Is the Bible Reliable?

Why do you believe what you believe? Your faith will be tested and questioned as you get older. So what do you say to your friend who is asking you tough questions about your God? About your faith? Why do you believe what you believe? So tonight let start, “asking for a friend.”

Lets seperate the group into 2 teams. I will tell you the same phrases and lets see if they come out the same way?

As we see in this example of telephone, we have a hard time getting a simple verse right. We are literally 15 feet away from each other. Not on the other side of the world or thousands of years apart.

The Bible is written over a span of about 1500 years, by different guys, in 3 different languages. If we can’t get a simple game of telephone done, how can we trust the reliability of the Bible? The Bible wasn’t written in english, so are there any errors in the translation?

Why start this series with the question of whether or not the bible is reliable?

The Bible is the main source of truth because it is the direct word of God.

Whatever question comes your way, the Bible is more than likely have the answer. And this is what the Bible says about itself.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

In other words if we just say, “We must believe the Bible because the Bible tells us to believe.” That is called circular reasoning, and it does not justify your argument. Even though its true, there are other stronger arguments to make. Which means you have to think about your reasoning. And my challenge to you tonight and the rest of this series is this.

Be critical thinkers, not blind followers.

I want you to know what you know because you have thought about it. Taking what Jesus said about discipleship in Luke.

Luke 14:28 NLT

28 “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?

Count the cost, be a critical thinker and study. Will we know everything, no, but we can be better witnesses and be well protected from the schemes of the enemy by really knowing our faith. Because when you get into the real world, going to college or experiencing whats going on in the classroom, your faith will be challenged and it is important to have a strong stance on the truth of Gods word.

Is the Bible Reliable?

The Bible was written by approximately 40 authors ranging from Kings to shepherds to tax collectors and everything in between, over the course of 1500 years. It doesn’t contradict itself and consist of no errors.

Scripture was ahead of science.

Science is always behind scripture. People will always try to disprove the bible with scientific findings but it always proves more so the reliability of the Bible.

The Earth floats in space.

Scripture said Job 26:7

Job 26:7 NLT

7 God stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.

In those times ancient people believed that the earth rode on the back of an animal or even carried by a man named Atlas. But scripture was first by stating it was floating in space.

The Hydrologic Cycle

Also known as the Water cycle, was not even understood until the 17t century, was brought out by the bible.

Amos 9:6 (ESV)

6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens

and founds his vault upon the earth;

who calls for the waters of the sea

and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—

the Lord is his name.

The scriptures also say: Ecc 1:7

Ecclesiastes 1:7 NLT

7 Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea.

Psalm 135:7 NLT

7 He causes the clouds to rise over the whole earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.

Ecclesiastes 11:3 NLT

3 When clouds are heavy, the rains come down. Whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls.

Science confirms the bible. They didn’t have the meteorologist equipment that we have today. Telescopes that we have today. They had the divine inspiration from the LORD. And under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit they wrote down science before science even knew about it.

Archeological findings have confirmed Scripture.

People have set out to disprove the Bible and God by trying to find historical artifacts that would give evidence that the bible was wrong. Almost every time those people would find stuff that PROVED the Bible and led those people to believe in God.

The biggest finding of the 20th century were the Dead Sea Scrolls. Shepherd stumbled upon this in a cave by the Dead Sea and uncovered 190 fragmentary biblical scrolls. A complete scroll of the book of Isaiah was found. Almost every OT book is present. This helps affirm what we have today, to trust our Bible is accurately translated. Pro 12:19

Proverbs 12:19 NLT

19 Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed.

Gods word has stood the test of time and has proved to be true. Which leads us to our next and final reason for the reliability of the Bible.

Prophecies were fulfilled even hundreds of years after they were spoken.

My dad and I were at Buffalo Wild Wings one day and a game was on one of the TV’s. He was calling the game. “He’s about to strike out” and then it happened. “He hits a homerun,” then the guy hits a homerun. How do you know this dad?

Because it was a replay of the game YESTERDAY!

The way God works though is that He tells his people whats about to happen, BEFORE it even happens.

Abraham and Sarah have Isaac.

Some prophecies happen a few years apart of when God says it and when it happens.

Genesis 17:19 NLT

19 But God replied, “No—Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant.

Even though Abraham was a hundred years old and Sarah ninety years old, God promised and prophesied that they would have a child. That happened within a year.

The Coming Messiah

The Old Testament declared that the messiah would be born in Bethlehem Micah 5:2

Micah 5:2 NLT

2  But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.

Born of a virgin. Is 7:14

Isaiah 7:14 NLT

14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

Betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. Zech 11:12-13

Zechariah 11:12 NLT

12 And I said to them, “If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to.” So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

Died by Crucifixion Is 53:5

Isaiah 53:5 NLT

5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

He was buried in a rich mans grave. Is 53:9

Isaiah 53:9 NLT

9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.

You know how probable this all would have happened? This was being said 400 to 500 years prior to Jesus being born. The scientific probability that one person would fulfill just eight of these is 1 in 10 to the 17th power.

It looks like this. Draw 17 zeros on the board.

Its like putting that many silver dollars and put an X on one of them, they would cover the entire state of texas being about 2 feet deep. Take a blindfold and put it on a man and tell him to find the silver dollar that is marked. What chance would he have of picking up the right one?

IT would be exactly the same odds that just 8 of the messianic prophecies would all come true in any one person and yet they were ALL (at least 300) came true in Jesus.

What do we do with all of this knowledge? We apply it to our faith.

Proverbs 9:10 ESV

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Reliability of the Bible strengthens the foundation of why we believe what we believe.

When I ask Christopher, can I count on you to be there for me: if he has never followed through I would second guess on relying on him to follow through. BUT because Christopher has come through time and time again, I can fully trust him to be there for me.

The same is with God. Its not a “Can I trust you God?” It is a “ I CAN trust you. Because your word has never failed to come to pass.” And since we can trust that the Bible is reliable then we can trust in that first verse we talked about.

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.

Because the Bible is inspired by God then we need to know what it says is true.

God word says that Romans 3:23 “23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” and Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death,”. We need to believe this. But we can also believe that Romans 5:8 “8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” And that John 3:16 “16 He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

No one can take this away from us. Satan wants to deceive you that this past weekend was a fluke, a moment. But I want to tell you that it is not just a moment, it is a launching pad for you. Trust in Him and in His word. We may fall short but His grace picks us up and gets us to the finish line.

Landing

we are equipping you if a friend is asking you questions about your faith. After looking at the reliablitly of scripture, I hope you can say “I Can trust the scriptures.”