WEBVTT 00:00:01.320 --> 00:00:03.700 Well, thank you. I'm glad three or four of you 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:07.620 are here. We do miss the ladies who are at the 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:10.019 retreat, but our men in the choir did a good 00:00:10.019 --> 00:00:13.359 job today. Thanks, guys, for doing that by yourselves 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:18.800 today. And we certainly pray God's blessing upon 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:22.640 Sword and Suzanne Laurenti, the director, Steve 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:25.399 Jones, our music pastor who's along with them 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:28.359 on this trip, and ask God to use them today in 00:00:28.359 --> 00:00:31.890 Arnold. I'm going to ask you to open your Bibles 00:00:31.890 --> 00:00:40.530 to Hebrews chapter 11. I want to acknowledge 00:00:40.530 --> 00:00:44.310 my family here today. I have a number of my family. 00:00:45.109 --> 00:00:47.670 Family, would you stand wherever you are? I can't 00:00:47.670 --> 00:00:51.170 see out there very well. All right, some in the 00:00:51.170 --> 00:00:56.229 back, some in the front. Lori and Kelly, Mike 00:00:56.229 --> 00:01:00.859 and Julie, and Emily, Luke. And my wife, Jeanette. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:04.840 What's the occasion? Well, I have a birthday 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:12.579 this weekend. And I've got to share with you 00:01:12.579 --> 00:01:14.739 what happened Thursday night. I had no idea all 00:01:14.739 --> 00:01:17.859 these people were coming to our house. So Thursday 00:01:17.859 --> 00:01:19.480 night, I was working out in the yard a little 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:21.799 bit, came in, took my shower. I was sitting there 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:25.040 dressed for bed, basically. And the doorbell 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:29.590 rang. And Jeanette said, well, I'll get it. And 00:01:29.590 --> 00:01:31.670 I was happy for her to do that because I wasn't 00:01:31.670 --> 00:01:33.650 prepared to go to the door. And I heard her say, 00:01:33.870 --> 00:01:37.950 no, we don't want any this time. And I thought, 00:01:38.030 --> 00:01:40.870 what child is at the door selling something this 00:01:40.870 --> 00:01:44.230 time of night? And then about two seconds later, 00:01:44.310 --> 00:01:46.510 a little person came walking into the room where 00:01:46.510 --> 00:01:51.269 I was, my granddaughter, Natalie, and she stuck 00:01:51.269 --> 00:01:53.510 her head around the corner and she said, happy 00:01:53.510 --> 00:01:59.859 birthday, Papa. Wow. Wow, what are you doing 00:01:59.859 --> 00:02:02.659 here? It was a great evening. I'll tell you, 00:02:02.659 --> 00:02:04.260 it's been a wonderful weekend to have them all 00:02:04.260 --> 00:02:12.599 here to share this glum day with me. Well, today 00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:16.099 we're going to begin a series on facts or faith. 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:18.979 Faith or facts. Is it reasonable to believe? 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:24.139 In Hebrews chapter 11, we have a definition of 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:31.699 sorts about faith. It says, now faith is being 00:02:31.699 --> 00:02:38.719 sure of what we hope for and certain of what 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:44.340 we do not see. In other words, faith deals with 00:02:44.340 --> 00:02:50.759 the future beyond our experience and the invisible 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:56.580 that is beyond our senses. It goes on to say, 00:02:56.639 --> 00:03:00.340 this is what the ancients, were commended for. 00:03:01.580 --> 00:03:06.620 And then those next four words tie together for 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:15.139 this series. By faith, we understand. By faith, 00:03:15.139 --> 00:03:19.979 we reason out. We come to an understanding. We 00:03:19.979 --> 00:03:26.180 use our minds. And we see that the universe was 00:03:26.180 --> 00:03:30.099 formed at God's command so that what is seen 00:03:30.099 --> 00:03:38.099 was not made out of what was visible. Faith and 00:03:38.099 --> 00:03:42.939 reason are often portrayed and perceived as enemies, 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:48.979 as combatants in a war. This has been especially 00:03:48.979 --> 00:03:53.620 true in the West since the Enlightenment and 00:03:53.620 --> 00:03:57.810 the Renaissance period. with its exaltation of 00:03:57.810 --> 00:04:02.469 humanism and a belief that the material world 00:04:02.469 --> 00:04:07.789 is all there is to reality. Over the centuries 00:04:07.789 --> 00:04:13.409 since that time, a gulf has been created between 00:04:13.409 --> 00:04:24.220 religion, faith, and science or reason. The former, 00:04:24.379 --> 00:04:31.300 religion, is often depicted as repressive, whereas 00:04:31.300 --> 00:04:35.480 the latter, science or reason, are depicted as 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:40.139 progressive. There are many in our world today 00:04:40.139 --> 00:04:44.199 who would agree with these comments from a gentleman 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:47.379 by the name of Don Byerly, who has a Ph .D. in 00:04:47.379 --> 00:04:50.829 life sciences. He says, During my undergraduate 00:04:50.829 --> 00:04:53.629 and early graduate studies in the natural sciences, 00:04:53.670 --> 00:04:56.810 I was cynical about faith and religious people. 