God is Truth
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
We have talked about who God is during this series
We first looked at how God is Sovereign - has supreme rule and is in charge of everything!
We talked about how everything that happens is under His control
Next we looked at how God is immutable/unchanging
That He is the same God today, yesterday, tomorrow, and forever
That He is incapable of changing
Tonight we are going to talk about how God is true
See God self-defines Himself as truth multiple times
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,
“That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged.”
God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
How do we know God is true?
How do we know God is true?
The question of how do we know God is true, really boils down to this - how do we know the Bible is true?
That is because God ALWAYS self-identifies himself
God always tells us who He is
As read just a second ago - God identifies himself as true!
But how can we know that the Bible - which God uses to communicate with His people - is true
BIG DISCLAIMER!!!
None of these ways “show the Bible is inerrantly true”
It takes faith to fully trust that the Bible is true!
Archaeology confirms the Bible is true
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
Critics said that the fact that Lysanias was said to be a ruler was an error in the Bible - until a stone fragment with an inscription was found with the name "Lysanias" as a ruler in Abilene.
The dead sea scrolls found in 1947
The Dead Sea Scrolls was one of the greatest discoveries in modern times. Before this 1947 discovery, many skeptics questioned the copies of Isaiah in the Old Testament. Skeptics said the book had been changed and revised by men throughout the centuries. It wasn't until scholars dated the Great Isaiah Scroll (one of the original seven Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947 in the caves of Qumran), that they discovered the book of Isaiah’s amazing accuracy. The Dead Sea Scrolls copy of Isaiah dates 1,000 years prior to the copy previously possessed.
In Acts, Luke names 32 countries, 54 cities, and 9 islands without an error, which have all been identified through archaeology
Nelson Glueck (June 4, 1900 – February 12, 1971) was an American rabbi, academic and archaeologist said this
“It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference”
Ancient copies confirm Biblical accuracy
The Bible was constantly copied because it was wrote on papyrus which had a very short shelf life
So every little bit they had to copy it all down
YEY!
The NT was written between 50-100 AD and there are more than 5,000 copies, all within 50-225 years of their original writing preserved. They are better preserved in terms of variances and errors of sight than any other ancient manuscripts
The Bible never contradicts
In the Bible there are over 63,779 cross references! Meaning that the OT and NT connect back and forth
SHOW PICTURE
The crazy thing is that all these cross references agree!
The Bible is 66 books, 30+ authors, and wrote over the course of 1500 years
YET it all connects and all agrees!
Why is that important?
Why is that important?
So why is all this important?
Why look at the reliability of the Bible - and the knowledge that God self-defines?
God’s Word - the Bible - is true
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
The Bible is God’s word - Paul tells us that it is breathed out by God
Since God is true that means that his Word is true
That means we can trust what the Bible says and believe it because God is true
That means that everything in the Bible, OT, NT, Law, Prophets, Parables EVERYTHING is true and trustworthy!
God’s promises are true and trustworthy
Similar to last week, God’s promises are trustworthy!
Last week we talked about how God’s unchangeable nature means his promises can’t change
Since God is true, and God is making promises, that means those promises come true
When Jesus said in Matthew 28:20 that He will be with us always - that is true!
When Jesus said he will be coming back, we can rely on that!
Because God is true, we know that Jesus is true
His death, His burial, and His resurrection are true!
What He promises can be trusted
God’s truth means He is reliable
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Because God is true that means that verses like Isaiah 40:31 can be counted on
That God knows us and cares for us
That you don’t have to worry about rather God cares for you or not, but that He is always reliable!
We know that God cares for us - when Lazarus died it said Jesus wept! Why? Because God cares for us!
And how do we know that God cares for us? Because He is true and He says it!
Conclusion
Conclusion
God is true!
Charles Ryrie - a famous theologian says it best
To say that God is true is to say, in the most comprehensive sense, that He is consistent with Himself, that He is all that He should be, that He has revealed Himself as He really is, and that He and His revelation are completely reliable.
Charles Ryrie
His promises are true!
His Word is true!
He is reliable!
And that is an amazing thing!