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We are in a the ending of a new series or an old series, I guess, now called Frequently Asked Questions. And we have we have asked some great questions for us as a church. We’ve answered things like, how do I get to heaven? How do I know God’s will? How can I know God intimately? Is the Bible trustworthy? Do you believe all denominations are going to heaven? How do you stop from conforming to this world? On and on. The the questions went, even gave you all the opportunity to fill out cards and submit your questions to to us. As a church, we could be able to answer those as best as we could, and I can tell you, we’ve done it. We’ve done a great job at that. But today is the end of the series. And and what I want to do is use this last opportunity that we have. You guys asked some wonderful questions. I’m going to just show six of those questions that actually will end. We have actually answered every question in a sermon at some point with these six remaining questions. We’re going to answer all of those today. Just so you guys know, as a church family, we want to always encourage you to ask questions. We want to always encourage you in your faith to just be able to find the freedom to come here and question your faith and ask questions about God and life and Scripture in the Bible, and find your answers.
We’re not ashamed of questions here. And so, with the best of our ability, we are pursuing that together, asking questions before the Lord and getting answers. That’s the kind of environment we like to create here. It’s not to say we have everything figured out, but God has certainly given us his truth and word, and we need to find a place where we can not only ask the questions, but also discover the answers I find skeptically. In this world, a lot of people ask the questions, but a lot of people are also lazy to find the answers or just never discover them. And our church family, we would like to go against the norm of that, to know that God and putting your faith in the Lord. It’s just not blind ignorance, but it’s got a solid foundation to rest upon. And I love it the way the Apostle Paul said, we’ve seen this together in the series. It says in Philippians 310, Paul the apostle Paul’s pursuit, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. And when Paul talks about knowing God, he’s he’s not talking about just a knowledge. He’s talking about an intimacy and relationship, a personalness. And we kind of carry the idea here that the object of your faith is as important as the sincerity of your faith.
So it’s significant to know the truth of God so that you can worship God appropriately, can never worship God for more than you understand him to be. You can be sincere in what it is that you believe, but it’s possible to be sincerely wrong. What you believe is more important than what you do, because what you believe will drive what you do. And Paul said in Romans chapter ten, brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer for Israel is that they might know God. They have a zeal for God, but it’s not according to knowledge, he says, meaning their understanding of God is completely erroneous. And my prayer is that they could just see him for who he is and ask those questions and discover those answers. And that’s our purpose this morning. The Bible tells us in Mark chapter 12 Jesus said, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. God gave us a brain for a reason. We’ve even talked about together that we work so hard at many things in our lives. We we physically labor. We pursue things in our lives. But when it comes to spirituality, we’re not trained as people and disciplined as people to pursue our spiritual lives with the same energy that we pursue everything else. First Thessalonians 521 says, prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good. Second Timothy two be diligent to present yourself approved to be a as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
And Jude one three. It tells us to earnestly contend for the faith. Asking questions is important. I even understand, according to Ephesians chapter four, the Bible tells us that Christian leaders and pastors are given to the church to equip the church for the work of the ministry that God has. As we learn about him, it’s not just about ourselves, but it’s about living that Christian life for Jesus in this world. It’s not about just affecting me, but about others for the sake of Christ. And therefore, Christians shouldn’t be ashamed of the truth. Matter of fact, we don’t hide the facts because there’s nothing to be ashamed about. Think of all the faiths and all the beliefs and everything that you could study in this world. Christianity rests on a firm foundation. So here we go. The important questions I got to say this first one is by far the Hairiest one. This is the one. Out of all the questions, we could probably cause a church split over this morning. I’ve never done that before. We’ll see what that’s like. Maybe. Right. So here goes. Do animals go to heaven? Some people got their tomatoes ready already, right? I want to just give you the facts, and I’m actually going to let you just decide this answer. But I will say that if if you get your theology from Disney movies, you already know the answer.
The dogs are going. Right. All dogs go to heaven. Okay, but there’s a challenge to that. What about the other animals, for instance? I don’t think he’s making it. Cats don’t get in, right? I don’t know what’s going on, but that cat needs his face fixed. Well, here’s what the Bible says. This is a great question. I appreciate the animals go to heaven. Revelation 1914. This is a picture of Jesus returning for the church or the end of day. Excuse me? He’s returning to the earth and it’s describing his coming. And in chapter 19 and it describes the armies of heaven following after him. And it says, and the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Jesus or Him on white horses. So from this passage of Scripture, you can conclude there’s at least a type of animal in heaven, right? Revelation also describes some crazy looking animals that are there animals we haven’t even seen before? If a zoo could get a hold of that, it would sell out every day. But. But at least we see discoveries in chapter 19 that there are horses in heaven. I gotta admit, maybe it’s my own sinful nature coming out that bugs me. Anything that can kill Superman, you’re right. Should not be in heaven, right? But horses. It says according to scripture, horses are there.
