 Well good morning! Thank you for the warm welcome. So great to see all of you again. Love your pastor, and it's always an honor to fill in for him. If you have your bibles, go ahead and turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. If you don't have a Bible, we're going to put them on the screen. The verses up on the screen for you as well. But I'd like to draw your attention to verse 13, and then just make a comment or two by way of introduction to our topic, and then we'll go ahead and pray one more time as well. But notice this. The apostle Paul says this in verse 13, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. He says, For this reason, we also constantly thank God, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. The apostle Paul here commends the Christian believers in the ancient city of Thessalonica for realizing that the scriptures he had shared with them some years previously were not a collection of cleverly devised fables or the musings of some philosophers. No, he commends them for recognizing that the scriptures were the very word of God. Now I'm sure that most of you who are here this morning believe that to be the case about the Bible. You're convinced that it's the word of God written by men, yes, but men who were guided by God as they pinned down its words. You're convinced of that as I am. But you probably have some friends, neighbors, co-workers, family members who are not so convinced, are they? They have questions and doubts about the Bible. Many of them think the Bible is just an ancient book of fiction and mythology. So why would you take it seriously? Or they say the contents of the Bible have been changed and tampered with down through the centuries. Or the Bible is out of sync with modern scientific discoveries. Ever heard any of these objections? I'm sure you have. So then why do we continue to believe the Bible is trustworthy? That's what I want to talk to you about today. I'd like to lay out a concise overview of six different evidences for the trustworthiness of the Bible. Six reasons I'm convinced the Bible is the word of God. And six reasons I believe anyone who's open-minded enough to consider the evidence can also come to that same conclusion. So I hope it's an encouragement to you in your faith and that it will also help equip you to be better prepared to talk to people who have questions and doubts about the Bible. So let's go ahead and pray and we'll dive in. Heavenly Father, thank you again for this time. We're thankful for this church and all that you've done here in this place over the years. God and we're eager to be encouraged in our faith today. We know the Bible is under assault today from a variety of different directions. We pray that you would just use this short time together today to strengthen and fortify our faith and that we would also leave here better equipped to talk to people who have questions and doubts about the Bible. So work to that end. We pray now in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. If you're a note taker, jot it down. Number one, the first reason you can be confident that the Bible is the word of God is fulfilled prophecy. Fulfilled prophecy. Of course, sports analysts, political experts, and even astrologers today seem to enjoy making predictions about future or upcoming events. But their failure rate quickly reveals how inept we are as humans at rightly predicting future events. Think back just to our last presidential election. Experts across the country were assuring us what the outcome was going to be and who was going to be our next president. A lot of America was quite surprised at the outcome. But it was a reminder to me that we have a difficult time making accurate predictions about future events, even just a day or two or a week in advance when there's only two options really to choose between. Well, this is one of the reasons the Bible's fulfilled prophecies are so astounding. Over and over again, the authors of the Bible rightly foretold future events, oftentimes hundreds of years in advance. Many skeptics don't realize that the Bible is literally filled with hundreds of specific detailed prophecies about persons and places and events, many of which have already come to pass. Consider a few of the prophecies made regarding Jesus. Of course, long before Jesus was born, Old Testament Hebrew prophets told us that a Savior was going to be born into the world one day who would make a way for sinful humanity to be reconciled back into a right relationship with our Creator. These Old Testament prophets said that this coming Savior would be a descendant of Abraham, that he'd enter the world through the tribe of Judah, that he'd be born into the lineage of David, the king of Israel about 3,000 years ago. They began laying out those kinds of specific details all the way back in the very first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis. They went on to say in passages like Micah chapter 5 verse 2 that this coming Savior would be born in the little town of Bethlehem. That was written about 700 years before Jesus's birth. Isaiah 7 verse 14 said that he would miraculously be born to a young virgin girl. Malachi chapter 3 verse 1 declared that he would come while the Jewish temple was still standing. That's interesting. Is that temple still standing in Jerusalem today? No, that's a miniature model of it there on the screen. Flavius Josephus, a first-century historian, tells us that the Romans marched into Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. They leveled it to the ground 2,000 years ago. The year was AD 70 when that event occurred. Well, according to these prophecies in the Old Testament, this coming Savior would stand in that temple. That would require that this Messiah or Savior come on the world stage prior to that