“Con artists use IRS scheme to target taxpayers.” “Con artist pretends to be grandson to steal thousands from elderly woman.” “Con artists pose as repairmen to enter victims’ homes.” Across the country, con artists and scammers, equipped with made-up stories and canned charm, are extorting people every day. Because of the prevalence of these scams, our society has become wary of trusting people. Sometimes that’s good—so you don’t send your life savings to some King in Nigeria who e-mails you a life-changing investment opportunity. But other times, this “I’ll believe it when I see it” attitude reflects a toxic lack of trust that ruins relationships.
So it shouldn’t surprise us that many people view God and the Bible with a similar lack of trust. Why believe in a God you can’t see? Why trust that God loves you when bad things in your life don’t seem to back up the claim? Why allow a book written thousands of years ago to shape my beliefs, instead of following my own opinions, emotions, or the consensus of society? In the end, a person will either doubt God, or trust in God, depending on how they answer this question: Why Trust the Word? If you don’t trust the Word, you won’t trust God. If you do trust the Word, you’ll trust God completely! God wants to equip us to answer that question today.
Scammers aren’t just a modern problem. The Apostle Peter and the early Christian church dealt with them too. Peter wrote this second letter because these con artists saw the rapid growth of the Christian church, and wanted to get a piece of that pie by exploiting people with false doctrine. Peter warns, “…there will be false prophets among you. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up.” Peter knew that these new Christians needed answers to “Why trust the Word?” so they could distinguish the truth from lies; God’s Word from men’s fables.
Peter gives us two reasons why we can trust the Word. First, he compares the apostles’ message to the false prophets’ message. “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” These Christians could trust the apostles’ message because Peter and his fellow apostles weren’t spinning tall tales. They were eyewitnesses reporting what they themselves had seen and heard.
Some people argue that the apostles made up these stories to con people into believing that Jesus, this ordinary man, was true God. However, every aspect of Jesus’ life is firmly entrenched in history. So if the disciples made up these stories, these simple, uneducated fishermen invented the literary genre called historical fiction, some 14 centuries before it’s found anywhere else in the world! Seems pretty improbable, right? That’s because Peter and the other apostles weren’t weaving myths into a historical context. They were sharing their eyewitness testimony—what actually happened in history!
And that makes the apostles’ testimony incredibly compelling. In court, only DNA evidence is considered more incriminating than personal, eyewitness testimony. We can trust the Word because its writers were eyewitnesses!
And not just eyewitnesses of Jesus eating lunch or taking a nap, but of Jesus’ power, glory, and majesty! Peter references his eyewitness of Jesus’ glorious transfiguration as an example. “For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.”
They witnessed Jesus’ glory on that mountain, as he shone like lightning. They heard God the Father’s booming voice, proclaiming that Jesus was his Son. And it wasn’t just at Transfiguration. They were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ glory and power as he raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, drove out demons, calmed storms, and rose from the dead himself. Their testimonies about Jesus were not comic book fairy tales like Superman. They were eyewitness testimony that revealed Jesus’ power and glory as God!
As Peter says, the apostles had “the word of the prophets made more certain.” Everything they saw Jesus do and heard him say fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, as Moses to Malachi spoke with one voice, foreshadowing the promised Messiah. We can trust the Word, because it was written by eyewitnesses of Christ’s power and glory, as he fulfilled every Old Testament prophecy.
And the second reason we can trust the Word: “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 from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
We can trust the Word because it wasn’t written by men; it was written by God! “But what about Peter and Paul? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? Didn’t you just say that we can trust the Word because the MEN who wrote these books and letters were eyewitnesses of Jesus power and glory?” Well, yes. But Peter explains.
Although God used men to write the Bible, they weren’t writing their own interpretations on what they’d subjectively determined was the truth. “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
We call this Verbal Inspiration—Not “inspiration” like a motivational poster. Inspiration, meaning “to breathe into.” As Paul wrote in 2 Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” It means the Holy Spirit directed the men who wrote Scripture, so their human words conveyed God’s Word, not their own thoughts. The word Peter uses for “carried along” is the same word used for what wind does to a ship. The wind drives the ship forward, not the ship itself. In the same way, the Holy Spirit drove the writers of the Bible, giving them the very words to write. So the Bible isn’t a compilation of Paul’s opinions, or John’s interpretation. The Bible is completely God’s Word!
