is the one who comes and leads them out of captivity and most people know that story. Well at that point is when we start having the word of God in written form, in a book where this is the law of God. This is the Bible. Here it is written down. Now this comes at the time of Moses. Now look if you would at Exodus chapter 24 verse seven. The Bible says, "And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient."
Now flip over to Deuteronomy chapter 17 and what I want to point out about that verse we just read in Exodus 24, is this is when they first come out of Egypt. When they first come out of the land of Egypt, they have only been with Moses for a matter of months. Moses has been at Mount Sinai. In chapter 20 he gets the 10 commandments and then there are other commandments and statutes that God gives. What I want to point out there is that they are immediately being written down. Even before they wander in the wilderness for 40 years these things are already being written in a book. Right away in the time of Moses and then Moses is taking that book and reading it to the people from the book that has been written down at the mouth of God. Where God speaks the word and Moses writes and it down and he reads it to the people and they say, "All that the Lord has said we are going to do it. We are going to obey that book Moses." It was written down immediately.
Here is another reference to it being written in a book. Deuteronomy 17 talks about a future king they may have some day. He says if you ever have a king this is what that king should be like. It says in Deuteronomy 17:18, "And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites." We see God's intent that this be a written word of God. Where there is going to be a book where the Levites have in possession and the Levites are going to teach and preach that book to the people and then the king that will later come, he is supposed to get that book from the Levites and make a copy of it. Then that's his own personal copy. His own handwritten copy and he is supposed to read that book all the days of his life.
We see here that this is when it becomes a written word, a book, the book of the law. What books are we talking about? Well he said that this law, meaning Deuteronomy itself. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy is what we are talking about. Now flip over if you would to Joshua chapter one. Now what some people struggle with is they say well if Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are the books of Moses and they are written by Moses than the question that they ask is well how come he dies in the last few verses of Deuteronomy? If he is the one who wrote it then how can he die in the story at the very end?
If you would, since I am having you go to Joshua anyway, you might as well just back up a little bit into chapter 34 and just see the death here in verse five of Deuteronomy chapter 34. "So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord and he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab." On and on it explains that and then it says in verse number eight, "And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses." Basically because he dies at the very end, then that makes them struggle with the authorship of Deuteronomy. Now I am going to come back to that and explain that in a moment.
For now just look at Joshua chapter one. We come right off of the death of Moses in Deuteronomy 34. Look at Joshua 1:1. "Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel." Jump down to verse eight. "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 thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."
Do we see here clearly that Joshua has a copy of this book? Scholars today and I am going to debunk some of the claims of these liberal scholars or just even unbelieving scholars who consider themselves a Bible expert even though they are not even saved. Even though the Bible says that the natural man receive not the things of the spirit of God, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Yet these people claim to be experts in theology and then they will openly say, "Well I don't believe the Bible is God's word." If you go to the ivy league schools of this nation, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, they will have departments of theology where students will go and study the Bible. It's from an unbelieving Christ rejecting standpoint. It's from a standpoint that it's a book of myths and fables. That it is not really the word of God.
These experts profess themselves to be very wise about these things but they are blinded by their unbelief and the Bible teaches us that the unbelieving man can not understand the Bible. The veil is over their eyes, the Bible says, when they read it. When God talked about unsaved Bible teachers in Christ's day, he called them, they were the blind leading the blind and they will both fall in the ditch he said. They will try to say, "Well the books of Moses were written much later. The books of Moses were written way later in the days of like Kind David or King Solomon. That's when the books of Moses are written." Others will say this, "Well Genesis through Numbers were written at the time of Moses but Deuteronomy is written hundreds of years later." I am going to prove to you that that's not what the Bible teaches here. I am going to show you that that can even be proven to be inaccurate and false.
If you look here at this scripture, it's clear that Joshua already has the complete book of the law from Moses and he is supposed to read it and meditate in it and harken to it and it's already in book form. It's already a written word. That's repeatedly emphasized isn't it? Now if you would go to Joshua chapter eight. Let's continue our study here of where we got the Bible that we have today. Look at Joshua chapter eight verse 30. The Bible says, "Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in mount Ebal as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel." This book is getting copied and copied and copied already. At this point he actually carves it into stone and he does it in front of all the children of Israel. He has this thing copied right then and there, the whole thing is already done. It wasn't written hundreds of years later.
