8.14.16 ~ The Bible is Good News!

Preacher: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Basic Christianity

Last week we began our study into some of the major doctrines of Christian
theology.
Hebrews 1:1-2, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.”
When it says, “in the past,” it seems to be speaking of the Old Testament, and when it says, “in these last days,” it seems to be speaking of the New Testament.
Last week we considered how God reveals Himself through General Revelation (Creation and Conscience), and Special Revelation (Theophanies, Miracles & Signs, and His Word). God has given us external evidence (creation, Romans 1:18-20), and internal evidence (conscience, Romans 2:14-15).
Psalm 19:1-4, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Robert Jastrow, astrophysicist and Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, died in 2008, said:
“Now we see how the astronomical evidence supports the biblical view of the origin of the world… The essential elements in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same. Consider the enormousness of the problem: Science has proved that the universe exploded into being at a certain moment. It asks what cause produced this effect? Who or what put the matter and energy into the Universe? And science cannot answer these questions…”
“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been there for centuries” (God and the Astronomers [New York: Norton, 1978], pp. 14, 114, 116).
Giant telescopes are able to view stars and galaxies billions of light years away – light travels at 186,000 miles per second, so, a light year, in distance, is 5.88 trillion miles. How big is the universe? Only God knows.
The earth is about 25,000 miles in circumference, weighing 13 septillion pounds (13 with 24 zeros), and it just hangs in space at a 23.5° tilt (causing the sun’s light and energy to hit the different regions of the Earth at different angles throughout the course of the earth’s daily rotation and yearly orbit). Spinning at about 1000 miles per hour, the earth is moving in a rotation around the sun at about 67,000 miles per hour (at an average distance of 93 million miles from the sun), in an orbit that is 580 million miles long.
How can such mass, speed and power, be intricately and harmoniously held together on a precise course? A Master Designer, Creator, and Sustainer is the only plausible answer to what we see and now know exists!
The name Helen Keller is probably familiar to most of you, popularized in the 1962 movie, Miracle Worker. Helen, born in 1880, was a normal baby until about 18 months of age, when she contracted scarlet fever, leaving her blind, deaf and mute. Her family hired a young teacher named Ann Sullivan to be her care giver, through whom Helen learned how to communicate via touch, and eventually she learned to talk.
When Ann Sullivan first tried to tell Helen about God, the girl responded that she already knew He existed, but she did not know His name (The Story of My Life [New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1905], pp. 368-74).
Do you remember howPaul reveal God to the pagan philosophers on Mars Hill in
Athens (Acts 17:23-28)? Paul said he was going to introduce them to the
“unknown” God, telling them that God “is not far off from anyone.”
Hebrews 4:12, “The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-
edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
There is a preponderance of evidence about God displayed in creation, there is also the internal witness of our conscience, making us justifiably guilty if we reject Him; and yet, God mercifully and graciously reaches out to us, by sending His own Son to save us, by dying for us, and all this is written in God’s Word.
God’s Word tells us that God loves us, has revealed Himself to us, and wants us to have a personal and eternal relationship with Him.
Ezekiel 33:11, “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I
take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!’”
Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek me with all your heart.”
1Timothy 2:3-4, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
2Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Romans 1:21, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
Wow, so although mankind is conscious of God’s existence, most of mankind will not glorify Him, the majority of the billions of people who have lived on this planet (which was made especially for them, by God) have rejected Him, unwilling to acknowledge, let alone to honor and worship Him.
Psalm 29:2, “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in
the splendor of His holiness.”
1Corinthians 10:31, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Revelation 4:11, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
Man doesn’t thank God for all he has received from God (life, food, water, purpose, pleasure, a future and a hope); the majority of mankind is indifferent toward God, leading them to foolish thinking, allowing their hearts to become darkened, separating them farther from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus the Lord.
Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
2Peter 1:2-4, “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
When men reject or suppress the knowledge of God as displayed in creation and written in their consciences – they remain guilty, without excuse, utterly deserving of God’s righteous judgement to be condemned to hell!
John 3:16-18, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because He has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” 36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”
God mercifully put on flesh (Isaiah 7:14), lived among us (John 1:1-4, 14), took our punishment for sin (Romans 5:8), and even removed sin’s curse, from all who confess Him as Lord & Savior (8:1; 10:9-10).
Christians serve and honor God best by knowing and proclaiming God’s Good News, that God’s Son came to save us, that we would continue to proclaim the message of salvation to all who will listen.
Romans 10:13-15, ”’Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”
Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Pastor Mike <‘(((><