Why I Believe - Why I Believe in the God of the Bible, Part 2

Hey this is Chip, and really glad you're with us for today's program. I'm excited about what will be talking about today. But before we get started I wanted give you little heads up about the newest small group study.

It's called why I believe it came out of honestly and embarrassing and frustrating personal challenge in my own faith in my own journey I had people that were really smart asking me really hard questions that I couldn't answer.

So with this study why you believe I just done a lot of the advance work to create something simple, memorable, and well researched to help you really understand and articulate your own faith you get a lot more on this later. Now let's join the program. In our previous broadcast we begin looking at reasons why it's intellectually feasible to believe that the gods of the Bible is actually the one true God as narrow as that sounds. In our day.

Let me tell you, I spent the last 35 years asking and answering the most questions about life to come to the today I want to share what I believe the Bible stay with thanks for joining us for this Friday edition of living on the with Living on the Edge features the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram on this daily discipleship program wraps up a series why I believe in the series. He's walked us through some of the basics of the Christian why it's reasonable, intellectually honest to hold this in the resurrection of Jesus Bible and life after missed any of these messages are all available on the ship and remap well let's get going here. Strip with part two of his message.

Why I believe in the God of the Bible. What the Bible has done what God has done the mustard seed conspiracy. This tiny little group of people following Jesus that gets birth the changes the world. The liberation of women. The liberation of slaves. The basis of art, jurisprudence, economic impact the care for the poor Wilberforce you know, he stood on Scripture in England and stopped it to decades and stop the horrendous slavery that was happening.

When you find and do research, you find that Christians have been in key areas that have changed the course of history. I have a friend named John.

He's actually a author quite good.

When John Dickerson and I asked him to do little better research for me and he is like a headdown dig deep and he had these list of all the amazing things that Christians have done. I mean, in science, you know, Newton, Kepler, Pascal, and then he he gave me reams and reams of amazing material.

Let me just read a quick list of this is the impact of Christians with regard to universities and education and what's happened as a result of it. They launch the scientific revolution. They launch the industrial revolution.

They created the first society which girls were provided equal education they created and spread Western democracy as we know it was Christians invented eyeglasses and stuck thousands of other life-changing inventions not the laws of planetary motion were discovered by Christian scientists germ theory. Modern hospitals, education, life-saving vaccines, they fought for women's rights and the abolition of slavery.

All of that occurred because there was a Christian worldview that said, the dignity of man and this is who God is and there is only one God and we are compelled to make a difference.

The fifth reason that I believe in the God of the Bible is the one true God is what I call the pragmatic evidence the teaching of Jesus and the New Testament are you ready it works in real life.

It promotes healthy relationships, strong marriages, honest business people positive parenting racial reconciliation cultural kindness and they champion the value in the dignity of all human beings regardless of creed, race, sex, nationality or orientation. I mean even people that I completely, totally disagree with. I am compelled by the God of the Bible to love them and to serve them and to treat them with dignity. I mean it works.

I mean, I didn't grow up as a Christian and I will tell you I can't believe the marriage that I have but it's based around Christ. My wife came from an alcoholic family. I came from an alcoholic family what I can tell you the pragmatic reason is with when believers come together. Jesus is more important than rice. I was teaching in the Middle East on a touch on a series called the invisible war and I was doing it to leaders from about 22 or 23 Arabic countries and their people from Iran people from Iraq and they were all believers and they were gonna learn this and take it to the countries and and as we were teaching it.

This guy stood up in the middle, as I've something to say and then he turned and he said I was a part of the military and Arend and when we went to war. I killed many of your people, and I feel ashamed and the other guy got up and he said I have done the same, and in the middle of this, more than race, more than background.

These two men came hugged one another for gave each other in tears streaming down their face and you know what that is. That's the power of the gospel. Jesus changes lives from the inside out.

He changes relationships. He restores marriages he helps parents know how to model the kind of life that raise kids that are productive.