catastrophic event. And of course, we know Jesus met that timing requirement. He stood in the temple shortly before it was destroyed. Isaiah 35 verse 5 and 6 foretold the kinds of miracles that he would perform. Check it out sometime. It says there he's going to open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, and cause the lame to walk. Some of the very kinds of miracles we read about in the New Testament accounts of Jesus's life. And they didn't stop there. Isaiah 53 verse 3 prophesied that in spite of his miracles, in spite of his good works, he would then be despised and forsaken by humanity. Psalm 118 verse 22 said that he would even be rejected by his own people. Fascinating. Think of that hundreds of years before Jesus was born. Hebrew prophets foretold the fact that the Jewish people would reject their own Messiah, their own Savior. And that's precisely what happened when the Jewish religious leaders handed Jesus over to Pontius Pilate to be put to death. They were fulfilling Old Testament prophecies. Daniel chapter 9 verse 24 through 26 prophesied the precise year in history that this coming Savior would die for the sins of the world. Check it out sometime. Get out a good Bible commentary on the book of Daniel. This is incredible. Daniel nails the year of Jesus's crucifixion 600 years before Jesus was born. Amazing. Psalm 22 verse 16 through 18 prophesied how he would die. David writing a thousand years before Jesus was even born says that his hands and his feet are going to be pierced during his death. This might have been a bit confusing to people back in David's day. Why is that? Well, because when David penned those words, that was at least 300 years before the Persians had even invented the art of crucifixion. Yet with God's help, David was able to accurately describe the details surrounding Jesus's death a thousand years in advance. And they didn't stop there. Psalm 16 verse 10 and Isaiah 53 verse 10 went on to say that he would then, this coming Savior would then rise from the dead. Friends, this is just a tiny sampling of some of the prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus's life. There were lots of others and the Bible is replete with several other prophecies, hundreds of other prophecies about other kinds of events, the rise and fall of nations, prophecies that predicted the regathering of the Jewish people back into their homeland. Question for you, are there Jews living in Israel today? Yes, there are. You know, for 2000 years they were without a homeland. The Romans drove them out of the land. After the Holocaust, there was a lot of sympathy around the world for the Jewish people and they thought, the United Nations thought, we need to give them their own country. Where can we put them? And so in 1947, they gave the land of Israel back to the Jewish people. God said in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, in the last days, I am going to give my people back that land and I'm going to bring them back and I'm going to plant them in the land. That's one of the reasons we believe we're living in the last days now. Because God says in the last days, I'm going to put my people back in the land. Another example of fulfilled prophecy. But the fulfillment of these prophecies is compelling evidence that these men spoke with the aid of the all-knowing, all-powerful God described in the Bible. The God who declared in Isaiah chapter 46 verse 9 and 10, I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done. In other words, God says here, there's no one else in the universe who can accurately tell you what's going to happen centuries in advance. And that is certainly the case. No other book in the world today is able to substantiate its claims with this kind of supernatural ability to rightly predict future events. There are no fulfilled prophecies in the Koran, the Hindu Vedas, or the Book of Mormon. Not one. Fulfilled prophecy is something that sets the Bible apart from every other religious book. And that is the first line of evidence that the Bible really is what it claims to be. Fulfilled prophecy. To strengthen our case, we can add this. Number two, if you're taking notes, archaeological evidence. Archaeological evidence. Many critics who brush off the Bible as a compilation of folklore and legends do so overlooking the fact that thousands of archaeological discoveries over the past century have again and again verified different details in the Bible. Take for example, the 1993 discovery mentioning David, the king of Israel. By the way, these aren't actual portraits of the persons. In case you were wondering, but up until 1993, many skeptics considered David, the king of Israel, to be a mythological invention. Why the skepticism regarding him? Because there wasn't a shred of evidence outside of the Bible that he was a real person. Well, their skepticism regarding David collapsed overnight in 1993 when this piece of an ancient monument dating back to 900 years before Christ was pulled up out of the ruins of an ancient city in northern Israel, mentioning David, the king of Israel. As a result of that discovery, Time Magazine said, the skeptics claim that King David never existed is now hard to defend. Indeed it is. Another fascinating discovery has to do with this man, Pontius Pilate. The New Testament authors tell us that he was the Roman emperor of Judea at the time of Christ. Of course, he oversaw Jesus' trial and then had him sentenced to death by crucifixion. Was he a legendary figure maybe though? No. A team of Italian archaeologists was digging here in the Mediterranean port city of Caesarea. While digging around in the jumbled ruins of this ancient Roman theater, these archaeologists made an amazing discovery. They unearthed this limestone block that bore an inscription in Latin dating to the