00:04:57.550 --> 00:05:02.949 I viewed faith as anti -intellectual, an excuse 00:05:02.949 --> 00:05:06.889 for a lack of hard knowledge. Science, on the 00:05:06.889 --> 00:05:09.649 other hand, dealt with objective truth in the 00:05:09.649 --> 00:05:13.870 real world. Religious faith was not truth. It 00:05:13.870 --> 00:05:18.620 was personal preference and opinion. The strongest 00:05:18.620 --> 00:05:22.240 faith was that which a believer held on to without 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:26.139 any real evidence, indeed in spite of evidence 00:05:26.139 --> 00:05:30.699 to the contrary. He goes on to say, furthermore, 00:05:30.699 --> 00:05:35.560 I caricatured faith as an emotion. It was a kind 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.819 of security blanket for the less informed and 00:05:38.819 --> 00:05:43.300 insecure. These people used religion to generate 00:05:43.300 --> 00:05:46.519 a false confidence, but I suspected that it was 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:49.509 an illusion. In reality, I thought there was 00:05:49.509 --> 00:05:53.569 little substance there. It was my third caricature 00:05:53.569 --> 00:05:56.470 that revealed the most about me. I felt that 00:05:56.470 --> 00:06:00.370 religious faith was a crutch for weak people. 00:06:01.610 --> 00:06:04.069 Have you ever heard people say things like that? 00:06:05.250 --> 00:06:09.490 Very common in the day in which we live. We are 00:06:09.490 --> 00:06:14.009 now engaged in a great cultural war, in fact, 00:06:14.009 --> 00:06:20.300 in our nation. It is often framed as a war between 00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:24.360 those who adhere to faith and those who adhere 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:30.620 to reason. The struggle is very visible from 00:06:30.620 --> 00:06:34.899 the Terri Schiavo tragedy to the battle over 00:06:34.899 --> 00:06:39.399 gay marriage to the fight over the filibuster 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:44.189 rule in the Senate. Senator Frist is being attacked 00:06:44.189 --> 00:06:47.350 from liberal quarters because today he is choosing, 00:06:47.430 --> 00:06:50.670 as the majority leader of the United States Senate, 00:06:50.769 --> 00:06:57.370 to speak to people of faith. And we often hear 00:06:57.370 --> 00:07:02.209 that phrase, don't we? People of faith. As though 00:07:02.209 --> 00:07:05.129 that is a subcategory of the whole population. 00:07:06.310 --> 00:07:09.769 The implication of that phrase, the people of 00:07:09.769 --> 00:07:14.040 faith, is this, that there are some people, a 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:18.540 fanatic minority, who are religious in their 00:07:18.540 --> 00:07:22.540 worldview and who are to be regarded with fear, 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:30.180 suspicion, and even contempt. They have an agenda, 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:35.300 we are told. They want to impose their beliefs 00:07:35.300 --> 00:07:39.459 and their values on the rest of us. Have you 00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:43.339 ever heard anything like that? And, of course, 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:48.540 the us refer to those who have laid aside religious 00:07:48.540 --> 00:07:54.680 superstition, who are intelligent, who believe 00:07:54.680 --> 00:08:01.199 in reason and in science. I hope you are smart 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:05.360 enough to know that that whole framing of the 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:10.370 issue is a fallacy. But it's the common dogma 00:08:10.370 --> 00:08:16.470 of the secularists who control the media in our 00:08:16.470 --> 00:08:22.490 nation. Greg Kokel is a wonderful Christian and 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:26.730 has a radio broadcast down in the L .A. area. 00:08:28.069 --> 00:08:31.490 He says this, I don't like the word faith, not 00:08:31.490 --> 00:08:34.090 because faith isn't valuable, but because it's 00:08:34.090 --> 00:08:38.100 often deeply misunderstood. Faith in this twisted 00:08:38.100 --> 00:08:40.899 sense is what you use when all reason is against 00:08:40.899 --> 00:08:46.759 you. It's religious wishful thinking in which 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:52.299 one squeezes out spiritual hope by intense acts 00:08:52.299 --> 00:08:57.740 of sheer will. People of faith believe the impossible. 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:01.879 People of faith believe that which is contrary 00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:06.940 to fact. People of faith... believe that which 00:09:06.940 --> 00:09:11.299 is contrary to evidence. People of faith ignore 00:09:11.299 --> 00:09:16.539 reality. Isn't that so often how it's depicted 00:09:16.539 --> 00:09:21.940 in our world? Faith indeed is often misunderstood. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.159 Facts are that faith is not the possession of 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:32.899 a few. As we'll see in a moment, faith is universal 00:09:32.899 --> 00:09:39.509 among all human beings. Nor is faith feelings 00:09:39.509 --> 00:09:45.830 or emotion or sentiment. Faith is not the opposite 00:09:45.830 --> 00:09:52.110 or the antithesis of facts. Then what is faith? 00:09:52.350 --> 00:09:56.350 What does it mean to believe in a biblical sense? 