Can I trust the Bible?

I've Got Questions • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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Introduction: Have you ever listened to a truly outlandish story from someone who is usually pretty trustworthy?

Sometimes pastors are guilty of embellishing stories to make a point. After telling an amazing story a congregant came up to a pastor and said, that was an amazing story, “was that true or were you just preaching?”

Ouch. I can promise that I would never knowingly tell a false story to make a point. Let’s be honest, the Bible is amazing enough for us not to have make things up.

But we are conditioned to be skeptical. And even the Bible seems to acknowledge that what it depicts is hard for us to understand let alone believe. But time and time again we are called to believe.

Transition to the Text: Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Peter 1:16-20. Now Pastor Daniel has already recited the whole first chapter. The writer of this letter is Peter who walked with Jesus and experienced things on earth we could only dream of. And Peter is at the end of His life and writing this letter to say some final things to people he loved.

Have you ever thought about what you would want people to know before you died. I love 2 Peter and 2 Timothy for this reason, because when the time comes for us to go, the message becomes declutter and clear. You say what truly matters to you.

In both cases, with Paul and Peter, they point their readers to the Bible as the guide for their lives.

Introduce:

Big Idea: Trust the source, trust the Bible

2 Peter 1:16–21 ESV

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Big Idea: Trust the source, trust the Bible.

Transition; In this case, Peter tells us that the Bible has 2 sources.

The eyewitness writer.

The Holy Spirit who guides the writer to write perfectly.

Main Point #1 - It’s hard to argue with an eye witness.

Explanation: One of the most powerful words in the whole Bible is the word, “We.” And if we’re honest, “we” occurs a lot. Just in the new testament alone, it occurs nearly 900 times. And it shows that the writers of scripture weren’t just writing a story as outside observers, but were writing as people who lived it.

It’s a tall order to try and prove to someone that the Bible is relevant to our lives. It’s even taller to say that it is mostly trustworthy. However, we believe that the Bible is perfect in all that it affirms. 100% without error and completely binding over our entire lives.

And we could spend hours and hours going over the evidence for the truth of the Bible answering all your skeptical questions with facts and you might still come out on the other side a skeptic.

There are absolutely passages in the Bible that say this:

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

But I love Peter’s approach here. He makes it personal.

He doesn’t argue about the the presence of a Suzerain Vassal Treaty in Genesis 15 or the price of a slave in Genesis 37.

Peter points us to Jesus and says in essence, I believe in Jesus because I saw it all with my own eyes.

Let’s look at what Peter says:

These aren’t myths, we are eyewitnesses. As unbelievable as the miracles might seem, we saw it all.

They point back to this experience on the mountain of transfiguration where Jesus was shown to Peter, James and John in all of his unveiled glory and they were terrified.

The prophetic word is more fully confirmed.

Peter knew his old testament. They knew all about the Messiah. And everything that they witnessed confirmed that Jesus met the requirements of being the messiah.

He was born of a virgin named Mary. From the tribe of Judah in the line of David. The miraculous nature of His birth was awesome.

But what made it more sure was the miraculous nature of His death burial and resurrection and this is where prophecies like Isaiah 53 come into play. No one knew how the Messiah could suffer and die. And then Peter and the others witnessed Jesus coming back from the dead.

I love this quote by Voddie Baucham: ”I choose to believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They reported supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claimed that their writing are divine rather than human in origin.”

Peter tells we would do well to pay attention!

Why do I need to pay attention?

Everything that Peter is saying here is true. He’s an eyewitness.

If you don’t believe it’s true, you either have to believe He made it up and none of it happened, but then you have to deal with the other eyewitnesses. You can believe that they conspired with one another to lie. But then they all died holing to a lie? That doesn’t make sense.

Well you might ask, well, I’m not an eye witness, why should I believe them when they say they were?

Let’s look at their lives.

You can also argue that 1 person wrote it in a vacuum later on. But the evidence doesn’t support that. So if you choose not to believe, it’s your word against thousands who were willing to die for what they believed. Peter and most of the disciples died for what they believed. What are you willing to die for?

To be a skeptic of this is foolish because there is too much evidence that it’s all true. Everything that has happened, even 2000 years later, we’re still talking about it.

What Jesus said is pretty clear from what they write about Him. So to them, Jesus is either Liar, Lunatic or Lord.

But the same is true of the disciples. The disciples are either Liars, lunatics or devoted followers of the one true Lord.

So yeah we ought to pay attention.

Illustration: In our day, a person can be condemned on the testimony of one key witness. And we assume that if they are under oath, having placed their hand on a Bible (the ultimate standard of truth) that they are telling the truth.

Now the biblical standard is more. You have to have 2-3 witnesses saying the same thing. And in this case, we don’t have 2-3 witnesses. We have 2-300 witnesses…all saying the same things and willing to die because they believed in Jesus.

