Did God Really Say…?

MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK

DID GOD REALLY SAY…?

TEXT: 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12; John 8:44

You know the story - way back in the days of Adam & Eve, Satan slithered up to Eve & asked a very simple question: “DID GOD REALLY SAY…?” The question seemed innocent enough - BUT it was intended to plant doubt in Eve’s mind.

I. THE BIBLE IS GOD’S WORD - WE CAN TRUST IT!

“DID GOD REALLY SAY…?” Satan asked Eve - & it worked! If Satan could get her to DOUBT God’s truthfulness, then he could get her to ignore God because obviously she didn’t trust God, but she decided she WOULD trust Satan.

It’s a trick as old as history. For example, if an advertiser (whom you don’t know) can get you NOT to TRUST someone you might ordinarily trust (like doctors, or scientists, or certain large companies); & if they can get you to doubt those groups, then there’s a chance that they can get you to buy THEIR product - because you are persuaded that you can trust them!

And how do you know you can trust them? Because they told you so. And why CAN’T you trust the people they’ve warned you about - because THEY have created doubt about them in your mind.

I’ve seen advertisements start out by saying something like: “This is a secret that doctors don't want you to know!” Or this announcement: “Big Pharma might force us to quit making this offer to you at any time!”

The idea is to get you to DOUBT someone you have trusted so that this new advertiser can get you to buy a product you’ve never heard of, from someone you’ve never heard of either.

That’s what Satan did. Satan got Eve to DOUBT God, & TRUST him (Satan) instead.

That’s what our message this morning is all about: You Can Trust God & we can trust HIS WORD.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God (it’s HIS Word) & profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, & for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

So the first thing we need to realize is that the Bible is God’s Word & we can trust it! And God’s Word is valuable to us because it can change how we think & make us better people!

Have you ever heard someone say, “Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty”? That’s what the Bible does!

Hebrews 4:12 says “The word of God is living & active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul & of spirit, of joints & of marrow, & discerning the thoughts & intentions of the heart.” That’s what the Bible does!

ILL. There was a trial in KY a few years ago against the practice of displaying copies of the 10 Commandments in public school classrooms.

One judge who ruled against the practice wrote:. “Having the 10 Commandments on the wall may induce a student to read, meditate upon, and actually obey what is therein written.” (Source – Jeff Strite in Sermon Central)

Well, yeah! That’s the purpose of God’s Word. It’s there for us to read, to meditate upon & actually obey what is written. You see, the Bible does have the ability to affect how we think & live. Even pagans understand this, & they’re not at ease about it.

ILL. Jeff Strite, a preacher in IN wrote: “When I was younger, I went to a secular college & took classes in Psychology, Sociology, & Philosophy. I noticed that in several classes the professors would spend part of the class time attacking the Bible. Why would they do that?

“It was because many of the students had been brought up in church, & Scripture had shaped how they thought about the world. Some professors hated that because the Bible was a threat to what they wanted to teach.

“As long as the students clung to Scripture they might not accept what the professor taught. So the teachers’ goal was to MAKE THE STUDENTS DOUBT, & thus to destroy whatever faith that these students had in God’s Word.

Basically, those professors asked their students “Did God really say?” Then they’d accuse the Bible of being wrong. That’s the same technique Satan used on Eve in the garden.

But now, there’s a legitimate question to be asked: How do I know I can trust the Bible? I mean, just because the Bible says I can trust it doesn’t make it so, does it?

ILL. Well, listen to this, The Smithsonian Institution’s Dep’t of Anthropology has an official statement on “THE BIBLE AS HISTORY.” In it they say: “... much of the Bible, in particular the historical books of the Old Testament, are as accurate historical documents as any that we have from antiquity, & are in fact more accurate than many of the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, or Greek histories.