early part of the first century that mentioned Pontius Pilate, prefect or governor of Judea. So that inscription verified for us that Pontius Pilate was a real historical person that he reigned in the very position ascribed to him in the Gospels and that his prefect, he would have indeed had the authority to pardon or condemn Jesus just as the Gospel accounts report. Some other fascinating archaeological discoveries include ancient extra biblical accounts of a catastrophic flood, accounts that were written down after the flood as Noah's descendants spread out to different parts of the ancient worlds. The ruins of Jericho and the collapsed walls spoken of in the book of Joshua, chapter six, have now been unearthed and identified by archaeologists. The ruins of Nineveh, where Jonah went and preached, have been found. On the left there is a relief of King Sargon. You've read about him in Isaiah chapter 20. One of the other fascinating discoveries at Nineveh was this six-sided clay prism known as the Shannakarib prism. It speaks of the Assyrian king Shannakarib's invasion of Judah written about in 2 Kings in the book of Isaiah, and it corroborates many of the details in the biblical account. You can go to London today and walk through the British Museum and see that with your own eyes. King Hezekiah's tunnel built to secretly channel water into the city of Jerusalem around 700 BC has been identified. You can go to Israel today and walk through that tunnel, the one written about in 2 Kings chapter 20. The ancient ruins of Babylon written about in Daniel chapter one located in modern day Iraq have been excavated. Archaeologists have identified the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's palaces and his temples. The very buildings that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would have been so familiar with. The ruins of King Herod's palace just south of Jerusalem have been unearthed as well as coins with his name inscribed on them. Of course he was the one who sought to have Jesus killed shortly after he was born in Matthew chapter two. The pool of Siloam mentioned in John chapter nine where Jesus sent the blind man with the mud on his eyes to wash and where his eyes were opened up has now been identified and excavated. Another one of Herod's palaces he had a few. This one mentioned in Mark chapter six. That's the Dead Sea quite a view from the top of that hill but it overlooked the Dead Sea. This is the very palace where John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded. And then this synagogue in Capernaum you've read about it in Mark chapter one verse 21. It's mentioned there in the New Testament. We're told that Jesus himself often hot at that very location. So you can go to Israel today and see these and hundreds of additional discoveries with your own eyes there. An amazing testimony to the Bible's historical reliability. If you'd like to learn more about how archaeologists have made several finds that have helped to verify details in the Bible. I have written a full color book on the topic with nearly a hundred color photographs in it and I also have put out an hour long DVD that looks at those as well. We've got some of those outside in the gazebo if you're interested. So number one we have hundreds of fulfilled prophecies to strengthen our case. We can add to that thousands of archaeological discoveries. Let's consider a third pool of evidence for the Bible. If you're taking notes number three the Bible's internal consistency. The Bible's internal consistency. What am I talking about? Well I'm talking about the Bible's internal harmony from the first book of the Bible to the last book of the Bible. The Bible is absolutely consistent or harmonious in what it teaches. Now the skeptic says hold on here a second Charlie I mean why is that an evidence of the Bible's trustworthiness? There are plenty of books out there that are internally consistent and the skeptic is right about that. Back in the mid 1990s before God led me into pastoral ministry I worked at a surfing magazine in downtown Laguna Beach and we put out an internally consistent magazine just about every month. Does that mean then that we too were writing down God-breathed scripture every month? No, I can assure you of that. Well then what makes the Bible any different than some other book or magazine that is internally consistent? Well let me share with you a handful of quick reasons why I think the internal harmony of the Bible is indeed evidence of its divine origin. The first reason is this. The Bible addresses life's most controversial questions. The Bible addresses life's most controversial questions. At the surfing magazine we wrote about who won the latest surf contest, surf wax, sunscreen. I thought it was all pretty important stuff at the time. Looking back on it now it seems a little bit trivial but these are not the type of matters that the authors of the Bible were writing about. No from beginning to end they tackled the big questions of life. Questions like how did the universe come into existence? We never touch that at the magazine. Does God exist and if so what is he like and why do people exist? Why is there evil and suffering in the world and what happens to people after they die? Those are the big controversial questions of life. Those are the questions people tend to disagree about and yet those are the very questions the authors of the Bible tackle head on chapter after chapter book after book from beginning to end and they do so absolutely consistently. A second reason I think the internal harmony of the Bible is evidence of its divine origin is this. The Bible is a collection of 66 different documents. It might be easy to have internal harmony if the Bible was a single document but it's not. It's a compilation of more than five dozen