Then if you would jump to chapter 23 of Joshua. Chapter number 23 verse six. The Bible says in Joshua 23 verse six, "Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left." Now flip one page over to chapter 24 verse 26. This is a key point here in chapter 24. Watch this carefully. Chapter 24 verse 26, "And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God." Now these are new words. In chapter 24 he is preaching to the people and he is admonishing to them that they need to serve the Lord and not serve other Gods and he makes the famous statement, "Choose whom this day you will serve." He gives that big speech that culminates with, as for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord and he makes a covenant with the people right there that they are going to be the Lord's people.
Right after that it says here in verse 26, "And Joshua wrote these words" meaning the words we just read. All those famous statements, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord, all of that. He wrote these words in the book of the law of God. Notice the words of the book of Joshua are appended to that which has already been written in the days of Moses and it is tagged on. We got the book of the law of God, we got Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Now we are going to write these words into the book of the law of God. Does everybody see that? "And took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance. And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash."
Now notice, who did the Bible say wrote those words in the book of law? Joshua did. According to the Bible, who wrote the book of Joshua? Joshua did. Joshua wrote all of these words into the book of the law of God. Forming the sixth book of the Bible now, Joshua. Then notice at the very end we have Joshua dying in the book just like we had Moses dying in the book of Deuteronomy. Why is that? The Bible has just a little epilogue added at the end of the book saying okay Joshua wrote all of this all right? Then he died and this is where he is buried. Someone else added that at the end. Now probably the guy who added the end of Deuteronomy is probably Joshua since he is the one who is adding the rest of the book of Joshua, he wants the narrative to be complete.
Obviously Moses didn't write the part about him dying but he wrote everything else just like Joshua wrote everything else except the very end about him dying. Well who wrote that last part of Joshua? I need to know who wrote. It doesn't matter. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We don't know the names of every author but we know that Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, the Bible is very clear about that. Jesus quotes it as the law of Moses. All throughout the old testament it is constantly being referred to as books being written by Moses given to us by Moses. Only the very end is written by someone else, probably Joshua as he adds in the content of the book of Joshua.
Then when we get to the end of the book of Joshua, we see Joshua dies. Then we get into the book of Judges. The book of Judges basically picks up where Joshua left off but it also recaps things from Joshua. Judges kind of overlaps with Joshua. It's written by an unknown author. We don't know who wrote it but we know that they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We know it was God who used that person to pen it down. Now here is where I want to stop and point out where the worldly scholars get it wrong and how their lack of faith in the Lord makes them unqualified to teach the Bible. I don't care how smart they are. I don't care how many degrees they have. I don't care how many archaeological digs they visited. One who is filled with the spirit of God understands the Bible better. Period.
Audience:
Amen.
Pastor Anderson:
One who is a doer of the word will understand the word. One who loves the Bible will always understand and know the Bible better than the so called experts. These experts, they pour over these books with a fine tooth comb trying to figure out when they were written. They are constantly saying that they were written way later than when they claim to be written. The book of Deuteronomy, book of Genesis are clearly claiming to of been written and done before Joshua enters the promised land. Done. The book of Joshua is claiming to be written by Joshua. Not someone hundreds and hundreds of years later. If you look at what the scholars tell us, they will tell us well we think the books of Joshua and Judges are from around 586 BC. They say it's from after Jerusalem is destroyed by the Babylonians.
Okay so they are basically saying that this book is written centuries and centuries and centuries later. I mean think about how much happens between Joshua and the Babylonian captivity. We are talking about the 400 years that they are under the judges, Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, in[inaudible 00:20:24] judges. All the kings and just centuries and centuries. Literally we are talking about that they are claiming that it's written like about a thousand years later than what it says it was written. Now what are they basing this evidence on? How do they know that it was written later? Now here is the thing. You can always prove that something is written earlier if you found an earlier copy. How do you prove that it was written later when none of it is in existence anymore?
