turn our Bibles to Genesis 1. We will probably be in Genesis 1 for the next two months, at least, as we seek to preach through this great section on origins. The fact is, I was thinking of Susanna, she was singing, and she's about to go off to college, and many in our midst this morning, many of our college students, this week and next week will be heading to college, and we'll miss y'all, we'll be praying for y'all. And also, this series I'm beginning, and I hope you'll revisit us on the Internet, even though you're in college, and follow the series because I hope it'll be helpful as you go into this next stage of your life as we deal with origins. We live in a world that's hostile to biblical Christianity. We all know that. Sometimes it kind of just screams out at us. And in no other area is it more glaring than in the hostility toward this issue of origins. Obviously, this matter of origins reached its apex in this whole matter of dealing with the unbelieving world during the era of the 19th century. In fact, as I was inspired last December about the 400th birthday of. John Milton, as I was inspired recently of the 500th birthday this year of Calvin Pat last month. I was not inspired, but reminded by about two hundred birthday of Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin, the author of really one book, but it's kind of in two stages. The origin of species in 1859, the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of it this year, and then the descent of man about 1870. One applying the theory of evolution. to plants and animals, origin of species. And then, of course, the descent of man applying it to human beings. And so I want to dishonor Darwin by reminding all of us in our generation of the horrific damage done by the theory of evolution. I want to unpack this whole theory As I expound in the months ahead, I want to do all we can to grab your attention and equip you by God's grace to understand it's a theory. My wife and I particularly were caught by that truth when we were in last January in London at the British Library, and they had, of course, a giant exhibit celebrating Darwin's birthday and also 150th anniversary. of the origin of species. And while we were there, at least they had the scientific tact to say, what do you think about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution? At least they said that at the British Library. We appreciate that because we obviously are not real thrilled about public education or any kind of education in America being taught evolution. But nevertheless, in a free society, a pluralistic society, bottom line is there should be freedom to have it taught. And there also needs to be the freedom to have supernaturalism as well taught. So we're not against allowing it to be taught or we are against the fact that we cannot have both systems taught at the same time. to our society, even though seven out of ten Americans in general would say that they believe that we're all here by a creative act of God. I read that a while back. Let's read the Genesis 1, 1 through 5. This morning will be real introductory. I'll be reading a lot of quotes and different things. And then next week we'll begin to unpack. The text really versus 1 through 5 next week as well. May God bless this series to his honor and glory alone. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was for without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first Let's pray. Lord, we desire to lift your name high, to honor your name. Lord, to proclaim what your word says and to believe it, to hear it, to believe it, and to proclaim it. Lord, help us in this series to get a handle on this underpinning position that's held in our culture, that has wreaked havoc upon human life and and it's how it's to be lived, how it's impacted nations and the loss of life through wars and moral collapse. Lord, I pray that you would help us to to be very clear, help me to be very clear to portray. The facts in this matter, and let us see that our starting point always should be your word. We be Christians, we start with objective truth, help us now, Lord, to receive all that you have for us in Jesus name. Amen. You may notice in particularly in our text for today's message, I will not be preaching through the whole chapter. But it does say chapter one, verse one through chapter two, verse three, and I just want to highlight that to you. This is the structure of creation week, really, versus one and two is the setting versus three to thirty one, the six work days. And then, of course, chapter two versus one to three is the Sabbath. So you have the setting. You have the six days of creation and then you have the Shabbat or the day of rest. The moral structure of our human week, by the way, seven 24 hour days, as the Hebrew grammar indicates, we should always begin with what God has said. The context of Genesis one, the grammar of Genesis one, the Hebrew grammar gives us no reason to depart from the normal and natural reading of the text. We have a biblical worldview. Our starting point is God and what God has said in his words. In other words, in this section here, we see unveiled before us God's creation and also the ordering of the heavens and the earth. God has called us to to understand this and to understand when we depart from this understanding, this basic Understanding the starting point, everything else begins to unravel. In the realm in which we live, moral collapse follows and all sanity is lost because objectivity is discarded and the result