1. 2 Timothy 3.16-17 (NLT)
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
2. The bible is for every part of life not just for Sunday morning
3. People challenge the bible – it’s been mistranslated; errors; but the bible can be fully trusted
Matthew 24.35 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
4. There is a sense in which the bible is not just the word of God but it reveals the true word of God (Jesus) – John 1.1; 14
5. Apologetics is defined as “reasoned arguments or writings in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine.” – Christian Evidences
• Josh.org – Josh McDowell – Evidence that Demands a Verdict
• Apologeticspress.org; and crossexamined.org (Frank Turek)
Reasons the Bible Can be Trusted:
I. It is Historically Accurate
A. Bible claims to be right and true – Psalm 33.4
4 For the word of the LORD holds true,
and we can trust everything he does.
Some: “Great principles but phony stories.” Noah a myth; Israel in wilderness, Jonah etc.
B. Three tests to determine if something is historically accurate
• There were Eyewitness Accounts (not hearsay)
Bible written by people actually there – gospels align b/c they were witnesses
Moses saw the Red Sea; Apostles SAW Jesus and witnessed the resurrection
• Recorded/copied with Extreme Care
o God entrusted some of the most meticulous people on earth to do this – Jewish nation
o Scribes had high standards – not just word for word, letter for letter – even space for space – when Messiah comes he will instruct us in books; sentences; words; letters; marks on the letters; and spaces [see Hebrew of Exodus 15.1-20 compare with Exodus 14
o When transcribed the 5 books of Moses the scribes knew the middle letter of all five books – so, when they finished the scroll, they would go to the middle letter and count letters in both directions; if they did not have the same letters they discarded the scroll and started over
o Israeli children today can read the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran because they were so meticulously copied
• Archaeological Confirmation – still excavating tells in Israel that shed light on the accuracy of the scriptures – don’t have enough money for all the places they want to dig
1900 years after Jesus people thought the Hittite nation was a myth but in the early 1900’s archaeologists found an area of the world with documentation that validated the Hittite empire
II. It is Scientifically Accurate
A. The Bible is not a Science book but it Contains Information about God’s Creation & Workings
1. God created the scientific laws of the universe – medical; physical; etc.
2. Science changes but God’s truth does not [for most of us, the science books used in school are no longer used – science changes; but the things the bible reveals about science has always remained the same
Psalm 148.5-6 NLT
5 Let every created thing give praise to the LORD,
for he issued his command, and they came into being.
6 He set them in place forever and ever.
His decree will never be revoked.
B. Bible is accurate in Regard to Science
1. People challenge the bible:
1861 French Academy of Science – “Fifty-one incontrovertible Scientific Facts that Prove the Bible is Wrong” – since 1861 the bible has been proven correct on all 51
2. People had incorrect thoughts – Stars could be counted (150 BC – counted stars – 1022; 300 years later Ptolemy counted 1026; today as many stars as sand on the beach) – Genesis 15.5; Jeremiah 33.22 NLT
22 And as the stars of the sky cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.”
3. Medical science – Hippocrates (Father of Medicine) and others – believed there were four things that impacted your personality – red bile; black bile; phlegm; blood;
They believed that too much blood made you sick (so they bled people with illnesses – G. Washington died from blood-letting)
We have Blood Drives to be able to do transfusions – life in the blood – Leviticus 17.11
4. Middle Ages – Bubonic Plague – 25% of Europe died – no idea about contagion/germs – Leviticus 13.4 quarantine
5. Circumcision on 8th day – safest day for blood clotting; today vitamin K shots but then without the vitamins
How did they know these things? They didn’t, God did and told them what to do
Psalm 12.6 –
6 The LORD’s promises are pure,
like silver refined in a furnace,
purified seven times over.
It is flawless and life-changing
III. It is Thematically Unified
A. 66 books with one theme
If one person wrote it we would expect unified theme
The bible was written over 1600 years by over 40 people; 12 nations; 3 continents
B. The Bible is all about Jesus (throughout the bible)Luke 24.27 –
Henrietta Mears book called What the Bible is All About – tells where Jesus is in each book plus brief overview of the book
1. If the Bible is trustworthy – we obey/follow its teachings
2. “Trust and Obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.”
3. THEN we begin to understand – It’s not, “Show me and I will believe; it is: Believe and I will show you.”
