Why Trust the Bible?
Sermon Notes
Today we’re continuing our 6 week teaching series called Starting Point, which is all about Reasons For Faith, Not Skepticism. It’s a series that can help the skeptic explore steps of faith, and help the believer grow deeper in the understanding of their faith. It’s a series for both skeptics and believers, and last week I gave you some reasons for faith in the existence of God. But this week I’ll be giving you some reasons for faith in the bible, some reasons for trusting the bible is true...
Now most skeptics I’ve met actually agree with some teachings in scripture, they just don’t agree with all teachings in scripture, they just don’t trust all of scripture. Some people are like “I can’t trust the bible because some of its teachings are full of contradictions...I can’t trust the bible because I believe in science...I can’t trust the bible because some of its teachings are culturally offensive.” People have all kinds of reasons for not trusting the bible, and today we’ll be exploring some of those reasons. We’ll be exploring even some of the reasons just mentioned, giving you reasons for faith not skepticism. So let’s turn to the middle of the bible to Psalm 19:1-11 and get into it. We’ll be in Psalm 19:1-11. The title of today’s message is Why Trust The Bible, and here’s the big idea. The bible is true, and there’s credible reasons for trusting its truth...The bible is true, and there’s credible reasons for trusting its truth.
Context:
Here’s your context. Psalm 19 is all about how God’s chosen to reveal Himself to us, it’s celebrating two primary ways God’s revealed Himself to us. It’s through His unspoken word and His spoken word. Vs 1-6 is all about the Unspoken Word of God, and vs. 7-11 is all about the Spoken Word of God. Let’s start with vs 1-6, let’s start with the Unspoken Word of God.
The Word:
Psalm 19:1-11 states this, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.” There’s the Unspoken Word of God, and it’s the things we talked about last week. It’s that all creation is speaking to us, it’s revealing to us there’s an intelligent designer who created us. The universe, the sky, the oceans that roar and the birds that soar, it’s all speaking to us. The text says it’s all declaring the glory of God, it’s all proclaiming His handiwork telling us God exists! The text says it’s happening day and night, 24/7, meaning creation’s continually declaring, proclaiming, preaching sermons to us about God’s glory and handiwork. George Washington Carver said, “Nature is an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we’ll only tune in.” So the question isn’t is God’s speaking, it’s are we listening, are we tuned into His creational podcast?
Vs. 4, “Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.” The implication is that God’s existence is being declared to all people, to all the earth, through His creation. That’s what vs 1-6 is saying, it’s saying God’s speaking to all people through His creation. But as great as this Unspoken Word is, it isn’t enough to know God for salvation. Listen to vs 7.
Vs. 7 states, “The law of the Lord is perfect...” Notice the shift from non-verbal to verbal communication, from the Unspoken Word to the Spoken Word. It says the law of the Lord, the written Word of God, the scriptures are perfect, meaning as great as the unspoken creational word is, it isn’t perfect. It’s still missing something when it comes to knowing God personally. It can help you know God exists intellectually, but only the scriptures are perfect enough to help you know God personally. Creation’s like an appealing book cover. It’ll attract you to the author’s story, but it can’t tell you the author’s story. To know the author’s story you have to turn the page and read the story behind the cover. The same is true with God. If you want to know God personally, you have to turn a page in your life, turn the creational cover page, and read the story of God that’s been revealed in scripture. That’s true for the skeptic, the new Christian, even for the more mature Christian. The text is saying if anybody wants to know God personally and intimately, they need to read the perfect revelation of God that’s been revealed in scripture.
Again vs. 7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11
Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” Notice all the adjectives used to describe God’s Word. The text says it’s perfect, it’s sure, it’s right, it’s true, and the list goes on. So what the psalmist is basically saying is the scriptures are true, and can be trusted. He’s saying the scriptures are true, and can be trusted. Now some of you agree with that, but some of you don’t. So I want to address both the skeptic and the believer at the same time, by giving you 6 truths about the bible that’ve come from conversations I’ve had with skeptical friends. It’s real answers, to real issues, to real reasons some skeptics have with trusting the bible. My hope is these 6 truths will bring clarity to those of you who are skeptics, while at the same time encouraging and equipping those of you who are believers.