Now, the question is, were those horses on earth before they got to heaven? Well, let’s let’s build the case here for just a minute. Bible also goes on to say in Genesis chapter one and verse 27, God created man in his own image. Didn’t do this with any other creature unique to you. You’ve been created in God’s image, which means that you reflect characteristics that are similar to God. It’s why we can relate to God as people. He goes on and says in Genesis two and verse seven, then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. The Bible doesn’t tell us any other point in Scripture that this happens with any other type of creature that exists, that unique from any other creature on this world, that God supernaturally imposed His spirit and breathed his life upon you. Meaning there’s no indication from Scripture that animals have a spiritual side or a soul like we do as people. In addition to that, the Bible never mentions nor promises anywhere that animals will go to heaven. What does that mean? Do animals go to heaven? Well, if the Bible doesn’t say they have souls or spirits, where does that lead you to conclude? But I’ll say this okay before anyone gets angry, God also says his picture of heaven is wonderful. All right.
And if that makes you sad and thinking about it, just know that whatever God chooses to do in revelation chapter 21, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will be no longer any death. There will be no longer any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. All right, so the end result is joy, happiness and peace with the Lord. Okay. Um, I will tell you this. How do you deal with that theology? If the Bible never talks about animals having anything, spiritual animals going to heaven? I’ll tell you what my mom did. Um, all of my animals, to this day, as far as I know, are still a part of the circus, right? I’ve gone to Barnum and Bailey’s three ring, whatever. I’ve never seen them, but I’ve been told my cat. Easy is there. All right, so there’s the second choice for him. Next question is this. I have a loved one who believes you have to be baptized to go to heaven. Is this true? That’s a good question. I’m getting a little deeper in our theological thinking beyond animals here. What’s important to recognize the word baptism. What it means in Scripture. Because it can get confusing when we read it out loud. The primary definition for the word baptism in Scripture literally means to dip, to immerse, or to submerge, particularly if they’re talking about like a sunken vessel.
It’ll talk about baptism or submerging. And the word baptism really carries two forms within Scripture. When the Bible talks about baptism, you have to read the context of the passage, because it could either be talking about water baptism or spiritual baptism. Either way, it’s talking about being immersed. Spiritual baptisms. Being immersed in the Spirit of God. Water baptism, you know, is being immersed in the water. The Bible says this about the two, and I’ll kind of clarify with us where this confusion comes from and whether or not we need to be physically baptized for salvation. But the Bible says right here that every believer begins to outline for us. Every believer in Christ is spiritually baptized. If you’ve placed your faith in Jesus as your Savior, the Bible gives you the promise that the Holy Spirit immediately comes into you and you are indwelt by him. It actually says in Ephesians 430. You are sealed for until the day of redemption. God owns you. You are his. You will see him face to face. In Matthew chapter three, John the Baptist began to clarify for us that Jesus would bring this type of ministry when he came to the earth. And it says, as for me, this is John the Baptist talking. I baptize you with water for repentance. But he who was coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
So this Jesus is coming, the work of his ministry in which he will conduct on the earth. He will send His Spirit upon his people. Jesus even clarified that for those who are particularly interested in this, in John chapter 14, 15 and 16 are all teachings by Jesus on the coming of the Holy Spirit. It goes on and tells us in first Corinthians 1213, for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit? What it’s saying here is if you trusted in Christ, we’ve all been baptized into the spirit. Okay? It’s not saying we’ve all been water baptized. It’s possible to have the spirit to come into your life. And well, it does happen. It happens every time you believe that the Spirit of God comes into your life before you are physically baptized in water. Okay, you’re baptized in the spirit. And it tells us here, first Corinthians 1213 all of us who have trusted in Jesus have been baptized in that way. Just to clarify how that spiritual baptism happens, if you read in Galatians 314, which is at the bottom, it says, in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the spirit through faith.
