"For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2 Peter 1:16)
This is the second in a series of sermons about the scripture—the Bible. We started a couple of Sundays ago talking about the infallibility of the Bible. And today, we are talking about whether it's something that we can trust with our lives.
We read the scripture today from Second Peter Chapter 1, and Peter talks about the word of God given to us, and not just a story or fable. Peter is talking about the scripture as something trustworthy because they were eyewitnesses of what they were talking about. So I wanted to bring that out to you today about the trustworthiness of the word of God.
The Bible is trustworthy one hundred percent. It's not like the weatherman who sometimes says, "I am 90% right 10% of the time." What kind of accuracy is that? That's a ridiculous statement. But some people use it to double talk to cover up the poor record of their predictions. Unlike weather, that keeps changing all the time; the word of God never changes. It is always constant and invaluable throughout the centuries and throughout the time that God has given us. It never has changed and it will not change. That is the promise that we have.
The books that we see around us, more than a million are published in the United States each year. They cover all kinds of subjects from bananas to potatoes, about anthropology to zoology and geography and anywhere from China to Zimbabwe. Among all the books we read in this world, Bible stands out. The people who read the Bible, particularly the people who regularly read the Bible, see something and experience something very unique that they don't get from the other books. And they say the people who believe in them and read them say that Bible gives them the power to change our situations in our lives. That is why we believe Bible is the living word, unlike all the other books. It was collected and compiled together as a Bible only 400 years ago. But the word of God has been there before creation.
The Bible teaches that God created this world by His spoken Word. The spoken word has been transferred from generation to generation and has been blessing us to be our sustenance, our support, our healing right from the creation time. So among all this book is so unique that it is something that we can hold on to. And it is something we can trust because it has never changed and it will not change.
Many people probably think that there are a lot of things that are not scientifically true in the Bible. People can argue and take things out of context and argue about things particularly like when we talk about Jonah surviving in the belly of a fish or about the great flood or even Jesus turning water into wine, Jesus walking on water and other miracles. Many people may not understand it and they probably have a problem believing it because they think science cannot prove these things and they probably are skeptical about believing these things.
But if we dig deeper into these things when you look at Jesus turning water into wine for example. I always see that God is still changing water into wine every day. You walk outside and look at the grapes at this point it puts water. And that water becomes somehow the grape juice that you can take and make wine out of it. God is changing water into wine every day in front of our eyes, but we just keep it and we don't catch it because it's so common that we fail to recognize the miracle that is happening behind the scenes. Not only that God takes the plain water that is tasteless, odorless and flavorless and makes it into something beautiful and flavorful. God takes the raw and rough life of human beings that had no flavor and transforms their lives into tasteful, flavorful and meaningful. The transformation changes you to become a beautiful blessing to those around you. That is the greatest miracle. That is the miracle that we see when the Bible says that Jesus turned water into wine. It is not just that one incident, which we believe also, but at the same time, he's working that every day in front of our eyes and also in our lives through our lives. He is changing water into wine every day.
We believe that Jesus walked on water. But we also believe that we can walk on water too, as Jesus did. God will enable you and me to walk on water every day. There are waters that sometimes come roaring against you. And He is the one who helps you walk over it. Then cares of life can threaten you, the storms that can come hit you hard. But those who trust in the Bible can stand firm. They will walk on water every day. We are people of Faith who are walking on water every day and the promise that we read in Isaiah chapter 43 is that "when you pass through the waters, I will be with you and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you then you walk to the fire you will not be burned."
God not only helps us walk on water, but it's all so he will help us walk on fire. That is the miracle that believe. It is the miracle that makes us walk on water and fire every day midst the fires and troubled waters of life
The Bible is not a science book. I told you last Sunday that it is not meant to explain all the Science and theories behind it. It's not meant to do that. But there is science in the Bible that we can probably apply in many places. But it's not meant to be a scientific book. So if you look for scientific theorems in the Bible that's not the place. To do that, you go to a university and or a library and get a science book for that. The Bible is given to us to understand and understand the value of life so that our lives can be changed. That's what the purpose of the Bible is. It's not a Biology book. It is not an astronomy book, but there are references to astronomy in the Bible. All these things are in the Bible because it is about our lives. So it has to be in the Bible, but if you are going to prove a mathematical theorem looking at the Bible you will find that is not the place to go and look for proving something. The Bible is given to apply in our lives so that it can change our lives and through the changing of our lives, we can change the world. And then the Bible is historically accurate. Many times historians try to find one thing or another to prove it otherwise and say that there is inconsistency in the historicity of the Bible. Often in the front it may seem like that but if you go and look deeper into the history, you will see that Bible is historically accurate. The Bible is not a history book, but the history records are reliable and accurate archeology is one of the basic tools that you can use. One can look at and find the evidence of the validity of history that the Bible teaches.