00:09:58.990 --> 00:10:02.409 Well, it's more than merely intellectually accepting 00:10:02.409 --> 00:10:08.549 something, as Hebrews 11 makes clear. Faith really 00:10:08.549 --> 00:10:12.070 involves three elements. First, it involves knowledge. 00:10:12.629 --> 00:10:18.230 Knowledge. It involves the intellect. It involves 00:10:18.230 --> 00:10:24.070 knowing something. Secondly, it involves assent 00:10:24.070 --> 00:10:29.629 or the acceptance of what you have learned as 00:10:29.629 --> 00:10:35.450 fact. And third, it involves a submission or 00:10:35.450 --> 00:10:39.850 a dependence upon what you have learned and accepted 00:10:39.850 --> 00:10:44.070 as fact. So it's knowledge, it is assent, and 00:10:44.070 --> 00:10:47.549 then it is an act of will that chooses to depend 00:10:47.549 --> 00:10:53.429 upon those facts. Faith is not the opposite of 00:10:53.429 --> 00:10:59.909 facts. It rests upon facts. Faith that is composed 00:10:59.909 --> 00:11:04.269 of these three elements leads to tangible, visible, 00:11:04.450 --> 00:11:09.850 observable life change. Actions in the life. 00:11:10.370 --> 00:11:13.889 It cannot be separated from the deeds of the 00:11:13.889 --> 00:11:17.750 life. It produces change. It works itself out. 00:11:19.070 --> 00:11:24.769 And so Abel believed. And therefore he offered 00:11:24.769 --> 00:11:31.190 a proper sacrifice to God. Enoch believed, and 00:11:31.190 --> 00:11:35.169 so he walked with God. And Noah believed, and 00:11:35.169 --> 00:11:39.309 so he built a boat, an ark. And Abraham believed, 00:11:39.490 --> 00:11:43.529 and so he left Ur, the Chaldees, and he went 00:11:43.529 --> 00:11:46.850 off to the land that God promised him. He lived 00:11:46.850 --> 00:11:52.149 in tents. He believed God, and he fathered Isaac 00:11:52.149 --> 00:11:57.210 in his old age. And then after that, he offered 00:11:57.210 --> 00:12:00.450 up Isaac as a sacrifice because he believed. 00:12:00.590 --> 00:12:05.129 You see, real faith always leads to action in 00:12:05.129 --> 00:12:10.990 the life. I want to talk about faith and facts. 00:12:11.529 --> 00:12:14.870 And today, to think about this question, is it 00:12:14.870 --> 00:12:22.259 a reasonable thing to believe? I have some statements 00:12:22.259 --> 00:12:24.419 I want to make. The first one is this, and I've 00:12:24.419 --> 00:12:27.720 alluded to it already, that everybody believes 00:12:27.720 --> 00:12:34.559 in something. Everybody has some fundamental 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:42.879 idea or assumption or hypothesis that they live 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:49.220 out in their lives. Even an atheist. lives with 00:12:49.220 --> 00:12:51.720 a certain presupposition, and that is that there 00:12:51.720 --> 00:12:54.580 is no God. And my friend, that is a statement 00:12:54.580 --> 00:12:59.580 of faith. That is a statement of faith because 00:12:59.580 --> 00:13:02.980 it cannot be demonstrated that there is no God. 00:13:04.179 --> 00:13:08.120 When an atheist says, I do not accept the notion 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:11.720 of a God, that is faith at work in his life. 00:13:14.340 --> 00:13:19.340 Everybody believes something. Faith is a God 00:13:19.340 --> 00:13:23.960 -given peculiarity of all human beings. It is 00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:28.360 as human to believe and to have faith as it is 00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:35.820 to think and to reason. Now, does that mean that 00:13:35.820 --> 00:13:40.019 all faith is equally valid? No, of course it 00:13:40.019 --> 00:13:45.539 does not. You see, the validity of what a person 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:49.960 believes depends upon the object of his faith. 00:13:51.659 --> 00:13:54.659 You say, well, he's sincere about it. It doesn't 00:13:54.659 --> 00:13:58.440 make any difference. A person may sincerely believe 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:03.840 that he can fly. I mean, he can have the deepest 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:07.379 faith possible in that notion that he can fly, 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:10.899 but if he tries it, he's going to find that his 00:14:10.899 --> 00:14:16.179 faith is not valid. A person can believe that 00:14:16.179 --> 00:14:20.679 he or she is healthy and truly believe that and 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:25.279 the next day find that that faith is not valid 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:30.259 because they may be dying of something. A person 00:14:30.259 --> 00:14:33.720 may believe the Book of Mormon is the supernatural 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:39.480 translation of tablets with Egyptian hieroglyphics. 00:14:40.299 --> 00:14:43.299 and that this writing was revealed by Moroni, 00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:46.100 an angel, to Joseph Smith. You can honestly, 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:52.559 deeply, sincerely believe that. But is that faith 00:14:52.559 --> 00:15:01.159 valid? Do the facts back up that faith? A person 00:15:01.159 --> 00:15:04.000 may believe that humans originated out of primordial 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:09.139 slime and really honestly believe that. and that 00:15:09.139 --> 00:15:11.940 he is the result of the selection of the fittest 00:15:11.940 --> 00:15:16.539 over eons of time. You can honestly, sincerely 00:15:16.539 --> 00:15:23.419 believe that, but do the facts back it up? A 00:15:23.419 --> 00:15:26.080 person may believe that he will be like God if 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:27.820 he eats of the tree of the knowledge of good 00:15:27.820 --> 00:15:34.460 and evil. And Eve believed that. Did the facts 00:15:34.460 --> 00:15:40.470 back it up? No. My point today in this first 00:15:40.470 --> 00:15:44.269 part of my message is that all people are people 00:15:44.269 --> 00:15:48.789 of faith. This whole notion that people of faith 00:15:48.789 --> 00:15:53.049 are the weird minority in our nation is absolutely 00:15:53.049 --> 00:15:58.169 fallacious because all people are people of faith. 