Anchors | Part 1: God's Word Is True

On September 9th, 1965, James Stockdale was flying a mission over North Vietnam. His plane was shot down and he parachuted into a village where he was promptly and immediately captured. James Stockdale would spend the next seven years of his life as a POW in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. As a senior naval officer, James was routinely tortured. He was denied medical treatment. He was confined to a three-by-nine concrete cell with no windows. It was the most unimaginable and unbearable conditions that anyone could ever fathom. And again, it lasted every day, all day, for seven excruciating years. James was finally freed and returned home on February 7th, 1973, and he would later go on to serve as the president of the Naval War College, and after that, he would serve as the president of the Citadel. And when James Stockdale was asked in an interview how in the world he survived and was able to keep it together in the face of such overwhelming physical and psychological trauma, he gave a surprisingly simple but powerful answer of just 10 words. James simply said, I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never lost faith in the end of the story. In other words, James said he held to something and believed in something that anchored his soul through some of the most unimaginable moments of his life.

He was convinced of some things that held him together even when everything around him was falling apart. We are beginning a new series today for the next four weeks that we are calling Anchor, and here's the scriptures that will serve as our foundation for the entire series. They're found in Hebrews chapter six, verse 18 and 19, and here's what they say. So God hath given us both his promise and his oath. And these two things are unchanging because it is impossible, impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can live with confidence as we hold to the hope that is before us, and this hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. Now, to give you theological context, what the writer is talking about here is, he's talking about the confidence that putting our faith in Jesus Christ brings to our eternal future. We know that one day we will be with God, but I also want to submit to you that it's not just about our eternal future because over and over in the scriptures, we are told that we are not to just kinda hold on in this life until we die or until Jesus comes back to get us again. I mean, you hear me say this a lot. Are we just literally in hoping and anticipation of the sweet by and by and just have to endure the nasty now and now? Not really.

The scripture tells us that we can have faith in this life, we can have hope in this life, we can have peace even in this life, and so it does present us an also temporal condition in the present. We live in uncertain and turbulent times. I don't think anybody would deny that, and in these unstable and shaking times, the question is, where do we find stability and where do we find peace? Where do we find hope? Where do we find strength? What can we trust in? What exactly can we lean on that will serve as anchors for our souls and minds as we navigate the difficult waters of this life? Are there some things, in other words, what we're gonna tackle in this series, are there some things that we can settle in our hearts, indeed, that we should settle in our hearts that will give us confidence no matter what trouble life throws our way? The answer is resoundingly, unequivocably yes, and over the next four weeks, we're going to look at four major truths that I am convinced are indispensable for us to know and settle in our soul that will anchor us and secure us no matter how crazy life gets. Things we can trust in, things we can believe in,

things we can place and hang all of our life upon. And so, like James Stockdale's answer, these are gonna be surprisingly simple, but profoundly powerful in our life if we can believe that God's word is true. I mean, settle it now. I mean, settle it in our heart. If we can believe that, that the word of God we hold in our hand is true, that God's heart is ultimately good, that he wants what's best for us, number three, that his power is real, He is able to do exceedingly, truly, above all that we could ever ask or imagine, and that God's grace is great, that no matter how much our sin has disqualified us, His grace is greater and His blood is greater than our sin, and we are still His children in spite of our flaws and faults. Nothing, nothing that this life brings will be able to shake us or cause us to live in fear. These truths are anchors for our soul. And today, I wanna start with this one because I believe it's just absolutely fundamental that we do. These are gonna be sequential somewhat in nature, but without starting here, the rest of these are going to be basically superfluous. We're gonna start with learning that God's word is true. And ladies and gentlemen, without settling this,

without settling this in our heart, without tethering to that in our heart, nothing else that we're gonna preach in this series really matters because the word of God truly is the foundation of all of our faith. We're not making it up. We don't come up with God out of thin air. We don't believe these things just because they are the wild imaginations of human beings that somehow needed a God to worship. The only reason we believe what we believe, we confess what we confess, we have hope that we have is because the word of God tells us that these things are true. Let me give you a scripture to launch us. I'm gonna give you a lot of Bible today because we are preaching on the authenticity of the Bible, and so I'm gonna let it speak for itself. But I wanna start with this one in 2 Timothy chapter three in verse 16. I want you to help me out a little bit when I ask you to. Every part of scripture, everybody say every part loud. Every part, not a segment, not a small little section, not one little part here, but the other parts not, not this one sentence, but not this sentence, not this principle, but not that principle.