is. A massive departure from the common sense of our origins. Now, if I was to structure chapters one through three, I would structure this way, the first point, which I've just told you, chapter one, verse one, two, chapter two, verse three, I would call the creation. Then chapter two, verse four to twenty five, I would call the garden, and then lastly, Chapter three, verses one to twenty four, the whole chapter, the fall creation garden and then the fall. I'm not going to go beyond that because I have too many other places in the Bible I want to preach and series is to get to, but I think this will dishonor Charles Darwin this year and honor Jesus Christ, who is the creator of the world. And I want to help us to get, again, a grasp of these truths. When an excellent book I read years ago, A converted Hindu wrote these words I'm about to read. He was converted, a doctor in India, a scientist, and was converted and brought to faith in Christ. He made this statement. He said, what we believe about our origins will greatly influence our whole philosophy and the way we value life. If we are the products, as evolution tells us, of the random forces of nature, as taught by the theory of evolution, then there are no real absolutes in life. And everything, even our moral values of right and wrong, is only relative and subject to random change. There can be real meaning to life only if there is meaning and purpose in its origin. Therefore, if our world and our existence are the result of design, purpose and intelligence, Our life and universe must have meaning. The subject of origins is thus very basic and the foundation of all quest for truth. Whether it be scientific truth, philosophical truth or most importantly, spiritual truth. I think I got a hold of that Hindu. Absolutely. I would say. If we are in this issue. We will be wrong and everything else. Many Christians today, well, meaning are and I'll be dealing with this next week are melding the two evolution and theology. And they have their little arguments here and they try to ride the fish, just like other people do in other areas of doctrine. Besides the doctrine of origins. But if we don't begin with the Bible as our starting point. Then we start with the dictates of man. And man changes with the wind. And man is shown throughout history to have lost his way. Look at your newspaper every day, look at the news every night. Look at the Internet. Receive those tweets from Fox News and you will see the disaster of this world we live in, which all could only be explained as being emanating from the fall in the Garden of Eden. Nothing else makes sense. When men deny that, then they grasp it when? To try to understand whether life has meaning at all. Now, the impact in our culture has been so devastating that what's happened is as we've gone back and departed from really the Judeo-Christian values of our nation's founding and have gone back to really a Greek Roman thinking, a Greco-Roman thinking. And there's a study I did a while back and I want to just kind of revisit, I think I may have read this maybe a while back to you, but I want to revisit it and when I help you again, see the impact when we depart from a biblical worldview presuppositional system. Everyone has presuppositions. Everyone. And everyone's presuppositions impact how they live their lives. I shared in my Sunday school class that I was on a flight from Geneva to Holland about a month ago, and I sat next to a Polish physicist. I began to chat back and forth, and I asked him what he was working on and different things, and all of a sudden, I said, you mind if I ask you a scientific question? He goes, absolutely, go ahead. told the man was very brilliant and our interaction could just sense and see that what he told me, the projects he was working on. And so I went on and I said, well, let me just test you up, ask you. Is it fair to define science? As only being legitimate when it evaluates tangible, empirical evidence and measures it and tests it, and beyond that, we begin to Depart from science by definition. In other words, if we don't have the evidence to empirically evaluate at some point, we have to say, honestly, it's not science. They say, yes, exactly, I agree, I said, well, then wouldn't you say that the theory of evolution is nothing more than just that? And if they teach it as fact is unfair, in fact, it's unscientific and I could tell he was wrestling with that. I gave him more probing questions. And then he conceded, he goes, oh, yes, you're right. If we're consistently following science by definition, we can only go as far as the evidence is tangibly there to empirically evaluate. Beyond that, it becomes a faith issue. He agreed. He conceded that. And I said, so therefore, the idea of uniformitarianism going way back, way back, and that's projecting and kind of guesstimating and talking how way back, many, many, many years. That's not science, is it? And he said, no, that's not science. Confirming everything, I've been teaching this flock and classes at LCS about origins. I knew this, but I wanted to test it in the practical way. And I said, so really what we're down to then, aren't we, sir, are people's presuppositions. And presuppositions are impacted by family, culture, et cetera, all the different things that play into that. And now the question we have to ask ourselves is, do our presuppositions, which gives us our worldview, do they, because one view is another view and how can we get sanity and say there's some We can't deny there's a right