00:15:58.490 --> 00:16:03.450 All people. But not all faith is equally valid 00:16:03.450 --> 00:16:07.980 or correct. The second statement I want to make 00:16:07.980 --> 00:16:11.960 is this. Everyone is capable of reason. Everybody 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:15.940 can believe and does believe something. And secondly, 00:16:16.059 --> 00:16:18.559 everyone is capable of reason. That is God's 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:25.919 gift. Some well -intentioned Christians have 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:29.899 said that Christians should avoid reason and 00:16:29.899 --> 00:16:33.879 avoid developing the intellect. That is absolutely 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:38.679 wrong. You see, we have that capacity given to 00:16:38.679 --> 00:16:41.200 us by God. It's a part of the image of God in 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:44.659 us, in every healthy human being. He provides 00:16:44.659 --> 00:16:47.759 us with the capacity to think and to analyze 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:53.320 and to come to conclusions. For example, David 00:16:53.320 --> 00:16:57.919 says in Psalm 8, when I consider the heavens, 00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:02.039 the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:03.700 which you've set in place. You see what David 00:17:03.700 --> 00:17:09.450 is saying there? I'm thinking about this. I look 00:17:09.450 --> 00:17:13.390 around in nature, and I am thinking, I am reasoning 00:17:13.390 --> 00:17:20.890 out, and my conclusion is, God, what is man that 00:17:20.890 --> 00:17:25.289 you're mindful of him in light of all this glory 00:17:25.289 --> 00:17:32.730 that I see? God said through Isaiah the prophet, 00:17:33.369 --> 00:17:36.230 I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, 00:17:36.329 --> 00:17:39.269 the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in 00:17:39.269 --> 00:17:41.569 the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, 00:17:41.730 --> 00:17:47.990 so that people may see and know, may consider 00:17:47.990 --> 00:17:52.730 and understand that the hand of the Lord has 00:17:52.730 --> 00:18:00.250 done this. God wants us to think and to consider. 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:04.339 Jesus said to a crowd one day, consider the ravens. 00:18:05.339 --> 00:18:10.099 Think about them. He says, put your mind into 00:18:10.099 --> 00:18:14.339 motion. They do not sow or reap. They have no 00:18:14.339 --> 00:18:17.779 storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. How much 00:18:17.779 --> 00:18:22.740 more valuable are you than birds? He says, think 00:18:22.740 --> 00:18:27.940 about that. Civilization and human progress have 00:18:27.940 --> 00:18:30.240 been built upon man's ability to be logical. 00:18:31.690 --> 00:18:37.130 to consider, to reject what is obviously false 00:18:37.130 --> 00:18:41.789 and to accept what is deemed to be true. That 00:18:41.789 --> 00:18:45.750 ability is God's gift to man so that man can 00:18:45.750 --> 00:18:52.009 fulfill his stewardship and rule in God's creation. 00:18:54.130 --> 00:18:59.099 Everyone is capable of reason. Some people think 00:18:59.099 --> 00:19:00.880 that to become a Christian you have to turn off 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:05.579 your brain. But nothing is further from the truth 00:19:05.579 --> 00:19:10.859 than that. Indeed, we dare not turn off our brains. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:15.599 God has given us brains to work with, not to 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:20.839 play with. A Christian must be committed above 00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:23.500 everyone to the development of his intellect, 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:28.980 to true science. to the exploration of nature 00:19:28.980 --> 00:19:35.140 and of ideas. No Christian needs to fear or to 00:19:35.140 --> 00:19:38.740 be intimidated by honest human reasoning in the 00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:43.519 sciences. There's nothing to fear there. British 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:48.400 clergyman and author John Stott writes, Don't 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:50.680 neglect your critical faculties. Remember that 00:19:50.680 --> 00:19:55.240 God is a rational God who has made us in His 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:59.150 own image. God invites and expects us to explore 00:19:59.150 --> 00:20:02.309 His double revelation in nature and Scripture 00:20:02.309 --> 00:20:06.309 with the minds He has given us and to go on in 00:20:06.309 --> 00:20:10.630 the development of a Christian mind to apply 00:20:10.630 --> 00:20:13.470 His marvelous revealed truth