Welcome to Science, Scripture, and Salvation, a radio ministry of the Institute for Creation Research. In this program, we want to encourage you in your Christian faith by showing how scientific evidence supports the Bible, particularly the Genesis account. The book of Genesis lays the foundation for all matters addressed in the rest of the Bible. The nature of God, His sovereignty in creation, man's purpose, sin, marriage, family, and why we need a Savior are all introduced and explained in Genesis. When we see that the first and most foundational book of the Bible can be trusted in all matters, including science, it builds confidence in the rest of the inspired word all the way to Revelation.
On today's show, we'll get some insights from Dr. Jason Lyle, astrophysicist and director of physical sciences with the Institute for Creation Research. Here's Dr. Lyle. 1 Corinthians 1.23 states, But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness.
You know, this short passage gives us an important key to reaching our culture today with the gospel message. and it ties in very strongly to the creation-evolution debate. You see, the message Christ crucified, that's the gospel message, that Jesus took our place on the cross, dying for our sins, and freely offers salvation to all who trust in Him.
Now 1 Corinthians 1.23 indicates that the gospel message is a stumbling block to Jews, but foolishness to the Gentiles or the Greeks.
Now why is that? Why is the same message received so differently by these different ethnic groups? And does this have anything to do with the creation evolution debate? In fact, it does. You see, at the time Paul wrote First Corinthians, the civilized world was under Roman rule, which had been heavily influenced by its predecessor, the Greek empire.
Now the Greek way of thinking was prevalent at the time. The Greek language was the ubiquitous language of the educated.
So prevalent that scripture uses the term nations and Greeks and Gentiles almost interchangeably. Any non-Jewish person was called a Gentile or a Greek. The Greeks searched for wisdom. and there were several different schools of Greek philosophy at the time of Christ's earthly ministry. There were the Epicureans, there were the Skeptics, there were the Stoics, and so forth, and these had their different opinions on things but all these views had one thing in common.
They rejected Genesis. The Greeks did not believe in one God who had created the entire universe. In fact, their view was actually similar in many respects to evolution. They believed in vast ages and cycles of nature and now they believed in the gods, many of them, but the gods themselves had sort of evolved. The Greeks did not believe in Adam and Eve, and they had no concept of original sin.
It would not even occur to them to think of death as the penalty for sin. And so for them the idea of God voluntarily becoming man in order to die in our place as payment for sin, to them that was utter foolishness, because they had no foundation for such a concept. The Jews, on the other hand, knew about Genesis. They understood that God had created the universe. The Jews understood that our original parents rebelled against God, and that death is the penalty for sin.
They understood the concept of substitutionary atonement that was the point of all those Old Testament sacrifices. They showed symbolically that the Messiah would one day pay the penalty for sin and bring salvation to all God's people. The Jews had the correct foundation to understand the gospel message. They only had one stumbling block to overcome. that Jesus is in fact that promised Messiah.
The Bible itself gives us examples of how to reach these two fundamentally different people groups. In Acts chapter two, Peter preaches a powerful sermon to Jews, explaining that Jesus who is crucified is in fact the Messiah.
Now he didn't need to explain creation, the Jews understood that. He didn't need to explain that God is sovereign over human affairs. The Jews understood that also. Peter didn't go into the significance of the crucifixion because the Jews understood that death was the penalty for sin. And they understood all these things because they were biblical creationists.
Peter simply showed them that Jesus is the Messiah that had been prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures. On the other hand, in Acts chapter 17, beginning in verse 22, the Apostle Paul began to explain the gospel to Greeks in Athens. But he didn't begin with the crucifixion, because that would have made no sense to them. Remember, Christ crucified is to the Greeks foolishness. Instead, Paul began explaining the gospel from its beginning in Genesis.
He explained that God is the Creator, and thus is Lord of heaven and earth. Since God has given life to all of us, we are indebted to Him. Paul then explained that all people are descended from one man, Adam. As such we have inherited Adam's sin nature. But Paul then explained that God has sovereignly ruled over human history and has made it possible for men to find Him so that He might forgive their sins.
In addition to explaining the Christian worldview, Paul also refuted their Greek worldview, exposing its inconsistency. He pointed out that even the Greek poets were aware of the fact that our life and breath is only possible because God has granted it to us, and that God cares for us as His children.
So how could God's nature possibly be like the Greek gods, that were merely material statues in temples? How can a gold or stone statue give life or breath to anything? Paul then explained that God has commanded everyone everywhere to repent of sin because the day of judgment is coming. In other words, Paul explained the Christian worldview from its foundation in Genesis. Only after laying down this foundation did he then bring up the resurrection of Christ.
The proof that Christ is indeed the the promised Messiah.
Now some people have suggested that Paul really wasn't very successful in his message, because only some people repented and believed on the Lord Jesus. Whereas after Peter's sermon, 3,000 were saved. But aren't we forgetting something? Peter was preaching to Jews, a people group that already understood the concept of salvation. It wasn't hard for him to convince them that Christ was the Messiah.
Christ fulfilled all those Old Testament prophecies. Peter simply had to point them back to what they already knew. Paul had a much more difficult task before him. Paul was preaching to Greeks, a people group that had no concept of salvation because they had no concept of Genesis. They didn't understand original sin.
They didn't understand death being the penalty for sin. They thought that there were multiple gods, and Paul had to reveal the inconsistency of their thinking. And despite all of that, Nonetheless, some people trusted in Christ after hearing Paul speak. I'd say Paul was very successful. We're going to take a short break.
