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

You know, I've spent the last 40 years asking and answering some of life's most important questions. Where we came from? Why do we exist? What is truth?

What happens after we die? And all these issues have led me to one very clear conclusion. And today, I want to share that with you.

That's today. Stay with me. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We are an international teaching and discipleship ministry that encourages and equips Christians to live like Christians. We appreciate you joining us as we near the end of our series, Dealing with Doubts, Reaffirming Your Personal Faith. And Chip and our guest teacher, John Dickerson, have covered a lot of ground, haven't they? Chip took time highlighting the core beliefs of the Christian faith, such as intelligent design, the existence of heaven and hell, and Jesus' resurrection, when John Toddy focused on the evidence that proves Jesus' life on earth, the accuracy of scripture, and the positive impact Christianity has had on history.

This has really been an in-depth and valuable series. So if you missed any part, I hope you'll go back and catch up at LivingOnTheEdge.org or through the Chip Ingram app. Well, with that, let's join Chip for part two of his message, Why I Believe in the God of the Bible. I have a friend named John. He's actually an author, a quite good one, John Dickerson. And I asked him to do a little bit of research for me.

And he is like a head down, dig deep. And he had these lists of all the amazing things that Christians have done. I mean, in science, you know, Newton, Kepler, Pascal.

And then 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 launched the scientific revolution. They launched the industrial revolution. They created the first society in which girls were provided equal education. They created and spread Western democracy as we know it. It was Christians that invented eyeglasses and thousands of other life-changing inventions. 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 as 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 and 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 when believers come together, Jesus is more important than race. I was teaching in the Middle East on a series called the Invisible War and I was doing it to leaders from about 22 or 23 Arabic countries and there were people from Iran and people from Iraq and they were all believers and they were going to learn this and take it to their countries and as we were teaching it, this guy stood up in the middle because I have something to say and then he turned and he said I was a part of the military in Iran 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, forgave each other and 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 raised kids that are productive. The 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 they come in and they have all the balls stacked and you go get your ball and then you go back over to your lane and I want you to imagine that there's like 10 balls, they're all black and there's a white one in the middle, then 10 more and they're all black and you get to turn each one. Usually we turn them over to find out is it the right size or how much does it weigh and each bowling ball represents, I could do a thousand of them and there would still be one white one in the middle, each bowling ball represents a religion. And as you would turn it over, it has two letters, do, turn, do, do. It can be Islam, it can 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 anger of that God or to get on his or her good side but religion is based on do, do, do, do, earn, 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-N-E, done.

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 a cross and pay for your sin and my sin and the sins of all people in the world and as 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 and my sin upon him and then he would die and he would conquer death and conquer Satan and he'd be raised from the dead and then he'll sit at 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 than 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 and the word was God and we beheld him and it talks about in grace and truth. No one has known God at any time but Jesus explained him. Jesus is God. He's the word itself.

Fully man, fully God. It is a unique message and a unique messenger and I believe it. He rose from the dead. He proved it's true and all of life and 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 in the 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 resonance inside your mortal body and you've been taken out of the kingdom of darkness, you placed 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 is I call it the existential evidence. Millions of lives have changed over the last 2,000 years and they experientially will declare that Jesus is alive, that he is who he said he 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 and 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 pass away behold all things become new. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and Chip will be right back to finish today's message but first throughout this series we are identifying the notable issues that can rattle our faith and cause doubt to seep in. So let me quickly encourage you to join Chip after this message. He'll highlight two valuable resources we've bundled to help you process doubt and uncertainty when they come. Keep listening for more details but for now let's rejoin Chip as he continues his talk, Why I Believe in the God of the Bible.

And so it raises a question I don't know about you but just logically this is a pretty hard deal to say no to, right? It's free, it's given, it's 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 wouldn't come visit you and hurt you.

Actually a good god, a kind god, a benevolent god was almost an oxymoron and Jesus blazed 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 going to 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 they don't know. Romans chapter 10 verses 14 and 15 is how can they know if there's not a preacher and how can they preach if no one has sent?

And he goes on to say blessed are the feet of the peacemakers. You know some people in your life you know why they haven't received Christ? They don't know about him or all they know is like people I talked to. I literally talked with a man on a plane recently, if it sounds like I'm on planes a lot it's true. I talked to him recently and he kind of sheepishly said you know I don't really know the difference between Judaism or Christianity.