to every aspect 00:20:13.470 --> 00:20:18.970 of the modern and postmodern world. If you are 00:20:18.970 --> 00:20:22.089 in school, I want to encourage you, go as far 00:20:22.089 --> 00:20:27.859 as you can. And develop that mind that God has 00:20:27.859 --> 00:20:36.119 given to you. By faith, understand. By faith, 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:40.660 understand. In our day, it's more common for 00:20:40.660 --> 00:20:44.420 us to be involved in amusement than it is to 00:20:44.420 --> 00:20:48.920 be involved in education. Have you ever thought 00:20:48.920 --> 00:20:52.240 about the word amusement? What does it mean to 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:58.759 muse? To think, exactly. You put an A in front 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:03.119 of it, and what does that do? That negates it. 00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:05.160 It's the opposite of thinking. And what's the 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:12.339 opposite of thinking? It's video games. It's 00:21:12.339 --> 00:21:15.380 the opposite of thinking. Parents, you need to 00:21:15.380 --> 00:21:18.240 limit the time your children play on video games. 00:21:19.099 --> 00:21:21.319 Oh, there's a place to have fun, and all of us 00:21:21.319 --> 00:21:24.710 need recreation, even for the mind. But let us 00:21:24.710 --> 00:21:27.250 not get caught up into this silly amusement. 00:21:30.130 --> 00:21:33.609 Amusement that is so characteristic of our age. 00:21:34.690 --> 00:21:37.089 That's the opposite of what God wants us to do. 00:21:37.309 --> 00:21:39.930 He's given us the ability to reason and He wants 00:21:39.930 --> 00:21:42.390 us to use our minds. Now the third statement 00:21:42.390 --> 00:21:47.329 is this, that reason has its limits. Human intellect 00:21:47.329 --> 00:21:53.109 is great, but it's finite. It has restrictions. 00:21:53.869 --> 00:21:57.230 So human reasoning cannot arrive at all of the 00:21:57.230 --> 00:22:00.910 answers on its own. There are some things that 00:22:00.910 --> 00:22:04.089 cannot be known or discovered, even by the most 00:22:04.089 --> 00:22:07.369 brilliant scholars, researchers, theoreticians, 00:22:07.670 --> 00:22:13.089 scientists, theologians. You see, rational thought 00:22:13.089 --> 00:22:17.650 is based upon what we know, what we experience, 00:22:18.029 --> 00:22:23.059 what we've observed. And there is a fundamental 00:22:23.059 --> 00:22:29.460 truth that we all run into. Nobody knows everything. 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:36.220 Not even your mother. Nobody knows everything. 00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:40.559 There are some things that we do not know and 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:44.660 we cannot know because they are infinite. They 00:22:44.660 --> 00:22:50.920 are divine. It is in this whole realm. That we 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:56.099 depend upon God to show us those mysterious things 00:22:56.099 --> 00:23:01.819 that He reserves for His realm. But then He reveals 00:23:01.819 --> 00:23:09.819 them to us through His Word. Just because something 00:23:09.819 --> 00:23:12.000 cannot be fully known, however, does not mean 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:15.019 it's unreasonable to believe things about it. 00:23:15.740 --> 00:23:18.539 For example, I do not know everything that is 00:23:18.539 --> 00:23:23.579 in the ocean. I don't. I know there's water there. 00:23:23.660 --> 00:23:27.180 That's a good place to start. I know there are 00:23:27.180 --> 00:23:32.740 fish, and there are shell creatures, and there's 00:23:32.740 --> 00:23:36.279 seaweed. I could go down a list here today and 00:23:36.279 --> 00:23:38.440 talk about the things that are in the ocean, 00:23:38.539 --> 00:23:41.839 but I don't know everything in the ocean. Yet 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:44.720 it's still reasonable, isn't it, for me to believe 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:50.339 that no humans can naturally live there? I can 00:23:50.339 --> 00:23:54.480 come to that conclusion, I think. I don't know 00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:56.299 everything about the ocean, but there are things 00:23:56.299 --> 00:24:03.059 I can believe about it. Let's talk to our friend, 00:24:03.099 --> 00:24:06.460 an atheist, who says, well, I have no rational 00:24:06.460 --> 00:24:12.440 basis for believing that there is a God. Well, 00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:15.640 friend atheist, let me ask you a question. Do 00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:22.039 you know everything there is to know? And if 00:24:22.039 --> 00:24:24.259 he's honest, he'll have to say, no, I don't. 00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:28.460 And so my reply to him is, well, if you don't 00:24:28.460 --> 00:24:30.740 know everything, then how can you reasonably 00:24:30.740 --> 00:24:34.339 argue that there is no God out there and all 00:24:34.339 --> 00:24:41.220 of that stuff you don't know? That's why in Proverbs, 00:24:41.220 --> 00:24:45.759 excuse me, Psalm 14, 1, it says, the fool says 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:50.890 in his heart, there is no God. You can't reasonably 00:24:50.890 --> 00:24:54.970 say that. Human reasoning is a marvelous gift, 00:24:55.150 --> 00:24:59.950 but it is not infallible and it is not infinite. 