Now just to explain to you about how little we know of ancient history except for what we read in the Bible, just to explain to you how documents and papers and things they don't always last. When the King James Bible was translated, the oldest manuscript of the old testament scriptures was from AD 1000. Okay stop and think about it. AD 1000. Meaning that it's not like we have all of these copies of the Biblical books from back when they were written because they have turned to dust a long time ago. Even great historical works of Roman historians in the first century AD that were even major works of literature, I remember pulling them out as a kid at the library and reading and then all of the sudden there is just missing chapters saying well these are just missing because the manuscripts haven't been preserved.
We are talking about major works of literature. You would expect that well if this was such a major work wouldn't some copy of it be around? No they're not. Now the Bible has been preserved, praise God.
Audience:
Amen.
Pastor Anderson:
The reason why and I want to make this a real clear point. You say, well wait a minute though. There is no old testament manuscript at that time that dated before AD 1000? How can that be? Here is why. The common practice back before the days of the printing press and machines and things, the common practice was when you had a book, that which you wrote upon whether it's paper or parchment or papyrus or whatever, it was very expensive and hard to come by. It wasn't like everybody was just buying reams of paper at Staples back then. Just ball point pens and type writers and just cranking this stuff out. The stuff was expensive. What would happen is when books and documents and parchments would get old, then what they would do is they would copy it onto a fresh sheet and then they would wash the old one and reuse it for something else. Okay so that's why there aren't a lot of really old manuscripts of these biblical books because they are constantly being copied.
It would be sort of like if we had a song book and we looked at our song books and said hey the song books are getting pretty old, we need a fresh one. We copied it all over and then you say well you would keep the old one right and put it in a museum right? No. What you do then is you'd clean it and reuse it, recycle it. I mean they were recycling back them, I'm telling you. There is a mountain of evidence that's what they did all throughout the middle ages, they were constantly reusing pieces of parchment. They would copy it fresh. Copy it, make sure it's an exact copy, and then they would discard the original or wash it, reuse it, whatever and move on with it.
How do you know when these things are written? You don't know because you are looking a copy of a copy of a copy. These expert scholars are saying well I think it was written you know 586 BC or there about. I am saying it was written back in the days of Joshua a thousand years before that. Who is right? How do we know who is right? We can't look to an old agent document and by the way, since then the dead sea scrolls were discovered and then those are now the oldest manuscripts but that doesn't mean that they are the most accurate because the dead sea scrolls were compiled and put together by a literal strange cult and that's a whole other sermon in and of itself. They can't be trusted. They are known to have been tampered with and change the word of God. There is evidence for that but I am not going to go into that.
The bottom line is that you have to look at the book itself. You have to look at the internal evidence to figure out when it was written. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? I'm looking that internal evidence where the Bible is saying it's written by Moses. It's saying that it's written by Joshua but what these scholars are saying, well somebody is lying there. They want you to think it written by Moses so they lied. They want you to think it was written by Joshua so they lied. It was really written a thousand years later. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? How do we know who is right? Well they are looking at internal evidence and they have an agenda to want to say it was written later because they want to discredit it and say it's false.
Let me show you some internal evidence that proves when Joshua and Judges were written. Not only that it goes to show you when the books of Moses were finished because it's all connected. Look if you would at Joshua chapter 15. I am going to show you why these scholars are wrong. Why what they are saying is false. The Bible says in Joshua chapter 15 verse 61 and you have to understand Joshua 15 is a chapter about them dividing up the land. Where the children of Israel are going to inherit the land and they are giving different cities to different tribes to dwell in. Right now we are going over what Judah and Harrods and it explains they get these cities, they get these cities. In the last verse of the chapter it explains why they did not receive Jerusalem even though they should have. Verse 61, "In the wilderness, Betharabah, Middin, and Secacah, and Nibshan, and the city of Salt, and Engedi; six cities with their villages. As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day."
The Bible is telling us here why they weren't able to inherit Jerusalem. Why because of the fact that the Jebusites inhabited Jerusalem and the Benjamites could not drive them out. Those of Judah could not drive them out so it says the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in the Jerusalem unto this day. Now what does it mean unto this day? When this book was written that was the status. Now look at Judges chapter one. Judges chapter one verse 19. In Joshua 15:63 we saw it but now look at Judges chapter one verse 19, "And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day."
