Walking with God: Lessons from a Pastor's Heart - Chapter 3: Love the Truth | Pastor Pablo Morales

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. Well, good morning. It's

good to be together again. As you know, during

this month, we've been doing this series called

Walking with God, which is a set of personal

reflections after this summer trip with our School

of Apologetics Crossroads, which, by the way,

there's a table downstairs that you have as soon

as you come out with the map. That's Crossroads'

table. You can ask questions about the courses

that we're going to be having. But before we

start this study today, I just would like to

first just bring my heart to the Lord together.

Lord, as we open your word, I ask you in Jesus'

name to use me in your power, in your grace,

in your strength. Reach our hearts. And Lord,

bring salvation to those that do not know you.

We pray in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.

When we started this series of walking with God,

the idea was to create a space almost like if

we were sharing a cup of coffee, reflecting together,

talking about certain things that were in my

heart. And so far, you keep coming back. So I

think you like the coffee or you like the reflection.

Today, the thing that I want you to get from

this time of reflection, is love the truth. Not

everybody loves the truth. But if you're a follower

of Jesus, truth should matter to us. And we live

in a world that there are so many opinions about

everything, and the worldviews are so different,

that many followers of Jesus have abandoned truth

for opinions. I have abandoned the scriptures

for the words of the latest published book of

the experts. But what we need to remember is

that followers of Jesus have been known and must

be known for loving the truth. In the book of

Psalms, it summarizes the word of God like this.

Would you read it with me? Your word is a lamp

to guide my feet. And a light for my path. What

happens if you get rid of the lamp? And if you

get rid of the light? What do you get? Darkness.

And I've met Christians throughout the years.

That got rid of the lamp. Stopped trusting the

light. And they ended up getting lost in the

path. The path of darkness. Decisions in their

lives that were not aligned with the Lord. soon

to realize that they lost their way. Why? It

all begins by the attitude that we have towards

truth and towards the scriptures, which is the

source of truth for us. In the book of Acts,

we find that at the beginning of the Christian

movement, when the first Christians started preaching

the gospel and the good news, about salvation

in Jesus. These good news that redefine everything

because the message was that God who had created

the world loved humans so much that he became

a human himself in order to take upon himself

our sin, our shame, our fears that bound us.

And he took all of that and he died on our behalf

and he resurrected and he overcame the power

of darkness. And now he has the power to forgive.

He has the power to transform. He has the power

to make you new. Anyone who confesses him as

Lord and Savior. And that message was proclaimed

by the Apostle Paul in his second missionary

journey throughout the region. of what is nowadays

the area of Greece, and some areas of nowadays

Turkey. And if you zoom in into this map, you

will see that region of Greece that he went to,

and you will start recognizing some of the names

that are found in the books of the New Testament

in the Bible, like the Thessalonians, Thessalonica,

or Corinth, the Corinthians, Ephesus, the Ephesians,

Philippi, the Philippians. It's because in this

second missionary journey, the Apostle Paul went

to that region and started preaching this good

news of salvation in Jesus. And we are told that

when he got to Thessalonica, there was some drama,

some opposition he got there. So then he went

to a city called Berea. And in Berea, he had

an experience. And then he went from there to

Athens. And in Athens, he was able to preach

the gospel again. But something happens in that

journey that brings light to this idea of followers

of Jesus being people who love the truth. And

I want you to read with me this whole section

to see. Not out loud, but follow me as I read.

This is what it says. As soon as it was night,

the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.

