1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,880 I opened today's sermon with a clip from Indiana Jones and the 2 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:05,840 Last Crusade. In this clip, Indy has to take a 3 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:09,560 literal leap of faith onto an invisible bridge to find the 4 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:11,480 treasure and save his father's life. 5 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:13,520 If you want to watch the clip, there's a link in the 6 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:16,720 description or you can search Indiana Jones Leap of Faith on 7 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,040 YouTube. You say that was smart. 8 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:21,400 You're right. We're going to talk about that 9 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:25,640 at the end here. I think that's one of the best 10 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:31,680 depictions of faith that you'll find anywhere in, in arts, 11 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:34,760 movies, TV, books, literature, wherever you're looking. 12 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:38,480 I I think it's just an absolutely brilliant depiction 13 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:42,960 of that faith. Faith is stepping out in and 14 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:47,520 onto and relying on something that we cannot see and cannot 15 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,400 prove exists. The only way to really have 16 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:54,960 evidence that it's there is to depend on it to, to take that 17 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:59,600 step, that leap where, where if it's not there, then we're done. 18 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:01,800 And the only hope that we have is that it's there. 19 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,480 We are still celebrating Easter. I don't know if you know, Easter 20 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,160 is a season just like Christmas is a season in the church. 21 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:12,800 Growing up, it wasn't really a season when the church I grew up 22 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:14,160 in, we didn't really treat it that way. 23 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:16,520 And so I still have to remind myself of that. 24 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:21,040 But I think the the simple truth is, is that Easter's more than 25 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:23,080 just a season. That's the life that we're 26 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:26,040 called to live. Easter is the reason that we're 27 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,880 here. If Jesus had just died on the 28 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,840 cross as a faithful martyr, we would not be here today. 29 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:37,920 It's because Jesus resurrected, because he came back to life, 30 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,400 that God restored his life, gave him a new life. 31 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:45,320 That's why we're here. Without that, without that, 32 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:47,400 there is no church, there is no Christianity. 33 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:51,800 So in a very real sense, we are an Easter people called to live 34 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,840 an Easter life. And we saw last week that one 35 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,400 part of living an Easter life is recognizing that we're living in 36 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,160 a world turned upside down. And this week we're we're taking 37 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,520 a look at this reality that that living the Easter life means 38 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,680 living a life lived by faith. And that's a lot of living and 39 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:13,520 lived and lives in in one sentence, But a life lived by 40 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:20,000 faith is part of an essential part of the Easter life. 41 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,840 Without faith, we can't live the Easter life. 42 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:27,080 We're going to talk about that faith and, and is one of those 43 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,880 tricky things and that their people have a lot of different 44 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:35,320 conceptions of what it means to say faith and to have faith in 45 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,080 Christ. And, and I want to start with 46 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:42,520 sort of a negative side here and, and talk about doubt first, 47 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,840 because there's also a lot of pressure in, in some churches to 48 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:49,480 have no doubts. You, you can't have any doubts. 49 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,000 Any doubt is a sign of a lack of faith. 50 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,880 And all doubt is bad. And if you really love God and 51 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:57,280 you really trust God, you really believe in God, you won't have 52 00:02:57,320 --> 00:02:59,360 any doubts. I think that's nonsense. 53 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:02,800 I, I think doubt is an essential part of faith. 54 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:04,560 And my, my daughter said this to me. 55 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,920 She's smart. I'm not sure if she heard it 56 00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:11,080 from someone else or she made it up, but it stuck with me that 57 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,360 that the opposite of faith is not doubt. 58 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:20,280 The opposite of faith is certainty with we don't need 59 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:24,760 faith if we have certainty, if there are no doubts, faith is 60 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,560 unnecessary because you know, I, I don't, I don't need faith to 61 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,000 know that water freezes at 32°F. I've got a freezer. 62 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,160 I can test that myself. I don't, I don't need, I don't 63 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,080 need faith to know that if I jump off the top of this 64 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:40,520 building, I'm going to die when I hit the sidewalk. 