Introduction: Does it seem reasonable that anything as complex as the
universe, or even as complex as you, came about by accident? Isn’t it
more reasonable to believe that Jaguars (the car) are assembled by
chimpanzees(the animal), then to believe the universe came about by
chance? The more reasonable questions are these: What kind of a God
do we have? Has He decided to talk to humans and tell them about
Himself? How can we find His messages? Let’s dive into our study of
the Bible and see what it reveals about all of these questions!
- Some Things Are Just Obvious!
- Read Romans 1:18-19. Whenever a text starts out with the
“wrath of God” I involuntarily duck! Seriously, what is
God upset about here? (God is angry with those who hide
His truth. Paul could be saying one of two things: 1)The
wicked deny God because their wicked deeds tend to hide
the truth about God; or, 2) Those who deny the existence
of God do so because they are wicked.) - Read Romans 1:20. Why are the wicked so obviously wrong
about God? (The existence of God is plain from what He has
created.) - Do you agree that the creation reveals God? (Last
Sabbath I saw a fabulous film on this very subject.
The speaker is Louis Giglio and the film is entitled
“How Great is Our God.” You can find the first of
several parts on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_82lZ2PpYQE&feature=related - Notice that Paul also says “so that men are without
excuse.” Excuse for what? Believing in God, or
believing that God has some message for us? (Paul’s
reference to God’s “divine nature” argues that nature
communicates some moral message.) - Read Romans 1:21-23. What is the first moral truth we can
learn from the creation? (That since there is a Creator
God, we should glorify Him and thank Him for the creation.
From that logically follows that we would not worship an
image of something created, but rather we should worship
the Creator Himself.) - Let’s skip down a few verses in Paul’s argument to see how
he further applies this idea. Read Romans 1:26-27. What
does Paul mean by “natural relations?” (What is implied by
the nature of how we were created.) - How does the creation teach us that homosexual
practice is wrong? (I listened to an impassioned plea
for money to help fix the environment so that polar
bears do not become extinct. I would guess,
logically, that one of the “environmental” issues is
to tell polar bears to avoid homosexuality. Of
course, the money-raisers had nothing of the sort in
mind. But, I trust you get Paul’s point about
“natural relations.”) - Spokespersons!
- Read Hebrews 1:1. How does this text say that God
communicates to humans? (Through His prophets.) - Notice the switch here. Paul tells us to look around
and find messages from God. Hebrews tells us that
God spoke through prophets. The creation argument is
obvious. What “obvious” reason have we to believe
that prophets were actually speaking for God? (Two
things. First, if the creation is proof of a Creator,
isn’t it logical that the Creator would want to
communicate with us? Second, the messages of the
prophets are consistent. If a bunch of egotists over
the centuries falsely claimed to speak for God, you
would expect them to have as many messages as there
were messengers. A consistent message suggests a
common source.) - Read Hebrews 1:2-3. Why should we believe Jesus is God?
(First, Jesus claimed to be God ( Matthew 26:63-64; John
12:44-46). Second, His resurrection was unlike anything
within human power or authority. This is clearly “God”
stuff.) - What message from God did we receive through Jesus?
(Jesus says that if you know Me you know the Father.
John 8:19. If we study Jesus’ life, we understand the
nature of God.) - Look It Up!
- Read Hebrews 4:12-13. How many of you can describe the
Bibles in your home as “living and active” as opposed to
“dust collectors?” - Notice the language “it judges the thoughts and
attitudes of the heart.” Our topic is whether God
reveals Himself to us. What role does this suggest
the Bible plays in this revelation? (All of us have
thoughts and attitudes about how we should live and
treat others. The Bible tests these thoughts and
attitudes against God’s standard of conduct.) - Have you ever said, “I wish that God would reveal His
will to me” on whatever is of most interest to you at
the moment? - If the answer is “Yes,” have you looked up what
God said on the topic in the Bible? If not, did
you really want to know God’s will? - Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17. What is the source of the Bible?
(God.) - What role can the Bible play in revealing God’s will
for our life? (The phrase “teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training” seems to cover all aspects
of life.) - Listen!
- Read John 16:7-9. Who is the “Counselor?” (The Holy
Spirit.) - Is Richard Dawkins (someone who does not believe in
God) troubled about his sins? (Notice that verse 9
says that the Holy Spirit convicts even atheists of
sin! (Or at least those who do not believe in
Jesus.)) - Read John 16:10-11. Have you been convicted in the past
about your sins? Have you been convicted in the past
about what you should do about your sins? - If you answered “Yes,” to either of these, is this
additional proof that God exists and that He is
actively involved in communicating with humans? - This is another problem facing evolutionists. Why
would we evolve a conscience? Why would this “pile of
meat” that controls the functions of the body have
any thoughts beyond what is necessary to survive? - What is the source of our conscience? If we did
not evolve it, then it must reflect powers
beyond the human, right? - Read 1 Timothy 4:1-4. Can we have a malformed conscience?
A conscience which tells us not to do things that are
perfectly acceptable to do? - How can you distinguish between your own
thoughts and the Holy Spirit speaking to you? - How can you distinguish between “deceiving
spirits and things taught by demons” and the
Holy Spirit speaking to you? - Read Matthew 12:31-32. What is blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit? Does it have anything to do confusing the message
of the Holy Spirit with your own thinking or confusing it
with demonic temptation? (To help sort this out, we need
to look at the background.) - Read Matthew 12:22-24. What was Jesus talking about when
He referred to speaking against the Holy Spirit? (Jesus is
warning those who attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to
the work of Satan.) - Why would this be an unforgivable sin? Why would
saying bad things about one part of the Trinity be
worse than saying bad things about another part of
the Trinity? - Read 1 Samuel 3:12-14. God is giving a message through
Samuel to High Priest Eli about Eli’s sons, the priests.
Is this yet another example of an unforgivable sin? If so,
how many unforgivable sins exist? (I don’t think any per
se unforgivable sins exist. Recall that Eli’s sons were in
charge of the sanctuary procedure for the forgiveness of
sins. They held the levers of the sin forgiveness process.
Since they had corrupted the process, they could not be
forgiven. The same idea exists with “grieving” the Holy
Spirit. It is an essential part of the sin forgiveness
process – it convicts us of sin. Thus, if we reject the
Holy Spirit we have corrupted the process for the
forgiveness of sin.) - Read Titus 1:15-16. If you corrupt your conscience, are
you slipping into a place where, as a practical matter,
your sin cannot be forgiven because you have corrupted the
process? - Having established that we can corrupt the Holy Spirit’s
work, let’s go back to our unresolved issue about how can
we distinguish between Holy Spirit messages coming through
our conscience and other messages? (Read again John 16:15.
The Holy Spirit takes His messages from God. Thus, the
messages of the Holy Spirit should line up with the other
revealed messages from God – through the Bible, true
prophets and nature.) - What is your level of alertness to the messages of the
Holy Spirit? Can you hear clearly? Or, have the messages
become barely discernable? - Friend, we have a God who wants to communicate His will to
us. Will you look for His messages and conform your life
to them? Will you listen for the Holy Spirit and be open
to His leading? - Next week: Sin.