On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

So they left. Thessalonica, because of the danger

that happened, arrived to Berea and they are

going to try to engage with the Jewish community

in that town. Where did you find them? Well,

in the synagogue. So they went to the synagogue

to start preaching the message of salvation in

Jesus Christ. And the text says, now the Berean

Jews, where of, how can I put it? More noble

character than there was in Thessalonica. These

people were a little bit nicer. For they received

the message with great eagerness, and they examined

the scriptures every day to see if what Paul

said was true. Now, when we talk about organizational

values in companies, we talk about... Values

and cultures. What was one value that these people

had? They care about. Truth. And because they

care about truth. When they heard the message

from the apostle Paul. They wanted to know. Is

this true or not? So they spent every single

day looking at the scriptures. To see. To be

able to corroborate. Whether what Paul was saying

matched the word. Which means that what was the

source of truth that these people had? It was

the scriptures. What we have now in the Old Testament

part of our scriptures. And we are told that

as they started listening and as they started

corroborating through the scriptures what Paul

was saying, it matched. Then, as a result, many

of them believed, as did also a number of prominent

Greek women. and many Greek men. So because they

were able to see it was true, now they were able

to start following Jesus. And that's a very important

thing. Because we do not follow Jesus because

we are religious people. We do not follow Jesus

and call ourselves a Christian because we were

born in a Christian family. We follow Jesus Because

it's the truth. If it's not the truth. We're

wasting our time. From the very beginning. The

message of salvation. And the message of the

scriptures. Was rooted on the understanding.

That we are talking about. Verifiable things.

This is true. You can read the scriptures. And

see whether this matches or not. By the people

in Thessalonica. Were not like the Bereans. They

did not like truth. They wanted to be proven

right. They wanted to hear something that would

confirm what they already believed. And whenever

they met Paul and they had this message that

had to force them to question whether what they

believed was true or not. They didn't like that.

So the text says. But when the Jews in Thessalonica

learned that Paul was preaching the word of God

at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating

the crowds and stirring them up. They wanted

to cause trouble. They wanted to silence Paul

and his friends. In this trip, we are told that

the contrast between these two groups of people,

Those that love the truth, care for the truth,

search for the truth, and those who oppose it.

And they became very political and very militant

about it. The believers immediately sent Paul

to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at

Berea. Those who escorted Paul brought him to

Athens. And then left with instructions for Silas

and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

And here is where the names come up. The Apostle

Paul had his friend Silas, but they had an apprentice.

His name was Timothy. He was going with them.

He was learning how this whole ministry of sharing

the gospel with people and making disciples was

like. And this experience was very significant

in his formation. Later, the Apostle Paul is

going to write to Timothy two letters that we

have in the Bible in the New Testament. And we

will get to read one of them today. And he's

going to reflect on these experiences and the

significance of truth for those who follow Jesus.

So what Paul does is that he goes to Athens.

And when he gets there, he sees all these Greeks

worshiping all these different deities. They

had a God for everything. A few years ago, I

had the privilege of going to Athens and seeing

the Agora and seeing the temple. And you climb

to the mount there and you get to see everything.

But there was an area where Paul had visited

and they have a... plaque there, a big one, with

the quotation from the book of Acts describing

how the apostle Paul went there and saw that

and exactly what he said. It was fascinating

to see the text of the Bible in a public place

like that. And it's because all of this is history.

This happened. But we are told that when Paul

arrived there and he started trying to engage

people with the good news of who Jesus was and

what he came to do, There was a group of philosophers

from the school of the Epicureans. And they heard

Paul, and they were wondering, we never heard

this, and they like ideas. So I said, let's talk

more about it so we can hear what this new idea

is about. The founder of that school, Epicurus

himself, is a man that will come at the end of

this study. So remember... Paul in Athens, remember

the school of the Epicureans. How amazing to

discover that from the very beginning, people

that became followers of Jesus became followers

of Jesus because they cared about truth. And

people who refused to follow Jesus, they did

not care about truth the same way. What they

wanted, Was to be proven right. And this is a

challenge. And this is the beginning of the spiritual

journey. And perhaps you are in that place of

your journey. Because when truth matters, it

can become difficult. When you realize that Jesus

is really true. And that this message is real.

And that you need a savior. And that your religion

cannot save you because only Jesus can save.

Suddenly you are confronted with the possibility

that your whole upbringing has been shaped by

a religion but not by truth. And what will you

do with that? It may mean that you have to confront

this reality and walk away from things that you

used to treasure. But what matters most? Truth?

Or your feelings. Truth. Or traditions. Followers

of Jesus. Are called. To love the truth. And

later the apostle Paul. Writes to Timothy. Now

Timothy. Is not the apprentice anymore. Now he's

been serving God for a long time. Now he is leading.

A church in Ephesus. And Paul now is in prison,

he's in Rome, and he writes these letters to

Timothy. And in fact, the second letter that

he wrote to Timothy is the last letter before

Paul died. And he tells Timothy, Timothy, I need

you to do this. Keep reminding God's people of

these things. Warn them before God against quarreling

about words. It is of no value. and only ruins

those who listen. We followers of Jesus do not

engage in just arguing for the sake of arguing

and proving them wrong and proving ourselves

right. No, that's not what we do. We're not militants.