65 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,240 I don't even have to test that. I've I've heard enough to know 66 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:48,000 that that's how gravity works and how human bodies and cement 67 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,240 work. We have when we have certainty, 68 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:58,160 faith is unnecessary. Faith is necessary because of 69 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:00,200 doubt. Without doubt. 70 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,840 There's no room for faith. This is why I think Jesus did 71 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:08,880 not scold or reprimand Thomas and and the reading that that 72 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:12,640 John read for you this morning, Jesus rose from the dead. 73 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,320 He appeared first to the women, sent them back to tell the men 74 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:18,760 Jesus is risen. He's going to meet you. 75 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:21,440 And the men said we don't really believe you. 76 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,920 We think you're nuts. Because they didn't really treat 77 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:30,120 the women as credible witnesses on this is, I think we give the 78 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:34,280 disciples, reasonably so, a hard time for doubting the women. 79 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:36,680 I think it's reasonable to give them a little bit of a hard time 80 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:38,640 for that. I think at the same token, it's 81 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,960 fair then to say that Thomas was pretty much a gender equality 82 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:43,280 guy. He didn't believe the men 83 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:45,840 either. Like, yeah, men, women, I don't 84 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:47,760 care. People don't come back to life 85 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:49,920 unless there's a prophet there to raise them. 86 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:53,720 Don't tell me Jesus rose. Jesus is dead, Thomas said. 87 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,240 Everything in my experience, everything we know about the 88 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:01,880 world, everything we know biblically says that Jesus is 89 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:04,200 dead and he's going to stay dead. 90 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:08,400 He's going to stay dead maybe until the day of resurrection. 91 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:14,680 And, and, and that made sense. Thomas's doubts were perfectly 92 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,640 reasonable because there was no prophet there to raise Jesus 93 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:24,640 from the dead and the day of resurrection was for them more 94 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:28,120 like what we talk about now as the future day of resurrection. 95 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,560 There were Jewish folks that believed in that a resurrection 96 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:32,800 was coming. There would be a day of 97 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:36,680 resurrection when the faithful of Israel would rise to new life 98 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:40,320 in the Kingdom of God. And, and that day of 99 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:45,000 resurrection was the day when all of the faithful rose. 100 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:51,800 No one anywhere was teaching that there would be a single 101 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:55,680 resurrection preceding the day of resurrection. 102 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:57,640 There was. There was. 103 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,760 It just wasn't there. No one had conceived of that, 104 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:05,320 just like no one had conceived of the notion that God's Messiah 105 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,720 would be crucified as a slave by the Roman Empire. 106 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:14,000 It was not. It was beyond belief for anyone. 107 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:19,440 Those things just made no sense. And so Thomas's doubts were 108 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:23,480 very, very reasonable. And Jesus didn't scold him for 109 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:27,240 those doubts. He used those doubts as an 110 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:30,360 opportunity to give a blessing. But let's let's take a look at 111 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:32,400 the doubts again. What what Thomas said. 112 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,760 But he said Thomas said to them, unless I see the nail marks in 113 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:40,280 his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my 114 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:45,680 hand into his side, I will not believe has a that's pretty 115 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:50,440 graphic image there. And and I got to think that when 116 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,680 Jesus showed up, Thomas was like, oh please don't make me 117 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,640 put my hand in your side. Please don't make me put my 118 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:57,000 hand. I know I said that got to be 119 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:58,920 careful. We pray when we dare God to 120 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:03,680 prove something to us, you know, and Jesus didn't make it when 121 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:07,280 Jesus said here they are got my hands and my nails side hand 122 00:07:07,280 --> 00:07:08,000 fingers. You want? 123 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:12,560 What do you want to do, Thomas? Like my Lord and my God, I 124 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:16,680 believe, I believe. Jesus didn't scold Thomas, 125 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,040 though. He invited Thomas to live in 126 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:24,880 faith rather than in doubt. But he didn't scold Thomas for 127 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,640 having the doubts. Instead, Jesus offered this 128 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,120 blessing. Then Jesus told him, Because you 129 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:34,560 have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not 130 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:39,160 seen and yet have believed. This is a tremendous blessing. 