Okay. So that spirit comes to us in Jesus through faith, According to that verse. It even tells us, if you have the Spirit in Romans eight and nine, you belong to Christ. Let me read it. However, you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. And so if you trusted in Christ, you have His Spirit dwelling in you. If you’ve never placed your faith in Jesus as your Savior, the Bible tells us that you don’t have a spirit. You’ve not been sealed. You don’t belong to Jesus. And so the mark of a believer in Christ is the Spirit of God that seals you with its life. And this is where the confusion comes in. The Bible uses the word baptism, like I said, to talk about water baptism and spiritual baptism. And we need to ask the question when we read in the context of Scripture, which it’s talking about. And sometimes, especially when you read the historical book of acts, it’s not fully a historical book, but it records for us the early church, when people in the book of acts came to put their faith in Jesus, they were immediately baptized almost instantaneously. And so when you read the story of, say, Philip running beside the Ethiopian eunuch, he’s the Ethiopian eunuch is reading in his little carriage the Book of Isaiah.
He knows he needs Jesus as a Savior. He trusts in Jesus. And he immediately asked the question, what’s prohibited me to be baptized? And he says nothing. And they go down in the water and he takes the plunge. Baptism for us. Physical baptism in water is a mark to us as a church of what Jesus has done to us internally. It’s an outward confession saying to this world I have placed my faith in Christ. God has sealed me for the day of redemption. I’m dunking myself under this water to show that Jesus has cleansed me of my sin, and now I’m following after him. The confusion with baptism. There’s a few passages in Scripture. One of the popular ones that you’ll hear comes in John chapter three. A man named Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night and he asks the question, Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And then Jesus tells Nicodemus, well, you must be. You must be born again. And then Nicodemus is just floored because he remembers well, he doesn’t remember, but he knows he was born. He knows how that happens. Right? And so he asks the question, how in the world am I going to come from my mom again? Right? My mom didn’t like it the first time. She’s not going to like it the second time. I’m a lot bigger. Right? And so he’s asking he’s he makes that statement.
And Jesus is floored that a guy would even think that. And so he begins to to respond. He says, Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And people read that verse and say, well, Jesus was asked the question, how do you how do you get to heaven? How do you have eternal life? And Jesus says, you’ve got to be born of the water and of the spirit. And so what Jesus logically means is you’ve got to trust in him and be baptized. Okay. And I would caution you here because if you if you hold to that, we’re adding works to salvation. Okay. They’re saying that there’s something I have to do in order to receive my salvation, which isn’t biblical. Okay. The solution to that in this verse is explained in verse six. So if you read this verse and think that you’ve got to be baptized in water and receive the spirit in order to get eternal life, Jesus then clarifies it further for us in verse six. What does he mean by this water birth? He says that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. And so he’s saying to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you’re right. You do have to be physically born once of the water. You come out, there you are.
But but then you have to be born again. The Spirit of God has to come in your life. And the way that that happens is through Christ. Jesus died for you. And then Jesus goes on and says in John chapter three, you know the most famous verse in the Bible, right? Verse 16, For God so loved the world. He gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. Notice it says in verse 16, Jesus doesn’t say, whoever believes and is baptized. He says, whoever believes in him receives eternal life. So do you have to be baptized to get into heaven? Well, depends on how you’re asking the question. Physically? No. Spiritually, yes. The Spirit of God has to be in your life. And just to clarify one final point, the Apostle Paul, we know what the Apostle Paul did. He went throughout this entire world. He preached the gospel, and he saw churches established through the Spirit of God empowering. Right? And the Apostle Paul came to this town called Corinth. And it was like Corinth was the craziest church in the Bible. You want to see if you feel messed up one day, just open up Corinthians. You’ll feel better about yourself. Okay? Um, I mean, we we want to always repent, turn to the Lord and continue to look like Jesus and model him in our lives. But Corinthians is there.
When you feel you’re feeling a little low, it’ll encourage you. But the Corinthians in chapter one are literally arguing about their celebrity baptisms. And there’s some of them were saying, you know, I got baptized by Peter. You know, I got baptized by Paul, I am better than you. And they’re arguing over how cool their baptisms were, and they’re really missing the point of what baptism was about. And so the Apostle Paul says this. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanus. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. So what’s Paul saying here? He’s teaching us something important about baptism. Paul is saying, I came to preach the gospel because that’s what saves. If baptism did it, I would be baptizing as well. But because it’s about the gospel and not about baptism, that’s my message. So I don’t even care about who I baptize, when I baptize, and where I baptize. It’s important that you get baptized because the statement it makes about your faith in Christ. But what Paul is saying is that the gospel is what saves us, not baptism. All right. Great. Next question. I love this question. It shares with us someone’s heart in pursuing Christ and wanting to live for him in this world.
