The Bible: The Power Of God Series

Foundations of the Christian Faith

Series by Matt Black (Message 5)

Proposition: Our faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Key Verses: I Corinthians 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

The Bible is true from cover to cover. It is true because it is from God. Any man can see that the Bible is purely authentic from an academic standpoint, but he cannot accept it without God moving on his heart. We can trust the Bible, and we want to shout it from the housetops. We can show that the Bible is true in every way, and we shall do that today, but we will find that it is not enough.

Let us look at our first truth.

The Bible is accurate in every way

Because the Bible came from God, it is accurate and reliable in every way. This can be proven in a number of ways.

Of course, the Scriptures are absolutely historically accurate. The history in it is all true. Archeologists rely on it to find ancient civilizations. When Christ walked the earth, he spoke of Jonah being literally swallowed by a whale (Mat 12:39, Jon 1:17), and of the wicked city of Sodom (which the Lord destroyed) as a genuine historical city (Mat 11:23). The Apostles referred to all the events and people in the Old Testament as literally taking place. Adam and Eve (1 Tim 2:13), Cain and Abel (Heb 11:4), Noah (Heb 11:7, 1 Pet 3:20), the worldwide flood (2 Pet 2:5), Moses and the parting of the Red Sea (1 Cor 10:2, Acts 7:40), King David (Mat 1:1), and King Solomon (Mat 1:6) were all historical persons referenced by the Apostles.

The Bible can be proved to be scientifically true. When people thought the earth was flat, it was in the Bible that the earth was a circle, or “sphere” (Isaiah 40:22). Before the modern chain of DNA was ever discovered, we find in the Bible that every detail about us was written in God’s book (Psalm 139:15-16). The very words in these verses suggest that every element of our personality and all our physical features were mapped in embryo form, before we were even created. This is astonishing, but it will not bring man to believe God.

The Bible can be proven to be true in prophecy. God said there would be a Redeemer all the way back in Genesis 3:15 that would crush Satan’s head (Gal. 4:4). So many prophecies were made about the life of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Pet 1:11). He would be a descendent of Abraham (Gen 12:3, Luke 3:34) and David (Psa 132:11, Mat 1:6). He would be born of a virgin (Isa 7:14, Mat 1:18-25) in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Mat 2:1) of Judea. He would be forced to flee to Egypt (Hos 11:1, Mat 2:15) to be protected from a great slaughter of children there by Herod (Jer 31:15, Mat 2:18). He would come back to Galilee (Isa 9:1-8, Mat 4:12-16). He would preach (Isa 61:1-2, Luke 4:18) and do great miracles (Isa. 35:5-6; John 11:47). Hundreds of years before crucifixion was even invented by the Romans, it was predicted by the prophets that Christ’s hands and feet would be pierced (Psa 22:16, Zech 12:10, Mat 27:34-50), that He would die a sacrificial death in the place of sinners (Isa 53, Dan 9:26, John 1:29), and that he would rise again from the dead (Psa 16:10, Acts 13:35-37) triumphantly over death (Isa 25:8, 1 Cor 15:54). Hundreds of other prophecies were miraculously fulfilled; yet seeing these miraculous prophecies is not enough to bring a man to faith in Christ.

Indeed proving the Bible to be true to natural man will not bring him to salvation. He can know the Bible to be completely reliable and accurate, but he cannot believe it without the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

· 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Even if I performed a miracle before a lost man, this still would not bring Him to Christ. Truly many miracles were done in Jesus’ day, and yet the people refused to repent (Mat 11:21-24).

I could bring every logical argument in the Scriptures with wisdom and excellent speech to convince you of its authenticity and authority, but unless God in His power reveals it to you, you would never accept the Bible.

Now let us come to our text:

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.