GOD, THE BIBLE ND JESUS

GOD, THE BIBLE AND JESUS

REASON FOR WHAT WE BELIEVE

Gen.1:1; John 1:1; Psalm 19:1-14;1 Peter 3:15-16

Have you been asked the question by a child, “Who made God”? What was your answer? Or, “What is God like”? What about, “Did God make the world or did the world com about by the Big Bang”? “How can God b one and three at the same time”? These are genuine questions children ask, and we’d better have answers for them. Even if you have not been asked these questions before, just wait, it is mater of time before a child or a godless person brings them up. The difference is that a child's question is genuine, but atheist's question is deceptive. There are predators out there – unbelieving teachers, atheist professors, skeptical friends, godless books like The God Delusion, The DaVinci Code and other writings. Then you have the children’s own hearts. We must therefore equip our children to go out there and face the world and overcome.

In the beginning there was God and in the end there will be God. In the beginning God created everything. He gave us the Bible as our guidebook and Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Anyone who believes in Jesus will be saved. Anyone who does not believe will be damned.

The Christian faith is based on evidence, not on blind faith. Concerning faith Paul the apostle said, “I know whom I have believed” (2Tim. 1:12). That evidence is found in the Bible and in creation (Psalm 19:1-14).

1.    OF GOD THE UNCREATED CREATOR

Genesis 1:1; John 1:1; Psalm 19:1-14; Rom.1:19-24

St Anselm of Canterbury described God as “A being than which nothing greater can be conceived”. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, morally perfect. The universe exists because God made it. Without God there will be no existence. God is a necessary being. He is the uncaused cause of everything. Job asked the question, “Can you by searching find out God?” (Job 11:7; Eccl.3:11, 17). Just like a watch cannot know the maker, so man cannot find out the perfection of God on this side of eternity (Isa. 45:9; 1Cor.13:12). Though you spend your whole life studying God’s creation, you will not be able to completely understand a fraction of creation. God said to Abraham, “Count the stars if you are able to” (Gen.15:5, 6).

A.  God is Omnipotent. This means God is all powerful. He can create things out of nothing. Even now God can make things out of nothing (Luke 3:8). God has always existed though that may be difficult for you to understand (Isa.43:13). He can do all things (Mat.19:26; Eph.3:20)

B.    God is Omniscient. This means He knows all things, including thoughts that will form in our minds before they are formed (Psalm 139:1-16). Look at things which God made out of nothing: (Day 1: Light; Day 2: Sky and Waters; Day 3: Plants; Day 4: Sun, Moon and Stars; Day 5: Sea and Flying Creatures; Day 6: Land animals and Man; Day 7: God’s Rest. God created the most amazingly intelligent, complex and beautiful things. He crowned the creation with human beings – male and female. He fine-tuned the universe to make it tastefully habitable. We do not subscribe to changing the nature or order of God’s creation (Rom.1:22-28).

C.  God is Morally Perfect. He gave us the most beautiful laws that help organize our coexistence both in the family, in society and at large. If there is no God, then there is no moral law. All will be chaos and anarchy and nihilism. Life will be unlivable. Life will then fulfil Darwin’s evolutionary theory – survival of the fittest. If you have the power you can swallow your neighbor to dominate him. You can steal, kill, rape with no consequence to you. You will not be able to condemn war or evil. But thank God there is God. Thank God He has given us His great laws. So we can live in relative peace today.

2.    OF THE BIBLE THE MOST TRUSTWORTHY BOOK OF FAITH

A.  Bible Statistics

Is the Bible trustworthy? The Bible is like no other book ever written.

i.                 Written over a period of 1500 years.

ii.               Written by more than forty authors – Moses, a political leader and a Judge of Israel; David, the King of Israel, a shepherd, musician and warrior; Amos a herdsman; Joshua a military general; Daniel, a prime minister; Solomon a king and philosopher; Luke historian and physician; Peter a fisherman; Matthew a tax collector; Paul  a rabbi.

iii.             Written in different places – Moses wrote in the wilderness; Jeremiah wrote in a dungeon; Daniel in a palace; Paul inside prison walls; John in exile at Patmos.