One thing we know about when Joshua was written and when Judges was written, is that when they were written the Jebusites lived in Jerusalem and the children of Israel had not inherited those cities. Now look if you would at 1 Chronicles chapter 11. Actually I'm sorry go to 2 Samuel five, I'm going to read for you from 1 Chronicles 11 but I want you to turn to 2 Samuel chapter five. While you are turning there I am going to read for you 1 Chronicles 11:4. "And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the Jebusites were", past tense, "the inhabitants of the land. And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither." Why? They had already beaten back the Judahites and they had already beaten back the Benjamintes before and David says I'm taking that city. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David and when he comes the Jebusites say you're not taking this city. "And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief. And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David."
It was called the city of David, Jerusalem because it was not captured for the children of Israel until David came and captured it hundreds and hundreds of years later. Look at 2 Samuel five verse six, "And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David. And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward."
We see two very clear passages where David goes in and smites the Jebusites and he even smites the lame and the blind of the Jebusites and he dwells in that city and it becomes called the city of David. That's not the state that we see in Joshua and Judges. Both places are saying well they couldn't inherit it that's why even to this day the Jebusites lived there. Now do you actually expect me to believe that the authors of Joshua and Judges are just, "Oh we are going to really trick people and make people think that this is a little bit older than it really is so we are going to write down that the Jebusites are still running Jerusalem." That's ridiculous. Obviously it was written back then and that was the situation. That's why they just kind of leave it at that. Yeah now you understand why the Jebusites have a city in the middle of the inheritance that is supposed to belong to Benjamin and Job. Why are they there? They failed to drive them out.
If you understand Joshua and if you understand the book of Judges chapters one and two, you understand these chapters are about the failure of the children of Israel to inherit the land. Why they failed to inherit this portion. Why they failed to inherit this portion. Jerusalem is just one of the places mentioned of the place that they couldn't inherit. Obviously that is what they are saying is the status when the book is written and so therefore no it's not written way later. Now some people would say well but it says Jerusalem. It wasn't called Jerusalem back then, it was called Jebus. False. It was called Jerusalem back then because even all the way back to the time of Melchizedek, Melchizedek was known as the king of Salem.
Audience:
[inaudible 00:31:55]
Pastor Anderson:
Not only that but the Jeru Salem comes from the name of Jebus, Jerus, Jebus, it's almost identical there and it's the same place name that had been with that place all along. What David called it was Zion. What David called it was the city of David. It had always been Jerusalem or Jebus because the people who lived there are Jebusites and that's where Jerusalem even derives it's name. If we look at the internal evidence it's crystal clear that these books were written back then. Right there it helps you to understand where did we get the first seven books of the Bible. Where did we get Genesis. Where did we get Deuteronomy. Where did we get Joshua and Judges. If we were to look at the book of Ruth, the book of Ruth is basically just an add on to the book of Judges. Just another story and it just says in the time of the judges, here is another story because the book of Judges is various stories from that time that were compiled and written down by holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Ruth is not a story about a judge, it's just a story that happened during that time and so it's put as it's own book right after Joshua and Judges. Now you say, "Well Pastor Anderson, you know how dare you question these scholars. I mean these guys are experts. They know what they are talking about. How dare you look at the facts for yourself and point out the fact that it was clearly written before the time of David. How dare you point out that they are off by many hundreds of years and so forth." How do you know? These scholars don't understand the Bible as a result of being unsaved. Here is one of the things that just blows me away about these scholars because I have listened to a lot of these scholars just to see their point of view on this stuff as they scoff at the validity of the old testament and the validity of the Bible.
One of the things that they will point it, and this is just what blows me away is that when they talk about in the old testament law, the concept of being clean and unclean, they don't understand it. Now I'll bet you a little child in this room tonight understands the difference between clean and unclean. I mean I bet if I were to call a little child up here and ask them, let's have a little child come up here. Who wants to come up here? A small child. Okay Sophia? Come on up here Sophia. Okay. What do you think it means for somebody to be clean?
Sophia:
[inaudible 00:34:36] Doesn't have stuff on it that is like yucky like dough.
Pastor Anderson:
Right okay. How old are you Sophia?
Sophia:
Eight.
Pastor Anderson:
Okay so she says for something to be clean it means it doesn't have stuff on it that is yucky, right, or like dirt on it. What else would you say about something that's clean?
Sophia:
Like something [inaudible 00:34:59] that's not gross.
