Three Reasons I Believe

Q: What does the Bible say about the witness of God?

The Bible emphasizes that the witness of God is greater than any human testimony, affirming His truth in creation, scripture, and the incarnation of His Son. According to 1 John 5:9-10, the witness of God, particularly regarding His Son, is paramount. The passage asserts that if we accept human testimony, we must recognize that God's testimony is far superior. This witness manifests through creation—the heavens declare the glory of God—and in His Word, which has endured the test of time while impacting countless lives throughout history. Furthermore, God’s ultimate revelation is found in Jesus Christ, His incarnate Son, who serves as the perfect representation of the Father. All these elements come together to form a formidable foundation for belief.

Q: How do we know the Word of God is true?

The truth of the Word of God is validated through its remarkable unity, historical endurance, and life-transforming power as noted in scripture. The Bible stands out as a miraculous compilation of texts, written over 1,500 years by numerous authors from different backgrounds, yet it tells a cohesive story centered on Christ. As 2 Peter 1:19 explains, the scriptures come by divinely inspired revelation rather than human invention. Additionally, its resilience against attempts to discredit or alter it, coupled with its continued relevance and impact across cultures and generations, underpins its truth. The sustenance found in God’s Word for believers necessitates recognizing its divine authorship and transformative power.

Q: Why is having faith important for Christians?

Faith is crucial for Christians as it is the means through which they receive assurance of salvation and live in accordance with God's will. Faith serves as the foundation of a believer's relationship with God. In Hebrews 11:1, faith is defined as the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. It is through faith that believers accept the promises of God and experience the reality of His presence. As Paul teaches in Galatians 2:20, they live by faith in the Son of God, who loved them and gave Himself for them. Furthermore, faith is not a blind leap; rather, it is substantiated by the witness of God, the witness of men, and the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. This profound belief fosters assurance, comfort, and ultimately, salvation.

Q: How can we prove our faith according to the Bible?

The Bible instructs believers to examine themselves and provide evidence of their faith through their thoughts, words, and actions. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul urges believers to examine themselves to see whether they are in the faith. This self-examination involves reflecting on one’s relationship with Christ and the life transformation that accompanies genuine faith. James also emphasizes that faith without works is dead, suggesting that true faith naturally produces evidence in the form of good works (James 2:17). Such scrutiny not only assures the believer of the authenticity of their faith, but also manifests the transformative power of the Gospel in their lives, establishing them as true children of God.

