Answering Man’s First Question
Proverbs 14:1
Audio MP3
February 3,
2013 AM
Pastor Craig
Ledbetter
I.
Introduction (1Peter
3:15)
A.
The Bible says that
we must “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason
of the hope that is in you”
B.
There is a great
Need today to have an Answer for Every Man
1.
Have answers once
again
2.
The modern person is
a sceptic. Doubts everything.
Questions the validity of everything, especially religious.
3.
Most churches and
pastors have ignored answering people’s questions, people’s problems
a.
Example of young
Steve Jobs
b.
Countless examples
of countless college students who have been taught to reject everything
4.
Modern religious
leaders only talk about “mysteries” but not truth
5.
Ignorant of the
Bible
6.
Too lazy to study
C.
Evangelism means
more than talking about heaven
1.
It means helping
people know that they can know God
2.
Trust the Bible –
know the way to trust God
3.
Helping people seek
truth – not a fairy tale, or
D.
Not everyone has
deep, skeptical questions, but most do, and most are not answered anymore
1.
To some people, all
this is perfectly obvious
2.
But to most, the
idea of God and heaven and hell and the Bible have only been abused!
3.
They have very good
reason to be skeptical
E.
People Have Good
Questions
1.
Is there really a
good God?
2.
Why doesn’t He act?
3.
Can’t God control
evil?
4.
Without solid
answers, the issues of government and society will only go more out of control –
same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia…
F.
We have Good Answers
1.
If we don’t give
people good answers, they will never know that God IS good
2.
Not answers from
great theologians or great philosophers, but from the author of truth itself –
from God!
3.
Faith in God means
faith built upon truth – not a stab in the dark – not a good guess, or best
hope!
G.
The work of a
Christian… the work of the people of this church congregation is
1.
To have answers –
not just blind faith! God commands us ALL to have answers (1Pet 3:15)
2.
To be trained to
TEACH, and explain, and reason with people (2Tim 2:24-26)
3.
To STUDY (2Tim 2:15)
4.
To have a Godly
lifestyle – it matters what your life SAYS
5.
To set out to Open
people’s eyes, and turn people from darkness (ignorance) and from the power of
Satan (who has blinded them) (Acts 26:18; 2Cor 4:4)
6.
To Pray for God to
open heart, minds to the truth as we present it (John 8:32)
H.
This month we will
look at several foundational questions that almost everyone has, but have given
up on finding out the answer to, like:
1.
Is there REALLY a
God?
2.
Is the Bible for
real?
3.
Why do we need God?
4.
Which God is the
Right God? The True God?
5.
Is the Bible
Perfectly True?
6.
Can a Person Change?
7.
What’s the
Difference Between Religion and God?
I.
The first and most
important question to answer (Psalm 14:1):
1.
Is the REALLY a God?
Only a FOOL says there is no God, but evidently, there are a load of fools out
there today!
2.
How do we know He
exists?
3.
What is He like?
4.
Can He be trusted?
5.
People think
“EVERYONE” believes there is a God… but why is it that almost NO ONE is living
like He is there?!!!
II.
Message
A.
CREATION Proves There
is a God (Psalm 19:1,2; Rom 1:20)
1.
Since we all are
here, something caused us.
a.
Your parents, and
their parents, and their parents before them…
b.
But who started it
all?
c.
Evolution says,
billions of accidents brought about the very first primordal life, that led to
trillions of accidental improvements, that led to you being born!
2.
A Scientific Law
proves there is a Creator! The Second Law of Thermodynamics!
a.
Example of a Wind up
clock, or toy spinning top
1)
EVERYTHING is
winding down, not up.
2)
Wearing out, not
getting better
3)
Burning out, running
DOWN-hill
4)
Falling apart
b.
The Bible even says
the scientific law like it was simple – which it is (Ps 102:24-27)!
c.
SOMEBODY had to
start everything if it is winding down!
d.
Why is that so hard
to accept?
e.
If everything has
always been around, then nothing would still be here! The longer things are
here, the more decay there is
1)
Mountains can’t keep
eroding for billions and billions of years – they would ALL be flat by now!
2)
Salt cannot keep
accumulating in the oceans – nothing would be able to live
3)
Stars burn out over
time – there should be no stars still shining
3.