Every part of the scripture is God breathed, it's God given, and it's useful for showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, and training us to live God's way. Through his word, through his word, we are put together and shaped for the things that God has for us to do. To simply say, you know, it's important that you believe the Bible as the authentic word of God is a massive, massive understatement. It is indispensable. After all, everything that we depend on, everything that we trust in as followers of Christ rests upon its complete truthfulness and authenticity. Let me give you an example, okay? Our very salvation depends on the authenticity of God's word. First Peter chapter one and verse 23. But you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal living word of God. Salvation comes through the word of God. Our ability to live a life that honors God is dependent on the authenticity of Scripture. John 17 and 17. Make them holy by your truth. Teach them your word, oh God, which is truth. Our ability to have assurance of eternal life depends on it.

For us to be able to know that there is actually a heaven, that God has went to prepare a place for us, that one day we will live forever with God depends on the authenticity of Scripture. First John chapter five and 13. I have written this to you. In other words, I've given you this in the Bible. Who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know. Not that you may guess, not that you may hope, not that you may one day dream or aspire, but that you can know that heaven and eternal life is real. Our very ability to believe in Jesus Christ himself is dependent on the authenticity of the Scriptures. Romans 10 and 17. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing about Jesus through God's word. It is that important. Which is why for centuries, ladies and gentlemen, there has been a battle for the Bible for years and for years. For thousands of years, there has been a battle for the Bible. There have been people who despise it, people who deny it, people who distort it, and people who disregard it. And in every time, the word of God rises for itself. There are people who despise it. Many people like Voltaire. Maybe you've never heard of Voltaire.

Voltaire was a French atheist who hated the Bible and Christianity, and he made it his lifelong mission to eradicate the Scriptures from the earth, and yet it's still here. In fact, just to show you how God handles his enemies and that God has a sense of humor, when Voltaire died, his house was bought and turned into a printing shop. Guess what they printed for the next 58 years? If you said Bibles, you are right. That's God just going, whatever, Voltaire. Whatever. Thomas Nelson bought it and they printed Bibles for the next 50-something years out of Voltaire's house. There are people who deny the word of God. There's people who say it's not true, that it's not God's word, and therefore we can't really trust it. There are people who... There's people who try to twist it and pervert it for their own selfish purposes and reasons and make it say things or interpret it in ways that it was not intended to be. Then there are those that just disregard it. There's a lot of people in this world that say, well, it may be good and it may be even true, but the truth is, it's a 2,000-year-old manuscript. It's outdated, it's antiquated.

It has no relevance for our life today. We can't basically build our lives upon something that's 2,000 years old. And in response to all of this, let me say this, that no man, including me, no preacher, ever needs to stand up and crutch the Word of God or help the Word of God or rescue the Word of God. For 2,000 years, the Word of God has stood on its own. It can stand the test of time and it will continue to do so for all of eternity. The Bible says that the Word of God is forever settled in the heavens. Nobody can dismiss it or deny it or make it not true. It is true. Hebrews chapter four and verse 12. For the Word of God is alive and powerful. It's sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword. It cuts between soul and spirit and exposes the innermost thoughts of our desires and our hearts. But the question that we wanna wrestle with today, the question we're gonna tackle today is, can we actually know that? Can we know, how can we know that the Bible we hold in our hand is the Word of God? Is there any evidence that would validate and support the belief that God truly wrote the Bible and gave it to humanity to help us and heal us? I believe that there are five major reasons that we can know the Bible is truly God's Word.