Pastor Anderson:
Its not gross. Yeah okay this is great. Okay so what about something that is unclean? Something that's unclean?
Sophia:
Something like dirt or something that has dirt on it.
Pastor Anderson:
Let me ask you this. What if you got around stuff that was unclean, started touching it or putting it in your mouth. What do you think is going to happen to you if you start touching or licking something that's unclean? What do you think is going to happen to you?
Sophia:
I would have to wash my hands.
Pastor Anderson:
You would have to wash your hands, right. Why would you have to wash your hands? What is going to happen if you don't wash your hands?
Sophia:
Then the germs will like [inaudible 00:35:33] there will be a bunch of germs.
Pastor Anderson:
Then there's going to be a bunch of germs on you. Okay go ahead and have a seat. Okay and look. That was not staged. That was not pre-planned. The first little child that I saw that put up their hand, this eight year old girl. In a few moments, I wasn't coaching her, I wasn't giving her the answer. I'm just asking her. "Hey what does it mean to be clean and unclean?" Is it really that hard? Where those questions really hard? Does your head hurt now as a result of having answered that? Okay. Hey I've sat and listened to multiple of these Ivy League old testament scholars. I have sat and listened to multiple of them. Where they go on and on and on and they don't understand what a little child has just expounded to us.
In fact the Talmud, this great encyclopedia of Jewish knowledge, 36 volumes does not understand that which a small child has just expounded to us tonight. Why? Professing themselves to be wise they became fools. Did you know that the world scholarship on the old testament, the world scholarship on the law, what the Talmud would teach is that the King James is wrong when it says clean and unclean. What it actually is is just ritual impurity. Ritual impurity. In fact, some modern Bible versions, instead of a leper walking around saying, "Unclean, unclean." They say, "Ritually impure. Ritually impure." Did you know that the Talmud says that the Biblical plague of leprosy is clearly not contagious. Even though the Bible says they are supposed to cover their lip, meaning put something over their mouth. Like how many of you have seen recently people wearing like a little mask over their mouth because they were trying to protect from germs?
Well the Bible teaches that someone who had leprosy in the Bible days was supposed to wear something like that and then they are supposed to also cry out and ring a bell and say, "Unclean. Unclean." Why? So that people could stay away from that person and so that the fluids of their spit and mucus would not come out of their mouth and infect someone so therefore they are unclean. I have listened to these guys and they say no no it's ritual impurity. Ritual impurity. All it has to do is religious rituals. I listen to this guy and he is explaining and this is like a guy with so many degrees behind his name, he is just an expert. He has been to all the archaeological digs and here is what he will tell you. He said you know it's amazing when you look at the things that made you ritually impure, they weren't even sinful things. It had nothing to do with sin. It is just like, you have a baby, you are ritually impure. Even though having a baby is a good thing. I mean you are following the command, be fruitful and multiple.
He said women who where it's that time of the month, they are ritually impure. It has nothing to do with sin. I mean that's just normal. If you touch a dead body you are ritually impure. I mean, burying dead bodies is a good thing so it has nothing to do with sin. It's just ritual impurity. No moron! It's dirty! It means unclean! Idiot! I mean think about how stupid this is. I am looking at the things that make you ritually impure where you can't do these rituals and where your spiritually, it's got nothing to do with sin. Look it's dirty, it's unclean, it's yucky. It's that which is gross. If you touch a dead body, you're dirty. You're unclean. I mean isn't that pretty easy to understand?
Audience:
Yeah.
Pastor Anderson:
I mean you are bleeding? That's unsanitary to bleed all over everybody. If somebody spits on you. If somebody bleeds on you, if there is oozing pus, I mean I'm just talking about what the Bible talks about, hey that's unclean. The chair that they sat on is unclean now. The bed that they were sitting on is unclean now. Just as Sophia has expounded to us, he said wash your hands with running water. Bathe your flesh in water, be unclean. The Bible says that if a man's seed goeth from him in the night, he washes up and that made him unclean so take a bath. I mean is that really complicated folks? Hey if you touch a dead body. Hey if you butcher an animal, wash your hands! You're unclean!
