Complete Sermon Notes
INTRO: “Try Me / Test Me”
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NOT HERE to “disprove science” –
COPERNICUS, COLLINS, KEPLER, GALILEO, BACON, PASCAL, NEWTON, PASTEUR
Science answers HOW / Faith answers WHY –
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Example of a “Cake Maker.”
STEPHEN MEYER – Ph.D. from Cambridge – said that “most biologists who specialize in origin of life research now reject chance as a possible explanation for the origin of the information in DNA…”
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WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “SCIENCE”?
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Science attempts to explain through logic, consistency, and a systematic investigation of data using experiments to arrive at a well tested explanation. GRAVITY FOR EXAMPLE –
SCIENCE ASKS: 1] What would we expect. 2] Does the explanation match what we observe?
We’ve never observed evolution – it’s a theory.
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Time is the magic wand of evolution.
PUT 3 AREAS TO THE TEST
CREATION EVIDENCE
We have NEVER seen something come from nothing – And explosions have NEVER created order.
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Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…”
SHOW ME – even if we saw GOD a million miles high, we’d blame NASA.
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Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
It’s Not blind faith – it’s supported by “what is seen”. . .
1] What would we expect. 2] Does the BIBLICAL explanation match what we observe? YES
ANTONY FLEW was once the world’s most famous atheist. But in 2004 he left atheism: “The integrated complexity of life itself—which is far more complex than the physical Universe—can only be explained in terms of an Intelligent Source.”
We don’t check brains at the door – we see the CONSISTENCY and LOGIC of…
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Pic. of a stained glass at Saint Peter’s Church in York and the Double Helix of the DNA.
RUSHED last time: – The Bible confirms science –
Job said the earth free floats in space and Isaiah said the earth is a sphere in a time when they believed a god or turtle held it up.
Hebrews talks about tiny unseen particles that appear in the creation of life.
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The radius of the quark is smaller than 43 billion-billionths of a centimetre.
Leviticus says to wash with running water to prevent disease.
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In 1850, a man saved lives with three words: wash your hands. Doctors were going from the morgue straight to the delivery room.
Psalm 8 talks about the “paths of the sea.”
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In 1855, Matthew Maury wrote the first textbook on modern oceanography. The words of Psalm 8 stuck in his mind: ‘whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas’.
Genesis – Our bodies are made from the earth, sharing 28 base & trace elements:
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“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
Psalm 102 – the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics – The universe will perish and wear out like a garment.
Jeremiah – stars are innumerable but early scientists such as Kepler said 1,005.
“The Bible is full of errors,” is the excuse we make so we don’t have to follow it.
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COMPARE IT TO: Bloodletting, Trepanation [boring holes], Animal Dung Ointments, Corpse Medicine, etc.
THE FLOOD TEST – 1] What would we expect. 2] Does the explanation match what we observe?
We’d expect the FOSSIL record to match the biblical account.
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The majority of fossils are all mixed together with no transitional form [Creation].
Research the “Cambrian Explosion” – the explosion of life few want to discuss.
Darwin [1859 publication], “IF IT COULD BE DEMONSTRATED THAT ANY COMPLEX ORGAN EXISTED WHICH COULD NOT POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN FORMED BY NUMEROUS, SUCCESSIVE, SLIGHT MODIFICATIONS, MY THEORY WOULD ABSOLUTELY BREAK DOWN.”
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We see that a cataclysmic event occurred where things died rapidly [Flood].
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Why are seashells found in the Himalayas and the Grand Canyon [Flood].
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The Grand Canyon’s limestone layer contains tens of millions of fossils with nearly one in seven fossilized standing vertically!
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Soft tissue found in dinosaur bones.
Quotes from SCIENTISTS:
Alan Sandage (winner of the Crawford prize in astronomy): “I find it quite improbable that such order came out of chaos. There has to be some organizing principle. God to me is a mystery but is the explanation for the miracle of existence – why there is something instead of nothing.”
Arno Penzias (Nobel prize in physics): “Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing, one with the very delicate balance needed to provide exactly the conditions required to permit life, and one which has an underlying (one might say ‘supernatural’) plan.”
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IRONY: We have answers that make sense [LOGIC] and scientists in all areas confirm it, yet we appear foolish. But others say that something came from nothing [ILLOGICAL] and they appear intellectual.
Why the differences? Some driven by hatred; others open and teachable.
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“The fool [LACKING GOOD SENSE] says in his heart, ‘There is no God’.” – Psalm 14:1
“It is absolutely safe to say that, if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid, or insane…” — Richard Dawkins
Which leads to the next proof [TEST]
MORAL EVIDENCE – No matter where you go, morality is encoded in our genetic design – good vs. evil – right vs. wrong – every culture has a HERO and a VILLAIN.
FRANCIS COLLINS – Renowned geneticist and head of the Human Genome Project: “I had started this journey of intellectual exploration to confirm my atheism. That now lay in ruins as the argument from the Moral Law (and many other issues) forced me to admit the plausibility of the God hypothesis…”
HERE we answer the WHY?
Faith AND morality answer many deep questions of the heart. We understand evil – it explains suffering – “why am I here” is answered!
KEY – If there are moral laws, then there is a moral Law Giver – it’s a universal struggle
Deut. 30:19, “This day…I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”
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Morality is not “flexible” when it comes to absolutes—you don’t change truth—truth changes you!
Truth is restrictive – it has to be exclusive or it’s not truth.
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Gavity
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2 + 2 = 4
Logic, consistency, and a systematic investigation of MORAL data proves that there is…
The Temptation and Fall of Man in Genesis 3 –
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It makes sense logically – it matches what we observe in our world today:
People are dying physically and spiritually.
Rejecting God has nothing to do with facts, but everything to do with the “fact” that many don’t want there to be a God!
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THAT’S WHY A message of love has become a message of hate: 2 Timothy 3:12, “…and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”
INTERNAL (heart) EVIDENCE – Billions have been transformed.
Here’s where the rubber meets the road and why we see words like hypocrisy.
OR People can have the knowledge and the morality but are not change.
1] What would we expect. 2] Does the explanation match what we observe?
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2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
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Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved..
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Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.
This ANSWERS the WHY – we’ve been changed and transformed.
THE EXPLANATION MATCHES WHAT WE OBSERVE – this is the greatest confirmation.
CLOSING: We struggle because we don’t have all the answers.
Richard Dawkins: “The idea that God could only forgive our sins by having his son tortured to death as a scapegoat, is surely from an objective point of view, a deeply unpleasant idea. If God wanted to forgive us our sins, why didn’t he just forgive them? Why did he have to have his son tortured?”
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If God doesn’t exist, why ask this question? If He does exist, then the answer has enormous ramifications.
I can either use this question to excuse my rebellion, or thank God for saving me from my rebellion.
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Why couldn’t a judge simply forgive a murderer? A price has to be paid!
A LAW is not a LAW without a punishment. And the punishment is determined by the severity of the crime.
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We put Christ on the Cross – the Romans tortured Him.
Rom. 8:3, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son…”
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Good works won’t cut it – only the blood of a perfect, all sufficient sacrifice.
1 Peter 2:24, “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
WHY? I have the same question … so did Jesus.
He willing gave His life – “My God, My God…”
GOD IS LOVE is not a concept; it’s an all consuming passion. It’s not a principle; it’s a relationship. It’s not a scripture to be quoted, but a truth so powerful that billions have been set free.
It’s not THE BAD becoming GOOD – it’s the DEAD coming to life.
If you’re PUTTING GOD to THE TEST [in the wrong way]..