Five major reasons that I wanna offer to you today. Now, settle in. This is gonna be a little bit of a different message, okay? Because I'm gonna take us to school. We're about to go to history school. We're about to go to theology school for just a few minutes. I'm gonna give you these five reasons why I believe we can trust in the authenticity of the scripture. And then at the end, I'm gonna tell you why this matters so very much. Here we go. Five reasons we can trust in the authenticity of the scriptures. Number one, because of its scientific accuracy. Now, that may shock you because this is the very point. And when people are attempting to refute the Bible, they actually use science as a point of attack. But I'm gonna flip the script today and I'm actually gonna use science to show you that the Bible is actually true. And by the way, all of the scientific pioneers that we admire, that history has admired with these great breakthroughs, you need to know that many of the scientific pioneers were theists. They believed in God. They acknowledged the existence of God. And I'm not talking about names you don't recognize. I'm talking about men like Copernicus, Boyle,

Pascal, Kepler, Pasteur, Bacon, and Max Planck. Every one of these men pursued science because of their deep belief in the Christian God. So let me say this. While the Bible is not a book of science, it is a book of faith. It was not written for the primary purpose of teaching us about science. It was primarily written to teach us about God. But having said that, the God of creation and the God of salvation are one in the same. And at times, listen carefully now, and at times, science does disagree with the Bible, but don't panic. If we give scientists enough time, they'll eventually catch up. Don't miss that. Just give them time. They'll get there. Just to show you what I'm talking about, let me give you an example of what I mean. In 1861, 1861, the French Academy of Science printed a brochure of 51 facts that proved beyond the shadow of a doubt in 1861 that the Bible was flawed and therefore could not be completely true. Today, after 160 years of technology and knowledge and new discoveries and updated information, every single one of those 51 facts have now been proven wrong

and are considered ridiculous among the science community. Now let's take some specific science issues. How about astrophysics? I'm sure many of you just sailed through astrophysics in school, so you'll know right where we're at. Let's talk about the Earth. Let's talk about the Earth for just a second. Stick with me, we're going somewhere. We take for granted today that the Earth is suspended in outer space. Today, we now know that through space travel, we know that through satellites and so on. There was a time when we sent men into space, they turned around and for the first time in history, not long ago, they took a picture of Earth back from their satellite and their spaceship. And so we now know it's hanging on nothing. But that's a recent discovery. Until recent times, man had no possible way of knowing of such a reality. He couldn't know, he didn't know. In fact, many previous generations of people came up with their own belief systems about kind of how the Earth was here. Let me give you a few. The Egyptians believed that the earth was sitting on five monster pillars The Greeks went a little farther and they believed that one of their gods named Atlas was holding the earth on his back Maybe you've seen pictures of Atlas or statues of Atlas holding the earth on his back That's what the Greeks believed the Hindus went way more elaborate when they came up with their

Hypothesis of how the earth was suspended the Hindus believed that the earth was sitting on the back of a huge white elephant Who was standing on a turtle who was standing on a huge snake who was swimming in a cosmic sea of blackness That's what they believe That's what they taught and yet listen to this in the oldest writing known to man in the book of Job when you look at The Bible all 66 books the oldest book in all of the Bible one of the in fact oldest Manuscripts ever known to man is the book of Job all they had to do was just read the book of Job and God would Have told them exactly how the earth was settled in space Job 26 and 7 for God stretches the northern sky over empty space and he hangs the earth on Nothing How could Job know that? How could Job have ever known that how in the world could a man that that wrote something over? 5,000 years ago ever know that While we're on the subject of the earth. Let me just throw this one in there for good measure We all take for granted that the earth is round that it's a spherical shape Does anybody remember what year man confirmed this we sing it all the time in school, right? 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue Then we know in 1492. That's a D after Jesus's death Okay 1492 ad for the first time a man put together an expedition It was funded by His government and he went out to prove that the earth is not flat that the earth was round and he indeed proved it in 1492, but if you were to simply read the Bible in the book of Isaiah written in 700 BC BC I said BC Here's all you would have had to know in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 22 for God sits on the what? Come on class the circle of the earth and The inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers he stretches out the heavens and spread them out as a tented relic how in the world if it wasn't discovered until 1492 that the earth was round. How could somebody a prophet in 700 BC possibly know that the shape of the earth?