131 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:45,120 Again, Thomas is not evil here. Thomas is not wicked. 132 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,920 Thomas is. He just has very reasonable 133 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:54,720 doubts about the reality of something that that hours before 134 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,080 everyone would have said was impossible and was saying was 135 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,680 impossible. If if Thomas were born today, he 136 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:03,160 would be from Missouri. Show me. 137 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,240 You got to show me. If you want me to believe this, 138 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:07,240 you're going to have to. You're going to have to show me. 139 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,760 And Jesus showed him. But Jesus recognized a deeper 140 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:18,240 reality that the vast majority of the followers of Jesus to 141 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,480 believe it all would have to believe without seeing. 142 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:26,480 Jesus is alive. He is alive today, as alive as 143 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:29,720 he was and as real as he was and as solid as he was when he 144 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,600 appeared to Thomas and said, stick fingers, hands, side, 145 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:39,799 whatever you need man, it's OK. But it is the very rare 146 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:45,640 exception when Jesus makes his presence known to a person in 147 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,680 this world. Now I know of a couple of 148 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:51,800 people. They're they are intelligent, 149 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:56,960 they are reasonable, they are not crazy, and they are deeply 150 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,680 faithful. Who will tell you that they have 151 00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:03,280 seen Jesus. One of those people is a is a 152 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,080 pastor by the name of Naeem Fazal. 153 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,440 And and I, I have had the opportunity to meet him and hear 154 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:12,760 him speak, not in a situation where he would Remember Me or 155 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,560 even that we met, but nine Fazal. 156 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:18,360 He's a pastor now in one of the Carolinas. 157 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:24,840 He was born in Pakistan to a Muslim family and at a point in 158 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:33,160 his growing up, he saw Jesus, an honest to goodness vision of 159 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,280 Jesus, and he left Islam and put his faith in Christ. 160 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,520 There's more to it than that, but you can read if you want to 161 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:42,040 read his story. He's a fascinating story. 162 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:48,880 You can find him on Amazon. God, the way God dealt with the 163 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:52,560 way Jesus dealt with Naim is very different than the way he 164 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:56,040 deals with most of us. Most of us do not get that. 165 00:09:56,680 --> 00:09:59,600 And so if we're going to believe it all, we have to believe 166 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:05,360 without seeing. And that's the blessing Jesus 167 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:10,120 offered using Thomas's doubts not as an opportunity to 168 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:12,560 condemn, but as an opportunity to bless. 169 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:16,920 If we're going to believe in Jesus, then we need faith. 170 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:19,400 The Easter life is a life lived by faith. 171 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,280 But faith is more than just belief. 172 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:25,800 There are at least three dimensions to faith to make it 173 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:30,000 real, true, genuine faith, something that's solid and has 174 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:33,120 meaning and, and can carry weight in this life. 175 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:36,120 And we're going to look at, we're going to look at that 3 176 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,840 dimensions of faith. The first dimension of faith is 177 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:42,120 belief. The writer of Hebrews says this 178 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:44,560 in Chapter 11. Without faith, it's impossible 179 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:48,640 to please him that is God, for he who comes to God must believe 180 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:52,000 that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently 181 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:56,360 seek him. Belief is absolutely necessary 182 00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:58,920 for faith. If we don't believe that God 183 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,200 exists, we'll never come to God. If we don't believe that Jesus 184 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,120 is who he says he is, we'll never be willing to take that 185 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:09,040 step of putting our trust in Him and, and making our life, you 186 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:11,680 know, building our life on him and on his Word. 187 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:16,880 Belief is absolutely essential, but it's not all that's 188 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:20,480 essential. Belief alone is not enough. 189 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:24,760 The demons believe. The Bible says that they're 190 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:29,320 shaken in their shoes. Satan believes that Jesus is who 191 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:34,280 he says he is, but Satan's an active rebellion against Jesus. 