Now, the title of this message
this evening is Three Reasons I Believe. Three Reasons I Believe. And here in 1 John, chapter 5,
look at verses 9 and 10 with me. He says, if we receive the
witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. the witness of God and the witness
within. Now, most everyone has their
opinion concerning life and death, life after death. Most everyone
has their opinion, strong opinions. Ask anyone and they'll readily
give you their opinion. And most everyone has formed
their opinion on the basis of something they've heard or No
one merely or usually makes up what they think or what they
believe, but rather they've been influenced in some way or another.
Although someone may say that they just think, yes, they've
been influenced at some time by someone or some thing that
they've read or heard. Now, I ask you, what do you believe about life? about death and thereafter. And I ask you, where do you get
your information? Now, someone who does not have
any particular religious beliefs, that is, an unbeliever, they
may say this, Well, I believe that this life is all there is.
That after you die, you're like an animal. You go nowhere. There is no life after. After
you die, that's it. You have to make the best of
what's now. And I ask that person, what makes
you so sure? Can you prove it? Where do you
get your information? Where do you base your attention
upon? Are you willing to stake your
life upon that? Now, then someone else may say
this. They may say, I believe in God.
I believe that God created man, and that man must serve God,
for someday he will die, and either he'll go to heaven or
hell, depending on how he served that God. And I ask that person
the same question. What makes you so sure? Where
do you get your information? Are you willing to stake your
life upon what you believe? Are you willing to lay your life
down and be at peace knowing that what you believe is the
truth? Are you? Where do you get your information?
And most everybody in this room will say this when asked these
questions. They'll say, I believe in the
Word of God. That's the foundation of my faith,
the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God
Himself. And yes, I'll stake my life on
it. I believe most everybody in here would readily say that. This is the foundation of what
I believe. I'm staking it all right here.
All my marbles are right here. But what if somebody says to
you, well prove it. Prove that this is the Word of
God. Now you may say, well I don't
have to. I don't have to prove it. It just is, and if you don't
believe it, you're a fool. Well, that's true. That's true. But doesn't this very book say,
be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a
reason of the host that in you needs to be feared? We call ourselves
believers, and we've based all of our opinion upon this book,
the Bible, Well, if somebody asks you sometime
a reason for why you believe what you believe, are you able
to tell that person? Or are you embarrassed and tongue-tied,
and not really able to explain it? Another place in this book
says, Study to show yourself a proof unto God, a workman that
needeth not do. Another place says this, let
your speech be always with grace, seasoned with thought, that you
may know how you ought to answer every question. So let me say clearly this evening
that God does not need proving. God doesn't need for men to prove
He is existent for His Word. Not at all. He doesn't need proving,
nor does the Word of God need proving that it is the Word of
God. But we do. We need proving. We need proving. Look over at
2 Corinthians chapter 13. We need proving, and God It will
prove us. Look at 2 Corinthians 13. And being flesh that we are,
we need some proof that God is. We do. 2 Corinthians 13, oh,
the Lord didn't finally, he didn't finally deny Thomas what he wished. Thomas said, I just won't believe
unless I see it. A nail pricked in his hand and
it cracked. He finally solved it. The Lord showed him then.
He uprated him for his unbelief, but he did show him, didn't he?
He said, OK, if you insist, here it is. And in 2 Corinthians 13,
verse 5, it says, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.
Prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves?
How that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobate, that
is, have a mind void of understanding or knowledge. Look just a few
pages over at Galatians chapter 6. Just a few pages over. Galatians
chapter 6 verse 3. Galatians 6 verse 3. He says,
If a man seek himself to be something, when he's nothing, when he's
not what he thinks he is, oh, he's deceived. He's deceived
with himself. But let every man prove his own
worth. Is that what it says there in
verse four? Let every man prove his own work, and then shall
he have rejoicing within him, in himself alone, and not in
another. Nobody will have to tell him.
Nobody will have to believe for him. Nobody will have to convince
him. And then look just a few more pages, about ten or twelve
pages over at 1 Thessalonians chapter five. 1 Thessalonians
chapter five, verse twenty-one. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 21. The Apostle Paul says again here,
prove all things. Proof. Well, okay. Now, let me say this, first of
all. Biblical faith, biblical faith