Was round. How did he know that? How about biology? I'm flying through this stuff. Listen, it wasn't until the year 1615 That a physician by the name of William Harvey first discovered that blood circulated through the body That it was actually the heart that it was a muscle and that it was actually a pump station that pushed blood full of nutrients Through our bodies. This was not known before 1615 in fact some of you may know this piece of history Do you know in the old days before this time what the common practice was in dealing with sickness? bloodletting When you got sick, they said you got bad blood In fact, you may not know this but George Washington our very first president was killed because of bloodletting He had a throat infection and a respiratory illness They bled him three times took nine pints of blood and they killed him We drain dry the first politician and they've been doing it to us ever since but that's a whole nother sermon for a whole nother time But they killed him because they believed you had bad blood that was the common fear everybody did it It wasn't until 1615 that a guy finally discovered. Wait, wait a minute, bro We need this stuff that you need all of this you can get this is not the answer But if they really wanted to know all they would have had to done is go to Leviticus chapter 17 and verse 14 that was written in 1400 BC and God would have told them that the life of every creature is in its blood How how could the writer of Leviticus ever know? Thousands of years before we finally discovered it with science that the life of the flesh is in The blood because science if you give them enough time, they will catch up to the Bible The Bible is full of instances like this I could spend all day doing this with you showing you places in the Bible that Authenticates improves what science has now come to discover I am convinced that because of these things it is part of the accuracy and authenticity of the scriptures number two I believe we can trust in the authenticity of the Bible because of its historical accuracy not just its scientific accuracy But its historical accuracy time would not permit me to tell of the archaeological proof of ancient cities

and characters and geographical features that are mentioned with tremendous detail in all of the scriptures. But let me just give you one for sake of time. The first five books of the Bible are called the Pentateuch. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They are said to be authored by Moses. Well, sometime in the 1600s, there was a doctor who specialized in linguistics and speech named Dr. Driver. When Dr. Driver heard that Moses authored Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, this doctor said, that's impossible, and it proves the Bible is not true because that entire civilization did not have an alphabet. They used pictures and hieroglyphics to be able to communicate with each other. They were not sophisticated enough or intelligent enough to create an alphabet, much less write books or documents, and he used this as evidence against the scriptural count. In 1887, follow me now, I told you we're going to history class. In 1887, a local woman was digging around an ancient city in the Middle East when she discovered what has now come to be known as the Tel El Amarna. Over 200 letters, correspondence, and business transactions from Egypt, Syria, Palestine, dated exactly from the time of the exodus of Israel from Egypt. Not only could they write,

but somehow they had devised some type of a postal system. They were sending letters back and to wholesale. They were sending business documents to each other wholesale. They were going all over the ancient world with their documents. Not only could they write, but they had had a postal system. Listen, what I'm saying is, not only did it just mention several specific events in the Bible, but even in the Tel El Amarna, it talks specifically about the book of Joshua and makes mention of the Israeli uprising. The Bible records many specific historical occurrences that I believe authenticate it. These are not fictional stories. These are not created in the minds of fictional writers. These are actual places with times and events. I've been to the Middle East, to the Holy Land, and I've been to every one of these sites and seen them with my own eyes and been able to walk there. It's an historical account of what actually happened in life. Number three, I believe we can trust the word of God is authentic because of its incredible and staggering unity. Because of its incredible and staggering unity. Listen, y'all, it's one book, but it's comprised of 66 individual books. There are 39 in the Old Testament. There are 27 in the New.

There are 1,189 chapters. There are 31,175 verses. It was written by 40 different authors over a period of 1,600 years in 13 different countries and three different continents in at least three different languages. It was written by people of completely diverse backgrounds and origins, kings, shepherds, princes, soldiers, businessmen, priests, and fishermen. Yet, in all of the Bible, there is a staggering and mind-boggling consistency. No matter where you look from Genesis to Revelation, there is a thread that is woven through every bit of its tapestry. There is one theme, salvation. One hero, his name is Jesus. One villain, his name is Satan. And one purpose, to glorify God. In all of the Bible, it's perfect in unity and symmetry. And when you realize that these authors lived, listen, in different times and countries and continents, and could not compare notes or facts with one another, you can really not conclude logically any other than one thing. There was a single master author and architect speaking to and through each of these men to share his voice with the world. It's the only logical explanation for there to be such amazing unity in the Scripture. In fact, the Bible tells us that it's true.

