Question to be asked:
This question is really important to me. I’m wondering how you can be so confident that our way is the right way. With all the different religions in the world, all the different ways of interpreting the Bible, how can we be sure that we have the right way? Or does it even matter?
Well, does it even matter?
I want to make a note to everyone - this booth here is just a fun way each week to remind us of this series “I’ve got questions.” We’ve all got questions, don’t we? And just like Lucy Vanpelt isn’t really a source of answers to life, neither is anything that comes just from me personally - not really. My ongoing goal, as we share these questions that you’ve turned in, is that you’ll be like the Bereans that Luke mentions in Acts:
Acts 17:11 - Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
May the Lord make us all like those people in Berea. I can give you a Nichols’ worth, but the real answers are going to be found only when we examine the Scriptures!
Here’s this big question for today: How can I be sure? (or does it even matter?)
So, does it matter?
There is so much of life that doesn’t matter.
• Everything that has anything to do with TV or movies. Think about it: Are you going to look back on your life and wish you had watched more movies, videos, or TV?
• Is your car’s tire pressure accurate based on cold pressure right now, or was it checked when the tires were slightly warm? That could be the difference between 31 and 32 PSI.
• Chiefs or 49’ers? I know Brian Beck will be cheering for the Chiefs tonight. We’re even going to gather in Fellowship A to watch the game! But, when all is said and done, regardless of who wins, it really doesn’t matter in life.
• Before you put the biscuits in the oven, did you allow it to preheat to a full 350 degrees?
• Do you have the latest and greatest technology?
• Any question that begins with the words “Don’t you think…?” (That’s not a question - that’s the couched way of an opinionated person trying to get others to listen to what he has to say)
• Paper or plastic?
• Your high score on a video game. One of the points shot across the bow at our men’s Bible study last year was the problem of men becoming experts at things of no consequence rather than taking responsibility to lead and to invest in things that will last forever.
• What everyone else thinks of you
There is so much in life that really just doesn’t matter.
Akira Haraguchi, 69, in 2006 recited 100,000 digits of pi from memory. It took him 16hrs 30mins.
Ashrita Furman is a Guinness World Records record-breaker. Furman has set more than 600 official Guinness Records and currently holds 226 records. So, he holds the Guinness world record for the most Guinness world records.
Francis Chan writes, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” (Francis Chan - Crazy Love)
Lots of things don’t matter. But this question, “How can I be sure?” really does matter, doesn’t it?
1. This REALLY Matters
Your presence here today demonstrates that you have some interest in things that do matter. You at least suspect there’s more to life than just what you can hold in your hands now. We believe and teach that there’s an Eternal Creator, that we’re responsible to Him, and that there is an unseen, spiritual dimension to us that will exist forever somewhere. So, here we are, because we’d like to know about that and somehow be sure that we give that the right place in our thinking and in our lives.
Jesus said to Martha, who was anxious and troubled about many things,
Luke 10:41-42
…“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Mary was at Jesus’ feet, listening as He taught, rather than being captivated by anything else that was going on around her. She was focusing on what matters.
So, our search for what truly matters should reflect our belief that it truly matters.
Jesus told 2 short stories in Matthew 13 that I think are an illustration of this search…
Matthew 13:44-46
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
When we deal with this big question, “How can I be sure?” we’re trying to get a hold on something that’s very important. It’s important enough that we would go and sell all we have in order to get it.
Do you believe it or not?
Let me encourage you this morning not to ask this big question with an air of despair; not to say, “There’s no way anyone can be sure of anything, really, so why even bother trying?”
There is an answer to this question, “How can I be sure?” and what you believe about it, really does matter!
Some want you to think that you just can’t be sure. You can’t be sure about the existence of God, or how you can please Him if He exists, so you just have to accept the fact that you’ll never know for sure.
If that’s you today, or someone you know, let me point you to Blaise Pascal, a French theologian and philosopher who lived in the 1600’s. In his most definitive writing, Pascal put forward a way of arguing for life that’s lived for God. It’s usually referred to as “The Wager.” It was an answer to the skepticism of his day, and I think it’s still a valid answer to skeptics today.
There’s a report on Rockford Scanner that a house is on fire, and it sounds like it’s your house. Your children are at home too. You’re not sure if the report is true or not. What’s the reasonable thing to do? Do you ignore the report, or do you call to make sure everyone’s OK?
A winning sweepstakes ticket is worth $1 mil, and there are only 2 tickets left. They both are for sale at Casey’s down the street. One is the winning ticket, the other is worthless, and you can buy only 1 of the 2 tickets. Under the circumstances, would it be a worthwhile investment to spend a dollar and 5 minutes for a chance to win $1 mil?
Pascal argues that deciding whether or not to believe in God is a case like these. Under the circumstances, even if there were no proof, no guarantee, no certainty that your bet will win, not to “bet” on God is foolishness.
Here’s why: denying that God exists is a terrible bet. When you bet that way, there’s no prize at the end no matter what!
Pascal says, "Either God is, or he is not. But to which view shall we be inclined? Reason cannot decide this question. Infinite chaos separates us. At the far end of this infinite distance [death] a coin is being spun that will come down heads [God] or tails [no God]. How will you wager?"
