Believe the Bible -- The Truth, the Whole Truth, Nothing but the Truth

   So what is the big deal about believing some parts of the Bible but not others? Why can’t we pick and choose what we want to believe and ignore the other parts that either disagree with us or disagree with our society?

    Have you ever heard of the Jefferson Bible? With a razor blade, Thomas Jefferson cut out the verses that liked and pasted them in a new Bible, leaving out the verses he didn’t like. Marilyn Mellowes from the PBS show Frontline said this, “In short, Mr. Jefferson’s Jesus, modeled on the ideals of the Enlightenment thinkers of his day, bore a striking resemblance to Jefferson himself.” (Dr. David Jeremiah, I Never Thought I’d See The Day, pg. 81)

   God created us in His image, but whenever we pick and choose what parts of the Bible we want to believe and what parts we want to ignore, we then begin to make a god in our own image. And the Bible defines that a idolatry, making a god in the image of our culture or our imagination. Paul told us to “buffet” our body, but some people want to buffet the Bible, making a smorgasbord of Scripture.

   If we are followers of Christ, and we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, we cannot take a view of the Bible any differently than did our Lord and Savior, and He said it will outlast the heavens and the earth (Mark 13:31). If you only believe in following the “red letters” and ignoring the rest, then please read these “red letters” of Christ’s words: “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” (John 5:46-47).  Jesus told Satan himself, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4). Not some words, every word even down to the jot and tittle. The mouth of the Lord is the entire word of God (Isa. 1:20, 40:5, 58:14). 

   The Bible was not written by mere humans, nor mortal man. Paul commended the Thessalonians, “you received the word of God which you heard from us. You did not accept it as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God,” (1 Thess 2:13). Peter said Scripture “never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, even though they were human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

   If you are going to reject some parts of the Bible, then who told you to do that? Not God. Not Jesus. Not the Bible. YOU told yourself to do that! 

    This week’s reading shows that 
God initiates His revelation (Exodus 3:1-4:17), 
  He illuminates His revelation (Luke 24:27-49), 
     He interprets His own revelation (2 Peter 1:1-21), 
He is the inventor of Scripture (Exod. 19-20), 
  He Himself interacted with Scripture (Matt. 4:1-11), 
     He is the inspiration of all Scripture (2 Tim. 3:10-17), 
He intervenes with Scripture (Isa. 55:6-13), 
  He invigorates and investigates our soul, spirit, thoughts and attitudes with Scripture (Heb. 4:12-13), 
     the Bible is impossible to add to and immovable to subtract from (Deut. 4:1-2), 
immortal in its endurance (Isa 40:6-8), 
  inerrant and infallible in every aspect (Prov. 30:5-6), 
    instructive to all (2 Tim. 4:2) 
      impervious to change, 
        invincible to attack, and 
          infinite in application to our lives. 
The Word was in the beginning (John 1:1) and 
   it will endure for eternity (Matt. 24:35).