REASONS TO BELIEVE

JOHN 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Pastor Rick Jackson

I. THE RELIABILITY OF THE SCRIPTURES [v. 30-31]

R. A. Torrey once said, Is the Bible the Word of God? If the Bible is the Word of God, an absolutely trustworthy revelation from God Himself, of Himself, His purposes and His will, of man's duty and destiny, of spiritual and eternal realities, then we have a starting point from which we can proceed to the conquest of the whole domain of religious truth. But if the Bible is not the Word of God, if it is the mere product of man's thinking, speculating, and guessing, not altogether trustworthy in regard to religious and eternal truth, then we are all "at sea," not knowing wither we are drifting, but we may be sure that we are not drifting toward any safe port.

I did not always believe the Bible to be the Word of God. I sincerely doubted that the Bible was the Word of God. I doubted that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. I doubted whether there was a personal God. I was not an infidel. I was a skeptic. I did not deny. I questioned. I was not an atheist. I was an agnostic. I did not know but I determined to find out. If there was a God, I determined to find that out and act accordingly. If there was not a God, I determined to find that out and act accordingly. If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, I determined to find that out and act accordingly. If Jesus Christ was not the Son of God, I determined to find that out and act accordingly. If the Bible was the Word of God, I determined to find that out and act accordingly. And if the Bible was not the Word of God, I determined to find that out and act accordingly. I found out. I found out beyond the peradventure that there is a God, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that the Bible is the Word of God. Today it's with me not a matter of mere probability nor even of mere belief, but of absolute certainty.

The Bible has withstood the test of time, the onslaughts of its enemies, the excesses of its friends, and the ignorance of the masses. It still stands, it still demands, it still reaches, it still teaches, it still preaches! It is in more languages, more countries, and more hearts than ever before. It is quite simply the Word of God, inerrant, inspired, infallible and forever settled in Heaven. In it you will find salvation for your soul, peace for your heart, information for your mind, medicine for what ails you and a shield for what assails you. Read it, heed it, study it, memorize it, use it, and live by it.

Much of what we will say beyond this point bolsters the bulwark that never faileth while building on that Rock which will withstand any storm!

II. THE HISTORICITY OF THE RESURRECTION [1-9]

Few events in history have the weight of history supporting them like the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now only was His resurrection predicted hundreds of years earlier, as well as repeatedly in the 3 years preceding the event but it can be verified even by sources antagonistic to its truth. Many is the antagonistic agnostic or the ignorant atheist who has come to faith by examining the evidence of the resurrection. The very existence of Christianity is a testimony to the validity of the resurrection because without the resurrection there could be no Christianity, would be no Christianity and even should be no Christianity!

III. THE TESTIMONY OF THE CHANGED [v. 19-30]

What was it that changed the disciples from a cowering shaken group of isolated individuals to a courageous stirred group of powerful proclaimers? The truth of the Scriptures! The truth of the resurrection! The Way, the Truth and the Life, the Lord Jesus Christ! His life meant their life had meaning, His death meant their death had purpose, His resurrection meant their resurrection was coming! This truth has sobered drunkards, cleansed the filthy, lifted the fallen, strengthened the weak, gave voice to the timid, and made wise the foolish!

V. THE REASONABLENESS OF THE FAITH [v. 11-16]

There was a work Jesus came to do. In Luke 19:10 he said, For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. he had a purpose, a job to do that no-one else could do. The Bible is a reasonable book, the Christian faith is a reasonable faith, the Saviour is a reasonable Saviour. He had to die for sins because no one else could do it. He had to rise again because that alone proves the success of His mission. A person must receive Him because that alone allows man to have a choice while still allowing God to be God in His holiness, His sovereignty and His omnipotence.

The Bible's teaching are the only teachings that don't contradict themselves or any knowledge we know to be true. Robert Bakker, a famed dinosaur expert said, When my colleagues saw a CAT scan of the new fossil, they tore up their family tree diagrams, and said, "Back to the drawing board!"

John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research said, Sometimes we think that evolutionists have it all figured out. Sometimes we get intimidated by their dogmatic statements. But as the above quote... indicates, a single dinosaur discovery can change everything... evolutionary speculations about dinosaurs or anything else will never stand up in the face of new discoveries. All the evidence fits nicely into the Biblical model; that God created all thins, not very long ago, things that were originally "very good," but were ruined along with all creation by the introduction of sin and its penalty--- death. Each plant or animal type has deteriorated since the Curse, and many were buried in Flood sediments.