different books. Thirdly the Bible was written by approximately 40 different authors who wrote in three different languages. Contrast that with the Quran. I think it would be easy to have internal harmony in the Quran. Why is that? Because it contains the teachings of one person. A man by the name of Muhammad born about 600 years after Jesus. Well the Bible is completely different than the Quran in this regard. It contains the teachings, the writings of approximately 40 different people. Fourthly the Bible was written over a period of approximately 1500 years. Many of the authors did not even know one another and not only were many of them separated by hundreds of years in time. Factor number five, many of the authors were separated by hundreds of miles geographically. The Bible was written down in different places on three different consonants, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Now I don't know about you but when I think of pulling together 40 different people spread out over 1500 years who live on three different continents who speak three different languages to write 66 documents regarding life's most controversial issues. I'm thinking we're going to have some serious problems. That book is going to be a mess. Yet in spite of all these factors the Bible is a perfectly harmonious consistent account of how God is seeking to reconcile sinners like you and me back into relationship with himself. This internal consistency this internal consistency we believe is compelling evidence that the authors were being guided by God as they pin down the different books of the Bible. So that's a third line of evidence that the Bible is the word of God. The Bible's internal consistency but we can continue to strengthen our case. Number four, if you're taking notes jot it down, extra biblical writings. Extra biblical writings what am I talking about? Well I'm talking about the fact that there are dozens of writings that survive outside of the Bible in the ancient records of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans that verify the historical accuracy of the Bible's records of different persons, places, and events. As far as persons are concerned external sources verify that more than 50 persons mentioned in the Old Testament and more than 30 persons written about in the New Testament were actual historical figures. Think of that. Do the math there on the screen. More than 80 persons in the Bible are talked about in ancient historical sources outside of the Bible. When we open up our Bibles we're not reading about mythological characters. We're reading about real historical people. In fact right there on the screen for you are written references outside of the Bible to three people you're familiar with if you're a student of the Bible. Hezekiah on the left, Nebuchadnezzar there in the middle, and Cyrus on the right. The first century historian Flavius Josephus writes about more than a dozen persons mentioned in the New Testament including Herod the Great, Pontius Pilate, John the Baptist, Caiaphas the High Priest, and Jesus. As for biblical events that have extra biblical corroboration the examples are plentiful. Let me just give you two quick examples. One from the Old Testament, one from the New, first the old. We're told in the Old Testament that Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians came against the southern kingdom of Judah that year was 605 BC. The Bible tells us that they laid siege on the city of Jerusalem and then when the city fell they took many of the Jews including Daniel captive back to the city of Babylon in modern day Iraq. You've read about this in 2 Kings 24 and Daniel chapter 1. Well this is an example of a major biblical event that has been confirmed outside of the Bible. Where so? In ancient Babylonian records. Thousands of ancient Babylonian clay tablets containing a treasure trove of information about Babylon's history were unearthed in Babylon in the mid 19th century. They're known to archaeologists today as the Babylonian Chronicle Tablets. And amazingly these Babylonian records tell us of their siege against Jerusalem. And they also confirm the fact that when the city fell the Babylonians then deported the Jewish people hundreds of miles to the east back to their capital city of Babylon. This just goes to show that the authors of the biblical text were telling us the truth about these matters. Here's a quick example of an extra biblical confirmation of a New Testament event. This one concerns John the Baptist. The New Testament tells us that Herod the Great's son Herod Antipas cast John the Baptist into prison for condemning Antipas' adulterous relationship with his brother's wife. Sometime later an executioner came and John was beheaded. You're familiar with that. Well this too has been confirmed outside of the Bible. Where so? In the writings of Flavius Josephus. Flavius Josephus talked about Herod Antipas, Herod's adulterous wife, and the murder of John the Baptist in his first century book called Antiquities of the Jews. Here's a short excerpt from Josephus. I'll put it on the screen for you. Notice who he mentions there on the top line. He says John that was called the Baptist was a good man and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue both as to righteousness towards one another and piety towards God and so to come to baptism. Herod who feared the great influence John had over the people sent him a prisoner out of Herod's suspicious temper to Maccarus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. So note that. Josephus verifies for us that John the Baptist was a real historical person in Israel in the first century. He had an enormous following and influence amongst the Jews but then he was imprisoned and put to death by Herod Antipas just like the New Testament tells