192 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:40,160 Simply think of it this way. Imagine you're married and and 193 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:44,680 and your spouse believes in you. They took their vows and they 194 00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:49,240 believe in you and they go out on Friday and Saturday night and 195 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:52,160 they're catting around doing all sorts of things with all sorts 196 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:53,560 of people that they ought not be doing. 197 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:57,920 You go back and say, hey, how can you do this? 198 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:00,640 You're supposed to be faithful to your wife. 199 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,400 I am faithful to my wife. I am faithful to my husband. 200 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:06,480 I believe in them. They exist. 201 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:10,360 Well, that's very nice. But that's not being faithful. 202 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:15,520 That's not being faithful. Being faithful means living in a 203 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:19,960 certain way in that relationship, not just believing 204 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:24,000 in someone's existence. And our relationship with God is 205 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:29,200 the same, living in a certain way, we have to believe that he 206 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,480 exists. But we also there's another 207 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,280 dimension of faith that is absolutely essential. 208 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:40,360 And that's the dimension of obedience in that 11th chapter 209 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,480 of Romans, which is kind of a who's who of faith. 210 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:49,400 In the Old Testament Scriptures, we see over and over again this 211 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:53,240 sort of thing. By faith, Noah prepared, and it 212 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:55,280 should be an ark rather than and ark. 213 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:58,360 That's a typo. By faith, Noah prepared an ark, 214 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,240 Abraham obeyed, Abraham offered up Isaac. 215 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:09,400 By faith, all these folks did something they did what God 216 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:11,560 called them to do. They went where God called them 217 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:14,280 to go. They they, they served how God 218 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:17,440 called them to serve. They gave up their lives as God 219 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:18,760 called them to give up their lives. 220 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:23,560 They acted on their belief. They obeyed. 221 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:27,360 James put it this way because it was a lot of conversation in the 222 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:31,320 early church about, you know, faith and works and and, and, 223 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:33,800 and everyone agreed you can't earn your salvation. 224 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:38,760 But but there was a well is believing enough and James was 225 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:40,840 talking to folks. Oh yeah, I, I, you know, it 226 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:43,800 doesn't really matter what I do. I believe in Jesus. 227 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:46,880 And James said it does matter what you do. 228 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:50,400 You say you can show me your faith without works. 229 00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:56,000 James said I will show you my faith by my works, by what I do. 230 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:01,320 It is obedience to God. That is another essential 231 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:05,000 aspect. So, so coming to faith is more 232 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:08,800 than just just praying the sinner's prayer and going about 233 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:13,000 our lives with our Get out of Hell free card following Jesus. 234 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:18,720 Faith in Jesus is about being able to recognize who God is and 235 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:23,320 what God is doing in the world around us now and joining God in 236 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:27,640 that, following where God is leading us now, not just 237 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,280 believing certain things about God, following where God is 238 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:33,640 leading now. Whether that's to do a thing, to 239 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:37,080 go, a place to stop doing a thing, to speak, something to be 240 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:40,080 quiet there, wherever God is leading us in whatever 241 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:44,320 particular situation to follow obediently the leading of God, 242 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,600 that is faith. That's still only two 243 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:49,800 dimensions, though. For something to be kind of 244 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,600 really real in our in our life, it needs to be at least three 245 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:55,480 dimensions. We got belief, we've got 246 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:58,080 obedience. There is 1/3 dimension that is 247 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:00,560 absolutely essential for us to have a real faith. 248 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,000 And yet it's a dimension that we have no control over whatsoever. 249 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,040 And it's this. The third dimension is God's 250 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:11,080 faithfulness to us. Paul writes to Timothy. 251 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:17,360 Even if we are faithless, God remains faithful for he cannot 252 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:21,840 disown himself. We might lose faith in God, we 253 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:25,520 might be overwhelmed by doubts, but God will continue to be 254 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:27,960 faithful to us. And, and I love that turn of 255 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:30,000 phrase, He cannot disown himself. 