Only a FOOL would
say everything in the universe just happened by an accident. That there is no
God, and nothing to worry about – that science can explain everything!
4.
Next time someone
says, there is no God, say, REALLY?
a.
The very fact that
we are here is a MIRACLE.
b.
LIFE just doesn’t
happen in this universe
c.
It is MORE than a
series of just chemical reactions that make dead molecules mimic life… NO!
d.
The fact that we
LIVE, and that this world is here, PROVES someone MADE IT ALL!
e.
People may say that
it is not that simple.
f.
You just look at
them and say, it is the best answer!
B.
DESIGN Proves there
is a Creator (Psalm 8:3)
1.
Not just the fact
that everything is here, but that everything is DESIGNED
2.
The greater the
design, the greater the Designer
a.
Beavers can make a
wooden dam… Someone smarter made the Inniscarra Dam!
b.
A Thousand Monkeys
can type furiously for years on typewriters and may actually accidentally type
out a short sentence that made sense. But Shakespeare wrote Hamlet the first
try!
3.
Examples of this
fact!
a.
Find words written
on a rock that said, “Kilroy was ‘ere” – you would know that they did not
accidentally appear – someONE intelligent wrote those words
b.
Find a chain of
molecules 3 feet long (1 metre!!!!), all encoded with specific instructions on
how to make eyes, fingers, hair, toes, skin, bones, a heart, 2 lungs,
eye-lashes, etc… YOU BETTER BELIEVE SOMEONE DESIGNED IT!
c.
Find a smooth stone
in a riverbed, you imagine the water made it. If you found an arrowhead, you
would have to admit that an intelligent being fashioned it – made it! It can’t
happen naturally!
4.
Why is this so hard
to accept?
5.
Still want to say
there is no God? No Creator?
6.
More Examples:
a.
Find a car out on an
old abandoned trail – rusted out, no windows, no tires – you wouldn’t say, OH
LOOK! ISN’T NATURE SO GOOD AT MAKING THIS FORD? No! You would say, WHAT JERK
ABANDONED HIS “DESIGNED” and MANUFACTURED CAR OUT HERE TO RUST?
b.
A child, from its
conception is marvellously designed!
1)
Their cells are MORE
complex than a Space Shuttle requiring 30,000 technicians to launch!
2)
More complex than a
city with 10 million people
3)
The mind of a child
is able to learn several languages AT ONCE
4)
It will remember
things from the age of about 3 for the next 90+ years!!!!
5)
As an adult, its
heart will pump 2,000 gallons of blood a day.
6)
The lungs contain
over 300,000 million capillaries (tiny blood vessels). If they were laid end to
end, they would stretch 2400km (1500 miles).
7)
The focusing muscles
of the eyes move about 100,000 times a day. To give your leg muscles the same
workout you would need to walk 80km (50 miles) every day
8)
The acid in your
stomach is strong enough to dissolve razorblades.
9)
The strongest muscle
in the human body is the tongue. While you may not be able to bench press much
with your tongue, it is in fact the strongest muscle in your body in proportion
to its size.
10)
We all truly are
fearfully, wonderfully designed! NOT AN ACCIDENT AT ALL!
C.
Morality Proves there
is a Creator (Romans 2:14,15)
1.
We all hold the same
basic things as right and wrong (John 8:9).
a.
Adultery
b.
Thievery
c.
Disobedience – it
freaks us out when we first say “No!”
d.
Even people who
don’t believe in morality, don’t think you should be disrespectful when talking
to them. They want to be treated with fairness and courtesy!
2.
People don’t just
talk about what we do – that is amoral – no morality, that is just history!
3.
We talk about what
we OUGHT to do – THAT is morality, and that is how societies better themselves
4.
The next time
someone says there is no God, ask them if it is okay to punch them! Spit in
their face! Mug them and take their money!
a.
They will respond
No! Of course not!
b.
Ask them why is it
not okay
c.
They will say it is
wrong
d.
But if we are all
just animals in the evolutionary tree of life, if I am stronger then you, and I
can get away with it, then it doesn’t matter! Might makes right!
e.
If they still hold
that it is wrong, then you have them. If it is wrong, then we are NOT just
animals, but moral beings that have been wired with a sense of right and wrong
whether we will admit it or not!
