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Sunday, November 20, 2016

The Relevance of the Bible



“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8

“For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6

God is eternal. He never changes. Not only that, but human nature is the same too. Ecclesiastes chapter one teaches that there is nothing new under the sun. Even as technology advances, we go through the same spiritual struggles as the people in ancient times. If something was a sin back then, then it is still wrong today.

Whether it’s staring at a naked woman from a rooftop or looking up pornography on a smart phone, the sin is the same. The scriptures about the lust of the eyes and committing adultery in your heart were relevant both then and now.

“For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” Psalm 100: 5

God’s Word wasn’t only written to the people back then. God has preserved his word for all generations, so it is geared toward all of us. In fact, when you study the Bible, you’ll find little tidbits that were more than likely put in there for our sake as modern believers.

For example, the following passage teaches that if we denied the resurrection we would be “false witnesses of God.” This is interesting because the Jehovah’s witnesses do not believe in the bodily resurrection. Jehovah’s false witnesses are a modern day cult, yet God seems to allude to them specifically in that verse. This is just one example of the Bible being geared toward us as well as previous and future generations. The passage was just as relevant back then because there have always been people who deny the resurrection, but the terminology seems to specifically attack the modern day cult.

"And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found FALSE WITNESSES OF GOD; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not." - 1 Corinthians 15:14-15

People will try to negate certain scripture passages by saying you need to understand the culture of when the Bible was written. That excuse doesn’t hold water because the Bible was spoken before the world even began:

“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” Titus 1:2

They’ll say things like, “Women had to keep silence in the church back then, but now they’re more liberated.” If it was wrong for a woman to teach or preach in church back then, then it’s wrong now because God doesn’t change. God’s law was perfect back then, and it is still perfect.

It makes no sense to assume that much of the Bible is now outdated when it contains prophecies about events that haven’t even happened yet. If you claim to believe in end times prophecy, then you should also be capable of understanding that God knew what life would be like in our day. The Bible is a supernatural book that transcends time, and it is more relevant than today’s newspaper.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” 2 Timothy 3:16

Here is a sermon to go with this article.

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