Is the Bible True? Can I Trust the Bible?

Introduction

I want you to raise your hands if you extract information on a daily basis from any of these areas? How many check your emails everyday raise of hands? If you text raise your hands. Do you watch any of the following news channels, WSFA, WCOV, CBS, Fox, ESPN, CNBC, etc.? How many of you check social media daily? YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok?

Now here is a good question. How many of you have migrated to the use of artificial intelligence? Chat GPT, Microsoft Copilot, or Google’s Gemini?

As you think for a moment of all that data pouring into your psychic, do you believe that everything we take in is beneficial? Do you believe it is all true?

Can you trust everything you read and hear these days? Think about it for a moment...Do you think news is reported objectively or does it have a slant? What Politicians say-with the influence of party divide? Hmm. Social media? Definitely not. Even the weather forecast at times is hit and miss!” (pause for a chuckle)

Would you say there is more noise than ever today distorting absolute truth?

Do you think there are subliminal and some more pronounced messages that discourage your Biblical worldview? I dare say that you are seeing information everyday that is skewing your Biblical values.

Due to these pervading times we live in people today are asking:

Can I really trust the Bible? Isn’t it just another book written by men? Isn’t it outdated? Isn’t it filled with contradictions? Could it be that you have wrestled with these thoughts?

The Apostle Paul was writing from prison at the end of his life and he counseled the young preacher Timothy as he prepared him for his first pastorate at the church at Ephesus. Paul didn’t instruct him to lean on culture or traditions or to seek popular opinion as you lead, but he pointed Timothy to the Scriptures that he was reared on from His mother Eunice and His grandmother Lois. “Oh listen Timothy, whatever you do stay rooted in the Scriptures my brother.”

We learn this morning why Paul told him those words: The Bible is truly God’s Words, it is true and it is trustworthy.

Turn in your Bibles this morning as we look at this focal passage, 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV

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.

Prayer

Message

We’re surrounded by voices—media voices, political voices, even inner voices that whisper doubts. But when Paul wrote to Timothy, he reminded him there was one voice that must rise above all the influences, you must listen to the voice of the Scriptures.

Paul knew that Timothy had the same corrupt influences at play in Timothy’s life as well. Look with me on the screen at 2 Timothy 3:1-9:

2 Timothy 3:1–9 NKJV

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

The word perilous means that Timothy was to lead the church at Ephesus in dangerous times. Perilous in the Greek further means times when you lose strength due to all the outside noise and influence you and God’s people will be facing. The people will choose to go with the majority and their senses will be dulled to the things of God.

Do you believe that has happened today? Do you believe America has allowed outside influences to dull its spirit?

We once lived in a day when we did not eyewitness such sensationalized scandalous behavior, but listen, today its front and center in our faces on YouTube and TikTok and scenes are exploited. And this has its affect on us.

And what happens as we read in verse 8, once we move beyond a point of “having a form of godliness, but denying its power”, then we put up an all out resistance of the truth and move to the total other side of the fence of “disapproving the faith” and anyone encouraging the faith. Oh dearly beloved, that is dangerous ground. These are perilous times.

Knowing this was the case, Paul prepared Timothy for what was to come and counseled him to stay rooted in the word of God.

In verse 10:

2 Timothy 3:10 “10 But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance,”

2 Timothy 3:14–15 “14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

How do we keep our spiritual bearings? “ You must must continue in the things that you have learned...”

Timothy learned in his childhood from Lois and Eunice the things of God.

2 Timothy 1:5 “5 when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.”

2 Timothy 3:15 “15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Why can you trust the Bible? The Bible is God’s very word.

1 The Bible is Divine Inspiration (V. 16a)

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God..”

You heard Paul’s words just a moment ago: ‘All Scripture is God-breathed.’

That’s powerful, isn’t it?