This sixth evidence is the uniqueness of the Christian message and the uniqueness of the Christian messenger.

The message of the New Testament is different than any other religion in the world. It's a message of grace. Let me give you a picture. Grace is literally receiving what you do not deserve and it's unconditional. I want you to imagine if you will that we went to a bowling alley and all across here, you know, they come in and have all the balls stacked and you go get your ball and then you go back over to your lane and want you to imagine that there's like 10 balls. They're all black and there's a white one in the middle than 10 more, and they're all black and you get to turn each one usually turn them over to find out you nose at the right size or how much does it weigh in each bowling ball represents I could do a thousand of them and if still be one white one in the middle. Each bowling ball represents a religion and I and as you would turn it over as two letters do turn to. Do not can be as long. It could be Taoism. It can be pray five times a day I can come over here do do do every single religion is rooted in.

Here's what you need to do to appease the anchor that God or to get on his or her good side. But religion is based on do do do do turn earn earn and you never know if you measure up, and then you come to the white ball and you turn it over and there's four letters D, O and E done. It's it's mind-boggling the Christian message is not this is what you need to do to earn favor with God. This is the God of the Bible that saw your hurt and your sin and knew it was coming, and sent his only son and he lived a perfect life to explain what the father is like and after living a perfect life he would unjustly hang on the cross and pay for your sin and my sin and the sins of all people in the world and ask the sins came upon him. The father would turn away and he would become our sin offering for that split-second and he would take your sin in my sin upon him and that he would die and he would conquer death and conquer Satan, and he be raised from the dead and then he'll see that the right hand of the father and now he's our elder brother and he says whosoever would believe you can have eternal life. It's the message of grace. It's different that every religion, every philosophy, every system and not only is the message different. The messenger is different. Jesus was not just a great teacher. He wasn't just a good moral person. He didn't set just a good example. He said I am the way the truth and the life.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God the Word was God, and we beheld him to talk about in grace and truth. No one has known God in a time but Jesus explained him. Jesus is God. He's the word itself fully man and fully God. It is a unique message and a unique messenger. I believe it he rose from the dead, he proved it's true in all of life in all of history is now before and after the solitary life of one rabbi who came claiming to be God and offering freely the forgiveness of sins, and that when a person turns from your sin and an empty hands of faith recognizes that only he and what he's done for you can save you receive him by faith. The spirit of God actually takes up residence inside your mortal body, and you been taken out of the kingdom of darkness you place in the kingdom of light and he actually lives within you, and he walks with you and you walk with him and it's a relationship not a religion, and this may be the most important reason why I believe in the God of the Bible the final reason that I believe in the God of the Bible as I call it the existential evidence millions of lives have changed over the last 2000 years, and they experientially will declare that Jesus is alive but he is who he said is I'm one of those people every day. 85,000 people worldwide are putting their faith in Christ, people are admitting I was blind but now I see I was lost but now I'm found in their testimony.

With all the ups and all the downs that we all have in real life is peace, forgiveness, joy, purpose, significance, love, guilt removed new relationships, new life, if any man if any woman is in Christ, you become a new creation the old things passed away behold all things become new insult raises a question I don't know about you, but just logically, this is a pretty hard deal to say no to write.

It's free.

It's given its life-changing. I mean, most of all the gods in antiquity were cruel and mean and most of the religion was trying to figure a way where they could wouldn't come visit you and hurt you. Actually, a good God, a kind God of a benevolent God was with was almost an oxymoron. And Jesus plays the trail through all of that. So here's the question what in the world could keep people from receiving this free gift of eternal life of knowing he's prepared a place for you in heaven, and having a completely new life. I'm in a close with these top three reasons why people do not receive the gift that God has purchased for them.

Number one is ignorance. Some people I don't know. Romans chapter 10 verses 14 to 15 is how can they know if there's not a preacher, and how can they preach of no one assent goes on to say, Blessed are the feet of the peacemakers.