Stay with us. What happened to the dinosaurs? Are monkeys and people the same? Why do we live on Earth and not some other planet? Kids have some great questions about God's creation, but do you have the answers for them?
At the Institute for Creation Research, our scientists and Bible scholars have produced The Guide to Creation Basics. This book contains full-colored images and fascinating commentary from experts in biology, geology, astronomy, and biblical study. Guide to Creation Basics can help teach your children how the animals could fit on Noah's Ark, how dinosaurs and humans could live at the same time, and how God's power and wisdom can be seen in something as small as a single cell. Find basic answers to your child's biggest creation questions. Order your copy of Guide to Creation Basics from the Institute for Creation Research by calling 800-628-7640 or visiting www.icr.org.
Welcome back to Science, Scripture, and Salvation. Here's Dr. Lyle. We've been discussing how the gospel message is a stumbling block to Jews, to those who understand creation, but foolishness to Greeks, those who reject biblical creation.
Now, how is this relevant to our society today? Is our society more like the Jews or more like the Greeks? The United States of America has a very Christian heritage. Its law code is based on Biblical principles. Most of the founding fathers of our nation were Christians.
And so there was a time when the Bible was taught in public schools and nobody thought anything of it. Consequently, most people in our nation at that time understood biblical creation. They learned it in school. They understood the concept of sin and the need for a Saviour. In that respect our nation was much like the Jews during the early days of the Church.
But to day our nation has become much more like the Greeks. Today students are taught evolution in schools, that life came about as a result of unplanned accidental chemistry. As a result, our society has become much like the Greeks in the sense of rejecting Genesis. Most people today have no understanding of sin, of death being the penalty for sin, and of the need for a Saviour to pay our penalty. In other words, the gospel message.
has become foolishness to Americans, just as it was to the Greeks. Therefore, if we're going to reach people with the gospel, we really need to start at the beginning. We need to follow Paul's example. In Acts 17. We need to do like He did.
We need to explain that God is sovereign, He's the Creator, He's the Judge. We must explain the concept of original sin, the fact that death is the penalty for sin, and since we've sinned against an infinitely holy God, we deserve an infinite punishment in hell. And that's why we need a Saviour to die in our place, someone whose life has infinite value so he can pay our infinite penalty. But you see, these fundamental truths must be understood. In order for Christ's atoning death to make any sense at all.
But these are all Genesis concepts. Therefore, if we're going to reach our culture with the gospel, we must start in Genesis. The problem today is that many Christians use an Acts II type approach. But our culture's more like an Acts seventeen type culture.
Now, see, in the past, when most Americans believed in creation, an Acts II approach worked very well. I mean, sure enough, in the past, a lot of people, even if they weren't Christian, nonetheless had that foundation. They understood that the Bible was the Word of God. You'll hear a lot of people refer to it as the good book. And so there's no need to explain creation concepts like sin and death being the penalty for sin to people who already understand that.
And so like Peter, in the past, we could simply preach that Jesus is the Messiah. and many people were saved by that exact type of sermon. But we need to recognize that times have changed. And today that approach doesn't work so well because most people today do not have a creation-based worldview.
So the message of Christ crucified is to them foolishness. If we're going to be effective in our efforts to make disciples of all nations, we need to learn to use an Acts 17 approach to evangelism. The world today is very Greek in its thinking. very evolution based. Consequently, we need to explain the Gospel from its foundation in Genesis.
There's a reason why God put Genesis in the Bible. And so when I'm sharing my faith with someone, I'll say something like, let me show you why you need a Savior. Then we'll see why only Jesus can be that Savior. If you don't do this, then the usual response will be something like, but I'm basically a good person. I don't see why I need Jesus.
How often have we heard that?
Well, take it back to Genesis. God made a world that was very good. And how many sins did it take to ruin that paradise? Oh, just one. Oh, and we've all sinned more than once.
You see, God's a perfectly holy God, and so He made a perfect world. All it takes is one sin to ruin perfection.
Now God has promised He will make a new heaven and a new earth, and that they will remain perfect forever. But we're sinful creatures descended from Adam and Eve. Our sinners, our sinning forebearers. And our sin would ruin that new earth just as we ruined the original.
So God can't let us in. That's the bad news. The gospel, the good news, is that Christ paid for our sin on the cross. By trusting Him as Lord, we inherit His righteousness. And can enter the eternal state perfected by his grace and by his mercy.
Now, when we talk about these Genesis concepts, naturally there will be objections to this. Many people have been brainwashed into believing in evolution, and yet an understanding of creation is necessary to fully understand the gospel. That's why organizations like ICR exist. We show the scientific bankruptcy of evolution and how science confirms creation so that people can then understand and embrace the gospel. Thank you for joining us on Science, Scripture, and Salvation, a radio ministry of the Institute for Creation Research.
That's all the time we have for our program today, but we would love to connect with you through our website at icr.org. For over 45 years, ICR has equipped believers with evidence of the Bible's accuracy and authority by showing how science supports the Genesis creation account. Our scientists research the evidence for creation and communicate their findings through books, articles, DVD series, and conferences. Please visit our website at ICR.com. ICR.org for more information about the latest scientific discoveries, to subscribe to our free magazine and devotional, and to locate our next creation conference at a venue near you.
All of this and more at icr.org. If you've enjoyed this podcast, subscribe to Science, Scripture, and Salvation on iTunes. Also, do us a favor and rate and review the show so that more listeners can find us. Thanks for listening and God bless.