256 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:33,080 I get the sense here that what what Paul is trying to 257 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:37,960 communicate is that faith is, is an essential part of who God is. 258 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:42,000 It's not just the thing that God does, but being faithful as part 259 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,720 of who God is. Just like God is love, God is 260 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:48,640 also faith. God is faithful like Jesus is 261 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:51,920 the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is also faithful. 262 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:57,760 It's just part of who he is. And even when we're not 263 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,880 faithful, God continues to be faithful and that is very good 264 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,040 news. Otherwise, God would have wiped 265 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:07,720 us all out way back in Genesis 6 when he said the heart of 266 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:10,400 everyone in the world has turned to nothing but evil all the time 267 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:14,600 except for one guy, Noah. But instead of wiping us all out 268 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,640 and saying failed experiment, God stayed faithful to us even 269 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:20,880 we were unfaithful to him. That's the history of the 270 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,960 Israelites throughout the scriptures of the Old Testament. 271 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:27,560 Even when they drifted away from God, God never abandoned them. 272 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,120 And even when things were happening that looked like God 273 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:33,040 abandoning them, it was God saying, this is the only way I 274 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:37,520 can get your attention to come back to obedience. 275 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:42,960 It's what Jesus did on the cross, God's faithfulness to us. 276 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:47,680 God came to us as one of us lived among us to show him 277 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:50,960 himself, to show us what a life of faith looks like. 278 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,880 And the humans of this world rejected him, denied him, and 279 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:57,840 killed him to get him out of the way. 280 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,920 And if God could have said, that's it, we're done, ZAP, 281 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:06,160 you're all gone. But God stayed faithful to us 282 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:09,599 even when we were faithless to him. 283 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:15,880 And that's why we're here. Jesus himself said no one comes 284 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:19,520 to me unless they're drawn by my Father in heaven. 285 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:24,480 Think about that. It's God's faithfulness to us as 286 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:29,680 individuals drawing us to Jesus. Without that, we wouldn't be 287 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:34,320 here. We would never even begin to put 288 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:37,400 our faith and our hope and our trust in Jesus unless God was 289 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:44,040 faithful to draw us to Jesus. And so God's faithfulness is an 290 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:45,800 essential component to our faith. 291 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,600 Without God's faithfulness, we can't be faithful. 292 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:54,320 Without God's faith, we can't have faith, certainly not a 293 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,760 faith that acts in obedience to the Word of God. 294 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:03,280 One final thing I want to say here as we're doing this and, 295 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:08,800 and is that faith is not insanity, it's not stupidity, 296 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:12,600 it's not ignorance. Y'all know by now I'm a nerd and 297 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:14,320 you found out last week I like Star Trek. 298 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:16,840 Maybe that was two weeks ago, I don't remember which. 299 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:19,280 Next Generation is my favorite. I love Star Trek The Next 300 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:22,560 Generation, I think one of the best TV series ever, but I don't 301 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:25,800 I still have issues with it. There are things in it that 302 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:29,280 rubbed me the wrong way. And one of the things that you 303 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:33,080 see in Star Trek The Next Generation, it's very clearly 304 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:38,840 the attitude of the writers that faith is nothing but mindless, 305 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:41,880 primitive, immature superstition. 306 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:48,160 Any kind of religious faith that societies in in the Star Trek 307 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:52,200 universe will eventually, if they're allowed to progress and 308 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:58,080 advance beyond religious faith and depend only on science and 309 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:02,120 reason and understanding. And, and so people of faith, 310 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:06,520 they almost invariably portray as as sort of almost half 311 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:10,080 witted, You know, like even if they're adults, they talk and 312 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,200 act and sound like children and they sound childish. 313 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:19,920 They sound, I'm not doing this to pick on Star Trek. 314 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:24,560 Star Trek is representative of how much of our culture treats 315 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:29,160 people of faith. The the suggestion, the 316 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:31,840 implication, and sometime the outright statement is is 317 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:35,440 religious faith is just silly, superstitious nonsense. 