First Peter, second Peter, chapter one, verse 20 and 21. Listen to this. Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet's own understanding or from human initiative. No, these prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit and they spoke from God himself. Number four, listen to this one. I believe we can trust the authenticity of the Scriptures because of its incredible fulfilled prophecy. It's incredible fulfilled prophecy. Again, I don't have time to tell you all of the fulfilled prophecy that the Scriptures have declared, but if we were to just pull out those concerning Jesus himself, I believe they stand on their own merit and it is mind boggling. There were over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament now concerning Jesus alone. 750 years before he ever made his entrance into this world. And I'm not talking about general prophecies. I'm not talking about blanket prophecies. I'm talking about detailed, specific prophecies that came to pass. Give you an example. It was prophesied that he would be born in Bethlehem. It was prophesied he would be born to a virgin, that he would one day die by crucifixion, that he would be sold for 30 pieces of silver

750 years before he was ever born, that he would be buried in a borrowed tomb, that he would rise again from the dead on the third day. Statisticians from Northwestern University crunched the numbers and concluded that you have a better statistical chance of winning the lottery every week for the rest of your life than you do accurately guessing over 300 specific details of an individual's life 750 years before they're born. Go play the lottery. Maybe you'll win. You got a better chance of doing that than you do predicting someone who'll be born 750 years and predict even one detail about their life. Unbelievable. How is that possible? How is it possible if it's not that the Holy Spirit moved on these prophets and he showed them and told them what to write and how to write? Can you imagine as they wrote it, they didn't know what they were writing. They didn't understand why they were writing it. They did not have the revelation of one day yet what would be. They just began to pin what God was revealing to them and then 750 years later on a Christmas morning after 400 years of silence between the Old and the New Testament, the Messiah is born. Unbelievable. It takes more faith.

It takes way more faith. It takes way more faith to believe that it was random and that it just happened to be coincidence than it does to simply accept there was a master architect who was in charge of it all. I'm gonna give you the fifth and final reason. Now listen, before I give it to you, I'm gonna tell you that of all that I've just shared with you and I love this stuff. I'm a theological nerd so I love history and I love theology but I'm gonna tell you that what I'm about to share with you is in my opinion the number one reason, the number one reason, the number one reason that we can trust in the authenticity and the power of the word of God, that it is true, that it is real, that it is God's word expressly given to us and here it is. It's because of its life-changing power. It's because of its life-changing power. Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible is the only book in the world that while you read it, it reads you. While you read it, it reads you. It confronts us. It challenges us with shocking accuracy. It diagnoses the human condition. To read it is to take a journey into your own soul and to see ourselves as we truly are but also as we truly can be.

I'm gonna go back to Hebrews chapter four. I shared it with you earlier. Here's what it says. For the word of God is alive. It's not some stagnant dead document. It's not just a recording of ancient history. The Bible says about itself, it lives. It moves. It has power of its own. It has a spirit of its own that it's alive and it's powerful. Watch this, it's sharper than any two-edged sword cutting between, don't miss this, cutting between soul and spirit and exposes the innermost thoughts and desires. Why is that important? It cuts between soul and spirit. Listen, because you are comprised of three separate entities. You are a body, you are a soul, and you have a spirit. Body, soul, and spirit. Listen to me, track with me. With your body, you are world conscious. With your soul, you are self conscious. With your spirit, you are God conscious. I'm teaching you now, okay? With your body, you're world conscious. You're aware of the world around you. With your soul, you are self conscious. The word soul comes from the word psyche.