00:25:00.849 --> 00:25:05.049 Human reasoning can make mistakes. Logic can 00:25:05.049 --> 00:25:10.450 fail you. You may follow this little bit of syllogism 00:25:10.450 --> 00:25:17.170 that says, oak trees are strong. I am strong. 00:25:18.700 --> 00:25:24.819 Therefore, I am an oak tree. Oops. There's some 00:25:24.819 --> 00:25:33.660 logic that's wrong there. Reasoning is also not 00:25:33.660 --> 00:25:38.099 infinite. It is limited. You see, reasoning can 00:25:38.099 --> 00:25:40.519 only take you to a certain point of conclusion 00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:46.420 beyond which you cannot go. Reason is bound by 00:25:46.420 --> 00:25:50.119 the depraved and darkened mind of fallen man. 00:25:54.180 --> 00:25:57.980 There were three old men who went to the doctor 00:25:57.980 --> 00:26:02.099 for a memory test. The doctor said to the first 00:26:02.099 --> 00:26:10.859 old man, What is 1 plus 1? 274, he replied. The 00:26:10.859 --> 00:26:13.299 doctor said to the second man, it's your turn. 00:26:13.339 --> 00:26:20.019 What is one plus one? Tuesday, he said. The doctor 00:26:20.019 --> 00:26:22.119 said to the third man, okay, sir, it's your turn. 00:26:22.140 --> 00:26:27.579 What is one plus one? Two, said the third man. 00:26:28.339 --> 00:26:30.940 That's great, said the doctor. How did you get 00:26:30.940 --> 00:26:35.200 that? Simple, said the third man. I subtracted 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:43.470 274 from Tuesday. Sometimes you can come to the 00:26:43.470 --> 00:26:45.690 right conclusions, but your reasoning is wrong. 00:26:46.190 --> 00:26:51.670 You see, reason has limits. It's fallible. It's 00:26:51.670 --> 00:26:54.849 finite. The fourth statement I want to make is 00:26:54.849 --> 00:27:00.329 that reason and faith work together. In fact, 00:27:00.430 --> 00:27:03.630 reason and faith cannot be separated if it's 00:27:03.630 --> 00:27:07.890 biblical faith. Faith and the ability to reason 00:27:07.890 --> 00:27:12.849 are not enemies. They are allies. Pope John Paul 00:27:12.849 --> 00:27:16.130 II wrote to the cardinals, or the bishops, rather, 00:27:16.170 --> 00:27:21.109 of his church in 1998, and he said, Faith and 00:27:21.109 --> 00:27:24.970 reason are like two wings on which the human 00:27:24.970 --> 00:27:31.990 spirit rises to the contemplation of truth. Two 00:27:31.990 --> 00:27:37.109 wings of a bird. Reason can serve faith in a 00:27:37.109 --> 00:27:40.109 couple of different ways. In the first place, 00:27:40.150 --> 00:27:44.430 it can provide a basis for faith. Look at the 00:27:44.430 --> 00:27:46.869 creation around us. That's what David did in 00:27:46.869 --> 00:27:51.130 Psalm 8. He says, I reason to myself when I look 00:27:51.130 --> 00:27:55.369 at the heavens and this is my conclusion. He 00:27:55.369 --> 00:27:58.109 says, God, you exist and what is man that you're 00:27:58.109 --> 00:28:03.150 mindful of him? We are not you, God. We're small 00:28:03.150 --> 00:28:09.490 compared to you. And then reason can also reveal 00:28:09.490 --> 00:28:14.730 an invalid faith. For anyone who looks seriously 00:28:14.730 --> 00:28:18.890 at the Book of Mormon has to come to the conclusion 00:28:18.890 --> 00:28:22.369 that this book is so obviously flawed and full 00:28:22.369 --> 00:28:25.910 of errors that I need to reconsider that I'm 00:28:25.910 --> 00:28:32.670 basing my faith upon this. Reason can serve faith. 00:28:33.509 --> 00:28:36.829 The final thing I want to say is this, that faith 00:28:37.289 --> 00:28:42.089 surpasses reason. I said to you that reason can 00:28:42.089 --> 00:28:46.410 take you so far on your journey and then it must 00:28:46.410 --> 00:28:52.250 stop. Faith carries you forward when reason has 00:28:52.250 --> 00:29:02.650 reached its limits. Abraham was told to offer 00:29:02.650 --> 00:29:10.289 up his son Isaac, the son of promise. Does that 00:29:10.289 --> 00:29:14.329 seem reasonable to you? God had said to Abraham, 00:29:14.529 --> 00:29:19.349 it is through this boy's generations that I will 00:29:19.349 --> 00:29:22.769 fulfill my promise to you. And now God says, 00:29:22.869 --> 00:29:27.329 I want you to slay your son. That seems highly 00:29:27.329 --> 00:29:32.730 unreasonable to me. Does it to you that God would 00:29:32.730 --> 00:29:35.789 tell him to do that? And yet Abraham went beyond 00:29:35.789 --> 00:29:44.539 his reason by faith. And he concluded, by faith, 00:29:44.740 --> 00:29:50.339 God must be going to raise him from the dead. 00:29:50.420 --> 00:29:54.539 That's the only thing I can see. Because I know 00:29:54.539 --> 00:30:00.559 God, and God has given me a promise. And that 00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:03.000 promise must be fulfilled in this son he wants 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:08.000 me to kill. And so, in a figure, he offered up 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:13.289 Isaac to God. His faith prompted him to act. 00:30:14.450 --> 00:30:16.609 Noah was told to build a boat in the middle of 00:30:16.609 --> 00:30:19.769 a plain. And by the way, the weather report had 00:30:19.769 --> 00:30:23.710 never said storms tomorrow. It had never rained. 00:30:24.769 --> 00:30:27.769 And yet God said, build a boat here in the middle 00:30:27.769 --> 00:30:30.890 of this plain. Does that seem reasonable to you? 00:30:32.990 --> 00:30:35.630 It didn't seem very reasonable to those neighbors 00:30:35.630 --> 00:30:38.210 of Noah who came by and mocked him and jeered 00:30:38.210 --> 00:30:41.960 at him and ridiculed him. What a stupid thing 00:30:41.960 --> 00:30:44.779 to do, Noah, to waste your time building this 00:30:44.779 --> 00:30:47.759 boat. You can't even drag it over here to the 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:52.839 river or to the sea. It's unreasonable, Noah. 