The Bible is not man’s description of God. It is God’s revelation to man. And that allows us to confidently trust in the Word, because unlike humans, God doesn’t lie, make mistakes, or break his promises. That means when Jesus promises, “Surely I am with you always,” he’s always with you. When God tells you “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” he means your guilt has been washed away. When Jesus says, “No one comes to the Father except through me” he’s saying there aren’t alternate sources of truth. Human words, thoughts, and emotions can lead people astray, because people are imperfect. But the Word can never be anything BUT truth, because a perfect God gives it to us!
So, we can confidently trust the Word for two reasons: Eyewitness testimony, and divine Inspiration. The Bible is not myth or man’s opinion. It is truth, and it is God’s own words, recorded by eyewitnesses!
But don’t think, “Oh, we CAN trust the Word, so if we decide to believe it, it’s trustworthy.” No! We MUST trust the Word, because it’s the only source of truth!
People draw from a lot of different sources to determine the truth. People trust their own opinions; follow their feelings and emotions; subscribe to the opinions of public consensus. They trust in reason or logic– like Thomas, when he showed his, “I’ll believe it when I see it” attitude about the Risen Christ.
Different sources of all kinds, but do you notice the common thread running through all of them? They all originate from people. Now, this probably isn’t news, but people disagree on almost everything. So how can we possibly determine truth when one person thinks 2+2=4, and another thinks 2+2=6? They both can’t be right. How can we ever determine truth when human opinion is always different, always changing, and always uncertain? Feelings and emotions change. Society shifts its opinion of right and wrong. Even science and reason change with time.
The truth is, we can’t determine the truth. That’s why we must trust the Word. Because it’s the only source that comes from an infallible God, not fallible people. And because the Word comes from God, it’s the only definitive source of truth. We must follow what God has revealed, not what we feel. Because Scripture is God’s Word, it has all the answers for your life about what to believe and how to live. Think how much simpler life becomes when we believe that only God’s opinion counts, because only his Word is truth.
As Peter writes, God’s Word is like “a light shining in a dark place.” The Word illuminates! It cuts through the darkness of doubt and fear. It chases away the darkness of unbelief and sin. We need that light, because we’re surrounded by and filled with darkness. Although we know that Scripture is God’s definitive truth, our sinful nature wants us to venture off and determine our own truth. Although we’ve heard God’s promises, and know God doesn’t break his promises, we become the skeptics, demanding of God, “Prove it! Then maybe I’ll trust you!” “Speak to me. Give me a sign. Let me be an eyewitness of your power, and then I’ll trust your Word.”
Do you see the problem? Instead of trusting God and His Word, we turn him into a con man unless he shows us enough evidence to convince us he loves us. We’re so busy demanding to see the nail marks in his hands and feet, we don’t realize that we do hear his voice and see his glory. We’re eyewitnesses of it in his Word. Peter heard the Father’s booming voice at the Transfiguration. We hear the Father’s booming voice in the pages of Scripture. With his own eyes, Peter saw Jesus healing lepers and raising the dead. In God’s Word, we see Jesus healing sinners, and raising the spiritually dead.
God’s Word is the light. Therefore, we must trust it, because only it can lead us out of darkness. When we trust the Word, God opens our eyes to the truth, so we like Thomas can cry out, “My Lord and my God!”
When you shine a flashlight in a dark room, the light shines much brighter than when you shine it in the daylight. So it is with the Word. The light of the Gospel shines in shocking contrast to the darkness of our hearts; shines as brightly as the glory that radiated from Jesus at Transfiguration. The light shines as the same Holy Spirit who inspired the writers of Scripture works faith into our hearts, like the dawn of a new day breaking through the darkness.
Why trust the Word? As Paul writes by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “It is the power of God, for the salvation of everyone who believes.” Trust in the Word. It’s God’s truth, for every aspect of your life. Amen.