What does the word Bible mean? The word Bible comes from the Greek word biblia which means “books.” So, when we call the Scriptures the Bible, we are literally calling it the books. Yes, it a series of books-to be precise 66 books. The Bible is written by 40 writers and written in three languages-Hebrew, Greek and a small amount of Aramaic. And...written on three different continents, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

The Bible isn’t the product of one person in one place, but written over a 1,600 year span, over three different continents, by shepherds, kings, prophets, fishermen, and scholars. Yet with all that diversity, its message is unified, because behind every author stood one divine Author; the Spirit of God with one message of revelation of the salvation found in Jesus Christ. Amen.

V. 15 “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ.”

The Bible isn’t just the imagination of men, not just a collection of good sayings or moral lessons—Men spoke from God as they were led by the Holy Spirit. In 2 Peter 1:20-21, Peter said it in this manner:

2 Peter 1:20–21 NKJV

20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Peter stated the writers of Scripture were “carried along by the Holy Spirit.” In other words, they weren’t just writing down their own thoughts; they were recording God’s message for us.

Now, let’s be honest—we live in a world where opinions shift like the wind. What’s celebrated as true today might be mocked tomorrow. Science textbooks get updated. We all have had sets of Encyclopedia's that we donated or threw away because they are outdated.

Cultural values flip-flop every decade. But God’s Word? It has never changed. It is steady, it is constant, and it has stood the test of time.

Hebrews 4:12 “12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

And here’s why that matters: if the Bible really is God’s Word, then we don’t stand over it in judgment—it stands over us. We don’t get to treat it like a buffet, picking and choosing what we like. Instead, it’s the authority, and we submit to it.

So the first reason you can trust the Bible is this: it’s not man’s word about God, it’s God’s Word to man.”

And...because it is inspired, we don’t sit and critique the Word, the Word critiques us.

So the Bible is true because it comes from God, it’s not just in theory but its profitable in practice.

2. The Bible’s Definite Instruction (v. 16b)

“and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness..”

“Profitable” meaning that it is advantageous for our lives. If we read and study and pray over His Word, the Bible promises that it will teach us.

A. Teaching (Doctrine) – shows us what is right. No only will the Bible teach us, but it will show us the right way our lives should travel.

Ill. A little boy was waiting for his mother to come out of the grocery store. As he waited, he was approached by a man who asked, "Son, can you tell me where the post office is?" The little boy replied, "Sure, just go straight down the street a couple of blocks and turn to your right." The man thanked the boy kindly and said, "I'm the new pastor in town, and I'd like for you to come to church on Sunday. I'll show you how to get to Heaven." The little boy replied with a chuckle, "Awww, come on; you don't even know the way to the post office!"

On a serious note-are you looking for answers today? Are you looking in the right place? You began this morning dead on target by coming to hear a word from the Lord.

Psalm 119:105 “105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

The Word gives direction in our immediacy and our future.

B. Reproof – shows us what is not right.

Now let’s be honest — none of us really likes reproof. It’s that moment when God’s Word shines a spotlight on the mess we’d rather leave in the dark. Reproof is God saying, “That attitude, that habit, that secret corner of your life — it’s not right.” For example, listen to Paul in Ephesians 4:29:

Ephesians 4:29 “29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

Now that one hits close to home, doesn’t it? We live in a world where sarcasm, gossip, crude jokes, and tearing people down is normal behavior. But God’s Word reprimands us — it tells us, “That’s not right. Clean that up.” Reproof stings a little, but it’s actually a gift, because God loves us enough to confront us where we’re wrong so He can lead us into what’s right.”

C. Correction – shows us how to get right.

James 1:22–25 “22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

D. Training in righteousness – shows us how to stay right. We study tonight Psalm 1.

Psalm 1:2–3 “2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”

As I look at this beautiful Clavinova here I am so grateful for Jerry Morris that wrote our Church hymnal accompaniment software. It has been such a great blessing with us not having a pianist. I am thankful for Jackie, Terry & Joe and their leadership using this system. But, there is nothing like the real pianist here.

Let’s imagine for a moment if we were learning this instrument. Nobody sits down to this piano and plays beautifully the first time. At first it feels awkward, your fingers hurt, your chording isn’t always correct-sounds clumsy or off key. But the more you practice-scales, chords, songs-the more natural it becomes. Before long, what was hard becomes second nature.