Application: So no, Peter isn’t trying to convince you that the Bible is true in all that it says and affirms. he doesn’t have time for that. He’s at the end of his life and he knows that his death is coming. What will he leave his reader with? He wants to leave them with Jesus. Which echoes back to pentacost…the same message that Peter had been saying for many years is still true.

Acts 2:38 ESV

38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And the same call goes out from us today:

Believe in Jesus.

Repent of your sins.

Be baptized.

Receive forgiveness of your sins

Receive the Holy Spirit.

Main Point #2 - If the Bible is right about Jesus, it’s probably right about the rest.

Explanation: When we really think about it, the claims the Bible makes about the Messiah in the Old Testament and Jesus in the new and how they meet up so well, the claims are really outlandish. Now Peter acknowledges that the whole point is Jesus, but if the Bible, which contains the eyewitness accounts of the disciples as well as the prophecies of the Messiah which they can attest were fulfilled, then we can trust the rest of the Bible as well.

A common critique against the Bible is that it was written by men:

Well not so fast.

The writers of Scripture attribute their words to someone else…the Holy Spirit.

That’s significant. How many writers would be willing to give credit to someone else if it weren’t true. When you write something profound that stands the test of time, you want the credit.

That’s why plagiarism is such a big deal. But giving your work away willingly is not.

Now you might say, well they were writing saying God told them to say these things so that it would carry extra weight and control people. But that’s not what happened at all. In fact, believing this stuff actually was a death sentence for most people. They got no power from it.

And Peter is even writing this as a person who is about to die for his beliefs. But the first part of this passage, he is writing as someone who saw Jesus with his own eyes. The second part takes a different turn.

But let’s be clear, in 19-21, Peter is pointing back to the Old Testament here and in a sense telling us why we should believe it.

When it comes to Jesus, Peter writes as an eye witness.

But when it comes to the Old Testament, he takes it on faith. (Just like you and I do with regard to Peter’s writing).

But Peter shows that because the Old Testament got the prophecies of Jesus right, he’ll take the rest on faith as well.

Moses was a prophet who wrote the first 5 books and even He said that what he wrote was given on Mount Sinai.

Joshua wrote as an eye witness to the majesty of God.

Samuel wrote both as an eye witness and direct prophecy from God.

And the school of Prophets from Samuel to Malachi were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

David was a prophet.

Solomon recorded the wisdom of God.

All these people knew they were not writing things that originated with them, but were carried along by the Holy Spirit and even though the Bible is over 4000 years old written by 40+ authors on 3 continents, it tells the same story and points to the same person Jesus.

1 more thing:

You need to also read it. So many people say they believe the Bible but haven’t actually read it.

Open it and read it. Alone and with your family.

Why?

2 Peter 1:19 ESV

19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,

As we read His word daily, the Holy Spirit daily confirms its truth.

Have you ever been reading your Bible it happens to speak to exactly what you are going through?

And then your Bible reading matches the sermon? Or your Bible study or Life Group material?

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Bible is God’s word for you today. To live out and guide you as you navigate this great journey we call life. And where your journey leads will depend and awful lot on what you believe about the Word of God.

Response: Are you ready to believe the Bible and live it as it points you to Jesus?

Conclusion:

So what advice would Peter give us today?

For one, he would invite you to give your life to Jesus. To believe in Him. To repent of your sins. To yield yourself to a life lived in obedience to His word....even if it leads to death. And having lived that out....and now being forever in the presence of Jesus, I think he would tell you that it was worth it.

Let me invite you into a journey with Jesus. If you have never give your life to Jesus.

Someone put this question to me: When is the best time to plant a tree? 20 years ago. When is the second best time? Today.

The same is true of following Jesus. Don’t let your past get in the way of your future.

Keep pressing on towards him.

If Jesus is who He said He is and did what He said He’s going to do, we ought to pay attention to that.

Our relationship with God is unique to you. God has a specific relationship with you. God’s supernatural hand is upon you and He is calling people from all walks of life to follow Him. Druggies, Soccer moms, gang members and bankers, deadbeat dads and maybe even you.

This should encourage us to trust God’s word.

For the unbeliever, join in on this amazing story that is true.

Some day we will see Jesus like that.

People get ready, Jesus is coming.

We all want to hear, My good and faithful servant.

We can actually trust God.

God’s word is still alive and active in our lives.

Closing Illustration:

There is yet one prophecy of Jesus that hasn’t been fulfilled. His return. And time and time again in the Bible we are told to be ready and on the watch. Because it could be at any time. But because many will come saying they are Jesus, (Think David Koresh and Waco, TX) we can’t just rely on the outside world. We have to be deep in our Bibles.

When the Bible says be ready, it means that we are to be like the Bereans in Acts 17

Examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Believe the Bible.

Study the Bible.

Live the Bible.

Let’s pray.

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