VI. THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS CHRIST [v. 16, 21-22, 26-31]

Torrey reminds us, I believe the Bible to be the Word of God ...because of the testimony of Jesus Christ to that fact. We live in a day that many men say that they accept the teaching of Jesus Christ, but that they do not accept the teaching of the whole Bible. They say that they believe what Jesus Christ says, but as to what Moses said or is said to have said and what Isaiah said or is said to of said and what Jeremiah said and Paul said and John said and the rest of the Bible writers, they...they do not know about that.

Now this position may at the first glance seem rational but in point of fact it is utterly irrational. If we accept the teaching of Jesus Christ we must accept the whole Bible, for Jesus Christ has set his stamp of his authority upon the entire book. And if we accept his authority we must accept all that upon which he set the stamp of his authority.

...Matthew 5:18. Here Jesus says "Till heaven and earth pass away, jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law until all be fulfilled." Now every Hebrew scholar knows that a jot is the Hebrew character "yodh" the smallest character in the Hebrew alphabet, less than half the size of any other character in the Hebrew alphabet. And that a tittle is a little horn that the Hebrews put on their consonants. And here Jesus asserts that the law of Moses as originally given is absolutely infallible down to its smallest letter and part of a letter. If, then, we accept the authority of Jesus Christ, we must accept the authority of the law of Moses as originally given. And as contained in the Old Testament Scriptures.

...John 10:35. Jesus has just quoted in proof of a point which he is making from one of the Psalms and adds, "the Scripture cannot be broken," thus setting the stamp of his authority on the absolute irrafragaibility of the Old Testament Scriptures.

In Luke 16:31 Jesus says "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one be raised from the dead." Thus in the most emphatic way endorsing the truth of the Old Testament Scriptures. In John 5:47 Jesus says "If ye believe not his writings," (Moses writings), "how shall you believe my word," thus setting the stamp of his authority upon the teaching of Moses as being as truly from God as was his own. We must then if we accept the authority of Jesus Christ accept the entire Old Testament.

But how about the New Testament? Did Jesus set the stamp of his authority on it also? He did. But how could he when not a book of the New Testament was written when he departed from this earth? He did it by way of anticipation. ...John 14:26 and you will hear Jesus saying "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you," thus setting the stamp of his authority not only upon the apostolic teaching as given by the Holy Spirit but upon the apostolic recollection of what he himself had taught.
The question is often asked, "How do we know that in the Gospel records we have an accurate reproduction of the teaching of Jesus Christ?" ... we have Christ's own authority for it that in the apostolic record we have not the apostles recollection of what Jesus said, but the Holy Spirit's recollection of what Jesus said. And while the apostles might forget and report inaccurately, the Holy Spirit could not forget.

...John 16:12 and 13 and you will hear Jesus saying "I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now. Albeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth." Here Jesus sets the stamp of his authority on the teaching of the apostles as being given by the Holy Spirit, as containing all the truth and as containing more truth than his own teaching. He tells the apostles that he has many things that he knows to tell them but that they are not ready yet to receive them. But that when the Holy Spirit comes he will guide them into this fuller and larger truth. If then we accept the authority of Jesus Christ, we must accept the apostolic teaching, the New Testament writings, as being given through the Holy Spirit, as containing all the truth, and as containing more truth than Jesus taught while on earth.

There are many in our day who cry "back to Christ...back to Christ," by which they usually mean we do not care what Paul taught or what John taught or what James taught or what Jude taught. We do not know about them. Let us go back to Christ, the original source of authority, and accept what he taught and that alone.

Very well. Back to Christ. The cry is not a bad one. But when you get back to Christ you hear Christ himself saying, "On to the apostles. They have more truth to teach than I have taught. The Holy Spirit has taught them all the truth. Listen to them." If then we accept the authority of Jesus Christ we are driven to accept the authority of the entire New Testament. So then if we accept the teaching of Jesus Christ, we must accept the entire Old Testament and the entire New Testament. It is either Christ and the whole Bible, or no Bible and no Christ.

There are some in these days who say that they believe in Christ, but not in the Christ of the New Testament. But there is no Christ but the Christ of the New Testament. Any other Christ than the Christ of the New Testament is a poor figment of the imagination. Any other Christ than the Christ of the New Testament is an idol made by man's own fancy and whoever worships him is an idolater. But we must accept the authority of Jesus Christ.