So it says, how do we soften our hearts to love our enemies and those who hate us? And to that I will say, if you figure it out, you come tell us. Is this question the honesty of this question recognizes for us that love and loving others isn’t easy. And in fact, it’s it’s normal in relationships to go through experiences in our life where it becomes painful. And that’s a healthy thing because it recognizes for us there is a need to baby something you think about every time I. Today is my birthday, by the way. Okay. Gifts accepted in the entry room. I’m going to watch football all day, so I don’t really want to do anything else, but it is my birthday, all right? And every time I turn a new age, it’s like I start. I just hit 31 and I hit 30, and I woke up with a sore back and I hit 31, and I don’t know what I did in my shoulder, but it’s killing me. And every time I get old older, there’s something new that breaks down. But this is a good thing about it is I will be doing nothing with my left arm today because I know it’s in pain and it needs babied that. That is a natural response that God has given me to, to recognize. If I keep using it, then I will not have it to utilize in the future.
It’s the same thing with relationships. Emotionally, we experience things and there’s there’s tension there and there’s aggravation. Sometimes that builds up and that pain that exists, the emotional hurt that we feel is a good point for us to recognize. We really need Jesus in this moment, and this moment really needs babied for the glory of God. Okay? And and that can be a good thing to help us recognize in pain. Hey, wake up. Because right now, I could act pretty sinful with the way that I’m feeling. And so that’s the reason I love this question, because it’s saying to us as people, listen, whoever, whoever asks it, I don’t know who it is, but whoever asked this question is, is really seeking in a challenging point in their life. They’re stopping and they’re saying, you know, Lord, this, this situation isn’t the best. So how can I love the way that you would want to in that moment? And so I want to share just a couple of verses, a thought, I think, what God desires for us in relational conflict. Colossians 314 says, beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. I think what God really desires, especially in his church more than anything, is to see unity worked out through love. Doesn’t this verse doesn’t say you’re always going to get along to be able to do that. And this this verse doesn’t talk about truth, but it’s important that we walk in truth to do that.
But what God wants in our church family is unity. Because the more we are getting along, the more we’re loving each other and the more we’re overlooking wrongs toward one another, the easier it is for us to do things for the glory of God. A divided church isn’t as nearly as powerful as a church that works together, and that doesn’t just play within the church. It really fabricates into all relationships your family, coworkers, whatever it is. Harmony helps to build powerful things together. And so it even says in Ephesians four three, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. So it’s even acknowledging to us as people, listen, this takes work. Um, married couples, you know, it takes work. You just wake up and say, I’m. I’m married and everything’s perfect now, and it will forever be perfect. There are stressors that continually come into your life. Okay. And what’s important to recognize when you experience those stressors is that you don’t attack the person. You attack the sin. Okay? That doesn’t mean you do that violently either. But you really need to focus on what’s driving a wedge between you and your relationship with this. Whatever this person is that we could be asking the question about what is the issue, okay, the person is never the enemy, it’s the issue.
And here’s some proverbs. Wisdom, sometimes the most loving thing that you can do is distance yourself. Okay, now, now for you that avoid problems, I would probably encourage you a different way, but I’m just going to say one of the most loving things that you can do is distance yourself, at least for a temporary purpose, because it’s better than punching people, right? Right. And so sometimes it’s good to take a break and just cool off and gather your thoughts and what you need to talk about before you confront it. I know in our lives, sometimes relationships, especially when you when spouses get married, family relationships can cause problems. And what I mean by distance ourselves in that instance is create some boundaries. You know, if if you grew up as a mama’s boy, mama don’t need to continue to look at you like you’re his her little boy, okay? Your spouse needs some room to breathe. And so boundaries can be a healthy thing for your relationships. And it’s important to establish those things you think for for a minute about a fire. Fires are cool in the wintertime, especially if you have a fireplace. Enjoyable thing to be around in. The fire is not enjoyable, right? So things are things are enjoyable from certain distances, right? And relationships. We know marriage is the most important relationship that you have. If you’re a married individual. God has called you towards oneness with your spouse.
He desires that intimacy there. If anything creates conflict for your spouse relationally, it’s a good idea to set some boundaries to guard your marital relationship. Second thing is this is is sometimes it’s good to confront. And when I talk about confrontation, I don’t mean this like you did. You know, you did not just do that, I don’t. Do you know who I am? I’m not talking about confrontation like that. Okay? What I mean by by confrontation is all right. What what I mean by confrontation. Yeah. I don’t know where that came from. 31. Yeah. Get. Get older. Get crazy. Right. Um, what we mean by confrontation is that when you’re having relational problems, you recognize that it’s really not God’s desire to have that. And and God has given you the innate ability to not feel good about it. God has created you for community. God’s created you to belong, to be a part of something bigger than yourself. And so naturally, when we experience relational conflict, it causes turmoil for us. And we’re just we become crabby people to everybody. At that point. You ever notice that someone upsets you over here? And it just kind of carries the rest of your life. And so confrontation is good and we never approach confrontation for that. Do you know what you did wrong to me? We just approach it for the benefit of the well being of that relationship, and we identify the person.