and a wrong. How do we come to conclusions? And he said, well, we have to determine which one's right. I said, well, that's a subjective thing to one extent, right? And he goes, yes. I said, but there is one way of kind of bringing it to closure. I said, we have to look at ourselves honestly, clear the table and say. Which view? corresponds most coherently to reality. Can you live? The theory of evolution, can you live it consistently in this world? And I press this guy. He said, well, I think you could do this. I'm a Roman Catholic and I believe in it. I think you can. So wait a minute. Give me the definition of elitist. So he went over and, you know. Natural selection, different things and survival of the fittest. Full materialism. No supernaturalism. And I said, you love your wife. He said, absolutely, I love my children. I said, where do you get the concept of love? Is that from. Random chance. Is that from. Spontaneous generation. Where's it from? First of all, is that an immaterial concept or a material concept? Oh, that's immaterial. It's a moral concept. I said, where do you get morality from full materialistic Darwinian evolution, naturalistic thing? Where do you get morality from full blown? I said, you can't live your worldview consistently. You have to borrow from the Western civilization, Judeo-Christian worldview derived from the Bible. And he could tell he was stunned. He goes, well, I see your point. I said, I can I can live my worldview, I can get up in the morning, whatever happens, my God is in control. Suffering goes my way, difficulty challenges, he's called me to bear up and honor him. I can I can love my wife, love my children, love my friends, I can I can know what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's bad, because I believe in God, the God of the Bible, who's given moral law and it and it's clear the God what's right and what's wrong is someone outside of my subjective opinion. Well, we're dealing with this issue in our culture, people riding the fence and they have to borrow from the biblical worldview because they're made in the image of God, because the law of God is written on their heart. But they've also imbibed the system and religion of the world evolution. And as a result of that, they're in a kind of a hybrid status. Their conscience tells them bearing witness, there's a God, and yet they suppress the truth and unrighteousness. Romans one. And as a result, they're trying to figure out. How to live in this world in a way to be normal and civil and yet deny God. And it's impossible to live it consistently. There's no way. And if you have to borrow to make your worldview correspond to reality, what's that tell you about the deficiencies of your worldview? It's bankrupt. It's void of God. The greatest argument of Christianity is it corresponds to reality if men are honest. It exposes who they really are and shows them how they could become whole by coming to bow their knee to the God who made them in his image. Now, the damage of Darwin's contribution in his brief life has brought forth these contrasts. They've impacted our culture. And there's a departure going back to Greco Roman, I'll revisit that a little while about the Greek thinking about how matter is eternal. Let me just say this, the Greek mind. Which ultimately was revived at the enlightenment And in modernism and post-modernism, basically modernism, think of it this way, from 1789, the fall of the Bastille and the French Revolution, when they tried to replace God with the God of Reason, from that point on to 1989, when the Vandenberg Gate collapsed and communism collapsed in Eastern Europe, that section would be known as post-modernism. And then post-modernism would be from 1989 to the present. It's still moving. And some people say we're leaving now postmodernism. Who knows what's next? But basically, in this whole thinking, and it's important for you to put your thinking caps on now and hone in, because as we think that we want to understand all these things affect how we approach the Bible. In the Greek thinking, which was our culture, Greco-Roman thinking. They promote humanism, the worship of men. The Hebrew mind, biblicism, the authority of the scriptures. I'm going to give you a list. This is the first. In other words, we're called, when you're converted, you're called to live with a Hebrew mind in a Greco-Roman world. And your starting point is that God is and God has spoken clearly. He doesn't waste words and he means what he says. And when he says that it corresponds to reality and everything else doesn't make anything any sense. And it goes beyond true science into a religion that's atheistic and agnostic at best. The problem, though, is what people. When people see someone who's a nice person, And they're out there giving blood for United Way and other things. They get confused. It's like it's like meeting people at church who are divisive. You see, they smile. They have nice personalities. They they're gracious and they serve here. But people look at how they say they could never be a person that would commit the sin of gossip or bitterness. They're just too nice, you say. It's the same way people think, the same way. Same thinking, all of us are great sinners, all of us can sin in great ways, and atheists can be loving husbands. And haters of God at the same time. And that's where people begin to struggle, you see. see moral efforts and kind people doing. It seems that way on the outside. And they're doing things that seem to be very productive