Some people in your life you know why they haven't received Christ. They don't know about him.

For all they know is like people I talked to. I literally talk with a man on a plane recently. If it sounds like I'm on planes lot is true. I talked to man recently, any kind of sheepishly said you know I don't really know the difference between Judaism or Christianity.

I mean even historically, we can understand when stuff happened and even the basic beliefs do you know there's people in your world.

There's people in your coffee shop.

There's people were you drop off the dry cleaning. There's people in your neighborhood. There's people in the cubicle next to you there's someone on the job site where you're out there doing you know your plumbing or electrical work. They don't know and that's why you're there you are God's ambassador and my prayer is that through this series, you will have a boldness because you would believe. Not just here but here and have a boldness in the condition because you realize you not thrown your brains in the trash you're being wise and shrewd in doing what really counts. The second reason why people don't believe his pride. Let me ask you open your Bible and actually read this because I want you to see it with your own eyes were open your phone that works. I'm in John chapter 12 and Jesus has been preaching and teaching about being the light of the world, he says.

Nevertheless, many of even the rulers believe in him, but because of the Pharisees, the religious leaders. They were not confessing him numbers. They weren't believing to the point of going public, lest they be put out of the synagogue. Now listen to this, for they love the approval of men rather than approval of God. You know there's people in your network and actually some of you listening right now you're so afraid of what people think all you became a Jesus freak or you got religion or what about this or what about that I got news for you ma'am I got news for all of us, though, day when you will really care less what anyone else thinks except God the father and the judge. Jesus Christ so can I encourage you forget what people think, but that pride boy that kept me back. All I could think of was how my gosh. One of the guys in the basketball team to say your my family.

What will they think I will take what they think they saw change in my life that led the rest of my family to Christ after my sister and me than the rest of the family and it changed our whole family and the trajectory of our whole future, both now and forever. The third reason that people do not believe is a moral problem. You know, we often read John chapter 3 verse 16. You know, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever would believe in him should perish but have everlasting life. But we don't usually read much farther.

Let me read as it continues in John because Jesus is going to point out at the heart of why some people don't believe goes on to say he who believes in him isn't judged.

He does not believe is been judged already, because he is not believed in the name of the only begotten God and this is the judgment, listen carefully, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come into the lightless is deeds be exposed.

You know I talk to people sometimes and have all these apparent intellectual reasons about Christianity or about this were about that at the heart of a great many people.

The reason they don't believe is there living in a way that they know is wrong and it's morally wrong and they are unwilling to confess that that is wrong turn from their sin and receive the free gift of God, can I ask you where you at me where you at today. I don't mean did you pray a prayer or you know. Raise your hand somewhere does your life and lifestyle demonstrate that the living God by the person of the Holy Spirit lives inside of you and your values and your love and your capacity and your future and your priorities reflect your followers of Jesus Christ. See, I have this great fear especially for American Christians have a fear that people of intellectually agreed with almost everything I've said, but if we looked at your life. It is so dissimilar to Jesus that I would question are you really in the faith, because what I can tell you is people that genuinely know him and genuinely love him.

We have our struggles but our life changes.

Father, I want to pray right now and I want to ask you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that your Spirit would move powerfully that you would convict of sin and righteousness and justice, Lord, that you would convince people in their heart of hearts, even as their listening that you love them you want them and if you're one of those people that have never received Christ right now at this moment, you can cry out to God, Lord Jesus. I believe I believe you died in my place rose from the dead. I'm asking you come into my life be my Savior. Give me the power to folly. Make me your son make me your daughter. Lord I pray for those of us that are followers of Jesus, would you give us a holy boldness and a concern for others.

Some that haven't heard some that haven't seen a real Christian live out the life so they would ask us, Lord, we know that your will. So we crave health go on. Today I want to because in the message.

I talked about three reasons why people don't believe I believe I'm speaking to some people right now that as I went over those three reasons you literally self identified is not an accident that were having this conversation and so, in this moment.