So tell the people there in Ephesus, the followers

of Jesus, to don't act like that. But you, Timothy,

Do your best to present yourself to God. As one

who has been approved. Like a worker who does

not need to be ashamed. One who correctly handles

the word of truth. You need to know the truth.

You need to walk the truth. You need to live

the truth. So be a kind of follower of Jesus,

Timothy. That is not engaging in all that nonsense.

You are a man of truth. And you have nothing

to be ashamed of because you are walking with

the truth. But you are the kind of person that

knows it. You know the scriptures. You know how

to manage it. If this was a tool, you know how

to use it and you can teach others how to use

it. Be that kind of follower of Jesus. avoid

this kind of godly chatter because those who

indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.

Just talking about the latest theory of that

and that book and that view and all this stuff

that has no relevance. All that stuff. Focus

on the truth. Why? Well, because some of these

people start teaching things that are not true.

And they're teaching Will start spreading like

gun green. Starts infecting everybody. And people

die of it. Among them are people like Hymenaeus

and Philetus. Who have departed from the truth.

These were people that said we are followers

of Jesus. And they sat there at your church.

And they went to the worship services. And they

tried to help in different ministries. But now

in their journey they stopped caring about the

truth. And they started entertaining ideas that

were contrary to what the scripture said. And

they started teaching this falsehood to people.

And they stopped loving truth. And what happens?

Well, they say that the resurrection has already

taken place. Which it hasn't. This is going to

be later in the future. But they say, oh, it

already took place. So they are destroying the

faith of some people. They are confusing them.

Now they do not know who to believe. Because

they are all quoting the scriptures to prove

their point. And deception entered. Nevertheless,

God's solid foundation stands firm. Remains the

same. Sealed with this inscription. The Lord

knows those who are his. So are you a follower

of Jesus truly? Is Jesus your savior and Lord?

Good. The Lord knows you. He knows you are his.

So you don't need to walk in fear and shame.

But the second one. Everyone who confesses the

name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.

You must walk the truth. That you proclaim. You

must live the truth. That you believe. Because

the moment you say you believe the truth. But

you don't live it. Now your life becomes the

very reason. Why people walk away from Jesus.

Because the only Jesus they know. Is the one

they can see in you. And they don't see Jesus

in you. Truth. Timothy. Don't forget how important

it is. So become a person that knows it, knows

the scriptures, and trusts the scriptures. Because

the scriptures is the source of truth. Your worldview

must be shaped by the scriptures, not by the

latest theories of everything. Let the scriptures

tell you whether what that person is saying is

compatible with it or not. Because if it's not,

then it's not true. And what happens is that

as Paul writes these things to Timothy, and Timothy

now is engaging and growing in his faith, they

leave these things for us. We discover something.

That there are people who do not know the Lord,

who are very militant, that are going to oppose

you because you care about truth. And secondly,

There are people within the Christian community,

they say they are Christians, but they do not

know the truth, they do not love the truth, and

they are infiltrating false teaching inside.

And because those two things happened, we followers

of Jesus have to care about truth. Otherwise,

we will leave the path of the light and we will

be wounded. What are some of the common things

that cause people to start walking away from

the truth? No longer trusting the scriptures.

No longer believing in what God says. First one

is ignorance. You may have a Bible, but you do

not know the Bible. You don't read the Bible.

You wait until Pastor Pablo preaches on Sunday.

And that's all the food you have. And because

we don't really know the word, then we start

believing things that are not true, but we do

not know. And it happens all the time. Let me

say, for instance, let me ask you a question.

Don't give me the answer out loud. Just think

the answer, okay? Where does it say in the Bible,

in the Old Testament or in the New Testament?

Which one? This quote. God helps those who help

themselves. Okay, you got it? Old Testament or

New Testament? Ah. If you know the scriptures,

you said, neither one, Pastor Pablo. That's not

in my Bible. And some of you are saying, oh,

it's not? I thought it was Old Testament, maybe

a proverb or something. Didn't Jesus say that?

Isn't it God helps those who help themselves?