is, first of all, It's physically blind faith. Understand what
I'm saying? It's physically blind. In other
words, we look not at things that are seen, but at things
that are unseen. Blessed are the eyes that have
not seen. Blessed are you who have not seen, yet you believe. Scripture says no man has seen
God at any time. Nobody in this room has seen
Jesus Christ with their seated eyes. Nobody. Oral Roberts claimed
he has. But it didn't fit the description
we read over here in Revelation, did it, gentlemen? The world
says, show me, and I'll believe you. Seeing is believing. The Bible goes the other way
around. It says, believing is seeing. The Bible says, believe,
and I'll show you. Christ said, blessed are they
that have not seen. So biblical faith is, first of
all, is physically blind faith. We don't look with these eyes.
Secondly, biblical faith is childlike faith. Childlike. Christ said
this, except you be converted and become as little children,
you'll in no way, you're not even going to see the kingdom.
You're not going to see it. You're not going to see Christ.
Except you become as little children, you know, with your eyes wide
open, waiting to see. He says, "...suffer the little
children that come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
I'll illustrate this. Childlike faith is childlike
trust. We don't have to prove ourselves
to our children. We don't have to do it. But our
children, they just believe us. from the outset. They believe
us. And that's what we demand of them, first of all, isn't
it? We don't need to prove ourselves to our children that we are indeed
in charge, that we are indeed their parent, and that we will
take care of them. We don't have to prove anything
to them. We just go on and do these things, and they believe
us. And it's like a little child. The younger the child, The more
dependent, the more believing that child is upon his parents.
Like, you've all done this, you've all set your little girl or son
up on a table and told them to jump to you. And you could stand,
I remember when Hannah was a little bitty baby, I could stand way
off and sometimes I had to really be ready because she'd jump when
I really wasn't ready for her. She just believed that is going
to catch her somehow. If I was always across the room,
she would have believed somehow that is going to catch her. You know, but the older she gets,
the more she starts reasoning in her mind. She doubts that
he's not so willing to trust her daddy. Daddy? I don't know. I don't know, you know. And this
is a perfect picture. Christ said, if you would believe. If you'd first just believe like
a child. Just trust me. If thou wouldest
believe. Then you'd see the glory of God
himself, he said. You know, we exercise childlike
faith every day in everything we are around, our cars. We don't
get out there and open the hood and check all the air in the
tires and check the oil and check all the fluids and get down and
look underneath it and everything before we drive to work. We get
out there, jump in and take off. Don't think a thing about it.
So, a piece of steel. We'll exercise more faith in
a piece of steel than we will our Heavenly Father who has led
us, guided us, poured us, and guided us all of our lives. Without
failure. These God's people have never
been forsoken, nor has He begged and prayed. And us, everyone
of us are fat and fatty. Yet we're so full of unbelief,
aren't we? It's sad. It's sad. We'll go
to a pharmacy. And we'll let some guy we don't
know from, my father-in-law would like to say, Adam's Fox, whatever
he got that say. We don't know this guy from Adam's
Fox, yet he'll give us a bottle of something and we'll just throw
it in our mouth and go on our merry way and not think a thing
about it. That guy could have it in for
us. But our Heavenly Father, who delights to show mercy, who
loves His children more than It gave His time for His children,
who delights to show mercy, who is full of grace, grace and goodness,
who abundantly supplies our needs, yet we doubt Him on every hand
of ours. We doubt Him on every hand. Jack
Shanks said, we don't have to believe in the sovereignty of
God. We don't have to believe it. Well, it's childlike faith, biblical
faith. First of all, it's physically
blind faith. You look not at things that are
seen, but things that are unseen, and it's a childlike faith. And
it's supernatural, this thing of biblical faith. Faith is a
gift of God. It's a miracle of the power of
God, a miracle. Faith, you see, is the evidence
of things not seen. It's the result of things that
we don't see. Does that scripture ever puzzle
you? Faith is the evidence of things not seen? In other words,
things we don't see is what caused the faith. Now, explain that.
The one we don't see, the whom we don't see, has given us this
faith to believe in him whom we don't see. And it's the evidence,
you see. It's a gift. It's the proof of
what the one we don't see has done. It's evidence. It's evident that God is, because
he's given you faith to believe in him. That's the evidence of
things not seen, or it's proof that God is. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath to witness in himself, we read. Great is
the mystery of godliness, and he goes on to say that he was