Then he says if you are unclean, don't approach unto the Lord's sacrifices and the Lord service and the Lord's tabernacle. Wash your hands first. Why? God didn't want his house being a dirty smelly unsanitary germ filled place. God is a God that loves decency and order. He says let all things be done even in the new testament in God's house, decently and in order. God has always been a God that likes order and cleanliness and sanitation and organization. It's not ritual impurity. I mean what kind of stupidity is that? They don't want to give God the glory for understanding germs thousands of years before they figured it out.
Audience:
Right.
Pastor Anderson:
Those idiots in these Ivy League schools didn't even know what germs were a few hundred years ago and they were washing their hands in standing water when the Bible said to wash it in running water. Well that's a spiritual significance of that running water. What was the ritual impurity that they are trying to achieve? They are getting their hands clean. They are getting the yuck and the gross off their hands. Hello? Is anybody home?
Audience:
Yes!
Pastor Anderson:
Once you get on child involved in the service now every child really feels like they are part of the sermon. That's great kids. I'm glad you are enjoying the sermon kids. I'm glad that you are paying attention and you are following along. Look, the bottom line is they don't get it friend. When I was eight years old, it made sense to me too. It probably makes sense to a lot of eight year olds right now. Yeah if I touch a dead body I better go wash my hands. Yeah if I have blood or pus or spit or whatever on me, I need to go wash my hands. I need to get clean. Any body fluids, get cleaned up folks. Touching a dead ... I mean look this stuff really isn't that complicated. The worldly scholars they are blinded. They don't understand and they have an agenda of just don't give God the glory.
We can't admit that these books were written a long time ago and we dead sure can't admit that they understood germs and sanitation thousands of years before we did. They just, oh no it's just a ritual for them. No it was actually just them being really clean and sanitary. Clean is the right word. The Kind James is right. Clean. Here is the opposite of clean, unclean. I mean that's why the Bible says if a woman gives birth she is unclean because it talks about her continuing in the blood of her purifying. She is supposed to rest and relax and recover. She is not fully clean yet. I mean that's a whole sermon we could go through all the clean and unclean and so forth. That's all it is. It's that simple.
You say, well why do you bring that up? I bring that up to point out the fact that the scholarship of this world is over rated.
Audience:
Yeah. Yeah.
Pastor Anderson:
Some guy sitting in a university who scoffs at the word of God, that is going to bias his interpretation. I mean look, you would have to be a complete idiot to read the old testament and say leprosy in the Bible is a non contagious disease. I mean in the Talmud, the Rabbis have literally said, "We know that the leprosy of the Bible is not what we have today as leprosy because in the Bible it's a non contagious disease." Anyone who reads the Bible sees that it's contagious. Cover your mouth, unclean, stay away from me. Okay lepers are dwelling outside the camp and everything to be quarantined. No the Talmud says nope, nope, it's not what we know today as leprosy because of the fact that we know that the Bible, and how do we know that? The Talmud says. The Talmud says it's not contagious it's just ritual impurity is what the Talmud says.
Basically the world's unbelieving scholarship excepts the Talmud as gospel and flushes common sense down the toilet. That's what's going on today. These are the same people that are going to tell you the dates that these books are written. Not because they have any hard concrete evidence because no one knows. There is no artifact that we can point to of hey, here is the earliest manuscript. No there is very little to go on. You have to look at the internal evidence. I am not going to to go through the whole Bible tonight because we are not going to have time. Don't get scared or anything. You are like oh man I'm extrapolating. We are seven books into the Bible, he spent this much time, it's going to be a long night.
I'll finish it next week. The thing about it is that as we go through this and we see where the Bible came from, let me just stop right here and explain to you the importance of understanding that the reason that we believe that the Bible is God's word is because we look at the Bible and it's clearly God's word because it's right about everything.
Audience:
Yeah.
Pastor Anderson:
How do I know that the Bible that I hold in my hand is the word of God? Is it because I saw Moses come down from the mount and I saw his face glowing and he handed me the book and said, here it is Steven Anderson. No I believe it because I am holding the book in my hand and I've read it and I love it and it's amazing and there is nothing else in the world even close to being of the caliper of this book.
Audience:
Right!
