Title: "Honestly Wrestling" With the Problem of God's Existence? Meta: The Bible never views unbelief as something excusable. I get so tired of hearing this thing of, "Honestly wrestling with the problem." The idea is that something happens, somebody gets in an accident, or in a car wreck, and that causes you to doubt God and so you have to, "honestly wrestle with the problem" of whether or not God exists at all! That's not the way the Bible presents it. You see the Bible doesn't view these negative things that happen as things that cast question marks on God's existence. It's the other way around. Tags: evolution,atheist,apologetics,Charles Leiter,2016 Fellowship Conference,God,Heaven,Creator,Luke 13:1-5 1 00:00:00,669 --> 00:00:05,150 It's time that we begin to realize that were the sinners not God 2 00:00:05,150 --> 00:00:09,500 and that we're the ones facing judgment, not Him. 3 00:00:09,510 --> 00:00:15,660 Beloved, the Bible never views unbelief as something excusable. 4 00:00:15,660 --> 00:00:18,400 You ever noticed that? 5 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:20,870 I get so tired of hearing this thing of, 6 00:00:20,870 --> 00:00:24,660 "Honestly wrestling with the problem." 7 00:00:24,660 --> 00:00:27,510 You know the the idea is that something happens 8 00:00:27,510 --> 00:00:28,600 somebody gets in an accident, 9 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:29,960 or in a car wreck 10 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:32,949 and that causes you to doubt God 11 00:00:32,949 --> 00:00:36,280 and so you have to, "honestly wrestle with the problem" 12 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:40,950 of whether or not God exists at all! 13 00:00:40,950 --> 00:00:42,949 Honestly wrestle with the problem. 14 00:00:42,949 --> 00:00:46,589 That's not the way the Bible presents it. 15 00:00:46,589 --> 00:00:48,479 What does Jesus say here? (Luke 13:1-5) 16 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:49,979 He says, "Unless you repent." 17 00:00:49,979 --> 00:00:52,129 Every time you see that car accident 18 00:00:52,129 --> 00:00:53,469 or that tower fall, 19 00:00:53,469 --> 00:00:55,600 what it ought to do, 20 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,030 if you have not repented 21 00:00:58,030 --> 00:00:59,940 it ought to strike terror in your heart, 22 00:00:59,940 --> 00:01:02,589 "I need to repent!" 23 00:01:02,589 --> 00:01:06,500 You see the Bible doesn't view these negative things that happen 24 00:01:06,500 --> 00:01:10,020 as things that casts question marks on God's existence. 25 00:01:10,020 --> 00:01:11,729 It's the other way around, 26 00:01:11,729 --> 00:01:13,259 Romans Chapter 1, 27 00:01:13,259 --> 00:01:15,609 brother Ryan talked about it last night, 28 00:01:15,609 --> 00:01:21,280 "They know the judgment of God that those who commit such things are worthy of death, 29 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:22,649 and they not only do the same 30 00:01:22,649 --> 00:01:24,090 but they take hearty approval 31 00:01:24,090 --> 00:01:27,640 and pleasure in the other people that do it." 32 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,109 So in other words when a man is walking along the street 33 00:01:30,109 --> 00:01:32,869 and he sees someone dead here in the ditch, 34 00:01:32,869 --> 00:01:34,450 if he didn't suppress it 35 00:01:34,450 --> 00:01:35,920 what it would say to him, 36 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,649 "Is look, you're gonna be there if you don't repent! 37 00:01:39,649 --> 00:01:40,799 You deserve to die! 38 00:01:40,799 --> 00:01:42,390 He died, you deserve to die!" 39 00:01:42,390 --> 00:01:43,609 You see what God is saying? 40 00:01:43,609 --> 00:01:48,329 Every fact testifies authoritatively to man 41 00:01:48,329 --> 00:01:53,170 that God is and that man needs to repent. 