believed on in this word. This is the mystery of this thing,
and this is a miracle. that a man, two thousand years
later, believes on a man he's never seen, trusts his whole
life, his soul, to the safe keeping of somebody he's never seen before,
never heard his voice with a tear. That's a miracle. You know, man,
you don't have to be a Christian or a fool. That's just the way
it is. Well, Christ said, an evil and
adulterous generation seeks after a sign. That's what this generation's
doing, looking for signs. But no sign will be given except
what? The sign of the prophet Jonas. And that's just a picture
of Christ. A picture of Christ. You see, God, first of all, demands
of us, of his people, first of all, simple, childlike trust
and belief. Just believe. Trust and believe
in his word and his promises. And then he gives you the assurance.
Then he gives. We read that scripture a moment
ago. If you would believe, if thou wouldest believe, I'll show
you the glory of God. First of all, we have to believe
like a little child. And then the signs of assurance
come. Then the peace comes. Then the
comfort comes. And the assurance of your salvation.
And in faith itself becomes the sign, the evidence. So until
we start trusting God and taking Him out of His Word, we're not
going to experience the power and the reality of saving faith
in our lives, in Him. Well, let me say this, though,
getting to the point here. Faith is not without substance,
though. Faith is not without substance
or reason. but reasons don't cause faith. Faith is not without reason,
but reasons don't cause faith. Gotcha. It's not, it is not,
you just have to think about that for a moment. It's not that
God has not revealed himself clearly for all, for everyone
to see. The firmament shows his handiwork.
It's not that there are no proofs. for the things we believe. That's
not it at all. There are plenty. There are many. And this brings
me to our text here in 1 John chapter 5. There are three things,
three reasons why I believe in God. Three reasons. And first of all, it's this.
Look at it in verse 7. I'm sorry, verse 8. There are three that bear witness
in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these
three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness
of God is greater. We've got to start with God.
God is the greater witness of all, the greatest witness of
all. In the beginning, God. Everything starts with Him. So,
first of all, the first reason why I believe God is the first
reason. He, Himself, is the first reason. he himself, and these things
that come from God. First of all, creation. Creation. The psalmists say, when I consider
the heavens the work of thy painters. Another scripture says, the heavens
declare his glory. The firmament shows his handiwork.
David said, when I look at myself, my body, I'm fearfully and wonderfully
made. Only a fool would say that he
just took a haul from something. The fool has said, no God, no
creator made me. The invisible things of him from
the creation are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even his eternal Godhead, so that they're without
excuse. Yeah, without excuse. The creation
proves God. Creation. And the fool has said
in his heart, no God. No God. Creation. Like David said, what I consider. Well, secondly, from God's Bible,
the Word of God. Look over 2 Peter chapter 1,
verse 19. And I'll sum all this up here
in a few minutes, why I'm bringing this message. 2 Peter chapter
1, verse 19. Apostle Peter says, we have also
a more sure word of prophecy. In other words, we've got the
whole story right here before us. We have also a more sure
word of prophecy, verse 19, whereunto you that do wealth, you take
heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day
dawn and the day star arise in your heart. That is faith. Knowing
this verse, no prophecy of the scriptures of any private interpretation. No man came up with this thing
of himself. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of a man, but holy men of God's faith as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Word of God, the Bible, is
a reason, I believe. Listen to these things. The Bible
dates back 3,500 years to the first entrance recorded, put down by
Joe, some say, or Moses, 3,500 years ago. It was written by
Jordan over a period of 1,500 years, it took. Most of us here
didn't know it. There's no way that Moses could
have collaborated with the later-day prophets. No, they lived in a
different generation, different era. They didn't collaborate
with one another, yet there's sixty-six books in this one book,
and it all tells one story. That's a miracle, this thing.
Sixty-six books that tell the same story about Him who loved
us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. It's a miracle.
It's a miracle. In type and picture and person,
the Scriptures speak of Jesus Christ the Lord and His perfect
redemption. That great work that He wrought
out on Calvary's tree. And this book was written by
an amateur. I mean back, uh, back where it
fell. Shepherds and fishermen and so
forth. And they wrote this book, the
Old Testament anyway, in a language that's all but dead now. The
Hebrew language. It's all but dead. And powerful
men and nations throughout the generations have tried to destroy