We can just do it with gentleness and love. You know, when this happens, this is the way I feel. And so is there any way that we can stop that. So that way we can just feel close. So that way our relationship I feel like there’s tension there. And I don’t want that tension. I want to walk in unity and love. And so confrontation is important because I feel like the danger of someone asking this question. The good part is someone desires to carry the heart of the Lord. The bad part is, is that we can become people that just take abuse, that we don’t need to take. And so sometimes we ask this question because we aren’t people of confrontation, and we aren’t people out of love that will just go through that little bit of pain, of talking to someone to enjoy the long term benefit of that relationship. We’d rather just stuff it and hide it and deal with it and take the abuse and get aggravated and get angry at everyone else and just avoid that person altogether, which isn’t a godly thing to do at all. And so confrontation in a godly way can be a good and biblical thing. The other things I’ll just throw out real quick, it helps us to reveal our weaknesses where we’re weak in that temptation. Um, it reminds us that we’re really dependent upon the Lord in all things because we don’t have the strength to see things through.
And I would say, most important in all of this, how do we love the unlovable is really the gospel. The gospel is what changes lives. And the gospel is what works on hearts. And the gospel is what calls us to stop thinking about self and to think about others in Christ. And so when someone is really affecting your life negatively and pray for them. Maybe share the gospel with them. See what Christ can do with them. Matter of fact, invite them to church next week and just pray for them the whole time they’re here, right? But also pray for yourself. And the gospel changes you too. Because when you remind yourself of who you are in the eyes of Christ and and that we we were still sinful and God demonstrated his love towards us, it was that unconditional love that worked in our hearts to get us to turn to Christ. And what an opportunity it is for you, in the midst of that turmoil, to love someone else, even when they don’t deserve it. To love someone else because you’ve seen it modeled in Jesus? Answered everything as Jesus. The gospel. Right? All right. For why are some people born into health and wealth while others are born into poverty or health afflicted? That’s a great question. Take that up with God, right? The quick answer to that is why is there suffering in the world? Hears Jobe? Jobe got this answer I’m God, I’m God, and I’m in control.
Just trust me. And ultimately, specifically the details of your life. We don’t always know exactly why everyone endures pain and suffering and affliction and poverty. We don’t always know, but there are some indicators that we can look at as to why that happens. First is this the world is sinful. God gave us an opportunity to pursue him with our lives, to enjoy a relationship with him. We rejected him and chose sin. The natural consequences of sin is poverty and health affliction. God allowed those natural consequences of us rejecting him to be made known on this world. So what happens because of sin? The other thing is, it happens because we’re lazy. Sometimes we’re poor because we don’t work. Proverbs calls that a slugger. It’s a nasty person that walks around and has a trail of slime that goes goes wherever they go, right? Be a sluggard. The other, other thing is when we excuse me, we have poor health because again, we’re lazy. We have a body. God’s given it to us and we just don’t take care of it. Mcdonald’s is too good. They came out with a new sandwich I saw. I ate it last night and I thought about this. So we have a body we’ve got to take care of, and we’ve got wealth that we’ve, uh, that we, we work for.
And so sometimes we don’t have those things because we don’t take care of it. But the good news about the affliction, the the good news about the poverty, is that God can use anything for his glory. We always use the example of the cross. God could take such a horrendous thing and turn it into his glory. And the same thing is true with poverty. And the same thing is true with affliction. Because we know as people, our tendency when things are going well is to just focus on self. And then when things go wrong, we cry out, God, why? And it’s really at those moments where we are stuck in a place of dependency that we really begin to look to God and God, even though there is sin in this world, even though we are live under a curse, and even though life is difficult, God can really use that for his glory. Matter of fact, the Bible tells us in Matthew chapter three and verse verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Let’s cut off. So the Bible tells us that God can really utilize our pain for his glory and getting us to turn to him.
And you know the interesting thing about this question, if you think about it for just a minute, if God really uses those opportunities to point us to him, wouldn’t the blessed people be those who do have trials? One opportunity that is right. I can tell you from my own life in pursuing God and discovering God, I got to a place of aimlessness. A place that I realized life really didn’t have purpose for me other than me. And I started thinking about, there’s got to be something more in this life. There’s got to be a purpose to live for. There has to be a god. And so I began pursuing that. And God used that aimless, depressing place in my life, that negative moment, to point me to him. And Timothy, it says this for we have we have brought nothing into the world, so we can take any we can’t take anything out of it either. We have food and covering with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge me into ruin and destruction, for the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, and some, by longing for it, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. And so the warning is, when we get so concerned about not having enough of whatever it is that we want, that we can begin to make that an idol of our life, and that becomes our pursuit.