Truth #1 = The Bible’s historically credible: The bible’s historically credible. Some people don’t trust the bible because they say it isn’t historically credible, but there’s 2 primary tests historians use to determine a document’s historical credibility. The first is the bibliographic test, which is where the more copies of a document we have, the closer they’ve been written to the original event, and the more agreement the copies have with each other, the more historically credible it is. Now since historians have accepted Aristotle’s Poetics as credible with only 49 copies written 1400 yrs after Aristotle. Since they’ve accepted Caesars History of The Gallic Wars as credible with only 10 copies written 1000 yrs after Caesar. How much more should we accept Jesus’ testimony as credible with over 20,000 copies written within 50-75 years of Jesus. With that many copies the bible’s by far the most historically credible literature in ancient history. The 2nd largest piece of ancient literature is Homer’s Iliad with only 643 copies.
Now the second test for historical credibility is the corroboration test, which is about determining historical accuracy. It basically checks the facts with other witnesses in history. For example Josephus was a Jewish historian within the lifetime of Jesus’ followers, and one of his documents was recently found in the middle east. Josephus says, “Jesus’ disciples reported he had appeared to them 3 days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive. He was perhaps the Messiah, whom the prophets have recounted wonders.” Archaeologists have discovered many documents like this affirming both the historical credibility and accuracy of the bible. William Ramsay is one of the greatest historians and archaeologists ever known. He strongly opposed the historical credibility of the bible, and even set a goal to disprove the gospel of Luke’s credibility. Yet after spending a lifetime of historical and archaeological research he said this: Ramsay states, “You may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian’s, and his words will stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment...Luke is a historian of the first rank…This author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.” That coming from a guy who sought to discredit the historical credibility of scripture.
Truth #2 = The Bible’s translation and transmission is accurate: They didn’t have computers and copy machines back then, so they had to handwrite copies to preserve and spread the scriptures. It was a very meticulous process, and some people say they don’t trust the bible because things must’ve got lost in translation and transmission, like when you play the telephone game. But we have so many copies to compare discrepancies with, that scholars say 99.5% of the bible’s accuracy isn’t debatable. By accuracy I mean 99.5% of the bible is the exact wording of original scripture. They say the other 0.5% is so minor, it isn’t even worth discussing. It’s minor grammatical things that don’t affect a single teaching or doctrinal belief. In fact scholars are so confident in the bible’s accuracy, they footnote the 0.5% to show you the bible has nothing to hide.
Truth #3 = The Bible’s full of confirmations, not contradictions: Some people are like “I don’t believe the bible because it’s full of contradictions,” to which I reply show me, because most who say that can’t substantiate it. In fact I’m yet to have someone show me a contradiction that can’t be explained. So don’t let contradiction claims scare you, because there’s always a logical explanation for things that appear to be contradictions in the bible. We also need to realize the distinction between contradictions and differences. A contradiction is when two things are said, but those two things can’t be mutually true. You can’t say you listened to this message, then 5 minutes later say you didn’t. You either did or you didn’t, and to say both is a contradiction. But just because two verses in the bible say something differently, doesn’t mean it’s a contradiction. It could be saying the same truth, just saying it differently. The 4 gospels are an example of this. They tell the same truth, but say it differently to reach different audiences they’re speaking to. If they all said the exact same thing we’d question their integrity thinking they were prepped. The fact they tell the same truths, but tell it differently makes it a confirmation, not a contradiction.
