Can Scripture Be Trusted
Series - The Da Vinci Code Faith, Fact or Fiction
Text: Luke 1:1-4
Leigh Tebing, Dan Brown’s fictional British Historian, had this to say about Holy Scripture:
“’The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven.’ The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times and it had evolved through countless translations, additions and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book”.
Mr. Tebing may have considered himself a historian but defiantly not one in religious study. However, for those who know little or nothing about the Bible, comments such as this may seem credible.
In fact American youth seem just as interested in God and just as passionate about spiritual things as any other generation. The question is “how are they forming their views of God and what belief system are they adopting for themselves?
It might shock you, but I say it should scare you straight to your knees to learn that
• 63% do not believe Jesus is the Son of the One true God.
• 58% believe that all faiths teach equally valid truths
• 51% do not believe Jesus rose from the dead
• 65% do not believe Satan is a real entity
• 68% do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a real entity.
Shocking? Horrifying may be a better word. But why? How? How can people be so Spiritually thirsty yet so Theologically dry?
Penicillin is bitter but it sure does help you feel better.
A knife cut can be fatal, but in the hands of a skilled surgen, it can bring health and healing.
There was a time when the Word of God was so revered that countless men and women were asked to place their hand on it and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
There was a time when every home had a Family Bible, when every student was given a New Testament on their first day of school, when scripture reading would be part of homework assignments in our public schools. When men and woman would not think of or dare to come to church without the Word in their hands.
Now remote controls take the honored place on the coffee table and the Old Book collects dust under a lamp stand. Now students are threatened with suspension from school if they wear scripture printed on their tee-shirts. Today the projector screen has made it unnecessary for people to bring a Bible to church.
Can I let you in on a small fact? Scripture on the screen was introduced as an aid to visitors and unchurched. It was to help those unfamiliar with the Bible’s layout to see and read scriptures being addressed. I don’t think you would ever hear a preacher say that projectors were meant to take the place of bringing your own bible and using it!
No other single publication has ever had the world wide impact that the Word of God has had.
• It’s words of comfort are spoken it times of national and world wide morning.
• It’s statements of confidence and assurance are echoed by men of renown in times of uncertainty
• It’s passages and phrases are implanted in lyric, both Christian and secular.
• It has overcome tyranny as kings, empires, governments and dictators have tries to bury it, burn it, distort it and destroy it, but It lives on, long beyond their mortal years!
Well, it’s not time to preach! Like any fiction, there is some truth in Tebing’s error. The Bible did not come by fax from heaven. And, I suppose, the book itself, is a product of man…. But the agreement stops there.
You see, scripture claims to be completely divine and completely human. God joined with sinful humanity to produce the sinless Living Word (Jesus) and in a similar sense joined with sinful humanity to produce the inspired written word, the Bible.
The Aspostle Peter described it best in His letter to the Church of Jerusalem when he said “Men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit”. And yet the mystery of sacred scripture only starts there. The Apostle Paul wrote to the young preacher Timothy that all scripture is “God-breathed” that is – inspired by God”.
Tebing eludes to a proposition that the bible was the brain child of a single man, Constantine the Great a roman emperor who lived from AD 274 to 337, and that it was he who orchestrated its content, production and publication.
Tebing also states that the Bible was written as a historical record of “tumultuous times”. Again, that’s partially true, but not of the whole bible. Perhaps there are some things that Tebing, and his creator, Dan Brown, need to know about the scriptures.
The beauty and mystery of the scriptures is that they were produced over a span of 1600 years. Century after century men added to, what we now have as a collection of books and letters, unaware for the most part of one another’s writings and sometimes in the dark about the meaning of their own writings.
In addition, the backgrounds of its more than forty authors could hardly have been more diverse. They include Samuel the judge, Amos the sheep breeder, Ezra the priest, Nehemiah the statesman, and a host of other scribes, kings, prophets, poets, musicians, philosophers, farmers, and teachers. The New Testament writers include a tax collector, a physician, a tentmaker, two fishermen, and two carpenters. Some, like Moses, Isaiah, and Paul, were highly educated, while others were unschooled. The Bible contains the work of freeman and slave, landholder and yeoman, prosperous and poor. Its chapters were written in palaces and in prisons, in cities and in wildernesses, in times of war and peace, and in every other circumstance. It was written in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) and on three continents. The Bible is a divine library which contains prophecy, history, law, poetry, hymns, wisdom literature, stories, biography, letters, oratory, parables, philosophy, drama, exposition, and sermons. Its literary styles and themes are diverse, but it is all interwoven into a composite and unified whole.
The Bible is unique in its preservation. In spite of persecution, perversion, criticism, abuse, and time, the Bible has survived virtually intact. It is an anvil that has worn out many hammers. There is no ancient document which has manuscript support that even approximates that of the New Testament’s some 15,000 nearly identical hand written copies. The Scriptures are unique in the quantity, quality, and antiquity of their manuscripts. Many have sought to ban and destroy the Bible, but their efforts have been futile. The Bible is by far the most popular book in the world. Portions have been translated in over one thousand seven hundred languages, and it has been copied and circulated more extensively than any other literature. Recent archaeological, historical, and linguistic evidences have refuted destructive critical theories in favor of the trustworthiness of Scripture.
Over a quarter of the Bible was prophetic at the time it was written, and these prophecies stand alone in their graphic detail, accuracy, and scope. The subject matter of the Bible covers the whole range from heaven to hell, from the divine to the demonic, and from eternity past to eternity future. Its portrait of God as the infinite-personal triune Creator is unique. So also is its description of man in his originally perfect state, as well as his fall and sinfulness. Its message of salvation by faith and not by works, and the whole concept of the sacrifice of the God-man on our behalf, is without parallel. The Bible is also unique in its historical emphasis. Other religious books and mythical accounts are written in the format of the “long ago and far away.” Thus, they are completely unverifiable; there is no way to examine them or support them with historical evidence. But the Bible is locked into space and time in such a way that we can know, with impressive accuracy, where and when its events took place.
Further, No other book has so profoundly influenced the culture, thought, and history of the world. It has molded and dominated the art, music, morality, oratory, law, politics, philosophy, and literature of Western civilization. It has not only changed history, but it has also changed millions of lives. Its witness to redemption in Christ has provided hope, joy, and purpose for all who have appropriated it. (Through the Bible [computer file] Bruce Wilinson c1983)
That is why, with unequivocal assurance we can stand on the scriptures as the inerrant, infallible, unshakable, undeniable, unequaled, undefiled, unmatched Word of the Living God and of His Christ, Jesus of Nazareth.
It is why we can wholly accept that
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever."
Can the Bible be trusted? You bet it can, but it’s more important to trust in the One who spoke it into the hearts of those “faithful men of old”.
My friend, if the Word of God will stand forever, then His promises spoken in that Word will stand as well.
Promises like:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and abide with him, and he with Me.