this book. Tried to explain it away. I've
tried to change it and twist it. You know, now we have every
sort of translation you can imagine. Yet, it's a lot more far-reaching
now than ever before. It's printed in over a thousand
different languages and read by more people than all other
books combined. Why is that? God. God is in sovereign
control of this book. His book, His word, forever. Oh, Lord, thy word is settled
in heaven. This word has endured the test of time. The very having age to them at
all, it crosses the barriers of all customs and nationalities,
bred by Chinese and French and Americans and Africans, old and
young, lawyers and laborers. doctors and dishwashers, and
it meets all of their needs, every one of them. Because it's
the holy, inerrant, perfect, infallible word of the living
God, and it's beyond man's power to destroy or change it. Why?
Because I quoted that, for ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in
heaven. You see, they can't destroy this book. Why? Because the master
copies in heaven. He's just like another God. Christ,
the Word, is seated there, and He is the Word. He is the Word. So from God, God the Word, we
have creation, we have the Word of God, and thirdly and most
importantly, we have the incarnate Word of God, the Son of God's
came. to bear witness of the Father.
This is why this message is important. This whole thing, the whole purpose
of Jesus Christ's coming was to glorify the Father, that God
might get all the glory. And Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, came down to reveal the Father to men, didn't He? That
was His purpose. To reveal the, so that men might
know the Father in Him. Jesus Christ, God's greatest
testimony. God's greatest proof. His Son
down here. That's the door. His perfect
representative. The Son of God. Jesus Christ.
His existence in history, men cannot deny. They cannot. They won't deny it. Our very
time, our very calendar bears witness to the fact that a man
named Jesus Christ lived upon this earth. I bet atheists hate
that fact. You know, they'd like to change
that, wouldn't they? B.C. and A.D. But his existence men
cannot deny. Not at all. He was born in Bethlehem.
He walked upon this earth. He died on a Roman cross. And
many, many, many claim that he rose from the grave. And without any forceful armies
or or anything of the sort, without great amounts of money, without
an earthly income, great possessions. He left a mark on this world,
such as no other man in all of history. He never wrote a book. I never
wrote a book. It's a library in all the world. He never wrote a song. More songs
written about him than any of us. And you know, God bore witness
of his son for thousands of years before he came through the prophets.
And he's coming. He's coming. He bore perfect
witness. God foretold in the prophets
his place of birth, his lineage, his character, his life, his
miracles, exacting details concerning his death, his burial, his resurrection. Every move, every word he said,
and every move he made, God foretold thousands of years before he
came. He was radically different than
any man who ever lived, in birth, in life, and death, because he
was and he is none other than the Son of God Almighty. God said, God proved it audibly,
audibly. God hadn't spoken for years,
and yet three times had said, this is my son. I want everybody
to know it. That's my son, in whom I'm well
pleased, hearing, hearing. But why do I believe? Because
God, the witness of God, is why I believe. His creation, His
Word, His Son. Secondly, the second reason I
believe is the witness of men. Look at that back in the text
there in 1 John 5. He says, if we receive the witness
of men, now that's just us by nature. We're more prone to believe
men than we are God Himself. But nevertheless, God has not
left Himself without a witness in this earth. And always will. The witness
of men are four evangelists, twelve apostles. These men saw
Jesus Christ while He was on this earth. They lived with Him
for years. They saw signs and miracles and wonders performed
by Him. They saw Him walk on the water.
They saw Him seal the ocean. What manner of man is this? They
saw Him heal lepers with a touch. Heal actual blind men, not like
these charlatans on TV, you know. Heal deaf people, blind people
from birth, lame people. And then they saw Him raise somebody
from the dead. They saw Him, we talked about
it earlier, three of them saw Him changed into a being of light
before their eyes. And most of them, like I said
before, were plain, ordinary people, men such as fishermen
and shepherds of souls. And you know, if these were mere
fabrications by these people, I ask you, what did they have
to gain by fabricating this story about this man? What did they
have to gain? They had nothing to gain. As a matter of fact,
on the contrary, they lost everything because of what they said. These,
their names are famous now. We talk about Peter, James, and
John, and Paul, and Thomas, and all of them, Matthew, Bartholomew,
all of them. Now, as you can see, you let
one of their names be mentioned. I don't know what Paul was. I could get my hands on him.
They were hated, despised, hunted like dogs. It's all in the furniture
description. You blew the lesson, see? Beaten,