I mean even historically could you help me kind of 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 where 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'll have a boldness because you would believe not just here but here and have a boldness and a conviction because you realize you're not throwing your brains in the trash.

You're being wise and shrewd and doing what really counts. The second reason why people don't believe is pride. Let me ask you to open your Bible and actually read this because I want you to see it with your own eyes or 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 them, even the rulers believed in him but because of the Pharisees, the religious leaders, they were not confessing him. In other words, 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 that you're so afraid of what people would think oh you became a Jesus freak or you got religion or what about this or what about that. I got news for you man.

I got news for all of us. There'll come a 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 oh my gosh what are the guys on the basketball team gonna say or you know my family what will they think. I will tell you what they think, they saw a change in my life that led the rest of my family to Christ after my sister then me then 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 shouldn't 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. He goes on to say he who believes in Him isn't judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has 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 love darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil.

For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come into the light lest his deeds be exposed. You know I talk to people sometimes and they have all these apparent intellectual reasons about Christianity or about this or about that at the heart of a great many people the reason they don't believe is they're living in a way that they know is wrong and it's morally wrong and they're unwilling to confess that that is wrong turn from their sin and receive the free gift of God. Can I ask you where are you at?

I mean where are 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 you are a followers of Jesus Christ. See I had this great fear especially for American Christians I have a fear that people have 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 they're listening that you love them that 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 and give me the power to follow you make me your son make me your daughter and 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 and some that haven't seen a real Christian live out the life so they would ask about the hope that's in us Lord we know that your will so we pray powerfully in Jesus name Amen. Before we go on today I want to pause because in the message I talked about the three reasons why people don't believe and I believe I'm speaking to some people right now that as I went over those three reasons you literally self-identified it's not an accident that we're having this conversation and so in this moment I just like to review one one is ignorance for some of you you're listening and you're thinking even if you're a moral person or maybe you 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 he wants to come into your life he 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 but you're proud you're this independent I don't want anyone telling me what to do and it's couched in you know you're more scientific or you're more intellectual or but the fact of the matter is is God's breaking through and he's saying you know what you you can't 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 your appetites currently they're 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 it's a train wreck and what started out as pleasure and freedom now now you're a slave to it and Jesus would say I want to deliver you and so I want to pray for all three of these groups and those of you that God has 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 I fall short I've sinned 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 text the best Christian you know or give them a call and tell them exactly what you did and you need to go to our website at Living on the Edge all one word Living on the Edge org and we don't want to sell you anything we just have some free information that will help you understand this new step and 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 work and clicking the new believers button that's Living on the Edge dot org or call triple-a three three three six zero zero three let us help you get started in your faith journey well chips with me in studio now and chip before we go you wanted to take a quick minute and share some encouragement with our listeners absolutely Dave what I want to share now is really important for those of you who support our ministry in prayer and in your generous financial giving I just want to say thank you you know when we share the gospel like this I can just tell you statistically it's amazing the powers in the message many many many people come to know Jesus are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light and I just want you to rejoice with us and I want to thank you for being a part of Living on the Edge and what God is doing thanks for praying thanks for giving let's keep pressing ahead together thanks chip well if you'd like to join us in spreading the gospel and discipling fellow believers consider becoming a financial partner today as chip just said your support can have an eternal impact on someone's life to learn more about becoming a financial partner go to Living on the Edge org or call triple-a three three three six zero zero three that's triple-a three three three six zero zero three or visit Living on the Edge dot org app listeners just tap donate as we close would you stop for a minute and pray for Living on the Edge today we've never seen a greater need for God's truth to go out than right now and by God's grace Living on the Edge has provided encouragement teaching and personal discipleship resources to more people than ever so thank you to those who support us in prayer God is doing amazing things hey you're not going to want to miss our next broadcast as we'll share chips enlightening conversation with best-selling author and renowned Christian apologist Sean McDowell they'll discuss the intentional ways parents grandparents and pastors can help young people navigate doubts and faith challenges that's coming up on the next edition of Living on the Edge I'm Dave Drewey and I hope you'll join us then.