I read it somewhere. It sounds so right. That's

a very poor theology. And then we're praying

for our brothers, you know. It's like, may the

Lord bless you because, you know, God, you help

those who help themselves. So please help my

brother. And we start even quoting things that

are not even in the Bible. You see? Ignorance.

Things we say, you know, that sound right, but

actually they are not. One of the ones that I

find very intriguing is when people say, you

need to be like Jesus but with skin on. And it's

like, wait, are you a Christian? Do you believe

that Jesus died and resurrected? Then he resurrected

in a bodily form, he had skin on. So why? Why

do you tell me I need to be like Jesus but with

skin on as if he didn't have skin? I don't understand.

See, it sounds good, but it's poor theology.

You see that? The scriptures matter and ignorance

can slowly make you susceptible to deception.

The other one. is the sense of conspiracy. Pastor

Paolo, we know that throughout years of history

and all the political powers, people have changed

the Bible. You cannot trust what you read. It

has been changed so many times by so many people.

So this idea that the text is corrupted, so then

I cannot really trust what I'm reading. And the

third one is the idea that Actually, the Bible

is a myth. It's not really history. It's just

an ancient book like other books. It's not actual

history. It's just myth. That didn't really happen.

Pastor Pablo, you don't really believe that God

created humans out of the dust of the earth and

that there was a flood with Noah and all that

stuff? That God parted the waters with Moses?

You don't really believe that there was all this

stuff happening. I mean, it's just a metaphor,

isn't it? And all of these ideas then start keeping

people from really engaging with the truth because

you cannot grab it. You don't think it's true.

And suddenly, we throw away the lamp, the light,

and we find ourselves in darkness. Not knowing

to turn left, to turn right, we feel lost. And

we got to experience part of this, as you know,

in this trip to England as part of our Crossroads

training. This trip was the conclusion of the

year and a half of classes in Crossroads. Eight

courses, five sessions each throughout the year

and a half. And by the way, we are starting again

the last Sunday of August, course one. So if

you start in the middle of the training, you

can continue until you complete all. If you have

not done the training, you can start course one.

And if you want to learn more about it, go to

the table downstairs and talk to Roshanak about

it. But we went into this trip because the training

for Crossroads has the goal of equipping Christians

to learn how to think critically about issues

of worldview. How to engage then intelligently

with people in conversations and how to love

compassionately. Because when we are equipped

and we understand, then we can engage and guide

people in truth. So we went there for this purpose.

And one of the things that we did in that trip,

as I mentioned in the study last week, is that

we went to Charles Darwin's home, which is a

museum. Because one of the ideologies that we

were studying was the ideology of Darwinian evolution

as the origin of species. Now, if you missed

the study last week, go to our website or our

app and watch so you catch up more on the content

of this. But one of the things that we discovered

is that Darwin himself, until he was 22 years

old, he considered himself a Christian. He considered

one who believed in the Bible. And it was in

his 20s that he abandoned the faith completely.

And later, as an adult, after he got married

and he had kids, that's when he identified himself

as an agnostic, no longer believing in the Bible.

But his journey was progressive. But he wrote

about it. And it's very interesting to see. Because

as he writes his wrestling, you can see the window

into his mind. And this is what he said. I can

well remember often inventing daydreams of all

letters between distinguished Romans and manuscripts

being discovered, which confirm in the most striking

manner all that was written in the Gospels. Look

at the dates when he lived, 1809 to 1882. Think

about the historical context in which he lives.

They believe at that time that the universe is

eternal. There's no beginning, no end. That was

the scientific establishment at that time. Because

to believe that the universe had a beginning

would be to agree with the Bible. So no, the

universe is eternal. Okay. Israel and Jerusalem

was under the Ottoman Empire. So there was no

archaeology. Going on in that area. So he's reading

the Bible. And he wishes there was some kind

of evidence. Some kind of discovery. That corroborated

the Bible. But there was none. So he had to imagine.

And he would daydream sometimes. Wouldn't it

be cool if there was a Roman letter. That mentioned

Jesus or something. And it's like wow. It happened.

It's real. But he got tired of imagining. And

never actually discovering. But I found it more

and more difficult with free scope given to my

imagination to invent evidence which would suffice

to convince me. He gave up. And then he started

looking at the Bible. I had gradually come by

this time to see that the Old Testament from

its false history of the world. Did you pick

on that phrase? The Old Testament is not God's

word. It's just a myth. It's a false history

of the world. Did not happen. Abraham, no, did

not exist. Cyrus, all this stuff, no evidence.

