Reliably Knowing Jesus

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to St Paul's. My name's Steve. I've never met you before.

! I'm the lead pastor here. In this last couple of weeks, as you probably realise, maybe,

that we've been in our Christmas season here at St Paul's. And I began this season by quoting

the late theologian James Packer, who suggested that what Christianity claims

regarding Christmas is so outrageous that nothing in all of fiction has anything like it. In other

words, what he's saying there is that there is no worldview that comes even close to the outrageous

claims of what the Bible declares around Christmas and other things. And so what we've been doing

in the last couple of weeks is really exploring some of those claims and whether or not you can

actually believe what the Bible says about Christmas, or whether it's just much better just to keep it

as a holiday at the end of the year and with a great deal of light and joy and so on. The claim

of Christmas in the Christian faith is the claim that the infinite God who made all things became

a human being, a limited human being, a Jew, a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare

and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child.

And if that wasn't enough in terms of just the claims of Christmas, the claim that the Almighty became a

baby, but also the fact that the author of life came into this world to die on a cross for humanity.

It claims, the Bible claims that Jesus performed miracles, that he was raised from the dead,

and that he is now present with his followers by his Holy Spirit through his word.

It claims that he will, Jesus will come back to earth one day as universal judge and ruler of all things.

Extraordinary claims.

Not just the claims of Christmas, but extraordinary claims.

And we need some serious evidence to believe any of those claims.

And that's kind of what we've been looking at the last couple of weeks through our Christmas season.

And if you've just joined us, there's a couple of really short resources to do with Christmas and whether or not it's believable.

Just on the other side of the wall, you can take these and continue on yourself.

Extraordinary claims.

And yet, billions of people from all different culture groups and different socioeconomic educational stages of life and other things like that have come to believe those claims.

In fact, some of the smartest people in the world today believe those claims.

And throughout history believe that the claims of the Bible are true and that they are, in fact, not just true, but have authority over my life in every aspect of my life.

And so, as we, you know, come to the close of our Christmas season and, you know, if you're already thinking ahead, if you're like me, people with ADHD, you're always thinking of something else forward.

You know, the New Year's there, New Year's resolutions are there.

And so, I want to put the claims of the Christian faith and specifically the reliability of the Bible in front of us and an encouragement for you to pick it up and to read it as you look into the year ahead and explore those claims and what they mean for your life.

And, in fact, that's really what we're going to be doing as we move into January as well.

Just looking a bit more about the reliability of the claims of the Christian faith, why you'd want to believe it in 2026 and why you'd want to shape your life around those claims.

So, what I want to do today really is just really simply, very quickly propose that the Bible is true and reliable for everything in life and faith.

And I want to say really that the Bible is historically, culturally and personally reliable.

Okay, so that's kind of our journey today.

So, one of the common accusations today is that the Bible and particularly the New Testament accounts about Jesus and what are written there were written by the winners in history, if you like.

The claim that he did miracles, that he was, that Jesus was divine and that he rose again were all written much later in time by church leaders who were trying to get Christianity to spread and to be the dominant religion in the world.

And so, what those church leaders did was they fudged things a little bit to kind of make it, to make it more effective, if you like.

They just sort of fudged a little bit of the accusations, prop Jesus up a little bit more to make him what he was than what he wasn't actually.

Now, there are many reasons why those accusations, people might want to grab hold of them, but also why they fundamentally are not right at all.

But let me look briefly at three reasons why you can trust what the Bible says about Jesus.

And I'm referring here particularly about the New Testament, what it says about Jesus.

Firstly, the New Testament accounts about Jesus were written far too early for them to be legends.

Take the beginning of Luke.

The angels read out to us, Luke chapter 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Luke was written as a biography of Jesus and he points out to his readers there in verses 2 and 3,

So here's Luke.

Luke is writing this gospel that Andrew just read out to us.

He's writing it 30 to 40 years, only 30 to 40 years after Jesus.

And he makes the point there that lots of people who saw Jesus are still alive right now.

And so you can check the facts with those people.

And writing even closer to those events than Luke here was Paul.

And Paul wrote his letters only 15 to 20 years after the events of Jesus' life.

And he says this in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 6 about the resurrection of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:6

He appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living.

So what that means is Paul could not have possibly written a public document promoting Christianity,

a statement like that, unless it was in fact the case.

Or in Philippians chapter 2, Paul quotes a hymn of Jesus' divinity.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

And if Philippians is written so close to the events of Jesus' life,

and Paul is quoting something here that's written earlier about Jesus,

then what it says in Philippians 2 is that the very earliest Christians worshipped Jesus as God.

The very earliest Christians worshipped him as God,

which stands opposed to the claims that Christians didn't worship him as God

until 300 to 400 years later under Constantine.

Absolute rubbish.

They worshipped him as God from the very beginning.

The documents of the New Testament are way too early for people to say whatever they wanted about Jesus,

while thousands of people who witnessed him in person were still alive.

Secondly, documents of the New Testament are too counterproductive to be legends.

Remember, the accusation is that the Bible is what the early,

the New Testament is what the early church leaders wanted people to believe had happened,

because this helped them to consolidate their power

and to grow the Christian faith throughout the Roman Empire.

So imagine you're a church leader living 70 to 80 years after Jesus,

and so what you've decided to do to consolidate your power

is to make up a heap of stories about him.

Would you put in those stories

that Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane

asking the Father to get out of his plan?

If there's any other way of doing this,

please come up with another plan.

Would you put that story in it?

Not in the Roman Empire, you wouldn't.

In fact, it was the Garden of Gethsemane

and the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross

that resulted in the Nazi Party rejecting Christianity

because they would not believe in a God who was so weak.

That was the fundamental issue for Adolf Hitler.

Christianity is about humility and about sacrifice,

and that is weak.

And that's the Roman Empire.

Would you put Jesus on a cross asking God

why he had forsaken him?

Jesus looks weak.

Would you include in your first century stories

that all of your very first eyewitnesses

to the historical fact of the resurrection were women

at a time when women's evidence

was not even permissible, admissible in court

because of their low social status?

And all the gospel accounts say

that the original eyewitnesses were women.

If you're trying to fudge things,

why would you put that in there?

Not only that,

but when you get into the New Testament,

you see the apostles don't come across

as glowing historic, heroic figures in any way.

They're cowardly.

They're slow to believe,

and they are fundamentally self-interested.

So why include any of it

if they were in fact making it up?

They are in fact totally counterproductive

for consolidating power

for the early Christian leaders

of the Christian movement.

And thirdly,

they are too detailed.

The New Testament accounts are too detailed

to be legends.

Ancient myths and novels

were never written like this.

Modern novels might have,

if you like,

familiar characteristics to the New Testament,

but not ancient ones.

The New Testament accounts of Jesus

don't have the form of legends.

They are written too early to be legends,

and they are too counterproductive to be legends.

And so you can trust them.

Now, that's just really brief.

I haven't touched on the Old Testament.

I haven't got time to delve into all of that as well.

But briefly,

if you can trust what the New Testament says about Jesus,

then you can trust what Jesus says

about the Old Testament.

And his view was that the Old Testament,

the Jewish Bible,

was God's word,

it was true,

and it had authority.

Historically reliable New Testament.

Secondly,

it's culturally reliable.

Now,

I think it's pretty much true to say

that modern people

care less about the historical reliability of the Bible

because, really,

in our Western world,

particularly at the moment,

we're more troubled about the cultural aspects of the Bible.

And in our progressive cultural society at the moment,

we consider many aspects of the Bible offensive,

primitive,

and backward.

The Bible offends Sidneysiders in many ways,

in certain ways.

Of course,

the offense might have a long list,

but the offense is a constantly moving offense,

and the list constantly changes.

So here's three considerations

for any bit of the Bible

that you regard offends you right now,

that, you know,

you want to read it with a pair of scissors

and cut that bit out,

keep these bits,

but cut those bits out.

Three considerations.

Firstly,

consider the possibility

it isn't teaching

what you think it's teaching.

For instance,

I could never understand

why some of the great spiritual heroes

of the Old Testament

had so many wives.

until I realized

that the Bible

in no way

was endorsing it.

It was recording it,

not endorsing it.

And in fact,

the Bible

in every instance

in those moments

is actually subverting it.

In every case

where polygamy was practiced,

it goes bad

for those people.

Families break down,

lives are ruined,

physically,

spiritually,

emotionally,

relationally,

in every single instance.

You see,

if the Bible

is a recording of history,

it doesn't just record

the successful bits.

It records

all the evil

and the carnage

and the difficulty

and the sin.

The Bible shows us,

in fact,

how bad it is.

The Bible

wasn't endorsing

what I thought

it was endorsing.

It was simply

recording it.

Secondly,

please consider

the possibility

that you are

misunderstanding

what the Bible

teaches

because

of your own

cultural blind spots,

which we all bring

to the Bible.

in Luke 24

Luke 24:20

verses 20,

21,

again,

Anne read this out

to us.

On the road to Emmaus,

we see these early

disciples

had misunderstood

the prophecies

about the Messiah.

You see,

as Jews,

they were really

only thinking

about the redemption

of Israel,

currently under

occupation

by the Roman Empire.

They weren't thinking

in terms of the redemption

of the whole human race.

They had a cultural

blind spot

that meant

they misread

Scripture

and therefore

they misread

Jesus.

And the modern person

does the same.

In many ways,

for instance,

a common one nowadays

is that on slavery,

one accusation is

the Bible condones

slavery

and we all know

nowadays

that slavery is wrong.

If it is wrong

on that moral issue,

then it's quite possibly

it's wrong

on every other

moral issue as well.

And I've heard

that argument

played out

even in the press

over the last

five to ten years

on multiple occasions

whenever a moral issue

is raised.

And so does

the Bible

condone slavery.

For instance,

there's parts

of the New Testament

when Paul tells

slaves to obey

their masters

and as soon as

we read that

we go,

well,

there you go.

You know,

there it is right there.

Condoning of slavery.

In fact,

in one New Testament

letter,

Paul is addressing

a relationship

between a master

and his slave

and it's clear

from that letter

it's not the kind

of relationship

that we would

in fact call

modern slavery

at all.

You see,

when we read

the word slave

in the Bible

we automatically

import

17th,

18th

and 19th

century

thinking,

experience,

history

and modern

slavery

into the Bible

which is

in those

the 16th

through to the

19th century

slavery

is race-based

and ethnic

minority slavery.

when we read

the Bible

with those

cultural blinders

on

we are not

understanding

what the Bible

is teaching

and we're not

actually allowing

it to sit

in its historical

context.

In the Greco-Roman

world of the

New Testament

slaves were not

distinguishable

from anyone

else

by their

race

by the way

that they

spoke

or by the

clothing

that they

wore.

They looked

and lived

like everyone

else

and they

were not

segregated

off

as a

different

segment

of society.

Slaves

were often

quite well

educated

and they

held high

managerial

roles.

Slaves

also made

the same

wages

as free

labourers

and therefore

over time

they were

able to

pay off

the debt

that resulted

them being

into slavery

in the first

place

and to buy

themselves

out of that

scenario.

Much like

the very

early convicts

of Australia

who at the

end of their

day

went home

to their

homes

and their

families

and their

houses.

Slavery

was never

a permanent

status.

The average

slave worked

for a master

for about

10 years

and this

is very

different

than new

world slavery

of the past

300 years

or so.

So those

who have

used the

Bible

to defend

their

practice

of kidnapping

and slavery

in the

slave trade

in the past

several hundred

years

have read

the Bible

through their

cultural

blind spots

and those

who use

it today

to reject

the Bible

are you

reading it

through their

cultural

blind spots?

Thirdly,

consider the

possibility

that you're

being offended

by the

Bible

because of

assumption

that your

cultural

moment,

our cultural

moment,

is superior

to all

other

cultural

moments.

Often

that

assumption

has actually

in fact

never been

tested

or

acknowledged.

The reason

we are

offended by

some

biblical

passages

is because

it's

culturally

offensive

in our

own

cultural

moment.

But in

other

cultural

moments

today,

right,

today,

in other

parts of

the world,

and also

historically

in the

past,

they have

absolutely

no problem

with the

same

passage of

the Bible.

On the

other hand,

the passages

that we

think are

totally fine

for us

and appropriate

for our

cultural

moment,

others in

the past

and in

other parts

of the

world

are

fundamentally

appalled

by those

passages.