And really, what we need is just to be content with where we are. I mean, God’s given us the ability to work. So, you know, it’s good to work. It’s a healthy thing. It’s a godly thing to work. He says, be fruitful and multiply. God is a creator of beauty, and he wants you to go out into this world and do the same thing. But the pursuit of money can become an idol for us, robbing us of our joy in the Lord. So why are some born poor and health afflicted? Well, I don’t always know, but we live in a sin cursed world, and God can really use that opportunity to turn you to him. And so for that, I’m thankful. Okay. Next question. This is the big one. Ready? It’s kind of hard to read. Why do you follow God by faith? You use an example of having faith in a chair, but chairs have been proven to hold weight. I have never used that example. I don’t know where that question came. I’ve never used a chair. We have seen many chairs. We have never seen God before. So why do we believe with faith? Believe with faith. With with little proof it will work. I would say I’m careful of questions that build strawman arguments.
This question is kind of building a straw man argument. It’s proving that faith. Really. It’s saying an assumption that faith really doesn’t have a whole lot to stand on. And I think it’s an assertion that is false. Let me give you a quick rundown, real quick of this response on how we would answer this. There are two ways God has revealed himself to us that we can learn to put our trust in him. The first is general revelation and the second is special revelation or specific revelation. Okay, the general revelation. The Bible talks about the way God has made himself known to us in a general sense. We we talk about it through things like creation. But it says in Romans 119, because that which is known about God is evident within them. For God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, the invisible attributes, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. So God basically says, if you just open your eyes and look around, you’re going to see the evidence of me. And there’s all sorts of theories that people have come up with. There are clever names they’ve given to it. I’ve come up with my own based on those clever names, because they are confusing to me. But. But if we talk about the word, if you think about just our existence logically, all things created have a creator.
There’s a man. He came up with a theory. It’s called Paley’s Watch. He was walking along the sidewalk. He saw a watch. He picked it up and instantly thought a watchmaker made it. What a novel idea, right? A watch made by a watchmaker. Uh, paint painted by a painter. A creation made by a creator. Right. And second is you think everything that exists needs time, space and matter. And so if you don’t believe in a god, you’ve really got to come up with the idea of how how time, space and matter came into existence for something else to exist. A lot of times scientifically, if you study that scientists are trying to come up with these theories of how something comes from nothing, they do a good job of these wonderful blow smoke arguments on how matter came into existence, but not really a time and space for which that matter could come into existence to be there, right? Something can’t come from nothing. If you have nothing in your wallet, you are broke, and there’s not going to magically appear a dollar in there, right? And it’s the same with God and His creation. We have creation because we have a creator. Next is order and purpose. All things created have order and purpose and design. There’s nothing that exists that doesn’t have a reason for existing.
I was studying this last summer because I have a cousin who’s an atheist, and so I decided just to study into atheism, scientific life and how existence came into being. And one interesting article I began to read about was how a lot of our scientists today are going back to the idea that God created. We’ve kind of swung the pendulum far one way, and we’re starting to come back the other way. One of the most popular books today is called God Theos or Theos and the bias. I believe it is written by over a dozen, a couple dozen Pulitzer Prize winners. And and so the pendulum is kind of swinging back towards scientists that believe in God. One of the things they were remarking on is just the existence of the moon, how it rotates a different way than than the Earth. But it couldn’t randomly exist there because the moon really supports all of the life on Earth. You think about this for a minute. The ocean, the waves that come in low tide. High tide all dependent upon the moon. The moon creates the waves which aerates the ocean, which provides the life and the life of the ocean, brings out the life of the earth. Without the moon, we’re dead. I got a great idea. If I ever go berserk, I’m going to blow up the moon. Right? But. But when you study purpose, order, and design that God has put all this together for a reason.