That didn't happen. The history of the Old Testament

is fake. So the Bible and the Old Testament and

all this stuff was no more to be trusted than

the sacred books of the Hindus or the beliefs

of any barbarian. They're all the same. They're

not historical. It's just myth. And that's how

he thought. So for him, the choice he would pick

from these options was, I believe the Bible is

myth. That's why I don't. is true. And therefore

he had to create in his mind and imagination

another version of the history of humanity. And

he came up with his theory. This matters because

as we were engaging in these spaces, we are trying

to understand is Is the Bible really true? Can

we trust the text? And who translated the Bible

anyway? Is this really historical? Is there any

evidence? Is what Darwin said really true or

not? So we engaged in going to different places

and we went to the British Library, we went to

the British Museum in London because there were

things there that you will see in the rest of

this study that helped us understand a little

bit more of this so that we can be like the Bereans,

people that love the truth, not just live by

theories of people that reject the scriptures.

What we discovered is that the text of the Bible

is actually very reliable. This idea that it

has been changed throughout the centuries, there's

no way we can tell, that's not true. And it's

fascinating to see. Part of preparing to this

trip was watching this documentary that is called

Fragments of Truth. Now, take a picture of it.

You will go to YouTube and you will type fragments

of truth and you have homework to do this week.

You will watch this entire documentary. Excellent

work. Very well done. And it's a group of Christian

scholars that take the time to explain to you

the development of the biblical text and the

manuscripts and where they came from and where

they are stored today. The errors in transcribing

copies and different things. A lot of good information.

But I'm going to point only a couple of things

in this section for us. First is that you have

to remember that the Bible has two sections,

the Old Testament and the New Testament. The

Old Testament was originally written in what

language? Hebrew. And the book of Daniel had

a couple of sections in Aramaic that is very

similar to Hebrew. The New Testament, in contrast,

was written in what language? Greek. So the original

books of the Bible were written in these languages.

And they have complete different history behind

them. The Old Testament. It's one thing that

is very important because the Old Testament was

what Paul was using when he went to the Bereans

to teach. Did you know that in 1947, there was

a discovery in these caves that you can see the

picture here in an area called Masada, very close

to the Dead Sea in Israel. stored in these caves

all these old scrolls that came to be known as

the Dead Sea Scrolls. And they contain the Old

Testament that we have today, but in Hebrew.

And they dated to the first to the third century.

It was a long collection that had been written

throughout several centuries. First to the third

century before Jesus. Which means that we can

know what was the text of the Old Testament that

circulated during the time of Jesus. We can look

at the text that Paul would have used to go to

the Bereans. There's about 900 scrolls and manuscripts

and more than 25 ,000 fragments. It's a huge

collection. And you can see this today if you

go to Israel, to Jerusalem. It's in the museum.

And you can see all of that. And also, they take

some of these collections and they travel around

the world for displays in some museums as well.

So, what's amazing is that today we can know

Whether the text we have today matches that ancient

text. And guess what? It does. I had a dear friend

that went to Israel. And she got me a gift. And

I have it in my office. But this is a replica

of Dead Sea Scrolls. With a jar. So if you've

never seen anything like this. I'm going to put

it here in front so you can see it at the end

of the study. Just don't take it home. Can you

trust the text? Yes. But what about the New Testament?

Well, the New Testament is a whole different

beast because it was written in Greek. And it

was written throughout a different timeline because

it's after Jesus, not before Jesus. And right

now, we have such a large collection of manuscripts

and copies from long periods of time. The calculation

is that we have a total of 2 .5 million pages

of manuscripts, 5 ,800 actual complete manuscripts,

including several fragments of manuscripts. And

these things have been written in different materials.

The oldest are the papyrus. This was before the

invention of paper. The papyrus. Then the material

that was animal skin is called parchment. So

we have some manuscripts written in parchment.

And then the later ones are written in paper.