Truth #4 = The Bible isn’t at war with science: Some people say they don’t believe the bible, because they believe in science. But Christians believe in science too! This whole idea that Christianity and science are at war with each other simply isn’t true. Besides science isn’t truth, it’s a method for helping better understand the truth. I mean there’s very few absolute truths in science, which is why 3rd graders today aren’t using the same science books we used in the 3rd grade. It’s because scientific theories change the more we learn about our world. In the words of secular philosopher David Berlinski, “Has anyone provided proof of God’s non-existence? Not even close. Have the sciences explained why our universe seems to be fine-tuned to allow for the existence of life? Not even close. Does anything in the sciences justify the claim that religious belief is irrational? Not even in the ballpark.” His point is science can help us understand and prove some things, but not everything. Likewise the bible isn’t meant to be a science book, it’s meant to be a book about God. So the bible doesn’t talk about everything, but it does tell the truth about everything it talks about. You don’t need science to believe the bible’s true, but science can help us better understand some truths, including some truths about the bible.
Truth #5 = The Bible isn’t a conspiracy: Because of novels like The Da Vinci Code some people believe the early church put the bible together as a conspiracy for power. They believe that’s why the church didn’t include certain gnostic gospels like the gospel of Thomas. But there’s several issues with this conspiracy claim. First the books left out of the bible were left out for good reason. They were left out because they were written far after Jesus’ lifetime, meaning they weren’t true eyewitnesses to the events surrounding Jesus. I mean it’s foolish to accept books like the gospel of Thomas when it was written late in the 2nd century long after Thomas died, meaning Thomas didn’t write it, somebody else did. Adam Gopnik in The New Yorker wrote that the gnostic gospels were written so late, “They couldn’t anymore challenge the basis of the Church’s faith, than the discovery of a document from the 19th century, written in Ohio, defending King George, could challenge the basis of American democracy.”
Another reason the conspiracy claim doesn’t hold up is because the books of the bible aren’t written like a conspiracy. I mean a conspiracy is meant to be secretive, but the biblical authors go public and even tell people to check the facts with other witnesses. There’s also tons of questions the conspiracy claim can’t answer, such as why would early Christian leaders talk so honestly about their failures like Peter denying Jesus 3 times? Why would they try starting a movement on the crucifixion when people viewed it as criminal and shameful? Why would they record women as the first to see Jesus rise from the dead, when their society didn’t consider a woman’s testimony as evidence? If you were trying to gain power and credibility in that society, you don’t do it by showing your faults, talking about the crucifixion, or using the testimony of women, unless it’s all true...Unless instead of conspiring for power, they were telling the truth.
Truth #6 = The Bible isn’t culturally primitive, it’s culturally transformative: Some people have a hard time believing the bible because they say it’s culturally offensive. But what they don’t realize is their offenses are culturally driven, they’re being molded into a product of their own social environment. For example, there’s parts of the bible that talk about sex being reserved for a man and woman in a marriage, and in some parts of the world they’ll say “That isn’t offensive, it’s common sense.” But in western society when the bible talks about sex it’s often viewed as offensive and primitive. Why? Why in one society is it common sense and current, but in another it’s offensive and primitive? It’s because we’re being molded into products of our own social environment. What makes the bible’s teachings so culturally transformative, is it chips away at the societal mold you’ve become, and transforms you into the true person God created and intended you to be. So you’re either molded by your culture or molded by your Creator, but either way you’re being molded. If you truly want God to mold you, then expect God’s word to sometimes offend you. If God’s word never offends or challenges your beliefs, it means you’re not following God, you’re following yourself. You’re not challenging yourself, because your following yourself. It’s a good thing when God’s word challenges us, because it means God’s molding us, transforming us, liberating us from the societal mold you’ve become.
The Big Idea:
Look the big idea is that the bible’s true, and there’s credible reasons for trusting its truth! There’s credible reasons for faith, not skepticism when it comes to trusting the bible...So be encouraged this morning...Be encouraged like the Psalmist in Psalm 19...Be encouraged that the bible’s true, that the gospel’s true, that the power of Jesus to save and transform our lives through his death on the cross is true! The question is will you believe that’s true, and will you share that truth with others who don’t believe it’s true? The question is will you turn the creational cover page...to read God’s story personally, and get to know Him more intimately?