Some turn to agnosticism. That’s someone saying you can’t be sure about the existence of God so just refuse to bet at all. Gnosticism. It kind of sounds like “no decision.” To that, listen to what Peter Kreeft writes…
Suppose Romeo proposes to Juliet and Juliet says, "Give me some time to make up my mind." Suppose Romeo keeps coming back day after day, and Juliet keeps saying the same thing day after day: "Perhaps tomorrow." In the words of a small, female, red-haired American philosopher, "Tomorrow is always a day away.” And there comes a time when there are no more tomorrows. Then "maybe" becomes "no." Romeo will die. Corpses do not marry. Christianity is God's marriage proposal to the soul. Saying "maybe" and "perhaps tomorrow" cannot continue indefinitely because life does not continue indefinitely.
In other words, “not placing your bet” is impossible. You’re just betting that you’ll never die. You either live like God exists, or live like He doesn’t. So, Pascal argues that when you believe in God, “Let us assess the two cases: if you win, you win everything; if you lose, you lose nothing. Do not hesitate then: wager that he does exist.”
God spoke to the people of Judah through a prophet named Haggai. They were floundering around in a kind of indecisive mode - delaying the rebuilding of the temple that God had assigned to them. In 1:5, God says to His people, “Consider your ways!” They needed to think about what was important and take some action! Consider your ways!
I think He would have a similar message today for people who are indecisive, who are saying, “No one can be sure.”
Don’t just live a blind gamble. Don’t throw up you hands in despair. Consider your ways, so that tonight, when you lie down to sleep, you can rest in peace and assurance that you’ve actually given good attention to what matters.
Here’s another important feature of this question:
2. You live by a theory of knowledge
That’s just a fancy way of saying that you have a way that you decide what you believe. In other words, can you be sure about anything at all? Well, yes, because you already live like you believe a lot of things.
John encouraged readers of his first letter to check up on teachers to see whether or not they were teaching the truth.
1 John 4:1-3 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
Here's something I notice about those verses: at the very least, we should be able to figure out some things about what’s true and what isn’t. There are different ways we do that…
A test
In this case, John gives a kind of test to use. That’s one way to decide. Use a test. That’s what doctors often will do to figure out what’s true.
Empiricism
That’s, “If I can see it, hear it, touch it, taste it, or smell it, I believe it.” That’s empirical evidence. That definitely helps, but our senses can be tricked. Imagine for a second if the only things you believed where the things that you personally experience! The fact is that some 99% of what we believe comes through some source outside ourselves.
Popularity
“If I hear from enough people that something is true, then I believe it.” That helps, but I noticed that sometimes millions of people on social media, TV news, and other places might say something is true even when it’s not.
Intuition
Maybe you believe that something is true because you believe it real strongly. That can be dangerous. Strong feelings don’t make something true, no matter how strong they are. You might feel very strongly that you can flap your arms and fly, but that doesn’t suspend what’s true while you jump off the roof!
List all the different influences you consider when you decide if you believe something or not. Some are good sources. Some just play with your emotions or appetites. Somehow, you decide the ones you’ll listen to, and that’s how you decide what you believe. Choosing which influences you’ll listen to varies from person to person. Doesn’t sound very promising if you’re trying to be SURE, does it?
But what if there really is an all-powerful, all-knowing God Who created us? And what if that God has communicated truth to us? What if that God has told us that He’s supposed to be at the center of our thinking, rather than ourselves? What if He says that He is the source of truth, and the Authority regarding our choices?
Then I’d like to pay attention to what He says about figuring out the truth – especially when it comes to where I’ll spend forever.
3. God’s Word is True
Just a few weeks ago, Kevin Wolfe preached here, encouraging you to spend time in God’s word. There’s a reason you’ll keep hearing that around here - it’s because God’s word is true and reliable and unchanging.
66 books, written over a period of about 1,500 years by about 40 human authors, written in 3 languages in multiple locations, to a variety of cultures, containing a host of literary genre, and making claims for itself that no other book can back up, the Bible stands the tests we use to discern if something is reliable or not. I don’t have the time in this message to go over that all again. I’ll simply say this morning if you aren’t sure what you think about the Bible, dig into it, examine the open evidence, and you’ll see it passes the test.
It’s that word that tells us how we can be sure that we’re in a right standing with God. God knew what He was doing as He gave us His word, so that today you and I can be certain about our eternity!
The writer of Hebrews said,
Hebrews 10:34-35
For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
John, in 1 John, wanted his readers to understand the certainty of their forevers…
1 John 5:13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
1 John 3:24
Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
1 John 4:16-17
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
By this you may know…by this we know…confidence in the day of judgment…
Remember the big question? There are some of the answers.
And it’s not because of you and what you’ve earned, but because of God’s grace offered to us through His Son Jesus Christ.
God put together a large number of credible evidences to show us that the Scriptures are true. We don’t have to accept it blindly. We don’t have to check in our brains at the door. The reasons we have for believing in Jesus as the Son of God are the same kinds of reasons we have for most of what we accept as true in life.
You need to get a handle on what’s true.
Jesus said that knowing truth from Him would make you free. Truth isn’t something to be afraid of.
Not being sure if you’re right with God - that’s something to fear. But that’s a fear you can be freed from today.
