“YOU CAN IF . . .”
#752 “YOU CAN IF . . .”
(The Answer to the Question, “Can I Believe the Bible?”)
Scripture II Peter 1:19-21 NIV Orig. 8/17/1979
Passage:
19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Purpose: To call my people to a high and holy awareness of the greatness of the Word of God, and to increase their awareness of its total truth.
Keywords: Belief Bible Word of God Redemption Christ
Introduction
It was 10 years ago this week. A killer storm raced ashore in southern Mississippi. Nearly 300 people were killed. Some 400 others were injured. The stories that broke out of the darkness of that night, and into the wire-services are legend. The combination of wind, water and darkness brought an unknown dimension of fear into the lives of the thousands who had chosen to stay and ride out the storm.
Unquestionably, sufficient warning had been given. The warning of land-fall, the intensity of raw power had been stated. Many people, however, felt that they had a hedge about their lives, and that the storm could not touch them. Some of them arrogantly planned, and invited their friends to, a so-called “Hurricane Party.” At least fifteen people lost their lives even though they had taken security inside the sanctuary of a church.
Many of those people listened carefully to all of the reports. They heard the forewarnings relative to land-fall and intensity. They allowed themselves, in blissful ignorance, to interpret the meanings of those storm warnings in any way they chose. Having interpreted wrongly, they suffered the ultimate indignity of a wasted life, a needless death.
The eternal God chose, through the pages of a book we call the “Bible” to give us the forewarnings of the dimension of the storms which occur when man tries unsuccessfully to live together in society. Many people continue to raise an age-old question, “Can I believe the Bible?” I would simply endeavor to answer that question this morning. “You can if!” And I would remind you at the outset that the Bible is not on trial here, we are. We can believe the Bible . . . if!
I. You Can Believe the Bible if You are Willing to Accept the Whole Bible. II Peter 1:21 “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
The Bible is no Book of bits and pieces. It is a book of completeness. To deny any portion of it is to disclaim confidence in all of it. (Paul Harvey The Rest of the Story.)
The purpose of the Word has always been to heighten the intensity of man’s faith in God’s intent to make Himself known. It was a prayer that David prayed in Psalm 119:18. It was a prayer that his faith would not be chained in slavery to his doubt. “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of the law.” When I Peter 1:21 was written (“21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God”), there was no New Testament. In Luke 24 Jesus joined himself to those disciples on their way home to Emmaus. “We thought it would be he who would redeem Israel. But he was crucified. Even though those women went to the grave and found it empty.” Jesus replied, “You are so foolish. Why are you slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have said?”
Then, as God make Himself known, He determines to make His Word known. In a long ago dismal day, God’s people were under heavy siege in Jerusalem. The Babylonians were about. God’s principal prophet, Jeremiah, was in prison. Not at the hand of the Babylonians, but due to his own people. King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah. “Is there any word from the Lord?” (Jeremiah 37:17). Even then, there was a mandate from God. If they would believe, and if they would heed, the outcome would be different. They did not like Jeremiah’s message. They chose one more to their liking.
Voltaire wrote “God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.” God has given complete freedom, freedom to deny, to dispel, to disclaim. Jeremiah 34:17 “So now, I, the Lord, say that you have disobeyed me. . . . Very well then, I will give you freedom: the freedom to die by war, disease, and starvation.”
II. You Can Believe the Bible if You Are Willing to Accept it as a Book about God’s Redemption. “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”
This is not principally a book of history. Certainly, it contains history. It is accurate history. It is interesting history. It is unbiased history. But [it is] a great deal more than history. Its purpose is not primarily philosophical, though it contains the highest ideals, the principal virtues, supreme social consciousness. It is not a manual of grammar, a textbook on sociology. It does not stand as a proof-text on the biology of creation, or the pathology of man.
It is the story of God’s loving effort to redeem man. It is, then, from the very first, an admission of man’s sin and his lostness. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” But it is the great, good news that God has done something about that lostness, when man could do nothing.
Word of God, across the ages comes thy message to our life;
Source of hope forever present in our toil and fears and strife;
Constant witness to God’s mercy, still our grace whate’er befall;
Guide failing, strength eternal, offered freely to us all.
III. You Can Believe the Bible if You Believe that it Points from Old Testament or New Testament to Jesus. II Peter 2:1, The damnable heresies of those who deny “the Lord that bought them.”
The ultimate message of the Old Testament is that God is going to bring His Redeemer in to the focus of man’s understanding. Isaiah 11:10, And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. Hebrews 4:1, Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
The supreme revelation of the New Testament is that the Old Testament message is fulfilled in Christ. Galatians 3:16, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, “And to seeds,” as to many; but as of one, “And to thy seed,” which is Christ.
Story of man’s wondrous journey from the shadows of the night;
Garnered truth of sage and prophet, guiding forward into light;
Words and deed of Christ our Master, pointing to the life and way;
Still appealing, still inspiring, ‘mid the struggles of today.
IV. You Can Believe the Bible if You Remember to Love, Worship, and Obey God Rather than a Book. II Peter 1:4, Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.
Believing the Bible is not our goal. Believing the promises of God is our goal. The Bible is the instrument through which we discover the capability of God to communicate with man on man’s own level.
In the tongues of all the peoples may the message bless and heal
As devout and patient scholars more and more its depths reveal.
Bless, O God, to wise and simple, all thy truth of ageless worth
Till all lands receive the witness and thy knowledge fills the earth.
Word of God, Across the Ages: https://www.hopepublishing.com/find-hymns-hw/hw3904.aspx