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:58.019 But Noah believed God. God said, this is going 00:30:58.019 --> 00:31:00.359 to happen and you'd better do this. And so Noah, 00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:03.799 by faith, built the boat. The people of Israel 00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:06.920 under Joshua marched around Jericho seven days, 00:31:06.980 --> 00:31:09.380 and on the seventh day they marched around it 00:31:09.380 --> 00:31:13.599 seven times. God, what is this? We're to march 00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:19.119 around this city and blow trumpets? Does that 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:21.680 really seem like a reasonable battle plan to 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:26.880 you, God? God said, do what I tell you to do. 00:31:26.980 --> 00:31:32.349 Go beyond what you can reason. And believe my 00:31:32.349 --> 00:31:34.509 promise. And so they did it and the walls of 00:31:34.509 --> 00:31:38.369 Jericho came down. Do you see my point? Faith 00:31:38.369 --> 00:31:44.150 grasps what reason cannot grasp. Because faith 00:31:44.150 --> 00:31:47.730 is based upon God's word, God's revelation. And 00:31:47.730 --> 00:31:53.730 God's revelation always, always, always trumps 00:31:53.730 --> 00:31:59.740 human reason. Always. Do you remember that game 00:31:59.740 --> 00:32:01.559 you may have played as a child called scissors, 00:32:01.720 --> 00:32:05.619 paper, rock? You beat up another person's arm 00:32:05.619 --> 00:32:07.839 through that or had your arm black and blue because 00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:11.920 of scissors, paper, rock. Paper covers what? 00:32:13.180 --> 00:32:19.539 But scissors cut paper. You see, one or the other 00:32:19.539 --> 00:32:22.920 always trumps. And I will tell you that God's 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:29.509 Word always trumps human reason. And secondly, 00:32:29.650 --> 00:32:33.329 faith produces what reason cannot produce. Why? 00:32:34.170 --> 00:32:38.549 Because it is based upon God's work. Reason deals 00:32:38.549 --> 00:32:42.190 with the natural realm, but faith taps into the 00:32:42.190 --> 00:32:47.609 supernatural realm. And so it always surpasses 00:32:47.609 --> 00:32:50.630 reason. And my conclusion today for you is this, 00:32:50.630 --> 00:32:55.170 that it is reasonable to believe. It is reasonable 00:32:55.170 --> 00:32:58.869 to believe. If what you believe is demonstrably 00:32:58.869 --> 00:33:03.549 true, absolutely that is the case. In fact, I 00:33:03.549 --> 00:33:06.089 would say to you that it's unreasonable not to 00:33:06.089 --> 00:33:10.470 believe what is true. That's insanity. That is 00:33:10.470 --> 00:33:15.769 irrational. Now, should I believe that there 00:33:15.769 --> 00:33:19.089 was a big bad wolf that was mean to three little 00:33:19.089 --> 00:33:25.150 pigs one day? Should I believe that? Well, it's 00:33:25.150 --> 00:33:31.930 in a book, but it's a fairy tale. Should I believe 00:33:31.930 --> 00:33:36.890 that two plus two equals five? Or Wednesday or 00:33:36.890 --> 00:33:44.430 Thursday? No. That's demonstrably not true. To 00:33:44.430 --> 00:33:48.519 believe that is irrational. Should I believe 00:33:48.519 --> 00:33:51.480 that the raising of temperature of water to 100 00:33:51.480 --> 00:33:53.900 degrees centigrade of standard pressure will 00:33:53.900 --> 00:33:59.700 produce ice crystals? Probably not. Just the 00:33:59.700 --> 00:34:03.539 opposite. Should I believe that taxes will decrease? 00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:12.920 Is that demonstrably true anywhere? Should I 00:34:12.920 --> 00:34:15.380 believe that a leopard can change its spots or 00:34:15.380 --> 00:34:18.409 a... that a camel can contort to go through the 00:34:18.409 --> 00:34:24.110 eye of a needle. On the other hand, should I 00:34:24.110 --> 00:34:29.269 believe that there is a God? Is that a reasonable 00:34:29.269 --> 00:34:33.809 thing for me to believe? I think it is, and we're 00:34:33.809 --> 00:34:38.989 going to talk about that next week. But you say, 00:34:39.010 --> 00:34:41.150 what if something cannot be demonstrated with 00:34:41.150 --> 00:34:45.610 evidence? Well, there are things like that. For 00:34:45.610 --> 00:34:49.190 example, can it be demonstrated that God came 00:34:49.190 --> 00:34:55.130 into the world of time and space himself? You 00:34:55.130 --> 00:35:00.190 can't put that in a test tube. You can't demonstrate 00:35:00.190 --> 00:35:04.510 it in that way, at least. Is it reasonable to 00:35:04.510 --> 00:35:09.349 believe that a man rose from the dead to immortality? 00:35:09.469 --> 00:35:12.230 Can you demonstrate that? No, you can't really 00:35:12.230 --> 00:35:15.909 demonstrate it. That's why I want to say this. 00:35:15.969 --> 00:35:22.469 It is still reasonable to believe if what you're 00:35:22.469 --> 00:35:25.809 placing your faith on, what you believe, is a 00:35:25.809 --> 00:35:31.670 trustworthy source. Even if something cannot 00:35:31.670 --> 00:35:35.510 be demonstrated reasonably, it is still reasonable 00:35:35.510 --> 00:35:40.489 to believe if what you believe comes from a source 00:35:40.489 --> 00:35:45.739 that you can trust. And so you have to ask yourself, 00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:49.500 is what I believe valid as fact? Is it trustworthy? 