• The leap of faith
• Romans 1:19-20
• Exhibit A: The universe
  • Cosmic microwave radiation background of the universe
  • The universe contains over 170 billion galaxies
  • Galaxies contain 10 million to 100 trillion stars
  • Estimated total of 70 sextillion (7*1022) stars
  • The law of cause and effect
    • For every event there must be a cause sufficient to account for it.
  • God, the universe creator
    • Only a being of infinite power could bring such a universe into existence. Genesis 1:1; Psalms 19:1; Isaiah 40:25-26
    • Only a force which is itself eternal could be a sufficient first cause.
      • Something must start everything. Revelation 1:8; 22:13
    • Only a force of nature could bring it about.
• Exhibit B: The laws of physics
  • The 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics
    • Nothing new is being made.
    • Everything is moving toward a disordered state.
  • No natural cause can account for the existence of the universe.
  • All energy progresses to a more disorderly state, thus the universe cannot always have existed.
  • Psalms 102:25-27
• Exhibit C: The fine tuning of the forces of nature
  • Genesis 1:1-3
  • Isaiah 45:19 – God created the universe to be orderly.
  • Physical values finely tuned to incredible precision
    • Electron to proton ratio
    • Electromagnetism to gravity ratio
    • Must be correct to 1 in 1*1018

• We must build up our faith!
• Irrational: not endowed with reason or understanding.
• The charge that faith is irrational:
  • It is not based on observable evidence.
  • It is not based on reason.
  • It is not verifiable by experimentation.
  • It is a blind leap of faith accepted on the basis of revelation.
  • It amounts to superstition.
  • People believe because they want to.
• The response of the Bible:
  • The charge that faith is irrational is a dishonest effort to stigmatize believers and cut off debate.
    • This is an ad hominem attack and is not reasonable at all.
    • Acts 26:24-26
    • Name calling does not prove anything.
    • One man’s reasonable is another’s crazy.
  • Religious faith is in fact based on observable evidence.
    • Romans 1:19-20 – The invisible attributes of God can be seen through what He has made.
    • Acts 14:16-17
    • Believers cite lots of evidence.
    • We see the same things as unbelievers.
    • We reason to a different conclusion.
      • Two interpretations of the same evidence.
  • Religious faith is based in part on reasoning from the available evidence to a logical conclusion.
    • Acts 17:2-4
    • I Peter 3:15
    • We reason from the evidence.
    • We conclude faith is more reasonable.
  • Does unverified mean irrational?
    • Faith may not be verifiable at the present but many things in science are accepted as possible or even likely without current verification:
      • Dark matter
      • Gravity waves
      • Black holes
      • Certain sub-atomic particles
      • Life on other planets
  • Basic assumptions of science:
    • There exists a single unchanging set of laws which govern all events in the universe.
    • Human beings are able to understand the workings of the physical universe.
    • The laws which describe the universe are describable by mathematics.
  • The response of the Bible
    • Much religious faith is based on revelation, but revelation itself is a type of evidence.
    • John 20:30-31
    • Acts 1:3
    • II Peter 1:16
    • It’s called testimony
      • It’s the basis on which we “know” just about everything we know.
    • Equating our faith with superstition is disingenuous.
      • John 7:45-46
      • Luke 24:32
    • Faith does not involve choice that goes beyond observable facts
      • Hebrews 11:1
      • John 20:29
      • The evidence only takes us so far.
      • There is a moral or spiritual choice that takes us the rest of the way.
      • Faith is reasonable but not provable.
      • God has intentionally made it this way. I Peter 1:8-9; Hebrews 11:6

• Matthew 4:1-4
• As humans, we have to bear the lot of humanity. We cannot just make it go away.
• Lessons
  • We all face temptation. It is an unavoidable part of the human experience.
  • God is with us in our hour of weakness and helps us to defeat temptation.
  • Behind our temptation is the devil who seeks our destruction, but he can be defeated.
  • Where Israel failed, Christ was able to succeed and show us the way. Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:1-3.
• Matthew 4:4
  • “Man” - The devil wants to convince us that we are just animals, that if we have a desire, we should just fulfill it.
  • “shall not live” - There is a part of us that needs more than just physical nourishment to live. There is a spiritual side of man. There is a part of us that suffers without spiritual nourishment. Why do celebrities and pro athletes live such messed up lives? Because they try to live by bread alone!
  • “on bread alone” - Society tries to teach us that bread alone is enough.
  • “on every word” - Even the universe exists because of the word of God.
  • “that proceeds out of the mouth of God” - Our soul and spirit thrives on the word of God.
• Conclusion
  • By His temptation Jesus took on our burden and carried it.
  • He shows us that there is much more to life than our physical existence.
  • He shows us that to truly live we must come to fully trust in God.
  • That life comes through every word of God.

[Sorry, no audio available is available for this lesson. We are attempting to recover it from another source and will update this post if it becomes available.]

• John 4:4-29
• The text is about:
  • A testimony of faith.
    • John 4:41-42
    • We also have to come to faith by reading testimonies of Jesus.
  • The quality of worship
    • John 4:21-22
    • John 4:23-24 – Worship must be in spirit and truth.
      • Can you worship in spirit an truth if you do not listen to God (lack of truth) or if your heart is not right (lack of spirit)?
  • Your true identity
    • Our identity doesn’t matter to God – we must be true worshipers of God. A true worshiper should be our identity. In God’s eyes, our physical identity does not matter.
  • Temporary vs. eternal solutions
• Conclusion:
  • Do you believe the testimony?
  • What is the quality of your worship?
  • What is your true identity?
  • Do you have sin to answer for?
  • Are you seeking eternal solutions?

• II Chronicles 32:1-23
• A story told three times in the Bible:
  • II Chronicles 32:1-23
  • II Kings 18:13-19:37
  • Isaiah 36-37
• II Chronicles 32:7 – This is our faith – that God is with us and is greater than whoever might come against us.
• II Chronicles 32:20 – See II Kings 19:14-19 for Hezekiah’s prayer.
• II Chronicles 32:21 – God answers Hezekiah’s prayer and destroys Sennacherib’s army.
• A great story
  • A story about the arrogance and unbelief of powerful men.
  • A story about the faith and perseverance of God’s people in the face of overwhelming odds.
  • A story about God’s deliverance.
• A true story
  • Hezekiah really was King of Judah.
  • He really did do the things described.
  • There really was a King Sennacherib.
  • He really did invade Judah.
  • He really did surround Jerusalem.
  • Sennacherib really was defeated.
  • Sennacherib really was murdered.
• The Biblical and Assyrian records agree.