overall and civil and they pay their taxes. And, yeah, they have the right to their own religion in a pluralistic society. And they just it seems I feel too narrow being a Bible Christian. Sometimes you need to be more generous and you wrestle. But the Bible is very clear. Humanism. Is atheism. Biblicism. Acknowledges there's a God beyond ourselves. Humanism. Man is the master of his destiny. He has final say. Biblicism, God is, we bow our knee to our Creator who knows best and always does right. Secondly, therefore, humanism is man-centered. The Hebrew mind is God-centered. The Greco-Roman mind is civic-centered. You know, like community organizers and people like that? civic centered, the Hebrew mind is family centered. You understand that? The family unit. That's a Hebraic concept. The Greco-Roman minds exalt being smart, you see? The Hebraic mind, wise. The Greco-Roman mind denies reality. The Hebrew mind faces reality. The Greco-Roman mind exalts subjectivity as a starting point. The Hebrew mind, objectivity. The Greco-Roman mind, naturalism. The Hebrew mind, supernaturalism. The Greco-Roman mind reason is all important. The Hebrew mind revelation. The Greco-Roman mind naturally then receives evolution. The Hebrew mind creation. The Greco-Roman mind embraces paganism. The Hebrew mind embraces Christendom. The Greco-Roman mind talks in terms of chance and fate and luck. The Hebrew mind providence. The Greco-Roman mind exalts education as God. The Hebrew mind worships the triune God. The goal, ultimately then, of the Greek mind is to be good. Good for the civus, civil society. The polis in the Greek, which means the city, the city state, as Plato articulated. That's the goal of our lives. To be good citizen. And the goal of the Christian is to be godly. There are massive issues. That come into play in this matter of. Origins and worldview, massive implications. And for Christians to dabble in evolution. Watch out, it's poison. And if you're confused in your worldview. If what I just said doesn't make clarity to you, what I just said, you can't determine which side of the bar to go to, then you should realize you're in desperate need of Jesus Christ. I found a quote a while back, anonymous quote, and I think this kind of summarizes it. This is Charles Darwin's contribution to mankind. It summarizes this little one sentence maxim. Basically, this. This is helpful for mankind, I believe. We're all from we've all come from the goo. We move to the zoo. And then we became you. From the goo to the zoo, then you. Thank you, Charles, for your contribution. And the disaster it's wreaked. In our world. Very sad. The three things I want you to see in our text this morning, the three passages I want to look at primarily, but number one, hear God's In other words, I want to talk about the voice of authority. God has spoken. God speaks with authority, it's the voice of authority. And the first point I want you to see is we should hear God's words. Are we hearing God's words? Secondly, we should believe God's word and thirdly. And rightly, we should proclaim God's work. Throughout the world. Number one, hear God's words, Genesis one one, here it is in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth doesn't get much clearer than that in the beginning, immediately from the outset, we begin to understand the Christian philosophy of history. It's not cyclical, it's linear. What do I mean? Linear says there's a starting point from beginning. It has an end, that's linear. In the beginning, the starting point, God created the heavens and the earth. I look forward to sharing some things I've been finding in my studies. So bless me. I just amazing things about our universe, a vastness of our universe. We just. We'll blow you up, blow your mind. You made the heavens and the earth. Now, when we want to hear something, it's very important that we hear it to obey it. Adam Clarke said this, he was a Methodist, I believe, preacher in the 18th century, something like that. He said this, he who does not listen, hear God's words, he who does not listen to obey, listens to reject and disobey. Are you here to obey? Let me show you a couple of passages that speak about this important matter that Adam Carr hit on in scripture. Ecclesiastes chapter five, let's go there. Ecclesiastes chapter five, verses one and two, it says, Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. So now you've made steps today and now you're in the house of God, the place of worship. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. Very, very clear text in the Hebrew. It actually means come with a readiness to obey. That's the idea. Adam Clark was right. He who does not listen to obey, hear God's words. Listens to reject and disobey. So God exists. Notice here, if there was a beginning and in the beginning God. Created the heavens and the earth, guess what God existed before the beginning. Pretty basic. The Bible says Elohim Barah, God created Elohim is very important, it's a plural in the end, the Hebrew plural of majesty and the grammar. And it's basically a plural God. Yet Deuteronomy 6, it says the Lord our God's one. What are we talking about? The Jews knew the God was plural. Yet one. They did not concede he was triune, they played agnostic with that. But in the beginning, God created the same idea as used elsewhere in chapter one, let us make man in our image, this idea of the plurality of God. God's always existed. God does have to look ahead to see how to make his creation based. A man's choices God creates out of nothing, the heavens and the earth. The father created the world, the son created the world, the Holy Spirit created the world. Triune God. Now, this is important. Before I get into triunity, I want to just highlight this, is that God spoke the world into existence. Go with me to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11. Now, this is what I want you really to ask yourself, do you have are you listening to obey? Are you listening to obey? Because if you are listening to obey. Then you will hear what God has to say. Hebrews 11. Really, one through three. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it, the people of old receive their commendation by faith or three. We understand that the universe was created. By the word of God. So that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Now, that text is is the word in Greek of Rama for spoken word by faith. We understand that the universe was created by the spoken word of God. Let there be light. And there was. The spoken word of God. In Latin is known as X in the Hill or out of nothing. That's been the traditional, clear understanding throughout history, church history and the Hebrew mind of. What this concept of extra means out of nothing. Not the written word, but the spoken word brought out of nothing, the creation of the world. Now, this is important because the Greek Thinking, I believe, again, that ancient pagan thinking was being addressed. Very clearly. In the latter part. Of verse three of Hebrews 11, watch if we just say by the created, by the word of God, we stop there, we miss the whole part, watch the next phrase so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible, you say, what does that mean? So that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Now, in the Greek thinking, matter, tangible, physical matter, right, was eternal. And matter is always, therefore, because it's eternal, has always existed. And so in their thinking, they believe in concepts of God or gods. And so they basically believe then that God made the visible universe they saw, which has always existed. Out of some other kind of invisible material. You're that. God made the visible universe out of some other kind of invisible matter, because matter is always there and they know what's there could have made itself because they know it's matters eternal in their thinking. than had it been made by her in this whole matter. They make of things as they go along. But the concept of the Hebrew teaching. From Genesis one and Hebrews eleven three is is that God created out of nothing. He spoke it into existence. That's that's a meat meaty confrontation to the Greco-Roman worldview. The writer of Hebrews is addressing head-on. Therefore, we need to proclaim creation ex nihilo, not be ashamed of it. Why? The Bible says it. God doesn't waste words. God means what he says. The Bible speaks with authority. The Bible is coherent to reality. Any other system is a disaster. It can't be lived consistently. It has to borrow from the Christian morality to make sense of its world. It's impossible, therefore. It's unlivable. Now, biblical authority again drives us in this whole section here. You see, the Bible, again, is our starting point. True science does not contradict the biblical account. I've read. I've got viewers in my office. I've got so many books by people and their scientists who are looking at the same text as Richard Dawkins and are saying scientifically, we find no contradiction. The Genesis account. Now, if that be the case, it is. Then God speaks. Through his word. With authority. There was a saying in Latin, Vox Scriptura, Vox Dei, the voice of scripture is the voice of God. Now, if this be true, then God, we know, then does not lie, says in Titus 1 to God, who cannot lie, so God doesn't lie, number one. God doesn't waste words, therefore, he's truthful. And God has given us his spoken word. Now, why has he given us a spoken word? Because of our need, number one, of our salvation. To save us, he spoke this creation into existence. He sent a savior for those Impacted by the fall and the result is. We need not only salvation, but also secondly, he's done all this that we might have ongoing sanctification conformity to his image made holy practically. And then lastly, for our service, he uses us in the right way for his glory. We've been saved for salvation, sanctification and service. To our creator. Listen to Martin Luther. I love this. This great statement on biblical authority, because I'm asking you to hear God's words in the beginning. God created the heavens and you hear what he says. Luther says, I have made a covenant with God that he sends me neither visions, dreams nor even angels. I am well satisfied with the gift of the holy scriptures, which give me abundant instruction and all that I need to know, both for this life And for that which is to come. There it is, biblical authority. Can you look at Genesis 1-1 and read in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and receive it as the very spoken words of God, the God who does not lie. The God who doesn't waste words, the God who saved us from our sins and called us to be sanctified and serve him. This whole idea, again, is quite is all shot through scripture. Hold your get your Bibles ready. John 1 3. Let's go there. John 1 3, all things were made through him. And without him was not anything that was made here that All things are made by God, see? And without Him was not anything made that was made. That's John 1, 3. Go with me to 1 Corinthians 8, 6. This is a good little Bible show. Hopefully all the kids are involved, too. 1 Corinthians 8, 6. Yet for us, there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. He's the creator. Jesus Christ is the creator. Go with me to Colossians 1 16. That's exactly in a more definitive terms. We read Colossians 1 16. For by him, Christ, all things were created. In heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him. You see that? And I'll just take the last of many I could read. I'll just not overburden you here with too many. Go with me to two sections of Hebrews. Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. Verse 2. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. You go on to verse 10 of the same chapter, chapter 1 of Hebrews, it says, You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is God and that Jesus Christ, God, the Father, God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit. Psalm 104 30. I won't get into that. Genesis one to the Holy Spirit. All as the plural plural of majesty, God, a very God. created the world in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's what the Bible asserts, the voice of authority. Secondly, notice, I want you to believe it now. Don't just hear it now. Believe it. Believe God's word. Believe the truth of God's word. Go with me to Luke 24, 27. Remember, Jesus and the road to Emmaus, these men are discouraged because their Lord and Savior was crucified. They were confused. Was he really the guy? You know, all this is kind of a sad ending on the road to Emmaus. It's kind of a depressing situation. They they feel it's all hope is lost and they see a man on the road. We now know to be our Lord Jesus Christ. And it says, and he said to them, verse 25 of Luke 24, Oh, foolish ones and slow of heart, watch slow of heart to believe. I hope there's no one here today is that one slow of heart. To believe, if you have not believed, don't be slow, believe now on the Lord Jesus Christ, don't be slow of heart. To believe all. that the prophets have spoken verse 26 was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory verse 27 and watch beginning with Moses as Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy and beginning with Moses And all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. See that powerful, powerful. The Scriptures do you believe God's Word. Jesus taught that Moses existed. Jesus said Genesis was Moses' words given to him by the Holy Spirit. Moses wrote Genesis 1.1 and beyond. That's what the Bible says. Believe God's Word. Hear the voice of authority. Hear the Word of God. Time magazine said in December 30th, 1974, 35 years ago almost, It's interesting. Issue on the Bible. I saved it. I got a copy of it. Actually, years ago, many years ago, I was just newly saved. He said this, the writer in Time, I don't know who he was, says, After more than two centuries of facing the heaviest scientific guns that could be brought to bear, the Bible has survived and is perhaps the better for the siege. Even on the critics' own terms, historical fact, the scriptures seem more acceptable now than they did when the rationalists began to attack it in the nineteenth century. One of the greatest archaeologists. ever biblical archaeologist Nelson Gluck, not a believer, but a Jewish archaeologist, made this statement, I think, in the 70s. Also, he said it may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible. I've got a section of my library on archaeology, biblical archaeology. I've got tons of books. There's so many things confirming the Bible. It's unbelievable. Nothing has contradicted the Bible. Here's an unbelieving Jew that just said that. I like what Spurgeon said. Defend the Bible. I would as soon defend a lion. The Bible does its own bidding. The Bible is the voice of authority. God has spoken. One man said this. He said, The reason why men don't believe the Bible is not because of its deficiency in evidence, but because their hearts do not like its message. It's a moral issue. Do you know that unbelief is a moral issue? So it says in the book of Luke 11, 13. Because of your evil, unbelieving heart, Hebrews three also says it as well. Evil, unbelieving heart to not believe isn't just an intellectual struggle. People go through that wrestling, of course, but by definition, unbelief. Is a moral evil. In God's eyes. This is the work of God, John 6, 29, that you believe. The Philippian jailer after the earthquake said to Paul, what must I do to be saved? Paul said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. What's it mean to believe, trust, trust his word. Believe his word. Hear his words and believe his word, give your life to Jesus Christ, that's what it means. There's three reasons why you can believe God's word, let me give those to you right now, go to Proverbs 30. Proverbs 30. Verses five and six, I want to give you three reasons why you can believe God's word today. Give your life to Christ. Believe today. Verses five and six, watch. Every word of God proves true, he is the shield of those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found to be a liar. First reason why you should believe God's words, the words I'm talking about, because it's pure. And if it's pure, it's clean, it's clean because it's from God and God's words are without sin. God's words are inspired, all scriptures inspired by God, God breathed. God's words are infallible. God, who cannot lie, Titus one, two, they cannot err. God's words are inerrant, therefore it naturally