So you have... copies of copies throughout different

countries, different regions. And if you want

to know more about this part, watch the documentary

I just told you about fragments of truth. But

what's amazing is that if you put them in the

timeline from the time of Jesus until now, there's

a continuity, there's a consistency of copies

and copies and copies. And the oldest ones, the

oldest fragment that we have, Evidence of the

New Testament is this papyrus, P52. Let me say

that I got the number right. P52. P for papyrus

and 52 is the number because they're all coded.

And this papyrus dates to the year 150 and is

part of the Gospel of John. And you can read

it and it matches the John that you have today.

Now, the Apostle John wrote the Gospel of John.

He died when he was in his 90s. And the Gospel

circulated. Most of these copies and manuscripts,

it's estimated that they had a lifespan of about

100 years. So you can calculate, John dies when

he's in his 90s. He writes the Gospel of John

during that period of time, 100 years. By the

time this papyrus is copied, The Gospel of John

is already in circulation. They are parallel

to each other. And we have a copy of it. In fact,

if you want, you can buy a replica of it and

put it in my office. I'm sorry, in your office.

It's amazing. We have all this stuff. But that's

just a little fragment. Lots of fragments like

that. But what about a whole collection? Imagine

finding the entire collection of the Gospels,

all of them written in Greek. Wouldn't it be

great to find something like that? Well, you

don't have to try to find it. It's there already.

It's called the Codex Sinaiticus, and it's from

the year 350 or so. It's in that era. So by the

year 300s, we already had the full collection

of the New Testament put together. And the most

amazing thing is that today you can go to the

British Library and actually see it. And that's

what we did. We went to the British Library.

We had some lectures there. We were able to see

the actual original collection from the 300s

in Greek. Now, I brought a copy of it. It's a

smaller version of it from John chapter 1. And

John 1 · chapter mention

if you want to see it, I also keep it in my office.

I brought it here. I'm going to put it here so

you can see what these manuscripts look like.

And you will see the ancient Greek. Just don't

take it home. That's really amazing that we have

so many copies of manuscripts and things. And

once you compare them to the Bible that you have

today, guess what? They match. So when we say,

well, you know, I'm not sure I can trust the

text. Yes, you can. The idea that the text has

been corrupted and there's no way to find out

is a myth. Dr. Wallace was one of my professors

on New Testament and Greek in Dallas Theological

Seminary. And after he was specializing in Greek

for many years, he realized, you know, we need

to make these manuscripts available to people.

So they started a nonprofit organization called

the Center for the Study of the New Testament

Manuscripts. And they go throughout the world

scanning in high definition all these documents.

They find them in lots of different locations.

There are still many to be scanned. And they

have this website where you can go online. You

go to the csntm .org and then you can search

for any of these manuscripts. And you get to

see high definition. Now that is for those of

you that love all this kind of stuff like me.

It's like, where were you when I was in seminary?

It would have been so good to have this access,

you know, like that. Let's see the manuscript.

Wow, there it is. Public, available to anyone

that cares for truth. So if you are one who has

been wondering whether I can trust the text,

I'm here to tell you, you can. We know. But the

other realization that really hit us when we

went to England, was the realization that the

text was very costly. Because do you realize

that not only many people throughout the centuries

had to write, some people were persecuted for

having this text, so they hid them in scrolls.

But all of that was in Hebrew and Greek. Did

you realize that you can read your Bible now

in English? How come? Did you know that there

was a, period of time in church history when

the Bible was only translated into Latin. And

if you were a follower of Jesus, the only Bible

that you could hear was Latin. It was considered

wrong to translate the Bible into any other language

because the fear was that it was going to dilute

doctrine and people were going to misunderstand

things and only the elite could have control

of that. But there was a man called William Tyndale.

He lived in England, and he was studying theology

and the scriptures, and he had this idea. Wouldn't

it be great that that boy working on the field

could have access to the scriptures in his language,

in English? Wouldn't it be great that someone

could actually translate from the Greek into

English? That would be awesome. But there was

a big problem. It was illegal. You couldn't.

So he left England and escaped to Germany. And

when he's in Germany, he starts translating from

the Greek to English. And he translates the first

New Testament in English. But then something

happened. As the New Testament got printed, he

went, he was there and the New Testament, some

of the copies made it into England. And when

the authorities started seeing this happen, they

burned them. In fact, we only have three surviving

copies of the original prints of that New Testament.