318 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:40,480 Grow up and get over it. But it's not what faith is. 319 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:49,320 There are really, really good, solid reasons to believe that 320 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:54,120 God is who he says he is in the Bible, that Jesus is who he says 321 00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:58,560 he is in the Bible, and that we can put our trust and our hope, 322 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,200 our faith in them, obediently follow them. 323 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:03,720 And that's not a silly, superstitious thing to do. 324 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:06,160 It's actually a smart, reasonable thing to do. 325 00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:10,760 One of the reasons I believe is people that have gone before me 326 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:16,480 that I know that they believed. I think particularly if my, my 327 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:20,480 grandmother, Ruth, my mom, my grandmother died many years ago. 328 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,600 Thank God my mom's still alive. I'm glad she's still around. 329 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:28,200 They are not stupid, they are not silly, they are not 330 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:30,080 superstitious, and they are not crazy. 331 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:36,520 And they absolutely believed in Jesus Christ and lived like they 332 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:40,840 believed in Jesus Christ as faithfully as they could to the 333 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:43,240 word of God as they understood it and understand it. 334 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:45,040 In my mom's case, is she still doing it? 335 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:48,720 There are other people throughout history, really, 336 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,760 really smart people, people smarter than my mom, my grandma, 337 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:56,800 and me all put together. People like Blaise Pascal, one 338 00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:01,760 of the greatest mathematicians in history was a person of deep 339 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,600 faith in God. Isaac Newton, one of the 340 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:09,600 greatest mathematicians and scientists in history, a person 341 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,760 of deep faith in God. I think if you look at it, I 342 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,560 keep saying this, I'm going to have to go double check this, 343 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:19,240 but I think this is true. If it's not, I'll have to put a 344 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,600 disclaimer in the sermons before I post them online. 345 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:25,040 I think if you dig into it, you'll discover that Charles 346 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:32,200 Darwin believed in God, that his theory of evolution did not 347 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:39,800 exclude the work of God. Very smart, very credible, very 348 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,520 intelligent people who believe in God. 349 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:46,000 There's lots of good reasons. There's lots, but part of we've 350 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,480 talked a little bit about things in the Bible that if the, if, if 351 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:50,440 the story of Jesus were just fantasy. 352 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,840 So we're just a made-up lie for some reason. 353 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:57,360 It's a really bad lie. I mean, it's one of the, oddly 354 00:21:57,360 --> 00:21:58,760 enough, one of the reasons to believe. 355 00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:01,680 You know, they wouldn't have picked women to be the first 356 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:03,920 apostles and evangelists because women weren't considered 357 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,320 credible. They, they, they wouldn't have 358 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:10,720 had Jesus rising from the dead if they were making the story 359 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,000 up. The story would have been this. 360 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,560 We went to the garden this morning and Jesus's ghost 361 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:19,440 appeared to us. Lots of people believed in 362 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,160 ghosts. Lots of people said, Oh yeah, my 363 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:26,400 grandmother appeared to me once. My uncle, my, my, my, my child, 364 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:30,440 I've seen, they saw ghosts. They believed in ghosts. 365 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:35,160 That was, that was a a, a, you know, a normal ish sort of 366 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:36,640 thing. It wasn't like all the time 367 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,680 everywhere, but it's something that lots of people talked about 368 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,920 and lots of people believed in. Nobody believed. 369 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:48,400 And one person experiencing the resurrection all by themselves, 370 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:51,960 nobody believed that. So if they're making it up, it's 371 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:56,160 a bad lie. It's a really bad lie to tell. 372 00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,080 I think that's a reason to believe. 373 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:01,080 There are a lot of other reasons to believe. 374 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:02,240 Don't have time to go in tomorrow. 375 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,920 I'm thinking more and more I might do a series on this off 376 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:06,480 and on at some point down the road. 377 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,320 And, and there are there are a couple of good books if you're 378 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:11,880 interested in this kind of thing, if you've got doubts in 379 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,080 your life or there's someone in your life that has doubts and 380 00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:16,760 they're like, it just, you know, I just feels like silly 381 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:19,320 superstition to me. There's two books I can 382 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,560 recommend and there's more, but there's two that I know for 383 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:23,480 sure. One is called Evidence that 384 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:29,600 Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell and the other is The 385 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:34,680 Case for Christ by Lee Strobel and and Strobel and McDowell 386 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:38,880 have very similar stories. Both started as non believers. 387 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,360 Strobel is an atheist, McDowell is an agnostic. 388 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:47,760 Both started their research into Christianity so they could 389 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:53,080 disprove Christianity. And in the process of doing all 390 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,240 of their research, they came to believe that the evidence really 391 00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:02,400 said, no, that's right. And Lee Strobel gave up atheism 392 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:04,840 and became a Christian. And Josh McDowell gave up 393 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:06,800 agnosticism and became a Christian. 394 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,840 Lee Strobel was his, his book's a little easier to read. 395 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,840 He was a journalist by profession and he writes like a 396 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:14,920 journalist. He can his his writing is very 397 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:18,400 accessible, very readable. Lee Strobel was a scholar and he 398 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:20,760 writes like a scholar. And so his writings a little 399 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:25,240 more dense, but there's just a lot of stuff in what they've 400 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:29,000 said say, these are the reasons why we believe. 401 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:31,560 It's not silliness, it's not superstition. 402 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:35,560 And the flip side of all of this, the other side of the coin 403 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:40,000 is that science I I got nothing bad to say about science. 404 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,880 Science is an incredible tool, very important. 405 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,760 Nothing that helps us get closer to the truth is contrary to God 406 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:50,800 because Jesus is truth and science helps us with that. 407 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:53,960 But there's some things that are out of bounds that science can't 408 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,840 really tell us about. And one of those things is our 409 00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:59,880 origins of how and why we got here. 410 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:04,040 Now currently I I've said this at all three services today too. 411 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,160 If I'm getting my science wrong, let me know. 412 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:09,160 I don't like to get the science wrong because one thing it makes 413 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:10,960 me look stupid and I really hate looking stupid. 414 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,640 The other thing, it makes me look non credible as a witness 415 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:15,280 for Jesus and I really don't want to do that. 416 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,920 But this is my understanding of the science that right now, the 417 00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:24,680 currently most favoured explanation for our origins in 418 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:28,560 the scientific world is The Big Bang theory, that all the matter 419 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,640 in the universe coalesced into one singularity and exploded and 420 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,480 and produced the universe. And it's still expanding now and 421 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:43,320 eventually will contract again. And they've got math to explain 422 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,240 all of this. The math is beyond me. 423 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,640 I have no hope of understanding the math, but there's some 424 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,800 things in that there are problems with the theory and I'm 425 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:54,760 not saying anything earth shattering today. 426 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:57,240 The scientists are well aware of these problems. 427 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:02,520 One of the problems is, is for the, all of that to come 428 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:05,600 together and explode and create the universe that did the, the, 429 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,960 the math worked out that you need X amount of matter. 430 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,320 And the problem is, is there's not enough matter in the 431 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:18,840 universe to adequately fulfill the predictions and expectations 432 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,920 of The Big Bang theory. For The Big Bang theory to work, 433 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:24,600 they need more matter than we can find in the universe. 434 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:26,680 That's one of the problems with The Big Bang theory. 435 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:32,600 So what did the scientists do? They developed an explanation. 436 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:35,000 Have you heard of dark matter? Anyone ever heard of dark 437 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,480 matter? Dark matter. 438 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:39,920 And again, if I get the science wrong, let me know. 439 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:43,000 This is my understanding, but I'm I'm out of my areas of 440 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:47,160 expertise here. Dark matter is matter that 441 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:52,000 cannot be perceived by any way for us. 442 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:53,960 You can't see it, you can't touch it. 443 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:56,360 You can't taste it. You can't smell it, you can't 444 00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:59,640 hear it. There is no means or no tool 445 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,720 that we can use to directly perceive dark matter. 446 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:09,160 How do we know it's there if we can't see it, taste it, touch 447 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:10,480 it, smell it? If there's no way we can 448 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:12,560 perceive it by any means, how do we know it's there? 449 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:16,520 Well, the scientists say there's two ways. 1 is our theory says 450 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:20,840 it needs to be there, and the the math behind our theory says 451 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,760 it needs to be there. And the other is, is then we can 452 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,880 see the effects that it has in the world around us. 453 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:32,560 We can't see it, but we can see how it affects other things 454 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,200 around it. Does that sound at all familiar 455 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,920 to you? That's how we talk about God. 456 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:42,160 And now we've talked about God for as long as we've been 457 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:48,000 talking about God, we can't see him, but we had to get here 458 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:51,600 somehow. And an intelligent designer to 459 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,400 me is more reasonable than random chance. 460 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:59,480 And, and I can't see God, but I can see all of these things that 461 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,160 happen. And, and without God, it's hard 462 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:07,280 to explain how they could have the effects that God has in the 463 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:11,760 world around him. So we don't have to worry about 464 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:14,040 if there are people out there looking down their noses at us, 465 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,680 all those silly superstitious Christians that are, you know, 466 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:19,920 they want faith rather than reason. 467 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:24,640 Science, if it's trying to explain origins, ultimately 468 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,760 depends on faith rather than reason as well. 469 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:32,320 Even like, oh, I just lost his name. 470 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,720 I hate it when I do that. Names in my brain. 471 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:42,720 Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant people to ever live, 472 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:47,760 far smarter than I am, and talking about the origins of the 473 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:49,760 universe, and he was not a person of faith. 474 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:54,840 He said the universe came into existence because the universe 475 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:59,680 decided to come into existence. My friends, that is not science. 476 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:04,200 That's faith. That is a statement of faith. 477 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:06,960 And so that doesn't mean we get to look down our noses at 478 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:09,560 atheists and and agnostics and others. 479 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:14,920 No one ever gets drawn to Jesus by being condescended to or held 480 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:19,120 in contempt. But we don't have to feel like 481 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:23,560 that somehow we're participating in something ridiculous, stupid, 482 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:27,360 or primitive. There are really good reasons to 483 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:31,800 believe what we believe, to have the faith that we have. 484 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:34,720 And that's how we live our lives. 485 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:36,480 And that's what Jesus invites us. 486 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,440 The way he invites us to live our lives is by that faith. 487 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,040 Now, here's the thing, This is the final thing. 488 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:48,640 When we live by faith, when we live by faith, when we step out 489 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,520 and we not only believe that God exists, but we are paying 490 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:53,880 attention to what God is doing and what God is saying. 491 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,360 And we're following where God is leading even when we've got 492 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:02,480 nothing else to support us. When we do that, we become for 493 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,600 other people like that sand that Indiana Jones threw out on that 494 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:12,520 bridge, so that he did it so that when he was coming back 495 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:14,280 that way, he could see the bridge easier. 496 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:20,960 When we live like that, we help other people see the reality of 497 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:25,880 God who we are. Depending on our faith gives 498 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:32,280 substance to what we cannot see, and it helps others to believe 499 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:36,480 in what they cannot see because but they can see us believing in 500 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:38,440 it. They can say, you know what? 501 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,960 I know that person in that church, I know what they're 502 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:45,040 going through and I don't know how they're keeping their head 503 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:48,360 above water. They tell me it's Jesus. 504 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:52,320 They tell me it's Jesus. I don't know how they make it. 505 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:53,880 I don't know how they get out of bed every day. 506 00:30:54,480 --> 00:31:02,320 They tell me it's Jesus and they see in our faith a reality they 507 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:07,880 cannot see themselves, and that may be the thing that they most 508 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:10,880 need in order to take that step themselves. 509 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:17,320 So this is the Easter life, a life lived by faith in Jesus 510 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:19,520 name, Amen. Amen.