For

instance,

in our

progressive,

individualistic

Western

society,

what the

Bible says

about

sexual

relationships,

we go,

you know,

like,

that is

pre-1950s,

it's

so narrow-minded,

and you

get on a

plane and

you go to

the Middle

East and

they go,

yeah,

absolutely,

what the

Bible says

about sex,

totally

appropriate.

That's

exactly right,

that's

exactly how

it should

be.

And yet,

we,

in our

cultural

moment here,

we read

what the

Bible says

about forgiveness

of someone

who has

wronged you,

about doing

good for

other people,

and we

go,

yes,

that is

absolutely

appropriate,

it is

good and

it's

right,

and again,

you get

on a

plane and

you fly

the Middle

East and

they say

what the

Bible says

about

forgiveness,

that is

absolutely

offensive,

totally

inappropriate.

We love

forgiveness

and hate

justice,

whereas

14 hours

away on

an

airplane,

and they

love justice

and hate

forgiveness.

If we

are offended

by something

in the

Bible,

why should

our cultural

sensibilities

trump everyone

else's cultural

sensibilities?

Why should

we say

we've got it

right and

they've got it

wrong?

That's a bit

arrogant,

isn't it?

a bit

narrow-minded,

isn't it?

Why get

rid of the

Bible?

Because it

offends

our culture

only at

certain

points.

And if

you haven't

worked that

one out,

bear in

mind that

all of

your

great

grandchildren

are going

to find

a lot

of what

you think

today to

be

incredibly

embarrassing.

where you

think your

cultural

moment is

progressive

and right,

your

great

grandchildren

are going

to think,

my goodness,

my great

grandparents

were

narrow-minded.

don't miss

out on

all that

the

Bible

and the

Christian

faith

has to

offer

you

just

because

you

can't

get

over

one

aspect

of

your

so-called

cultural

truth,

your

cultural

moment,

that in

fact,

your

cultural

moment

will in

fact be

considered

a joke

within

50

years.

If the

Bible

really is

God

revealing

himself

to

his

creation

and

it's

not

just

a

byproduct

of

any

specific

culture,

then what

that means

is it

will

contradict

every

culture

at some

point.

It

will

offend

every

culture

and every

cultural

moment

at

some

point.

And so

if you

read it

and find

some

things

beautiful

and other

bits

offensive,

then it's

probably

true

and it's

from God.

But

lastly,

the Bible

is personally

reliable.

A

completely,

a completely,

that is a

totally

authoritative

Bible

is in

fact

the

prerequisite

for a

warm

personal

relationship

with God.

It is

not the

enemy

of it.

Have a

look there

at Luke

24 that

Anne read

out for

us,

verse 32.

The

disciples

are reflecting

back on

their journey

over the

last previous

days as

they walk

in their

road to

Emmaus

with Jesus

and it

says,

were not

our hearts

burning

within us

while he

talked with

us on

the road

and opened

the scriptures

to us?

So in

the Bible,

the heart

is not

the muscle

pumping the

blood through

the system.

The heart

is the

centre of

the whole

person.

It's the

driving centre

of the

person,

not just

the emotions,

it's the

driving centre

of the

desires of

the person.

And the

hearts

burning

here means

a full

life-changing

personal

encounter

with God.

That's what

it means

here in

Luke 24.

They

experienced

something on

that road

to Emmaus

with Jesus

that they

had never

experienced

before.

When?

When did

they experience

it?

when the

Bible and

its meaning

was properly

opened up

to them.

When they

understood

what it

had meant.

And that

is the

key to

this deep

personal

relationship.

Notice how

it happens.

Verses

20-21,

they say

Jesus died,

but we

had hoped

that he

would be

the one

who would

save us.

that's

what they

had hoped.

Their

cultural

blinders

were on.

He's the

Messiah

of Israel.

We had

hoped he

would save

us.

And Jesus

calls them

out for

being foolish

and so

slow to

believe the

scriptures.

What did

they not

understand?

Keys

verse 27.

beginning

with

Moses

and all

the

prophets,

he

explained

to them

what was

said in

all the

scriptures

concerning

himself.

That's the

key to it

right there.

What Jesus

is saying

here is

that everything

in the

Bible

is about

him.