That’s what Psalm 1 describes: the man or woman who delights in God’s law day and night is like a tree planted by streams of water — steady, nourished, fruitful. God’s Word trains us in righteousness the same way. At first it may feel like discipline, but over time, His truth becomes our rhythm and righteousness becomes the natural song of our lives.”

Application: The Bible isn’t simply a book of old truths; it is God’s instruction manual for life today.

Transition: But God’s Word does more than teach and correct — it equips us to live out His calling.

3. The Bible’s Dynamic Impact (v. 17)

“that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Now Paul says the result of all this is that the “man of God” — that’s a phrase used for one who belongs to God and serves Him. Are you a man or woman of God? Are you one He claims and you claim Him? He states that if we study His Word we may be found complete and equipped.

The word “complete” here means fully capable, not lacking what you need. And “equipped” is a picture of someone who has been thoroughly outfitted, Ill. I went for the first time around 1989 to New York City for my first Jewelry Buying Show at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan. I went in January and when I got on the plane in Montgomery at Dannelly Field I was wearing Docker pants and a Dockers long sleeve cotton shirt for travel. At that time we did not have the immediate availability of information and obviously I was 27 years of age and not mature. I did not take into consideration the climate difference in New York City and Montgomery, AL. When I arrived at LaGuardia I got off the plane in 7 degree weather and windchill that was a minus 20 degrees. It goes without saying, I was not complete and equipped for my trip.

Oh listen to me dearly beloved, differing from my experience, with the Bible you have everything you need to equip you and complete you to live out the Christian Life.

Illustration: Let me put it this way — have you ever tried to fix something at home without the right tool? Maybe you’ve tried to turn a screw with a butter knife or pound in a nail with a shoe. It might work in a pinch, but it’s frustrating, and usually it makes things worse. But when you have the right tool in your hand, the job becomes much easier. That’s what Paul is saying about the Bible. It equips us. It gives us the right tools to handle life — not just the big, churchy questions, but the everyday struggles of relationships, decisions, temptations, and worries.

Application: That means if you’re facing discouragement, the Word equips you with hope.

Joshua 1:8 “8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

That encourages us.

If you’re battling temptation, the Word equips you with strength to say “no.”

1 Corinthians 10:13 “13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Does that verse strengthen you for battle against temptation?

If you’re wrestling with direction, the Word equips you with wisdom for your next step.

Proverbs 3:5–6 “5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

The Bible doesn’t just prepare us for “church work” — it prepares us for every good work, whether that’s parenting your kids, honoring your marriage vows, handling your finances with integrity, or serving your neighbor. God’s Word equips you to live a life that reflects Christ in a very practical way.

As I close:

We’ve walked through Paul’s words to Timothy — and really, God’s words to us.

The Bible is God-breathed — it didn’t originate in man’s imagination, but in God’s mouth (Point #1).

The Bible is God’s instruction — it shows us what is right, what is not right, how to get right, and how to stay right (Point #2).

And the Bible is God’s equipment — it thoroughly prepares us for every good work (Point #3).

So when we ask, “Is the Bible true? Can I trust it?” — the answer is not just yes in theory. The answer is yes in practice. You can trust the Bible with your eternity, and you can trust it with your Monday morning.

Illustration to pull it together:

-Hold up the Bible Someone once said, “The Bible is not given to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives.” You can own a Bible, even read a Bible, and still miss its purpose if you don’t trust and obey the God who gave this Word.

Invitation: So the question becomes personal: Will I submit to this Word? Will I allow it to correct me, guide me, and equip me? And ultimately, will I believe Who and what this Bible points to? Because every page whispers the name of Jesus Christ — the Word made flesh, the One who died and rose again so that you could have life.

If you’ve never trusted Christ as Savior, today the same Word that convicts also calls you to come to Him.

If you are a believer, maybe you need to return to the Book — to let it be your lamp, your light, your compass, your sword.

This Book is true. You can trust it. But more importantly — you can trust the God who gave it.

Let’s Pray.

Unfold the Communion Table with Terry

Ron-Bread

Billy-Cup