Tyndale's New Testament. And actually in the

British Library, they have one of the copies

and you can see it right there. And it so happened

that this year is the 500th, 500th, is that right?

Anniversary of the translation of the New Testament

into English. And we're right there in the middle

of it all. 1526, first New Testament in English

ever. But it came to a cost. Because then he

was persecuted. He was imprisoned in an area,

in the area known today as Brussels. He was there

for over a year and he was condemned for heresy.

Because he translated the Bible from Greek, the

New Testament from Greek to English. He was tortured.

He was strangled to death at the pole. And then

he was burned. And one of the last prayers that

he said was, Lord, open the eyes of the King

of England. And three years later, the King of

England made the English translation legal. Did

you realize that the Bible that you have in your

phone in English is only possible because people

love truth and were willing to die for it? Perhaps

you never heard the name William Tyndale. Now

you know. And you need to know who he was. Because

that was the preamble for us to have access to

study the truth. So the scriptures in English.

500 years later and here we are. Wow. That's

really amazing that that happened. And exactly

this year. But what about the content? Is the

history of the Bible reliable or is it a false

history? Like Darwin said. And this is where

I feel so bad for Darwin because I wish he would

have been born just a few years later. His whole

idea would have changed completely because so

much archaeology has developed since then. And

a huge collection of that biblical archaeology

is found in the British Museum. That's why we

went there with the team. We went to the British

Museum. We had lectures there. And there's so

much I cannot tell you all of it because I don't

have enough time for it. But as you go into the

spaces, you know, think about Genesis. The Bible

starts with creation and the fall of humanity.

Sin enters the world. And then people get so

corrupted that God decides to destroy the early

world with water. Like the Apostle Peter says,

the ancient world was destroyed by the flood.

So this global flood destroys the world, and

then God calls Noah and his family to start populating

the earth again, like he had done to Adam and

Eve, and now the earth starts being populated.

But at the end of that section in Genesis, who

is the main character that the narrative of Genesis

focuses on now? He's known as the father of the

faith. What's his name? Abraham. The rest of

Genesis focuses on Abraham. Because God gives

the promise of the Messiah, Jesus, coming through

his descendants. Abraham was the earliest person

that we'll have in the Bible after the flood.

And he came from a city called Ur of the Chaldeans.

You are Ur of the Chaldeans. Wouldn't it be great?

If there was some kind of archaeological evidence

that there was a place called Ur. From those

years. Well it is great. And it is there in the

British Museum. We have the archaeological evidence.

Of Ur of the Chaldeans where Abraham came from.

And you can see it right there. Wow that's very

early. We're talking about Genesis. Yeah. And

they have. Things from the Assyrians, from the

Mesopotamian cultures. They have things from

the Babylonians, from the Persians. All this

stuff, everything that is in the Bible in the

Old Testament, you find archaeology there in

the British Museum. And we got to see the famous

Cyrus Cylinder. Now, the replica of that one

was... Cost more like $2 ,000 to be able to buy

that one, so I didn't bring that with me. But

that is the one evidence of the time in which

King Cyrus from the Persian Empire sent people

back to their countries to start building their

temples so that he could have the favor of the

gods. And he writes this in this cylinder that

was discovered in Babylon. And it's fascinating

because in the Old Testament, prophet Isaiah

prophesied King Cyrus by name centuries before

he was even born. And he prophesied that he is

the one that God is going to use to bring Israel

back from exile, back in Jerusalem to build.

And that's exactly what the book of Ezra said

it happened. And now we have the evidence that

actually he did that for many different nations.

And his name is there. Fascinating. And as you

enter the British Museum display area, the first

thing that you see is the Rosetta Stone. Now

the Rosetta Stone is now my mouse pad in my office.

The Rosetta Stone has nothing to do with the

Bible directly. It doesn't mention anything about

the Bible. In fact, it's an Egyptian document

that was discovered, praising the pharaoh. But

what was interesting is that it's written in

three scripts. You have the Egyptian hieroglyphics,

and then the next paragraph says the same thing,

but in the official kind of legal... language

of Egyptian, and then Greek. So three languages.

And why does that matter? Well, because until

that point, we couldn't translate hieroglyphics.