cruelly treated. They're famous now as they were
infamous then. Hated. They had everything to
lose by telling this story. By talking about this Jesus as
being the Christ. Everything to lose. And all but
one of them were brutally and cruelly murdered because of it. Well, no part of history has
been so well documented as the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And besides these men and ladies,
there were thousands, thousands who walked with him and talked
with him and heard his voice. Thousands saw his miracles, heard
his teachings. Hundreds, scripture says, hundreds
of them saw him alive after he rose from the grave. There were
thousands of people around that cross who healed. And many hundreds of them have
come back to this day. So you see, we have the witness
of men. We have the witness of men, that
the Son of God indeed walked upon this earth. He died and
He rose again. He ascended back to heaven. Now,
my third reason why I believe. First, God. God in creation. God in creation, God in his word,
God through his son, and secondly, the witness of men, his prophets,
their words. And thirdly, the reason why I
believe is the witness within. Look at this. Look at the text
here. Verse 10, he that believeth on
the Son of God hath the witness in himself. The witnessing in
truth, the witness of the truth, the witness of change in life. How do you explain the difference
in the conditions and the spirit and the behavior of men and women
where the Bible is preached and believed, and where the Bible
and Christ are rejected? The difference between the two.
I've been to Mexico three times. That's a land, it's a pagan land,
even now, very pagan, where they dig up the bones of their ancestors. They rent graves down there.
They don't have enough money to buy a piece of, a burial plot
to put them in, so they have to rent them. They rent them.
It's a little while, I don't know how long it is, but they
have to dig the bones up and make some money. That's great.
But they put these bones in a box. And you'll see them. They make
these elaborate, wild-looking, flowery containers. Catholic ones. They love them. They come back home. Skulls they'll
tear on. And they'll come out there and
bring them food. They'll burn candles to them.
They'll pray. All sorts of pagan. Just pagan. Pagan. Pagan. You go in these
Catholic If you want a real knowledge of Catholicism as it is, you
go down there and see it in its true light. Right, Mindy? You
go in a little pueblo or village where people live in grass huts
with dirt floors and cook on an open fire with no running
water or no electricity, and right in the middle of that village,
every single one of them, there's a huge cathedral, Catholic And
inside you walk in and it's laden with gold and silver. And you can see the
light. It's unbelievable. And you can see the four of them
bowing down before these statues. Oh, it's sad. But when the gospel
comes, and I've seen it. When the gospel comes in the
form of a Walter Hoover or a Milton Howard, comes down there to those
people, you'll go back a little while later, and you go out there,
and there'll be a bunch of people sitting in the backyard. It'll
be all cleaned up. They only got maybe one suit
of clothes, but they'll have it washed to perfection. They'll
have their dirt floor sweeped to perfection. And they'll be
sitting on little chairs, clothed, and in their right minds thinking,
Worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ. How do you explain that? How
do you explain that? And then some of them go out
and preach. Walter says they're good preachers.
Milton says they're good preachers, some of them. That culture used
to sacrifice virgins in the cenotes or the ponds. I've seen them.
I've seen the ponds where they used to do it. The Mayan Indians.
If you look at the map of the world, And you compare the countries
where men and women are Christians, where there are some Christians
there, put it that way. You compare the countries where
men and women, there are some Christians in that land, and
the countries where they're infidels. And in Christian countries, that
is where the Bible is at least taught and believed. Human rights
are recognized. Moral laws exist for enforcement
of government. And you compare the honesty and
the integrity of individuals like where you work and so forth,
and it's beautiful. You're a true believer. They're
the finest, they're the salt of the earth. At least I'm looking
at them. I'm looking at them. I never
worked with you, but I have to believe that they're the finest
workers. You compare these people with
those who just make a mere outward profession, who are not really
believers. You look at the vast difference,
the definite change in a home or a person where Christ reigns. The Lord, He takes man in ignorance
and death, superstition, darkness, It gives them knowledge. It gives
them life. It gives them life. Fortify, find me a prayer. Fortify me and please me. You want proof? You're looking
at it. You're looking at proof. You should have seen
me before. You should have seen him before.
Oh, about 20 years ago, I was a teenager. I was in the back
of a building. But now it's my life. Explain
that to me. Explain that to me. You're looking at a man who hates
what he once loved. And love is not what he wants. Explain that. I remember Mindy's