It's all

about

him.

He

way too

many people

have walked

away from

the Christian

faith and

ultimately from

the Bible

because they've

misunderstood

that crucial

central point.

If we

think the

Bible is

about us

and what

we must

do,

then what

that means

is we

don't need

a saviour.

We don't

need a

Messiah

dying for

us.

All we

need is a

bunch of

rules and

a code of

conduct to

live by.

That's what

it means

if we think

it's about

us.

You see,

there are

only two

ways to

read the

Bible.

Read it

as if it's

all about

me and

what I

must do

or we

can read

every part

of it as

if it's

about him,

God,

and what

he has

done for

us.

And the

whole Bible,

the whole

lot of

it,

Old Testament

included,

points us

to Jesus

and it

explains

Jesus and

everything that

Jesus has

achieved for

us in

dying in

our place

for our

sin.

And the

Christmas

message is

exactly that,

that God

entered

history for

that purpose.

You see,

when the

Bible is

all about

Jesus and

what he's

achieved for

us out of

purely out of

love for

us because

of our

incapability to

do it

ourselves,

that all of

a sudden is

when it

becomes

personal,

relational.

It's when the

Bible starts to

become an

encounter with

him.

Now,

my conviction

from both

personal

experience over

30-odd

years and

also from the

teaching of the

Bible itself,

more importantly,

is that the

most effective

means for

bolstering

confidence in

the Bible is

not to do

what I've

just done in

the last 20-odd

minutes,

giving you

arguments as

to why you

should believe

it.

They have a

place about

its authority

and its

truthfulness and

its reliability,

but in actual

fact, to spend

time in the

Bible, reading

the Bible,

with Jesus at

the centre of

it as a

supernatural

activity.

very simply,

God, if you

exist and

this is your

word, then

you need to

revere yourself

to me.

Let me put it

like this.

I could

tell you

that honey,

which I'm

assuming you're

all familiar

with,

honey is a

substance that

is made by

a species of

insects called

bees, not

by all bees,

but by several

species of

bees.

Bees produce

honey by

gathering and

then refining

the sugary

excretions of

plants and

the secretions,

in fact, of

other insects.

And this

refining

process takes

place within

individual

bees through

regurgitation

and the

enzymatic

activity that

happens in

that process

where they

vomit it and

do stuff

with it.

I could also

tell you that

honey is

sweet.

Like, it's

sweet because

it's sweet

because of

its high

concentration

sugar and

sugar.

It's a

simple

sugar.

It's a

sugar of

fructose and

glucose.

It's about the

same relative

sweetness as

white sugar

interchangeably.

So one

standard teaspoon

of honey provides

around 120

kilojoules of

food energy.

honey.

And I

could go on

and break

down the

chemical

components that

make up

honey and

tell you from

all that

information,

you should be

able to

deduce that

honey is

sweet.

If you're a

chemist.

It's all

true.

but the

best thing I

could do

for you is

not tell you

that honey is

sweet but to

actually get

some onto a

teaspoon and

shove it in

your mouth.

That's when

you go,

oh, I

get what

you're talking

about now.

You see,

and if in

that moment

that I put

it on a

teaspoon and

shove it in

your mouth,

if you don't

get it then

no amount

of explanation,

no more

argumentation

will in

any way

come through

for you

at all.

And so

as 2025

draws to a

close and

we move

forward into

2026,

I want

to do,

to invite

you to do

what

King David

invited others

to do and

to join him

in in

Psalm 34

Psalms 34:8

verse 8,

to taste

and see

that the

Lord is

good in

2026.

You see,

the best way

for you to

build confidence

in the

reliability of

the scriptures

is to

actually read

it.

And to

read it

regularly

and ask

God to

work in

you as

you read

it,

to reveal

himself.

You see,

God himself

promises to

bless the

reading and

teaching of

his word.

The word

of God

itself is

more than

enough to

accomplish the

work of God

in the people

of God.

And there is

no better

way to

understand and

to come to

embrace the

truth of

the Bible

than, in

fact, than

to open it

up and to

let it

into your

life, as

a regular

habit in

your life.

And so I

commend it to

you that

you might

not just

know it,

but that

you might

taste and

see in

2026 that

the Lord

is good.

Amen.