So many people rely on their experience more than the Word of God. The apostle Peter, however, exhorted his readers that though his firsthand experience was a reliable eyewitness account, God’s Word was “more sure.” The Bible is completely reliable and trustworthy.

It was a brisk morning. I rapped on the door to a nice home in a newer development on the outskirts of Great Falls, Montana. A lady in her mid-thirties answered, and her husband was inside near the door as we spoke. I quickly found out they were Mormons. When I inquired as to how she thought she was “saved,” she mentioned several experiences she had since becoming Mormon. I referenced the verses that make up the context in which 2 Peter 1:19 is nestled and asserted that Peter, too, said experience was important, but that there was something that trumped experience. That something, I stated warmly, is the written Word of God, the Bible. She said she believed the Bible. So I spent a few minutes and compared some of the things she believed as a Mormon to the Scriptures. Clearly, what she believed and experienced as a Mormon contradicted the Bible. She plainly saw it. She scoffed and said, “Well, that’s great, but I know what I know is true because I’ve experienced it.” She promptly closed the door.

Some years before that, I had been knocking on doors in Northern Virginia, seeking to share the Gospel. My wife and my son were with me and we were in a blue-collar neighborhood across the street from a strip mall with a grocery store. We knocked on a door, then waited and knocked again. No one answered. As we turned, a charcoal-colored Lamborghini pulled past the house we were leaving and into the next driveway. The garage door lifted, it went in, and the garage closed. I was impressed. Those that live in blue-collar neighborhoods rarely sport near million-dollar cars. When we knocked, a man that was a bit over 50 came to the door. We found out he was an atheist and a former Catholic named David. After he left off training to become a priest, in favor of rejecting God completely, he built a fully capitalized, sole proprietorship and later sold it for one hundred and eighty-seven million dollars. Nonetheless, being frugal, he remained in his blue-collar house. He invited us in and listened to our testimonies and our witnessing attempts. He told us, “If God comes down and shows me He’s real, I’ll believe.” I tried to reason with David from the Bible, but he maintained that he wouldn’t believe unless he could experience something that would make him believe. We later left. David remained unconverted.

I was witnessing to a security guard one day after a Bible study at a nursing home. His name was George. George told me that he was an agnostic. George asked me, “Even if what you believe is true, how would you know?” So, I set about to answer George’s question. I began to reason with him from Genesis first. I asked him, “George, what if Genesis 1:1 is true?” He answered, “Well, I guess God created the world in six days.” I was impressed and continued reasoning with him from the Bible. We then moved to Exodus, and next onto several other passages, asking and answering questions from God’s Word along the way. I left two hours later and he agreed we could talk more next week. During our second conversation, and another two hours, we arrived at Acts 8:37, which says, “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” George stopped me. “Wait,” he said, “Is that all you have to do to be saved?” I said, “Yes, George. You said you were an agnostic, but if you change your mind about that and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, you too can be saved.” George pointed at the verse and asserted, “I believe that.” George had gone from an agnostic (a Greek term meaning, “one who does not know”) to a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. How? George simply believed the Bible over his experience.

In Luke 16, we read of a rich man who lifted up his eyes in Hell. He asks Abraham to send Lazarus back from death to warn his brothers so that they might avoid that same place of torment that he found himself in. Abraham responds in verse 29, “They have Moses and the prophets [the Old Testament Scriptures]; let them [the rich man’s brothers] hear them [the Scriptures].” What does the rich man say in response? “Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.” In essence, he said to Abraham, “The Bible? That’s not good enough. They need to experience the miracle and then they’ll repent.” The Lord Jesus closes the matter by telling us Abraham’s conclusion, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” The Lord expected the rich man’s brothers to believe the Bible over their experience.

At the same time, amazingly, One has risen from the dead: His name is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20–22). You can learn about Him by reading and believing the Bible (John 5:39). The Bible tells us about the substitutionary death of Christ on our behalf (John 3:15–16; 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 John 2:2; 1 Peter 1:18–19). It also tells us that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh (John 1:1–3, 14, 17; 1 Timothy 3:16). Christ died on our behalf, because we are sinners (Romans 5:6–9; 1 Corinthians 15:3). We are sinners not only because we are descendants of Adam, the first man who broke God’s law, but also because we have willfully broken God’s law ourselves (Romans 5:12–14). The Bible goes on to tell us of Christ’s burial and His triumphant resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:4). We may rightly conclude by reading the Bible that all who believe the Bible, who turn from their sin, and who place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation shall be saved (Acts 20:21; 17:30; Romans 10:9–13, 17).

While your experiences may not always be true, God’s Word is always true! People so often believe what they can see, taste, touch, hear, and smell over what the Bible clearly says. This is one reason why so many people remain separated from God in their sin and are headed to a very real, eternal place of torment. Instead of believing what God’s Word says, they want to go their own way (Proverbs 14:12). They fail to realize what George realized, that God’s Word is true, that God’s Word can be trusted. Furthermore, when God’s Word is trusted in the matter of the Gospel, it brings salvation (1 Corinthians 15:3–4; Romans 1:16).

-DW