March 17, 2013
Love does. CONTEND pt.2 // why?
Good Morning! Why do we believe?
We want our church to be a place where answers are found and people not only believe but can explain why they believe.
It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild.
Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets.
When he looked at the sky, he couldn’t tell what the weather was going to be.
Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.
Also, being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"
"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded.
So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.
A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"
"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it’s definitely going to be a very cold winter." The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.
Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"
"Absolutely," the man replied. "It’s going to be one of the coldest winters ever."
"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.
The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy." How can we be sure about God?
Seriously, why do we believe?
I know some of you are like me... You were raised in a church and even though some of you may have been in and out of church for a while...
Some of you cannot ever remember a time where you didn’t believe...
You just always have...
Others of you had time in your life where you didn’t believe at all... Then ultimately something happened... Your eyes became open and you believed...
I want to be careful this morning to not discredit FAITH...
Faith ultimately is what ultimately has brought us to belief...
Faith is hard to explain... It’s hard to explain because it came from God... It’s a gift.
Some of you in this room pryer to today, the only answer you may have for someone when they ask you about it is... I just know it’s real... Or I can just feel it... You might even say, I wish I could explain it to you, but I can’t... It’ s just there and it’s real...
This is beautiful! Truthful! BUT... you knew it was coming... Just because that may be the truth does not mean that we shouldn’t search and seek how to help others who don’t know understand...
God has given us so much to work with! It’s amazing how much truth is out there that backs up what we believe in...
From Science, to archeology, to the bible itself there is so much truth...
Today I want to point out 4 keys of proof... Can I promise that if you are an atheist in here today that you will automatically become a believer? NO.
Can I say if you really take this to heart today if you are an atheist it will make you question why you are an atheist? Yes.
Can I say to everyone in here who struggles with sharing with people why they believe that this will help you? Yes.
Above that I would say that we live in a culture that is growing intelligently, educationally, and intellectually... We need to be ready... We need to give proofs.
We need to be able to contend for the faith in which we hold more dear than life itself.
1. CONTENDING FOR GOD.
The Universe exists and is real. Every rational person must admit this point.
If it did not exist, we would not be here to talk about it. So the question arises, “How did the Universe get here?” Did it create itself? If it did not create itself, it must have had a cause.
Let’s look at the law of cause and effect. As far as science knows, natural laws have no exceptions.
This is definitely true of the law of cause and effect, which is the most universal and most certain of all laws.
Simply put, the law of cause and effect states that every material effect must have an adequate cause that existed before the effect.
Material effects without adequate causes do not exist.
Also, causes never occur after the effect. In addition, the effect never is greater than the cause.
That is why scientists say that every material effect must have an adequate cause.
The river did not turn muddy because the frog jumped in; the book did not fall off the table because the fly landed on it. These are not adequate causes.
For whatever effects we see, we must present adequate causes.
Five-year-olds are wonderful at using the law of cause and effect.
We can picture a small child asking: “Mommy, where do peaches come from?” His mother says that they come from peach trees.
Then the child asks where the trees come from, and his mother explains that they come from peaches. You can see the cycle.
Eventually the child wants to know how the first peach tree got here.
He can see very well that it must have had a cause, and he wants to know what that cause was.
One thing is for sure: the Universe did not create itself!
We know this for a scientific fact, because matter cannot create matter.
If we take a rock that weighs 1 pound and do 50,000 experiments on it, we never will be able to produce more than 1 pound of rock.
So, whatever caused the Universe could not have been material.
FROM NOTHING COMES NOTHING
I know that it is insulting to your intelligence to have to include this, but some people today are saying that the Universe evolved from nothing.
However, if there ever had been a time when absolutely nothing existed, then there would be nothing now, because it always is true that nothing produces nothing.
If something exists now, then something always has existed.
THE BIBLE SPEAKS ABOUT THE CAUSE
The Bible certainly is not silent about what caused the Universe.
In the very first verse of the first chapter of the first book it says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth.”