Next is morals that could go on and on with this. But morals. Who in the world told you that good is supposed to triumph over evil? And where did that come within you? You think there’s no purpose in God? Then? There’s no ultimate purpose beyond evil. Evil is an ultimate god. And evil triumphs. There’s no victory over that. There’s no reason to even root for anything. Because evil is an ultimate good as well as things that you enjoy as an ultimate good. And so, um, morals and our desire towards good things have no purpose. You think about the your soul and the way it grieves in pain and even death. And and you long for something greater when someone passes away. But, um, morals are a good indicator that we know that God exists. All things can be traced to a beginning. Scientists have gone out and discovered the universe. Do you know what the universe is doing? It’s expanding. Which means the universe can be brought back down to a single point. Some people call that the Big Bang. I call it God’s spoken. We exist. What about all the wonder in all of our soul today? When I watch football, I’m going to stand in all of physical beings, remembering days of my life where I thought I could do that stuff right. Some of you like to look at creation and just stand in awe.
Some of you like to look at cars. I don’t understand that, but you stand in awe. There’s something in your soul that longs to be a part of something greater than yourself. That’s general revelation. It can go on and on. Just indicators for us that point to God. The next is special revelation. General revelation acknowledges for us there is a God special revelation. Fine tunes it for us to understand exactly who he is. Two special revelations. Let me tell you real quick the Bible in Jesus. Okay, Bible and Jesus, can they even be proven? Well, the Bible has 25,000 manuscripts that we have today that date up to a few hundred years before Jesus. The trustworthiness of the Bible as it’s been handed down throughout time 1500 years. It was written by 40 authors with one congruent theme. You think about the Bible being a couple hundred years older than Christ. All the prophecy. We have manuscripts that are that old comparison to Christ and all the prophecy that exists in it. And we see all that prophecy that comes to fulfillment in Jesus himself, validating Scripture. And the second is Jesus prophetically fulfilling things for us, identifying for us who he is and his resurrection, overcoming the grave and the way that the early church went out, proclaiming his name to the point that they laid down their lives. Hundreds upon hundreds.
For lie it scarce that one man would die, but that many people dying for the sake of Christ would indicate to us as people Jesus is reliable. Let me move on this last question so we can finish our series. Why did Jesus choose the time and history to come? Why didn’t he come sooner? Well, we know the story. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve ate of the fruit some call an apple. And sin came into the world. Jesus didn’t immediately come and become that sacrifice for us, but what he did do was give us a promise. The Lord said to the serpent, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise him on the hill. This is important to us for us to recognize, because it’s saying that God cared enough about us to have a plan. But this wasn’t just some random act that he had to just, when we sinned, figure out what he was going to do. God had a plan for us to experience him. And I think the blessing to God waiting to the particular time in history is that God knows that we as people are confined to time, and therefore we learn through time. Think about all that you’ve learned in your relationship with God as you’ve been pursuing him throughout time. You learn about him throughout time.
We learn in Romans eight. It tells us in verse 18, I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the Son of God. Even creation was subject to futility, not willing, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from its slavery to corruption or incorruption. And what it’s saying to us in the Bible is that when you look around this world, you can say, this place is messed up. We should not have to have military to guard lives. We should not have to have police to protect us from people who want to rob us and steal from us and and rape us and harm us. We shouldn’t have to have locks on our cars and our homes and everything else that we possess. It shouldn’t be like that. There’s something broken with this world. God uses time to teach us those things. Second thing is, as we recognize the hope that we have wrapped up in this world, God also uses time to teach us about him. And so when God says things like, I am, I am loving, I am just, I am creator, I am eternal, I’m Savior. I’m long suffering. I’m. I’m gracious, I’m beautiful, I’m merciful. He doesn’t just say, okay, I’m going to tell you these things, and I just want you to trust him because it just is.
He says, I’m going to tell you these things, and I’m going to prove it to you. Just because you say you’re trustworthy doesn’t mean you’re trustworthy. For me, I can tell you, when someone comes to me and tells me that they’re a person of their word, that’s the person I doubt the most, right? You got to tell me you are. I would rather you show it. And the same thing happens with the Lord. He used his time to teach us about him and his nature and the trustworthiness that we have. We can have in him. And God says this in numbers God is not a man that we should lie, nor a son of man that we should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good? So God has used you think, even in your own life, how you’ve seen the truth of God being worked out in your life? And you can read Scripture and you see the character of God being displayed for us, that we as people can trust in him. And so it says this in Galatians, I believe this passage is, yeah, it’s four four. But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son. And so God is saying to us, there was a perfect time for Jesus to come.