It means mind, emotion, and will. It's how you know your inner dialogue. It's how you know yourself. And with your spirit, you are God conscious. It's that part of you that when God created Adam and breathed the peace of his eternal living soul, it is deposited into you and me as well. And what the Bible says is that the Bible is the only book on planet Earth that when you read it, it has the ability to distinguish between what your fleshly sinful flesh craves and desires, and what the will of your heavenly father is for you and your life. It's the only book in the world that confronts our pride and our self-centeredness and the things that sin did to us and how sin broke us down and how selfish we are if we are left to our own devices. The only thing that makes us want to live right and live good and honor God and be. Kind is because of the presence of god in our life People say this to me all the time. I believe deep down people are really good not hardly I tell you this illustration all the time if you want to see the raw human condition Take a sundae and go sit in the corner at the nursery. You're going to see the raw unfiltered human condition Because there'll be a little baby in the corner with every toy in the stinking room stacked around them in the corner They can't play with all of them and they know it, but they just don't want you to have one And you don't dare let another little baby even crawl over and try to take one of their toys They don't have teeth, but they will gum their little arms off

It's why when you tell them no they go It's why they're standing in walmart and everybody's wondering why you don't beat that little sucker. I'm just saying that's That's what's in us y'all That's what's in us What's in us without god is self-centeredness and pride what's in that little baby is me me me me me Mama is me And you're going to show me attention and if you ignore me i'm going to scream and if you don't give it to me I'm going to scream and if they take it from me i'm going to scream. That's what's in us y'all And what i'm suggesting to you Is that the greatest proof in my opinion That the word of god is real and the word of god is true and the word of god is everything that it says it is Is that we have a desire to love god love people and serve others that desire means that we are part of the evidence We are exhibit a Of why the word of god is true and real because of hebrews 4 it exposes What's my flesh from what's the spirit from that thing in me that drives me to only do what mark wants? And that thing that makes me want to honor god and live for the lord and live with peace and generosity and kindness and love That presence of goodness in my life is proof. The word of god is true and that jesus is who he says he is Ha ha Now fascinating pastor, but why is all of this important? It's a good question Trusting that god's word is true and authentic is the foundational rock That will anchor and tether your souls when everything is shifting and moving around you Let me put it like this Because there are going to be moments in our life. We don't say it. We don't articulate it like this, but it's true I've done it and you've done it We say we love god

We say we trust god But deep down what we really do is we build a lot of our lives on the things that we can control And deep down we put a lot of our trust and a lot of our eggs in those baskets We put our faith in our finances We put our faith in relationships and marriage We put our faith in our own self-centeredness and our own ability to control the situation The problem is is that if you live long enough every one of those things that we build our lives on will crumble and fall Where do we go when the money runs out? Where do we go when the job we thought we were going to have for life is gone? Where do we go when the marriage falls apart? Where do we go when all of these things are shifting sand? What is the rock? Where do we tether our souls? What is the anchor of our souls? Where do we find what the bible calls peace that passes understanding? We find it only in the power Of god's word when we believe that when he said i'll never leave you nor forsake you when we believe that It gives us peace when we believe that when he said he is able to do exceedingly more than we could ever ask or imagine And we trust that it brings peace to our lives when he said no weapon formed against you will prosper We can rest in that when god said my grace is sufficient for you That it's enough that i'm enough We find out when god's Word is enough All we got That in honesty, he's all we really need I shared in the early service see because i'm telling you one day it's going to happen and I've done this too long I remember sitting in a hospital room with a man who was dying of pancreatic cancer and we prayed We prayed we prayed we prayed he was too young to die of pancreatic cancer in my opinion way too young And we prayed as a family that god would heal him that god would heal him that god would heal him that god would heal him

And it came down to a moment and we knew god wasn't going to heal him not in this life And they called all the family in and we sat in that room and for the next two hours We sang hymns to god We just sang, and we prayed, and we laughed. And I sat in that room as a pastor, and I watched what I know to be true, that when all of the glitter of this life is over, there is Jesus, and he is enough, and his word is enough. And we better settle that in our hearts, because one day it's going to be all we've got. But when God's all you got, you find out he's all that you need. What I'm trying to say to you in this last slide is this, life ain't easy, but God is faithful and his word is true. His word is true. You can trust it, and you can hang your life on it, and God will bring you peace that the Bible says, I love it, that passes all understanding. In other words, there'll be no reason outside of faith why you would feel peace, but you will have it, even when it doesn't make sense. That's when you know that the word of God is true, and that what God has promised us is real.