00:35:50.300 --> 00:35:54.480 Is the source of my faith valid? If the source 00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:59.579 of your faith is the Bible, I want to tell you 00:35:59.579 --> 00:36:03.300 that it is absolutely trustworthy for your faith. 00:36:04.360 --> 00:36:09.219 You may not be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction 00:36:09.219 --> 00:36:13.000 of your reason or somebody else's reason that 00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:15.380 something is true. But my friend, if God says 00:36:15.380 --> 00:36:19.119 it, that settles it. We're going to talk about 00:36:19.119 --> 00:36:21.300 that too in coming weeks. How do we know we can 00:36:21.300 --> 00:36:27.019 trust the Bible? You say, well, you know what? 00:36:27.219 --> 00:36:29.719 I do believe all of this, but I still struggle 00:36:29.719 --> 00:36:33.400 with doubt. Let me say to you that that is normal. 00:36:34.219 --> 00:36:37.320 That is normal, and it's especially normal as 00:36:37.320 --> 00:36:41.469 part of the process of growing up. And owning 00:36:41.469 --> 00:36:44.690 your own faith? All of our children went through 00:36:44.690 --> 00:36:49.710 periods of doubt. As your children grow up, they 00:36:49.710 --> 00:36:52.449 will doubt things that you have taught them or 00:36:52.449 --> 00:36:54.989 that they've learned in church. That's healthy. 00:36:56.030 --> 00:36:59.230 Because that's part of the process of them thinking 00:36:59.230 --> 00:37:04.489 about it. And then coming to the place by God's 00:37:04.489 --> 00:37:07.190 grace and through your prayers where they own 00:37:07.190 --> 00:37:11.659 it for themselves. A person who never doubts 00:37:11.659 --> 00:37:18.380 never thinks. Someone has said, faith is not 00:37:18.380 --> 00:37:20.860 the absence of doubt, it is a decision based 00:37:20.860 --> 00:37:29.320 on the evidence at hand. John Milton, the famous 00:37:29.320 --> 00:37:31.760 English writer, said, a man may be a heretic 00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:34.780 in the truth if he believes things only because 00:37:34.780 --> 00:37:39.719 his pastor says so. or the assembly so determines, 00:37:39.820 --> 00:37:43.019 without knowing other reason. Though his belief 00:37:43.019 --> 00:37:45.460 be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes 00:37:45.460 --> 00:37:49.400 his heresy. What is Milton saying? You have to 00:37:49.400 --> 00:37:52.639 own it for yourself. The bottom line is that 00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:55.320 you are either a person of faith, whoever you 00:37:55.320 --> 00:37:58.639 are, you are rather a person of faith, whoever 00:37:58.639 --> 00:38:01.639 you are, and the real question is, is your faith 00:38:01.639 --> 00:38:08.840 valid? Is it valid? In Corinthians it says, examine 00:38:08.840 --> 00:38:11.420 yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. 00:38:11.780 --> 00:38:14.800 Does your faith rest upon what is certain and 00:38:14.800 --> 00:38:20.460 true? Is it reasonable? And if it can't be demonstrated 00:38:20.460 --> 00:38:22.820 as reasonable, does it come to you from a source 00:38:22.820 --> 00:38:28.280 that you can trust? If the answer is yes, then 00:38:28.280 --> 00:38:32.460 your faith is a legitimate faith. You can know 00:38:32.460 --> 00:38:35.969 the facts and you can accept them as true. and 00:38:35.969 --> 00:38:39.409 you can base your life upon them as an act of 00:38:39.409 --> 00:38:41.690 your will and go forward and live it out and 00:38:41.690 --> 00:38:47.610 act it out for God in this world. God has given 00:38:47.610 --> 00:38:49.989 enough reason in this world to make faith a most 00:38:49.989 --> 00:38:53.210 reasonable thing, but he has left out enough 00:38:53.210 --> 00:38:55.750 to make it impossible to live by reason alone. 00:39:02.190 --> 00:39:10.599 Would you pray together with me, please? Father, 00:39:10.599 --> 00:39:17.039 my prayer today is that you will enable us to 00:39:17.039 --> 00:39:23.739 each own our faith and to not be afraid of thinking. 00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.880 And when we face doubts as a healthy spiritual 00:39:29.880 --> 00:39:34.619 process in our lives, to go through that process 00:39:34.619 --> 00:39:38.730 of exploration and discovery and thinking. Until 00:39:38.730 --> 00:39:43.230 we have settled the issue, I thank you for the 00:39:43.230 --> 00:39:47.429 young men and women of this church who are growing 00:39:47.429 --> 00:39:54.070 up in a difficult day. I pray for them that as 00:39:54.070 --> 00:39:58.929 they encounter unbelief and people of faith of 00:39:58.929 --> 00:40:03.650 other persuasions, that you will grant to them 00:40:03.650 --> 00:40:08.099 by your grace to persevere. and to become fully 00:40:08.099 --> 00:40:14.519 grown, mature men and women of the faith. And 00:40:14.519 --> 00:40:17.920 help all of us who live in this world that is 00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:20.679 so twisted in its understanding of what faith 00:40:20.679 --> 00:40:24.019 really is and who lives by faith. Help all of 00:40:24.019 --> 00:40:27.480 us to think correctly and to persevere and to 00:40:27.480 --> 00:40:31.039 be your people and to not be confused or deceived 00:40:31.039 --> 00:40:36.369 or led astray by the foolishness of man. but 00:40:36.369 --> 00:40:40.369 like those people of Hebrews 11, to find approval 00:40:40.369 --> 00:40:48.630 because we have indeed lived by faith. In Jesus' 00:40:48.750 --> 00:40:49.989 name, amen.