Pastor Anderson:
Nothing could hold a candle to it. The Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Where do we get our faith in the Bible? You are saying, "Well Pastor Anderson, you are talking about where the Bible came from. Where did we get the Bible. I thought you were doing an archaeology lesson." See that's not why we believe the Bible. We believe the Bible because of the Bible.
Audience:
Yeah! Amen.
Pastor Anderson:
The Bible is awesome. The bible is perfect. The Bible is always right therefore it came from God.
Audience:
Yeah.
Pastor Anderson:
It's that simple. Now when I show you where did we get the Bible, notice I am using the Bible to show you where we got the Bible.
Audience:
Right.
Pastor Anderson:
See I actually believe the Bible tonight and if you didn't believe it you probably wouldn't be here. 99% of people here I am assuming believe the Bible. We go through the Bible and we figure out where did we get the Bible. Now that we understand where we got Joshua, Judges, Ruth, now we understand where we got the first five books. Where did they come from? Well that's the first time we have a written word referred to in the Bible is these books. Then we get into books after Joshua, Judges and Ruth known as the books of the Kings and the books of the Chronicles right?
First and second Samuel. First and second Kings. First and second Chronicles. Now first of all, these books refer to each other. When we are reading in the book of first and second Kings it will say, hey there is more written about this king, the rest of his acts are written in the book of Chronicles. Then we we will be reading in Chronicles and say hey it's written in the books of the king of Judah and so forth. They will refer to other books that were written at that time too. The book of Nathan the prophet. The book of Jasher, all these books that aren't in the Bible. You say well what are those other books that are being referred to?
Basically those are just other books. It's just that they are not God's word or if they were God's word we have those words somewhere else in the Bible because a lot of prophecy in the old testament is redundant with one another. For example, we know for a fact that a lot of the same stuff Jeremiah preached Zachariah preached some of those same things. Instead of God giving us both where we just have redundancy, he only gives us the one and not the other. We don't need the book of Edo the prophet or the book of Nathan or the book of Jasher because these books that are written by Gad the prophet or whatever, those are prophecies that we have somewhere else in scripture, we have those same teachings somewhere else in the Bible.
Some of the books like the book of Jasher for example, may have been just a secular book at the time where he is just saying yeah it was also written in this other history book. Just because I make reference to a book like for example I am preaching the Bible right now, what if I made reference to a book and I just said something like, hey you know you could also read about this in this history book. I'm not saying that book is written by God. Just because a refer to a book. Just because the Bible refers to a book isn't saying necessarily that book is written by God.
You say well who wrote first and second Samuel, first and second Kings, first and second Chronicles? We don't know who wrote those books. Holy men of God spake because they were moved by the Holy Ghost and honestly they were probably written by multiple authors because they span great periods of time. They span centuries each in their documentation. It was probably an ongoing chronicle where they added to it as things happened and so forth. You have to have the faith to believe that this stuff is accurate.
I am going to get more into those books next Sunday night because I don't want to do a disservice to the subject by just rushing through it. I am trying to slow down and teach this so that we can understand where we got the Bible. Ultimately you have to believe the Bible.
Audience:
Amen.
Pastor Anderson:
If you say well give me hard evidence, well you know what, if you want hard evidence, you need to go to one of these schools that we are talking about, Rutgers, Princeton, Harvard, why don't you go to one of these universities and you can listen to one of these unbelieving Christ rejecting Jews tell you about ritual impurity for a while. He's got all the evidence to show you. That's the world's foolishness. If you want to go the unbelieving skeptical route, but church is a place for people who actually believe the Bible.
Audience:
Right.
Pastor Anderson:
That's how we are approaching this subject. We are approaching it of we believe the Bible but we just want to learn about where it came from. It's interesting right? I mean hey I want to know who wrote Joshua or who wrote Deuteronomy. Where did it come from? That's the purpose tonight. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father we thank you so much for your word Lord and for the things that you taught us Lord and it truly is the greatest book in the world. You can't even really call it the greatest book because it's in a category all of it's own. Comparing it to other books is meaningless because it's so far superior that it's not even on the same spectrum Lord. I pray that every single person here tonight would read their Bible in due diligence and understand your word and study it on a daily basis as the Bible says to read therein all the days of our life Lord and help us all as we study and read your word to believe it, to understand it, to apply it to our lives. Lord we thank you for this amazing gift that you have given us in the word of God, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