I just like to review want one is ignorance for some of you your listening in your thinking. Even if you're a moral person, or maybe went to church or maybe you know you don't see yourself as religious at all, you would say up until today.

I was ignorant. I didn't know this and I want you to know that God wants you he loves you. He's for you. He wants to forgive you was to come into your life. You wants to direct you. He has a plan doesn't mean it'll be easy, but he'll be with you. The second is there's others that down deep as I was speaking you.

It was hard to admit that your proud you were this independent. I don't want anyone telling me what to do and it's couched in you know you're more scientific your your more intellectual or the fact of the matter is, as God's breaking through anything. You know what you can handle all of this you don't know everything. I made all that there is I made you, you know your failures when you're honest I want to forgive you and love you and receive you, and then there's some that you really know the story, but you are current, moral, or living, or sexual appetites.

Currently there drowning out God's voice because the guilt that comes when you think about really following Jesus. The way that you know how and how you're currently living. It's just like a train wreck in Jesus would say I want to deliver you. Did you ever wonder why there's so many stories in the Bible of people that were trapped in an sexual sin and what started out as pleasure in freedom now know your slave to it. And so I want to pray for all three of these groups and those of you that God is destined on this day in this moment that we would have this conversation and I would invite you to say Lord Jesus you know everything about me. There's no use hiding or pretending I want to tell you I need you today. I desperately need you. I admit I fall short.

I've send I've done things wrong. But today I want you to know I'm turning from my way and I'm asking you right now Almighty God, will you forgive me of all my sins based solely on what Jesus did on the cross and his resurrection, and I take up your offer where you say that you're knocking at the door of my heart. And if I would open the door that you would come into my life and live with me and guide me and direct me. So today I ask you forgive me come into my life make me your son make me your daughter. And Lord, thank you for your forgiveness.

Now help me to grow and help me to follow you all the days of my life in Jesus name as you have prayed that with me.

It's not some little spiritual activity. If it is the intent of your heart. The Bible says when you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth you shall be saved, delivered, forgiven, you need to tax the best Christian you know or give them a call and tell him exactly what you did need to go to our website it Living on the Edge all one word LivingontheEdge.org and we don't want to sell you anything.

We just have some free information that will help you understand this new step in to help you grow, now find a good Bible teaching church this weekend and you don't have to know anything just go and let some people love you God bless you and keep pressing if you just prayed with Chip. I hope you'll take a minute and call us at 1-888-333-6003.

We love to talk with you and get a free resource in your hands specifically designed to help you get started out right on your new journey of faith or if you prefer you can go to our website LivingontheEdge.org just click the new believers button to find that same free resource.

We just want to say welcome to the family. Now here's Chip with a final thought, hey I just want to remind you that today is the last day of the series of why I believe you know it's super important to have concrete answers and personal convictions about your faith. I mean people are asking us all the time and our faith is under attack day by day in the world that we live in.

What do you really believe and why are you intellectually able to articulate why you believe that Jesus is the only way I do you have confidence in the Bible you have good answers for the issue of evolution and creation then maybe more importantly with the world that we live in is it intellectually feasible to believe that the God of the Bible is the only one true God is, things are happening all around us. We want to put a tool in your hands to help you, your children, your grandchildren to be able to know what you believe and why and then communicated in a loving, winsome, nonthreatening way to the people that you love as a Christian we sometimes feel ill-equipped to answer honest questions about our faith, but Scripture says we should have an answer ready and while we may not have all the answers. Being able to articulate truth in a thoughtful way is a great way to engage people, which is why Chip taught these messages and why we hope you'll get the series for yourself and anyone in your circle would love to be able to share their faith in a positive way. We want to equip you so you can answer with conviction and confidence.

For more information or to order your copies of why I believe. Just visit us online at http://livingontheedge.org or give us a call at 1-888-333-6003 well, I hope you'll join us again on Monday when she begins a new series true spirituality fill them favorably say thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge