Beyond Belief

Intro:

I realize that there is a show titled, “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. The title this morning does not come from that show, but I borrowed from another message is preached years ago. I’m not here this morning to talk about fact or fiction, but to go beyond the basic idea of belief in order to correct or strengthen what we believe. Everybody believes something; there is no such thing as non-belief. A person can’t be a non-believer. There is either belief or unbelief. Last week we identified what apologetics is, we established the need, and we gained an understanding of differing worldviews. Before we can definitively defend our faith, we must do some foundational inspecting b/c our defense is only as strong as our foundation.

Rom. 10:14-17

The Importance of Belief

What does it mean to believe?

What we believe is important b/c it is the bedrock of who we are. Our values stem from what we believe, and our actions flow from our values.

Our actions don’t make us who we are; they only reveal who we are.

Romans 6:17 NASB95

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,

Remember I told you last week, “the heart is the origin of human behavior.”

Far too many people have only a head faith and not a heart faith.

2 Corinthians 4:13 NASB95

But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak,

Our speech (especially unintentional) is a by-product of what we believe as are our other actions.

As I stated earlier, everybody believes something; the objective then is to believe correctly and to believe the truth b/c you either believe truth or you believe a lie.

Many will be like Pilate, “what is truth.”

As I told you last week, postmodern thinkers doubt the certainty of everything except what their senses reveal.

I also told you that they believe existence of God is unbelievable. What I didn’t tell you is why they feel this way.

One reason is for postmodernists there is no truth, no meaning, no certainty.

As believers and kingdom ambassadors, we must help them see that there is truth, meaning, and certainty and deliver them from this philosophy of death.

3 Questions to take us beyond what we believe:

1. Do we really know what we believe?

Many do not. I’m not completely convinced in either direction of the rapture.

Many believe according to their particular denomination (eg. “we are bound to the manual”).

Some people become so trained by the way they were raised that they are blind to the moving of God.

When your faith is on trial, parroting what you have been taught will not suffice.

When interrogated by a postmodern thinker, you better have a foundation to stand on.

You can’t just say “I feel” or “I believe.”

God is going to hold us accountable for what we believe.

2. Does it really matter why I believe what I believe?

Yes, there can be no stability to our faith w/o it.

Ps 95:8-11

God showed His wonders to them for forty years in order to give them substance to their faith, yet they rebelled and believed not.

Ultimately what we believe is a choice.

John 6:68–69 NASB95

Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

They came to know Jesus after they believed in Him through the word and miracles (this is the construction of the Greek).

We believe by faith, not b/c we see (2 Cor 5:7).

We don’t believe blindly; there is no such thing as blind faith. We believe what we believe b/c of specific influences.

If we don’t control those influences, then we will natural be swayed in our beliefs by them.

Luke 8:18 NASB95

“So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”

Romans 1:20 NASB95

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

Matthew 24:4 NASB95

And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.

3. How do we know what to believe?

If I were to ask you, I’m sure the majority of you this morning would have a belief that you hold w/out knowing why or w/out the ability to verify and validate it.

Many of you would say you believe something b/c the Bible teaches it, but many people cannot even agree what the Bible teaches on a particular subject.

People today not only question the authority of scripture, they deny its validity.

But the authority of scripture is paramount for you and me.

There are people in the church that do not know what the word says, and sad to say it’s always been this way.

Acts 17:1-5

V. 2 “reasoned” means to to engage in speech interchange, converse, discuss, argue.

This he did from the scriptures alone. Not from tradition, not from the denominational manual, not from what Dr. know it all said about it.

His audience was both Jews—who knew the scriptures and Greeks—who didn’t.

You can’t reason from the scriptures if you don’t know them.

Furthermore, if you don’t know the scriptures, how will you then even know what you believe? If you don’t know what you believe, how will you convince anyone else?

Prov 22:17-21

The word of God must be final authority in our lives; therefore all our beliefs must come from it.

As Christians, our worldview must be a biblical worldview.

A child who grows up Muslim will be convinced the Koran is the inspired word of God.

A child who grows up a Buddhist believes that the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) are true.

So, don’t tell me you believe Christianity to be the way to God b/c you were raised that way—that isn’t good enough.

Furthermore, don’t tell me you believe the Bible; b/c one who didn’t grow up being taught from its pages will not be so ready to believe what we say about it.

HOW DO YOU KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE TRUE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD? Come back next week and I’ll tell you.