Acts 17:24 records: “God, who made the world and everything in it…
He is Lord of heaven and earth.” Exodus 20:11 notes: “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them.”
God is undoubtedly an adequate cause, since He is all-powerful. In Genesis 17:1, God told Abraham “I am Almighty God.”
He came before this material world, fulfilling the criteria that the cause must come before the effect.
The psalmist wrote: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Psalm 90:2).
And He definitely would instill within mankind the concept of morality, since He is a God of morals. Titus 1:2 says that He cannot lie.
Only God fits the criteria of an adequate cause that came before the Universe.
I want to answer the famous question if everything has a CAUSE to it why not God?
WHY DOES GOD NOT HAVE A CAUSE? (as in something caused Him to be)
Think about it like this... If we contend that every material effect must have a cause, and we say that only God could have caused the Universe, then the obvious question is: “What caused God?”
Doesn’t the law of cause and effect apply to God, too?
There is a single word in the law of cause and effect that helps provide the answer to this question—the word material.
Every material effect must have a cause that existed before it.
Scientists formulated the law of cause and effect based upon what they have observed while studying this Universe, which is made out of matter.
No science experiment in the world can be performed on God, because He is an eternal spirit, not matter (John 4:24).
Science is far from learning everything about this material world, and it is even farther from understanding the eternal nature of God.
There had to be a First Cause, and God was (and is) the only One suitable for the job.
CONCLUSION
The law of cause and effect is a well-established law that does not have any known exceptions.
It was not conjured up from the creationists’ magic hat to prove the existence of God (although it does that quite well).
The evidence is sufficient to show that this material Universe needs a non-material cause. That non-material Cause is God.
If natural forces created the Universe, randomly selecting themselves, then morality in humans never could be explained.
Why can you think, reason, have a conscious? Because it was given to us.
Why is this Universe here? Because “in the beginning, God….”
CONTEND FOR THE SCRIPTURES
The facts of archaeology and history support the Bible and do not contradict it.
Various cities mentioned in it have been discovered: Arad, Bethel, Capernaum, Chorizin, Dan, Ephesus, Gaza, Gezer, Hazor, Hesbon, Jericho, Joppa, Nineveh, Schechem, Susa, just to name a few...
There is nothing in archaeology that contradicts biblical truth. It agrees with and is consistent with archaeology and history.
The walls of Jericho have been found and were excavated 3 times over the last century...
You know what they discovered? That they all fell at the same time.
AND they fell outward on top of themselves...
If the Israelites would have attacked the walls with something strong enough to break them down they would have fallen inward and not out ward...
AND they would not have fallen at the same time...
The bible has been proven to be the most historically accurate book ever to be found.
Two of the greatest 20th-century archaeologists, William F. Albright and Nelson Glueck, both lauded the Bible (even though they were non-Christian and secular in their training and personal beliefs) as being the single most accurate source document from history.
The 19th-century critics used to deny the historicity of the Hittites, the Horites, the Edomites, and various other peoples, nations, and cities mentioned in the Bible.
Those critics have long been silenced by the archaeologist’s spade, and few critics dare to question the geographical and ethnological reliability of the Bible.
The names of over 40 different kings of various countries mentioned in the Bible have all been found in contemporary documents and inscriptions outside of the Old Testament, and are always consistent with the times and places associated with them in the Bible.
Nothing exists in ancient literature that has been even remotely as well-confirmed in accuracy as has the Bible.
Evidence of biblical inspiration can be clearly seen in the prophecies found in the Old Testament and their fulfillment in the New.
The following cities were prophesied to be destroyed and never rebuilt which has come true since they have not yet been rebuilt. Nineveh (Nah. 1:10; 3:7,15; Zeph. 2:13-14), Babylon (Isaiah 13:1-22), and Tyre (Ezek. 26).
Besides archaeology how about science...
Bernard Palissy is credited in the 16th century to be the scientist who compiled the theories that existed for years and "wrote" our modern hydrological cycle.
The simple definition of the hydrological cycle is that water evaporates from rivers, lakes, dew on the grass goes back into the clouds and eventually comes back down as rain...
What if I were to tell you that this cycle is described in the oldest book in the bible, Job?
Job 36:27-28 say 27 For he draws up the drops of water;
they distill his mist in rain, which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly.
Not only is that in the bible but so is the fact that the earth is round... Isaiah 40:22...
That was way before Magellan or Columbus or even the Myan cultures...
and in Luke 17:34-36 when Jesus talks of his return he says that some will be sleeping at night and others would be working during the day... Backing up that the earth is spherical and rotates...
How about that the earth is suspended in nothing... That we are in space just going around and around perfectly at the exact place and moment to allow life to exist...
Job 26:7 7 He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.
Jonah 2:5-6 tell us that there are mountain ranges found at the bottom of the oceans
Leviticus 17:11,14 state that blood is the source of life and health
Our bodies are made from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7; 3:19). Scientists have discovered that the human body is comprised of some 28 base and trace elements – all of which are found in the earth.
Even the ocean currents are referred to in Psalm 8:8 In the 19th century Matthew Maury – the father of oceanography – after reading Psalm 8, researched and discovered ocean currents that follow specific paths through the seas!
There are in truth over 100 scientific facts found in Scripture.
All of this leads up to the third aspect that we need to be able to contend for...
CONTEND FOR CHRIST
If Scripture is accurate then we have to look at Scripture and ask what does it all point to?
The answer is Jesus.
Let me just quickly share this there are many prophecies about Jesus fulfilled in the New Testament...
The crazy aspect of it is this... If the bible is historically accurate and it all point to Jesus it makes sense that it is also prophetically accurate...
Over 100’s of years many, many different authors who wrote different prophecies about Jesus.
Here are just 8...
Jesus would be born of a virgin Isaiah 7:14 fulfilled in Matt. 1:18,25;
His birthplace in Bethlehem Micah 5:2, fulfilled in Matt. 2:1;
Preceded by a messenger Isaiah 40:3, fulfilled in Matt. 3:1-2;
side pierced Zech. 12:10, fulfilled in John 19:34;
that he would be crucified Psalm 22:1, 11-18, fulfilled in John 19:23-24.
that he would be tempted Psalm 91:10-12 fulfilled Matthew 4:5-7
That he would be raised from the grave Psalm 30 fulfilled Matthew 28:5-7
That he would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver Zechariah 11:12-13 fulfilled Matthew 26:14-16..
"The following probabilities are taken from Peter Stoner in Science Speaks (Moody Press, 1963) to show that coincidence is ruled out by the science of probability.
Stoner says that by using the modern science of probability in reference to eight prophecies, ‘we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 1017." That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.
In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing that "we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man."
Stoner considers 48 prophecies and says, "We find the chance that any one man fulfilled all 48 prophecies to be 1 in 10157, or 1 in 10,00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 000,000,000."
The estimated number of electrons in the universe is around 1079. It should be quite evident that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies by accident. He was who He said He was: the only way (John 14:6).
And finally if we have made the case to contend for God, contend for the Scriptures, Contend for Christ, then ultimately in doing so we have made the case to contend for the resurrection...
That will be our message on Easter Sunday! Starting next Sunday we will look at the Life of Christ, Good Friday we will look at the death, the murder of Christ, and Easter Sunday we will CONTEND for the RESURRECTION of Christ! It’s going to be an awesome week!
I want to close with this... Like Phil said earlier... The only hope you have if you don’t believe is that God won’t be there in the end...
I want to challenge each of you today with everything that you have heard... With this...
It’s all true. God loves you. He died for you. He created you. He desires to be in a relationship with you. He can forgive you. He can heal your heart. He can make you new...
IT’S ALL TRUE...
THIS IS THE TIME TO INVITE PEOPLE TO CHURCH! We challenge all of you to invite people... Then our challenge would be finding seats, and church that’s an awesome challenge to have!
WEBSITES TO HELP:
http://www.eternal-productions.org/101science.html
http://www.carm.org