brother, my 13-year-old brother, Mindy's mother, my second wife,
my mother-in-law, everybody, parties together and all that.
And I remember him telling me, except he's still here, he's
just going through a little change here. Some people say you change every
seven years. Well, that would have been, for
me, that would have been five years ago, 28 years old. I made
it. I made it. By the grace of God,
I am what I am. You're looking at a man who believes
what he once desired and now desires what he once didn't believe. Explain that. Right at the beginning. Thought, word, and not word. Many people say the same thing. Well, that's the wisdom within
yourself. You know, it's kind of like You know, you don't have to whip
out the birth certificate to prove that. And the part that
says you have to see how I know you did, it comes within my heart. I know it. And you can't explain
it. You can't prove it. This is for
our sake. This business is for our sake. You can't prove this. You can
talk to somebody, they're blue in the face, but they're not
going to understand it any more than you do until God, the Holy Spirit,
reveals it to them. You can give all reasons, all
the facts, everything you want to, but they're not going to
believe her. They're not going to. But as for man, receivers
are not the same as God. They're foolish receivers. Receivers
can't even know them. They're spiritually discerned.
The Holy Spirit has to get ahold of everybody to reveal. God to
reveal Christ to them and to change their lives. The whole
point of the message today is to bolster or strengthen your
faith in God. The fundamental, and I say this, the fundamental truth, the foundation
of our faith, is this, that God is. And if you be honest, if
you be honest, as you say, every now and then you expect in the Don't you? Every now and then. Every now and then you do. Most
of the time we act like this. Most of the time we act like
this. That's the fundamental, or truth,
or the foundation of our faith, is that God is, the scripture
says, He that cometh to God must believe what? That He is. That He is. And then, that he's
a rewarder of himself. And I say this, the reason for
this message, I exhort you, I admonish you, I encourage you, don't let
this increasingly atheistic and agnostic and scientific world
convince you otherwise. Don't let this agnostic world,
a scientific world, that you just have to accept as God you
believe. You gave to me. The Bible gave
me an article. Somebody gave me an article that
said that. Take your feet with God, however you may conceive
it. Don't let this world shake the
foundation of your faith. Don't let it do it. Scripture
says we're coming back. God, first of all. Creation and
His Word and His Son coming here. And in the witness of the prophets,
men, other people, believers, we bolster one another, we encourage
one another, comfort one another with His Word. And the witness
within. Don't let these finite worms,
these finite worms, Courage you on your pilgrimage. That's what
he said to Isaiah. God said to Isaiah, who are you
so you should be afraid of a man? Is the Lord your maker? Don't
pay any attention to this old dying world. It's just a last
gasping breath, you know. It's their last attempt at shaking
their fist in God's name. They've tried and tried for generations.
You believe in God? I said, it is all in God's name. For I proceeded and came to you. So look over, and I'll read this
in closing, 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 3. Let's read this. I'll
just read these verses to you in closing. 2 Peter 3, verse 8. Beloved, now he's talking
to believers here, he's not talking to anybody else. If you're not
a child of God, this doesn't pertain to you. Unless God, by
His Spirit, will reveal something in here, take something in here
and prick your heart. He says, Beloved, that's what it says
down in verse 8. Beloved, children of God, believers,
Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years. Time is of no, is nothing to
God. A thousand years is nothing.
Time is a day to God. Be not ignorant of that. Remember
that. One day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. You see, the
Lord is not slack concerning his promise. At some men count
slackness, that is, in time, by time. But he is long-suffering
to us. That's us, believers. He's being
long-suffering to us and our children. Now, you see, he may
have that Joseph Aaron in mind. He may be holding off his coming. I don't know. He's not willing that any—who's
the any?—to us, the beloved. He's not willing that any of
us should be a parent. But that all should be all, all
of us.

Three Reasons I Believe

What does the Bible say about the witness of God?

How do we know the Word of God is true?

Why is having faith important for Christians?

How can we prove our faith according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

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Three Reasons I Believe

What does the Bible say about the witness of God?

How do we know the Word of God is true?

Why is having faith important for Christians?

How can we prove our faith according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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