iv.            Written at different times – David in time of war, Solomon in time of peace and prosperity, Daniel in time of exile

v.              Written during different moods – heights of joy, depths of sorrow; in times of uncertainty…

vi.            Written in three continents – Asia, Africa and Europe

vii.           Written in three languages – Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek

B.    The Bible’s Uniqueness

The Bible is unique in its continuity; unique in circulation. It has been a best seller of all time, with many people like me having many volumes and versions. It is unique in its translations (has been translated into 2,200 languages). The Bible is unique in its survival through time– no other book of antiquity can be attested to bibliographically as the Bible; Through persecution – in AD 303 the Roman emperor Diocletian issued an edict to stop all Christians in the empire from worshipping and to burn their Bibles. Twenty-five years later, the Emperor Constantine ordered that 50 copies of the bible should be produced at the expense of the State!

The French infidel, Voltaire boasted that 100 years after him, the Bible would be swept from existence and passed into history. Fifty years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society used his press and house to produce stacks of Bible (J.McDowell).

C.  The Bibles Internal Evidence

2Tim.3:16; 2Pet.1:21; John 16:13; Heb.4:12; Rom.12:2

The Bible itself declares that it is the word of God, not just ordinary writing of men. God moved Holy men to write the word of the Bible. The truth in the Bible was taught by the Holy Spirit and cannot be controverted (invalidated or refuted). The Bible can expose, convict and rebuke. It easily discovers what is in the hearts of men. It can encourage and comfort those who grieve. The fatherless, the motherless, the widows, the oppressed have found comfort and solace through it.

One of the greatest powers of the Bible is its transforming power. It changes people. Sinners, adulterers, murderers, thieves have regularly had their lives turned around by reading and applying the words of the Bible to themselves. It can change your life if you read and apply it.

D.   The Bible is Indestructible

     “No other book has been so chopped, knifed, sifted, scrutinized and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion or psychology…has been subjected to mass attack as the bible? With such venom and skepticism? With such thoroughness and erudition? Upon every chapter, line and tenet? The bible is still loved by millions, read by millions, and studied by millions (More Evidence that Demands a Verdict, J. McDowell quoting Bernard Ramm). No other book in human possession offers so much to the reader.

3.    OF JESUS THE ONLY SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD

Gen.3:15; 12:3; Isa.9:6; 63:1-3; Luke 4:18-21

The Old Testament had quite a lot to say about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ – His birth, His forerunner, His ministry, His passion, His resurrection, His ascension, His second coming were all predicted in the Old Testament Scripture. Jesus Himself applied Old Testament Scripture to Himself. He claimed that the entire Old Testament scriptures were written concerning Him (John 5:39-40, 46, 47; Luke 24:44). All the feasts of the Old Testament were fulfilled by events in His life

His conception was announce by the angel Gabriel. He birth was heralded by angels. The unique entrance into history is a great sign of Christ’s deity (Isa7:14). He was born of a virgin.

Christ Jesus had a solid claim to be God (John 1:1-5, 9-14; 5:23-24; 14:8-9; 8:58)

Notice how He spoke authoritatively in His own name in the Sermon on the Mount. Notice also how He manifested the power to forgive sin – something only God can do (Mat.9:2; Luke 7:47-38)

His disciples understood that He was God (Phil.2:6-11). Christ was fully God and fully man when He came into the world. He is the express image of God to the world (Col.1:15-17; 2:9; Heb.1:3).

He is the Son of God as well as the Son of man. The influence of Christ and His Church in the world is incalculable. We do not have enough time today to go far with the study of Jesus.

What we do today is to echo His call to all men (Mat.11:28-30). If any man is thirsty, If any woman is thirsty, let them come to me and drink (John 7:37-39).

The Climax of Christ’s coming into the world is that He is coming back again (1Thes.4:13-18; 1Cor.15:51-58). He came as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He has offered salvation to all who would come to Him.

He who believes in Him shall not be condemned, but he who believes not shall be damned (John3:18). That is the final act. Either you believe or you don’t believe. But I urge you to believe today and be saved for there is salvation in no other person and there is no other name given for man’s salvation.