5.
The fact that
everyone on this planet has some morality before they burn it out with the sins
they commit, PROVES they were created by a good God who expects us to live
BETTER than we do naturally!
D.
THE BIBLE Proves
there is a Creator!
1.
Next time someone
says, How do you KNOW there is a God, POINT to this Bible and say
it is no ordinary book!
a.
Don’t be afraid to
use your Bible to prove there is a living, eternal God in heaven!
b.
THAT Book claims to
be “thus saith the LORD!” and then
proves it!
2.
Somebody smarter
than Aristotle, Einstein, and Stephen Hawkins, wrote down things that could not
even have been imagined 500 years ago, much less 3,000 years ago
a.
Isaiah 40:21,22 “the
CIRCLE of the earth”
b.
Job 26:7 “He hangeth
the earth upon NOTHING”
c.
That dead animals
and dead people need to be stayed away from if you want to stay healthy – before
anyone had any idea that there are GERMS and BACTERIA that can make you sick and
kill you!
3.
The prophecies are
impossible to repeat
a.
Of the birthplace of
a Messiah being written 700 years before His birth
b.
Of the means of the
murder of that same Messiah – crucifixion, with the hands and feet being PIERCED
c.
That the Messiah
would heal the lame, and raise the dead
4.
Over 40 authors
wrote the 66 books of the Bible in different lands (Job in Mesopotamia, Moses in
Jordan, Paul in
5.
This Book examines
our hearts and exposes our sins! Proving that our problems are not caused by
faulty genes, but by sinful hearts!
6.
Still want to say
there is no God? Only a FOOL would still not believe there is a God in heaven
who made everything!
E.
A Changed Life Proves
A Saviour!
1.
One of the greatest
PROOFS that there is a God
a.
Is not the
magnificent temples made with hands, or the amazing accomplishments of religious
zealots…
b.
It is the changed
life of a sinner, who once was lost, but now is found!
2.
Changed from a life
of sin and sorrow, to one that is full of life and joy and peace and forgiveness
(Romans 14:17)
3.
2 Corinthians 3:2
4.
John 4:28-30, 39
5.
Mark 5:1-8, 15
6.
No amount of
explaining, can compare to a life that has been thoroughly CHANGED by the work
of the God of the Bible in a man’s life!
7.
No amount of
evidence is equal to ONE DIFFERENT life!
III.
Conclusion
A.
Evangelism means
more than talking about heaven
1.
It means helping
people know that they can know God
2.
Trust the Bible –
know the way to trust God
3.
Helping people seek
truth – not a fairy tale, or
B.
Not everyone has
deep, skeptical questions, but most do, and most are not answered anymore
C.
People Have Good
Questions
D.
We have Good Answers
– the ONLY answers
E.
The work of a
Christian… the work of the people of this church congregation is
1.
To have answers –
not just blind faith! (1Pet 3:15)
2.
To be trained to
TEACH, and explain, and reason with people (2Tim 2:24-26)
3.
To STUDY (2Tim 2:15)
4.
To have a Godly
lifestyle – it matters what your life SAYS
5.
To set out to Open
people’s eyes, and turn people from darkness (ignorance) and from the power of
Satan (who has blinded them) (Acts 26:18; 2Cor 4:4)
6.
To Pray for God top
open heart, minds to the truth as we present it (John 8:32)
F.
We will look at
several foundational questions that almost everyone has, but have given up on
finding out the answer to, but this morning, we have looked at the first
question on most minds and hearts: Is there REALLY a God?
G.
The answer is a
resounding YES!
1.
Creation
Proves There is a God
2.
Design
Proves there is a Creator
3.
Morality
Proves there is a Creator
4.
The Bible
Proves there is a Creator!
5.
A Changed Life
Proves A Saviour!
H.
Any of those PROOFS
could be just what someone needs to hear before they will listen to you explain
to them to Gospel, and their need for repentance because of sin!
I.
Take this message
seriously!
J.
The FACT that there
is a God in heaven ought to frighten you… but it ought to drive you to seek to
know Him… the author of this Bible, the Creator of your life, and the Judge of
your sins! He is waiting for someone to look to Him to be saved – to follow the
life of His Son, Jesus!