us. Other historical sources outside the Bible corroborate all kinds of other details that we don't have time to discuss this morning but friends critics of the Bible who attempt to just brush it aside is a compilation of legend only reveal they have not done any serious research into the authenticity of the Bible. How about number five if you're taking notes the Bible scientific accuracy and foresight. The Bible scientific accuracy and foresight when it comes to known testable verifiable facts the Bible has been found to be in perfect harmony with the way things really are which is incredible if you think about it because as you know the Bible was written two to four thousand years ago long before the invention of microscopes telescopes satellites and other technologies that have allowed us to investigate the earth and universe. Well the fact that the Bible was written so long ago and touches on a myriad of topics and yet does not contain any scientific errors might be considered evidence for divine inspiration all on its own why is that well without exception every ancient religious writing has certain unscientific views of astronomy medicine hygiene and so on for example the Hindu Vedas teach that the earth is flat and triangular in shape they also teach that earthquakes are the result of elephants shaking their bodies underneath the ground don't you wish that was what was happening I mean that sounds that sounds safer to me than the San Andreas fault is slipping well the Quran and the book of Mormon have numerous scientific errors in them as well which we document on our website at alwaysbeready.com if you're unfamiliar with the website and you have a pen handy or your phone you might jot it down now I mentioned the Hindu Vedas and elephants shaking their bodies underneath the ground the Bible steers free of these kinds of errors but not only that it makes known amazing facts about our world and the universe thousands of years before scientists discovered they were actually true allow me just to share with you two quick examples there's about three dozen of these kinds of statements in the Bible but two will have to suffice for now this first one has to do with the shape of the earth the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians are on the historical record for having believed that the earth was flat well remarkably the Bible went against the prevailing views of the day and indicated the earth was actually around sphere where so well in one of the it's thought to be one of the oldest books in the Bible in Job chapter 26 verse 10 we read that God has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness well that's fascinating let me break it down for you what he just indicated Job says that God has drawn a circle where on the surface of the waters a reference to the oceans at the boundary he says of light and darkness this boundary between light and darkness is where evening and morning occur depending on what side of the planets you're on but notice that the boundary is not a square or a triangle it's a circle why is that because the earth is round another verse that spoke of the circular shape of the earth is found in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 22 where we're told God sits above the circle of the earth from space the earth has a circular shape to it doesn't it how would Isaiah have known that 2,700 years ago or Job even you know earlier than that about 4,000 years ago we believe they had help from our creator a second example of the Bible's amazing accuracy in foresight concerns the suspension of the earth the suspension of the earth ancient Hindus believe the earth rested on the backs of elephants who stood on the back of a turtle that's some turtle I mean if that was really the way it was I mean can you imagine bumping into that thing but there were all kinds of theories in the ancient worlds people thought something has to support the earth what did the Bible say regarding the matter well again in one of the oldest books in the Bible Job said this in Job 26 verse 7 he says that God stretches out the north over empty space he hangs the earth on nothing nothing no turtles no elephants just in other words the earth hangs completely unattached in space this is astounding scientists were trying to figure these kinds of things out thousands of years later now these kinds of statements in the Bible raised the question how did the authors living so long ago know these kinds of details well the Bible doesn't leave us in the dark it tells us that men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit the God who knows all there is to know about the earth and the universe he came alongside these many super intended the writing of Scripture to make sure that what he wanted written was what was pinned down now we still have time for one more line of evidence let me pause here though before we dive into number six I want to point out something to you I've purposely arranged these first five evidences in the order that I have so that if you can remember the simple acronym FACES F-A-C-E-S you'll have a bit of a memory aid to work from the next time you're looking into the faces of people who are questioning your confidence in the Bible rather than drawing a blank and not knowing where to go in the conversation you've got five talking points here and that word FACES can remind you where you can go in the conversation the F can be a reminder to you that you can talk to them for a minute or two about fulfilled prophecy the A is a reminder that you can then switch gears and talk about archaeological evidence the C is a reminder of the Bible's internal consistency the E is a reminder of extra biblical writings and the S is a reminder of the Bible's scientific accuracy and foresight so hopefully that'll be helpful to you for