Christians are told in Scripture to share their faith. Peter tells us—always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have (1 Pet 3:15). As you share the reason for your hope you will mention a passage of Scripture and when you do—know this…someone will say something to you like, “Do you really believe that stuff is true?”

“That’s just an old book.’ ‘It was written by men to serve their own purposes.’ ‘It filled with nothing more than fables and myths.’ ‘It’s full of contradictions.’ ‘After all—it’s been proven to be false already.” Have you ever heard things like that?

Today marks the beginning of a 10 week series of messages that are designed to help us answer some of the “why” questions people have concerning Christianity. Hopefully after we finish—we’ll be better prepared to give an answer for the hope we have in Christ.

This series begins with the Bible. As Christians, we look to the Bible for the answers to all matters pertaining to life and faith. Yet at the same time—we know that this is not true for everyone. Many people today believe we need only look to science for the answers to life—and if there is a need for faith…it can be found in the goodness of mankind. But—Christians do not believe man is inheritly good and we’ve learned this from at least 2 sources; 1) The Scriptures (Mark 10:18), and 2) life experiences. 

So—we begin the series with the question…”Why is Scripture reliable?” I want to mention 3 simple points that will hopefully provide a short answer to the question this morning and will also perhaps encourage you to further study the reliability of Scripture.

1. Scripture is not man-made.

When we reference the Bible in support of the hope we have in Christ—we’re not referencing just any old book. It’s the Word of God. The apostle Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God breathed.” And likewise—Peter says in 2 Peter 1:20-21, “Above all—you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man…but men spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

We often refer to this process as inspiration. This is where God speaks through the heart and mind of those whom He had called for the purpose of writing down His Word. He could have spoken audibly if He chose to as He did with Moses from the burning bush. Or—He could have thundered from heaven like He did at the baptism of Jesus. Furthermore—He could have even written Scripture on stone tablets if He had chose to.

But notice again—that Paul says Scripture comes from God (this takes man’s will out of the equation) and then, Peter tells us that God delivered Scripture through mere men. Therefore—man was neither the author, nor was he in charge of the content. Man is the human instrument that God used to record what He wanted to reveal to His people.

Perhaps you might be thinking—“Just how did God insure the accuracy of this process?” Notice at the end of verse 21—Peter says…they were led by the Holy Spirit.

The good news here is this—with eternity hanging in the balance God has not left the content of Scripture up to the imagination of sinful humanity. Dr. Martin Loyd-Jones describes God’s process of inspiration like this, “God safeguarded the truth by controlling the men who wrote it by the Holy Spirit, and that He kept them from error and from blemishes and from anything that was wrong.” God has both the power and the ability to lead men to say exactly what needs to be said (Mat 10:19-20).

Knowing this should bring a sense of comfort to someone genuinely seeking to know the truth about God and His Word. For the skeptic—perhaps some amazing facts about Scripture that speak its authenticity will help prove it is not man-made.

Facts, like the Bible was written by approximately 40 different people from different ethic and geographical backgrounds over a period of hundreds of years during a time when long distance travel was extremely difficult and mass communication did not exist. Add to this—that all of them writing the same story. Amazing!

Knowing that Scripture is more than man-made words is what someone who’s facing a life or death struggle needs to know. They want to know what God has to say…not a platitude from some self-esteem philosopher. The Psalmist said…”All your words are true” Lord (119:160). 

2. Scripture is not man-centered.

What I mean by this is—the Bible’s primary focus is not about man…it’s about God. The Scriptures begin with God—ends with God….and everything in between is primarily about God. 

The Bible is a book of revelation. We can look at the complexity of creation and quickly discern that someone is responsible for all we see. And—it’s the Bible that reveals who that someone is to us…God (Gen 1:1). We can look at the world and quickly discern that something’s wrong. God’s word reveals what the problem is…sin. We can look back over history and quickly discern that man is not getting better on his own…and is in need of help. When you examine the Scriptures—you don’t find God in need of man…what you discover is man in need of God. That’s why scripture is not man-centered.

Man-centered scripture is what you find in religions like Hinduism, Islam and Mormonism. Hindus have the Vedas, Muslims have the Qur’an and Mormons have the Book of Mormon.  What’s interesting is—the Muslims and Mormons believe their scriptures are God’s last revelation intended to correct what man had corrupted. What’s more interesting is—according to their scriptures…God chooses to use someone other than Jesus to fix the problem. Man.

According to them—God used 2 ordinary men, Muhammad in the 600’s and Joseph Smith in the 1800’s to write a book that supersedes the authority of Scripture. The result being—when man fixes what man broke…it becomes all about man. Or—in other words…it’s a man-made, man-centered scripture that focuses on how man can achieve salvation without God.

Proverbs 30:5-6 says, “Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words…or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar.”

3. Scripture is reliable.

In John 17 Jesus is praying for His disciples and also, for everyone who will come to God through faith in Him. From the content of His prayer—notice if you will a few things here that points to the reliability of Scripture.

A. Scripture is reliable for salvation. In verses 6-8 Jesus said he gave the disciples all the words that God had given Him…and they accepted them.

B. Scripture is reliable for sanctification. In verses 15-19 Jesus asks The Father to sanctify the disciples by the truth. Sanctification is a lifelong process for a Christian whereby he/she rejects the way of the world and begins the process of allowing God’s word through the work of the Holy Spirit to conform them to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29).

C. Scripture is reliable for all matters of faith and life. In verse 17 the word used to describe God’s word in the Greek NT is not in the form of an adjective. If it were it would mean that God’s word is true…which it is true. But—the word used here to describe God’s word is a noun aletheia. Being a noun means that God’s word is the truth. It’s the standard by which any and all truth is to be measured.

Let me close with this thought as to why Scripture is reliable. When Jesus was led to the wilderness by the Spirit in Matthew 4—He had been fasting for forty days and nights. The Bible says then the tempter came and challenged Him to turn stones into bread…He responded by quoting Scripture. “Man does not live by bread alone—but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (4:4, Deut 8:3).

Our Lord was facing both a physical and spiritual battle at that moment. Notice that He relied on Scripture to see Him through. Scripture is not man-made or man-centered…that’s why we can rely on it in all matters of faith and life.