follows they're without error. It's pure. Why can you believe God's Word because it's pure from God? Secondly, because it's the product of divine providence, the history of canonicity or the study of the canon or the rule of determining what books were put in the Bible, 66 books, what books were rejected and so on. And then it's faithful transmission throughout history by scribes and so on. All the interesting stories. I got another section of my library of the history of the Bible was put together. And all the amazing things of how it was finalized and then affirmed and all these different things, all the different books of the Bible. It's an amazing study that will bless you. You can spend the rest of your life just studying on the transmission of the text and the veracity of the truthfulness of the text and the preservation of the text, not just this transmission. It's an amazing study. It's the product of God's providence. God has brought it. And we live an amazing day. Do you realize what a privilege to live in this day? I've got a fat NIV study Bible twice as thick. I've got all my other books and all my programs. I'm studying, getting blessed, strengthened. You know why we don't proclaim his name much? Because we're not in the Word much. Because when you're in the Word, man, I'll tell you, it fires you so much. You've got to go speak it because it's talking to you all the time. When you're not in the Word much, you're not praying much, guess what? You're like a dead head. And you don't do much for God. You don't think about it. You're selfish and myopic and all kinds of things take place that are carnal. But you're getting blessed in God's Word, I'll tell you. It's pure. It's the product of providence. Thirdly, it is proven by history. And I've already read those quotes. It's proven by history. Jesus interpreted to them all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself from Genesis 3.15 all the way to the end. The voice of authority. Thirdly and lastly, what should we do? We should hear God's words. We should believe God's Word. Thirdly, we should proclaim God's work. You see? If we live in a Greco-Roman world, then we're right back to where Paul was in Acts 17. Let's go there to Acts 17. And since Paul was a great evangelist and missionary in such a culture, we need to learn from reading Acts 17, particularly on how he addressed that culture. Particularly versus 22 to 34. Paul, standing in the midst, verse twenty two of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious, for as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription to the unknown God would therefore you worship as unknown. This I proclaim to you. Watch. What's he proclaiming? And this is what I want you to proclaim. God's work. This is what he's proclaiming. The God who made the world and everything in it. Was Paul ashamed of Genesis 1? being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man. Who's that man, Klaus? Adam. He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth Having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God in hopes that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone or an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance have God's now overlooked. He commands all people everywhere to repent. So watch, he moves from proclaiming God's work to a postmodern Greco-Roman world. He asserts God as creator to this realm. which is no doubt is derived from the natural Hebraic reading of Genesis one, which you'll be seeing in the months ahead. And as a result of that, Paul takes that thesis context and asserts the God who made the world and everything in it. Actually, hello. Out of nothing. Commands all of you. To repent. To tell him you're sorry, as the creatures. You're sorry for rebelling against him. For not bowing your knee to him. For delaying and being slow of heart to believe in him. Now watch the result now. Verse thirty one. There's that word fixed because he is fixed today on which he will judge the world in righteousness, even though there's been on the Areopagus Hill, even though they're all sitting around, they're shooting the breeze and talking all the different philosophies. Do you understand that doesn't change the fact that there's still a coming day of judgment? Richard Dawkins blows his hot air and all these other guys write their books and they all try to wax eloquent in their own minds. As legends in their own minds, all these guys, they go out and they do all they're talking. That doesn't change the fact that there's coming a day of judgment. It doesn't matter what they think about their views of evolution and melding it together. That's irrelevant to the fact that God is God has spoken and the Bible is true and the day of judgment is coming. And that's what Paul's point is to these naturalists. God's fixed the day. It doesn't matter what you sit here philosophizing on this hill in Greeks. God's schedule goes right on. That's how it is today. That's how it is in this room today. Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world and righteousness by a man. There he is, Jesus, the creator of the world. by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all." How do we know he's the creator of the world? How do we know he's going to judge men? Because he's done so by raising him from the dead. Do you know the empty grave that we celebrate every April? Do you know that that proclaims not just his victory over death, but it proclaims that there will be a day of judgment and he will be the judge. And it also proclaims to us as well that he's the creator of the world. Now, when they heard of the resurrection from the dead. Some mocked. The other said, well, we will hear you again about this. So Paul went out from their midst, but some joined him and believe. There you go. Among whom were also Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. Same way today. I hope we won't have all three audiences here today. I hope all will be like the third party. They believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and were saved. Saved by the creator of the world. In Acts 14, verse 15, we read, Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of the like nature with you, and we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. Men know the truth. Romans one. Go there. Romans one. And Romans one. Verse 20. After having said the wrath of God revealed, then it says in verse 20, watch for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so that men are without excuse. See that? So that means you can walk out of this building today, see the beautiful sky, see the plant life on your way back to your house, see all of that, and you can rightly conclude God exists. Because it's clearly seen. And therefore, you're without excuse. On that coming sixth day of judgment. Keep reading Romans one verse twenty one in closing, for although they knew God, How could they know God? Well, because their conscience tells them. Just like when people who are atheists, professing atheists, and they say, you know, murder is wrong. How do they know murder is wrong? They haven't taken a class in biblical ethics. because their conscience tells them that. And they presume since they know that it was learned through somehow through through many, many, many millions and millions and billions of millions of years, they will learn these habits and adaptations. And somehow that's why they feel they and somehow materialistically created immaterial concept. And they presume they just kind of learned and passed on through evolution, nonmaterial concepts. passed on from evolution. Figure that one out. And so, as a result, is they just know it doesn't feel like the murder is not right. And other other scourges, the Bible talks about. No, the reason why they know is because it's in their conscience, they're made in the image of God, they've suppressed the truth and the righteousness, and they're trying to figure out other options because they don't want the Bible to be true because the Bible may have to tell them To live their lives for someone else other than themselves. And they don't want to talk to anybody, because they're going to do it their way. It's like the man who told me on my tour to the Alps about a month ago. He says, he and I were walking ahead, and I was walking with the guide, and we were getting on our tram, and he says, what do you do for a living? I said, I don't know, he said, are you a lawyer? I said, no, kind of like that. I said, I'm a teacher. We talked about fun. He goes, oh, so you must be here for John Calvin. I go, yeah, I'm here to celebrate John Calvin's 500th birthday. He goes, I mean, Osama bin Calvin. I said, Osama bin Calvin? He goes, yeah. Don't you know how evil that man was and what he did? I said, what did he do? So evil. He took away Christmas and Easter. And he did away with all those holidays in Geneva 500 years ago. No one likes a marriage today. Well, are you worshipping the creature today? Look what it says here in closing. It says here, verse 21, For although they knew God, they did not honour Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking. They believed evolution and stuff like that. And their foolish hearts were darkened They imagined that they could actually deny God and all that and believe in random chance and also have a moral fabric to their life that was not inconsistent with the world view. Rich 22 claiming to be wise they became fools. You know they might have been intelligent academically. They're fools in God's eyes and exchange the glory of the immoral moral God for images and resembled mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them up into the lust of their own hearts, to impurity, to dishonoring their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. See, evolution's a lie. They exchanged the truth about God, creation, Creator, Savior, for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. That's the problem. There's only one answer. Revelation 411 says we need to bow down and worship the creator. So I pray you'll be praying for me to work through these preparations for you that may be a time of great benefit to us all as we revisit. Just in time for the year closes to dishonor Charles Darwin's horrific writings. To honor Jesus Christ, the creator of the world, let's pray. And we thank you that you indeed are God. That you indeed are the one who's made us in your image and you've called us to glorify you, to honor your name, to exalt your name, to honor Jesus Christ. the savior of them. And when I pray that you work through this series, the Lord, you would help us to exalt in you our creator, that your name would be lifted high amongst us even more so. And the Lord, you would equip our college students to live as Hebrew minds in a Greco-Roman world. You would help us, Lord, to be as Paul to such a realm, to proclaim the God who made the world. and who made them in His image, has called them to bow their knee to Him. Do Your work for Your honor and glory alone. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.