The prophetic accuracy of the Bible is important. All events in the world follow the fulfillment of prophecies of the Bible like the birth of Christ the coming of God in this world coming and bearing our sins and drying on a cross and raising rising from the dead on the third day. All of these are prophecies that have been fulfilled and all so because of the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been raised from our life from the sin of life of sin. This is happening today in our lives because Jesus Christ came in his history as a real person so that we can become real people in front of God through the power of Christ.
Some may argue that the Bible is outdated because of its age of thousands of years. It may not conform to certain standards that we like to have. The modern lifestyle and modern theories of philosophies of life that people want to relate with the Bible may not coincided. But the lifestyle that the moral values that this book has taught us for centuries and thousands of years have stood the test of time. The value of life, about the standards of life and the moral standards that have stood the test of time. That God has given us this Book that we have a stable level of mind. Otherwise, we would be killing each other like cannibals and destroying ourselves. God has given this as a book that we can trust so that we can survive every day.
The Bible is not a work of man. We know that the book was written by 40 different authors in a range of 1600 years. Compiled all of these together with the power of the Holy Spirit. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can do a compilation like that. God chose people from various walks of life like fishermen, Shepherds and leaders, Kings and slaves alike. All kinds of people have written books on this but these are all compiled together and combined as one book because the Holy Spirit did it for the blessing of this world. That is why we called and claimed it as The word of God. Peter is saying that is the infallible word of God given to us for our doctrine and for our correction. It is not an interpretation of any human beings. These writings never had its origin in human minds, but recorded by prophets who heard from God as they were living.
Bible itself claims that it is the word of God. The Bible claims that it can stand on its own as the scripture from God as we read in Psalm 19. We want to use the word of God in our lives it becomes that useful at that time and situation of life. The inspiration of God in the Bible is very evident. In First John chapter one we read that "which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes and we have looked at and our hands have touched that which we proclaim to you." The Apostle John who walked walked Jesus Christ is teaching us through his writing that he has personal testimony. This is not some kind of a fairy tale story. This is a real story that the Apostle John says he had touched. The apostles experienced it personally when they they wrote these things.
Jesus Christ affirmed that this is the word of God as we see in Mark 7:13. He constantly referred to the Old Testament scriptures. Then he preached to the crowd but particularly when he was tempted in the wilderness in the desert. He used the scripture to defend the devil and he used the story of Jonah and he used the stories of David and stories about Abraham. He referred to all those things and confirms that He trusted it. Because Jesus confirmed it we can also trust the Bible.
The Bible still changes lives. That is the only proof that you need to have to believe that this is something that you can trust. This book changes lives every day. Whoever opens this book, whoever has read this book honestly with the desire to know God will find God through this book. It has changed the lives of thousands and millions of people in the past and is changing people's lives today. It is the book that heals us. It is our comfort book. When we are broken in our bodies with sickness pain and suffering when we are broken in our souls and our Spirits with grief and loss that no one else can give you healing from, you go to this book and you can find peace and comfort and healing.
That is why we believe this is a living word that still works miracles in our lives and heals our bodies and our souls. God gave us this word through his son Jesus Christ because Jesus himself is the Living Word and we read that and John says that in the Gospel of John that the Living Word came to this world and lived in flesh and dwelt Among Us. The Living Word Jesus Christ still working through this scripture this word is to be our support our healing and our comfort in times of need.
Doctor Christopher Dr. W a crystal one of the theologians wrote a story that talks about a small New Testament that was taken from the breast pocket of a fallen American soldier in Korea and the Vietnam War. And this happened in one of the churches in south Georgia in our state. One of those families brought that Bible back from a fallen soldier. Dr. Christopher Took that book before the congregational First Baptist Church of Dallas, Georgia. They could see a light through a hole, that was made by a bullet through the middle of that book. He held it in his hands and he showed that bullet hole to the whole congregation. And then he started opening the book. and in the book somewhere in the middle, the fallen soldier has these words written. "It said on this date and that this day, I turned to the Bible and take Jesus Christ as my savior." Then it was signed and dated by the hand of that young man. The Bible is not meant to amaze us with scientific accuracy or historical validity. What is there is to lead us to a personal knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. It has done it in the past and it does now in the present and it will continue to do that work in the future of human lives.
Yes, we can trust the Bible. Take it wherever you go and apply that in your life. It will be life and spirit not only in your life but also in this world through your lives.
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