42 00:01:53,170 --> 00:01:55,700 It's not like there's all these facts out here 43 00:01:55,700 --> 00:01:58,039 that, "Oh they just cause so much questions, 44 00:01:58,039 --> 00:01:59,810 and that it so problematic 45 00:01:59,810 --> 00:02:02,030 whether or not I can believe in God or not." 46 00:02:02,030 --> 00:02:03,799 That's not the Bible view! 47 00:02:04,229 --> 00:02:07,399 I remember time when I and another guy, 48 00:02:07,399 --> 00:02:10,169 we came upon a neighbor's picnic table down in the woods, 49 00:02:10,169 --> 00:02:14,700 that he had built out of logs. 50 00:02:14,700 --> 00:02:16,560 And I wasn't going through a hard time. 51 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,900 I wasn't an abused child. 52 00:02:18,900 --> 00:02:20,659 I had no excuse for anything, 53 00:02:20,659 --> 00:02:25,539 but just out of delight we destroyed that table, 54 00:02:25,539 --> 00:02:27,170 laughing. 55 00:02:27,170 --> 00:02:29,370 What is it!? 56 00:02:29,370 --> 00:02:31,710 It is in the heart of man, 57 00:02:31,710 --> 00:02:33,290 wickedness, 58 00:02:33,290 --> 00:02:36,330 inconceivable wickedness is in the heart of man. 59 00:02:36,330 --> 00:02:39,750 And the only reason that it doesn't manifest itself 60 00:02:39,750 --> 00:02:43,830 like it did in the case of Hitler, or Eichmann or those men (who killed millions of Jews). 61 00:02:43,830 --> 00:02:48,910 Is that God in His restraining grace prevents you from being who you are 62 00:02:48,910 --> 00:02:52,150 as you come into this world. 63 00:02:52,150 --> 00:02:57,930 Listen to the radical extreme teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ! 64 00:02:57,930 --> 00:03:00,200 They say, "How can God do this?" 65 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:01,519 "How can God do that?" 66 00:03:01,519 --> 00:03:05,370 And He says it's totally backwards, your blind! 67 00:03:05,370 --> 00:03:09,420 The question is: Why hasn't God destroyed you already? 68 00:03:09,420 --> 00:03:13,629 Why doesn't He destroy your while you're arguing with Him right now? 69 00:03:13,629 --> 00:03:17,379 There's nothing but sheer mercy and grace, 70 00:03:17,379 --> 00:03:22,630 that's holding the whole human race out of the pit of hell. 71 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,560 People right here tonight, if you don't repent, 72 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:28,459 what's gonna happen is your gonna say, 73 00:03:28,459 --> 00:03:32,459 "It really is true what Jesus said, there it is!" 74 00:03:32,459 --> 00:03:36,540 And you let it soak in for a little while and by that time you start to run 75 00:03:36,540 --> 00:03:41,980 there's no hope whatsoever of escaping it. 76 00:03:41,980 --> 00:03:44,130 There's no escape and then it's final. 77 00:03:44,130 --> 00:03:46,069 There's no second chance. 78 00:03:46,069 --> 00:03:48,159 We saw in these parables of the Lord Jesus, 79 00:03:48,159 --> 00:03:50,250 "And the door was shut." 80 00:03:50,250 --> 00:03:53,579 And He got up, "and the door was shut." 81 00:03:53,579 --> 00:03:55,780 And there's never any hint anywhere in the Bible 82 00:03:55,780 --> 00:03:57,589 that the door reopens. 83 00:03:57,589 --> 00:03:58,450 It's shut. 84 00:03:58,450 --> 00:03:59,329 They stand outside, 85 00:03:59,329 --> 00:04:01,439 their knocking, it's too late. 86 00:04:01,439 --> 00:04:05,109 The door is shut. 87 00:04:05,109 --> 00:04:07,390 Beloved this is reality and it's not spoken by me, 88 00:04:07,390 --> 00:04:10,819 it's spoken by the Lord of Glory Himself. 89 00:04:10,819 --> 00:04:15,950 It's a serious thing beyond anything you could ever imagine 90 00:04:15,950 --> 00:04:18,860 if you're not right with God tonight. 91 00:04:19,820 --> 00:04:23,409 Well, finally, what if you're a Christian? 92 00:04:23,409 --> 00:04:25,440 What is the application if you're a Christian? 93 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:27,070 Well, it should be obvious, shouldn't it? 94 00:04:27,070 --> 00:04:30,480 Every time we hear of some atrocity and calamity 95 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,410 we ought to thank God that our sins are forgiven, 96 00:04:34,410 --> 00:04:37,230 they're gone, 97 00:04:37,230 --> 00:04:39,840 they're washed away. 98 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:41,600 We ought to thank God for the grace 99 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:43,550 that has made us Christians 100 00:04:43,550 --> 00:04:47,290 and kept us from becoming a Eichmann or a Hitler.