He used history to teach us about him, but he came at the perfect time. He gave us prophecy into this world so that we wouldn’t miss his coming. He taught us in Christ as Jesus even lived his life what Jesus would fulfill as prophet, priest, king, sacrifice, and Savior. God taught us through Christ that he can take anything bad and turn it into good. And you even think about the particular time in history. The entire world has been conquered by Rome. They finally have built these roads that still exist today. And and so the gospel can travel freely from country to country, because one, one group owned the known world, and it’s finally got roads to travel upon for the name of Jesus to be proclaimed. And at the right time, Christ came. God has given us and used history to give us the opportunity to identify him, to learn about him, to put our faith in him and to enjoy him, to trust in him as he has shown himself to see in our lives that nothing else is worthy of our worship and praise. This is why we’ve gone through this fact series. You could have asked anything under the sun and we want to come to it, answer it, and see the goodness of God in our lives. To dive deeper with him and just continue to grow. So let me just end with this verse.
Ephesians chapter four and verse four says this. We can ask these questions to God and and discover him more intimately and personally, because it says this. But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. God wants to lavish his truth and love in your life. God desires for you to walk in the light as he is in the light, to move from those things that separate you from him, from him to drop sin and just run to Christ. God desires for you to know him intimately, as the Apostle Paul says, to experience him in this life and to live for him in this world. The question that we should ask ourselves daily is, what can I do to surrender myself to the Lord more? What can I do to encourage others closer to the one that I have come to new to know? Excuse me. What questions should I ask and seek answers. What is it? I need to study in the Bible to learn about him.
So to kind of give us with one last minute thought as a church to prove to you, we want to encourage you to be a church that continues to know the Lord. We’ve got gifts today. All right. Um, so here’s what we’re going to do. I want to hand out these popular books for you so that you continue to pursue and study the Lord with your life. So let me ask you this morning. Uh, is anyone here that has recently become a Christian within the last, let’s say, two years? Now, once the book by Paul Little called Know Why You Believe? Has anyone here become a believer in the last two years? Three years? Oh, yeah. Great. Here we go. All right. Anyone been baptized within the last two years? We have anybody that got baptized last couple of years here. We’re a little lower today. Would like a Bible study called by Paul Little. It’s called certainty. Knowing why you believe and baptizing. Last, let’s say 2 or 3 years. Interested in grabbing a Bible study for free? Anyone? Let’s do this one. Anyone that had a had a birthday in September. I want this kid who may. This is a book by Ravi Zacharias. A brilliant man does. Does studies with at all your Ivy League schools with the intelligent minds. But this book is called Who Made God and answers to over 100 other tough questions of faith.
Anyone with a birthday in September want this October? November? Oh, there you go. All right. Um. All right. Thinking about relational conflict. Right? This is for anyone who does not enjoy reading but will listen to an audiobook. All right. Resolving everyday conflict. Oh, sorry. Heads up. All right, now, this one’s also for resolving relational conflict, but it’s called preparing for adolescence. All right. Anyone have, uh, let’s say a kid between 11 to 13 that wants a book? Okay, there you go. Here, run that back. I don’t want to keep taking eyes out, Gina. That was a good catch. I should have not thrown that one. All right. Anyone likes asking questions. Excuse me. Doesn’t like to read, but likes short articles. Uh, this is called Tough questions about Christianity. Anyone interested in that? Articles about tough questions on Christianity. We just talked about learning Mark here. Take it back to Mark. All right. Cool. Um, here’s the last of all. This is really for anyone that’s just interested in learning about the trustworthiness of Christ. I bought six of these. We we sometimes hand these out at church. If you don’t have a copy of this, I’d really encourage you to get one. This is like a top ten on the Christian list. I think as far as books you need to read, it’s a it’s a portion of a smaller book called evidence that demands a verdict, but it’s called More Than a Carpenter, written by Josh McDowell.
This guy, when he wrote this book was, okay, there’s two already. This guy, when he wrote this book, there’s three. There’s, um. Was. Was he started to write this book not believing in Christ. He actually began to write this book because he wanted to disprove Christianity. And so he wrote more than a carpenter to help people understand us as people. He began in that place in his life, began to do the research to realize Jesus was who he claimed to be. And so he wrote this book to show the evidence for us. So, So more than a carpet. I got two more copies on Alicia and Christy. Here we go. Here, take that to your mom. Awesome. All right, I want to say this. We should end with the most important thing, which is the Bible. And so if if you if you’re here and you don’t have a Bible, I know it’s easy to go pick one up, but if we want to make it convenient for you as possible, I think I have some Bibles on the entry table. I stuck 3 or 4 of them. There is that. Are they still there? Care? Three. Three are still there. Okay. So if you don’t have a Bible when you leave here today, will you please just grab one and take it with you? That’s where our foundation starts. That’s why we’re doing this fact series. Everything that we teach and learn from comes from Scripture, and we apply it to our lives. We believe that’s where God has made his truth for us.