We could see them, but we had no idea what they

meant or how to interpret them. But now we know

Greek, so we can look at the Greek and say exactly

what it says and start comparing things, and

we know the other language. So it's like, oh,

maybe this is what it means. And that is the

key that opened for archaeologists, the ability

to translate hieroglyphics. And this is what,

it gets so cool. You have to see this. The Bible

says in the Old Testament that all these nations

have pagan gods. And you have lots of those names

in the Bible. But when Moses is called by God

to leave the area where he is, to now go with

the Israelites out of Egypt and lead them out

of Egypt, Moses says to God, but what's your

name? When I go there and tell the Israelites,

you know, God has sent me, what do I say? God

says, my name is Yahweh. And that is going to

be my name forever. If you read your Old Testament,

often you will say, the Lord says, and the word

Lord is in capital letters. Well, actually, that's

the English translation. In the Hebrew, it's

this. Yahweh says. This is the 15th century before

Jesus. That is when Moses lived. That is the

time when God told him, this is my name, my name

will be Yahweh forever. Well, you have the Pharaoh

of the Exodus and his grandson builds a temple

in the area that is now Sudan. And there's a

place in Sudan called the Solib Temple. And the

grandson of that Pharaoh now builds this temple.

And he is building in the temple some drawings

and words, but with hieroglyphics. And that was

discovered. And when it was discovered, because

now we can translate, they could look at the

hieroglyphic and start making sense of it. And

they started putting the sounds to it and trying

to translate it. And it's like, okay, that's

definitely the why. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And

then that's ah, yah, yah. And that other symbol,

that's the woo, woo, isn't it? Yeah, it is yah,

yah. And that bird symbol is the eh sound. Okay,

wait. What? Yahweh. And the whole translation

was land of the nomads of Yahweh. This was a

group of people that he mentions. There was a

group of people that were nomads known as the

nomads of Yahweh. And the Israelites were nomads

until they got later in the promised land. And

this is the first time in history that we have

the name Yahweh outside the Bible. And it dates

to the 15th century before Christ, the same time,

the same period of time in which Moses lived,

the same century. And all of that because of

the Rosetta Stone, the British Museum. You see

how this is amazing? And just to conclude, there

was a whole section of Greece in the museum where

we have so much good stuff there. But this was

the sculptures of the philosophers. And I ask...

You know, Socrates, if I could take a selfie

with him, he didn't answer, nor did he smile.

And so I took that as a yes. And yeah, that's

Socrates. That's what he looked like. So you

have Socrates, and then you have this other guy.

But then you go to the third one, and look at

his face. His name? Epicurus. He is the founder

of the Epicurean School of Philosophy who taught,

eventually, these philosophers in Athens that

Paul met to share the gospel with. And actually,

there was no pictures during that time, but you

can see his face. This is what he looked like.

The Bible comes alive in archaeology. So we had

to take a picture next to these people, so famous.

You see how this works? We need to be like the

Bereans. They receive the message with great

eagerness and examine scriptures every day to

see if what Paul said was true. Can I trust the

text? Yes. Well, can I trust the content? Yes.

Why? Because it is true. will have so much evidence

for it that to believe it was myth, that will

not be true. To believe that it's a conspiracy

and the text was changed, that will not be true.

So if these things have kept you from engaging

with the scriptures, with the word, and study

it and learn and become like Timothy, a mature

follower of Christ, let those obstacles for once

be removed. And trust the scriptures. Because

we followers of Jesus love the truth. And therefore

we trust the scriptures. Would you stand up with

me. And read together as we close. Let's read

it together. Your word is a lamp to guide my

feet. And a light for my path. Today, perhaps,

this verse has to become a prayer for you. Will

you tell the Lord, Lord, today I commit that

your word is going to be the lamp and the light

that will guide my path. I have not been reading

it, studying it, learning it, trusting it. And

that's why I am where I am, Lord. Guide me with

truth. And that's what I ask, Lord, for your

people. Especially I ask, Lord, for our young

friends here who are maybe in school, maybe preparing

to go to college or in a college break. They're

being bombarded by ideologies and myths that

tell them the Bible is not true. And I ask you,

Lord, that today you strengthen their conviction

and their faith. And that you guard their heart

from deception. And that you lead them to lay

a foundation that will be strong for the rest

of their lives. That they can walk and live in

the light, not in darkness. Guide us, Lord. In

the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen. If

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And remember to join us next week. God bless

you.