future conversations now we still have a bit of time to consider one more line of evidence for the the Bible number six heading down the home stretch here if you're a note taker jot it down the Bible's fourth rightness about failures the Bible's fourth rightness about failures what am I talking about well have you ever gone to a website maybe for a company or a charity and clicked the about us button there's nearly always a carefully crafted glowing overview of what that company or political organization or religious group is about if they have an R history button or our founder button again you nearly always get a favorable overview of the founder you never read that the founder is a murderer or an adulterer with a criminal record right well knowing human tendency to leave these kinds of details out I find the Bible's fourth rightness to be quite remarkable over and over the biblical writers tell us about the failures weaknesses and sins of the fathers of the faith their own people and even themselves does this fourth rightness prove that the Bible is divinely inspired absolutely not but I do think this kind of transparency helps strengthen our case that the Bible appears to be an honest work allow me just to remind you of some transparent details we read about in the Bible about Noah's drunkenness and inappropriate nakedness shortly after the flood Genesis chapter 9 that doesn't look good we read of Abraham's line on more than one occasion about Sarah being his wife Genesis chapter 12 and 20 how about Moses's murder of a man in Egypt and his outburst of anger and the wilderness and how he misrepresented God and his result wasn't allowed to enter into the promised land question for you who wrote the books of Exodus and numbers where these details are laid out for us Moses he tells us about his failures and sins in his own writings these sound like the words of someone who was committed to communicating the truth we read of the nation of Israel rejecting God on numerous occasions to worship false gods what nation did God use to write down the scriptures Israel the Jews is this the kind of thing they would make up about themselves how unfaithful they were to the God who lovingly rescued them from their slavery in Egypt I don't think so we read of David's adultery with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of her husband Jariah the coming Messiah was going to be a descendant of David if you were inventing Christianity would you invent these kinds of details for David's life how about that time Jesus called Peter Satan if I was in on the committee that was inventing Christianity if that was the case and I was Peter I'd say take that out that looks awful reword that and yet a short time later we also read of Peter denying that he even knew who Jesus was after promising he would never do such a thing in Matthew chapter 26 then a short time after that we read of the disciples prideful arguments over which one of them was the greatest arguing to the point where Jesus had to get involved and rebuke them then we read a short time after that of the disciples falling asleep when Jesus asked them to stay awake and to pray for him then we read just an hour or two after that of the disciples running away to save their own necks when Jesus was arrested looking so cowardly and then you get further into the new testament we read of Paul confessing that he viewed himself as a wretched man and even considered himself to be the chief of sinners friends this is just a small sampling do these sound like the words of men who were lying I have a hard time believing that it seems to me that these men were more interested in telling the truth about things than making themselves look good so that this is a sixth line of evidence for the trustworthiness of the bible the bible's fourth rightness about failures friends you can trust the bible you can read it today with the highest degree of confidence and what a blessing it is to know god and have the bible to reveal to us who he is and what his plan is for humanity do you know the loving merciful god revealed to us in the bible you can that's why jesus god in the flesh died on that cruel roman cross because of his great love for you the bible says he died there in your place to suffer the judgment you deserve for your sins so that you could then be forgiven so that you could be rescued from spending eternity in hell and be brought back into a relationship with him of course he rose from the grave though three days later and today he offers all of mankind the forgiveness of sins peace with god and the free gift of everlasting life friends that is great news everlasting life forgiveness of sins i don't know what you normally get for christmas but this is way better way better what a gift you deserve i deserve judgment and condemnation for our rebellion and sin against our maker and god says no no no i've got something way better actually this what a gift how do you lay hold of it jesus simply said whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life that's it jesus did all the hard work he just wants you now to place your faith in him and what he did in your place on the cross and you can do that today god is a prayer away you can call it to him right now in your seat in the quietness of your heart and say god forgive me for my sins i trust in jesus christ to save me come into my life and be my lord and savior if you'll do that the bible says whoever whoever calls upon the name of the lord will be saved so don't put it off if you need to get right with god today call out to him in prayer for the rest of you who have already done that as i know most of you have i encourage you continue in the faith picking up and meditating on the scriptures often fully confident that this book is trustworthy cover to cover amen amen