Answering Faith's Questions (Part 1) | With Dr. Sean McDowell

What up Crossing Nation, it is so good to be with you.

I want to welcome all of our different locations, those of

you watching online and inside, but I want to wish a very

special welcome to those of you who are here for the first time

or the first time in a long time.

I believe that today could be a significant moment in your

spiritual journey. And before we jump into all

that, I want to make you aware of a couple big things that I

know matter to God and matter to you.

Camp registration is open and available today.

If you open up the app, you'll find that in the For You

section. And I just want to tell you,

sign up early and safe. Our church is growing.

We want as many kids to go to camp as we possibly can, but we

only have a camp that's so big. So get your kid in early so that

way the neighbor kid, you know well, try and get the neighbor

kid to come too. Now, while you're doing that,

for those of you who like to support what we're doing through

the camp, there's going to be all kinds of opportunities.

One is the in your corner golf outing, and that's also going to

be in the for you section in the app.

And if you haven't downloaded the app, download the app.

These 4G outings across our region will provide funding for

kids who want to attend camp but not or might not be able to

afford it. And your participation will make

a difference. And so for those of you who are

interested in doing that, another way you can help with

scholarships is you can just give a scholarship to help kids

go to camp. And everything you give helps.

One of the things that Jennifer and I are trying to do this year

is where we put a stretch goal in front of us is we're going to

have nine different summer camps and to send one kid to every

single one of those camps is $18190.00.

And if you're in the mood to try and stretch yourself and do

that, you can join. But if you can't do that, do

whatever you can. Our goal is that every kid who

wants to go to camp will be able to go to camp regardless of

their financial position. And we would love your help in

doing that. So all that information is

directly in the app. Pay attention to that and jump

in now about this weekend. In my years of ministry, what

I've experienced sitting across the table from hundreds of you

is I've noticed a pattern. And maybe you have experienced

this pattern, that there is almost always a question of

faith before a step of obedience.

That there is a question that needs asked and answered before

you can take your next step. And that is why I'm so glad that

you are here today because I believe that God is not afraid

of your questions. And just so you know, neither

are we. In fact, I believe that God and

His Word welcome every question. In fact, I think they have the

best answers to every major question about life and about

faith. You hear me say it this way.

I believe that God's way is the best way in every area of your

life. Now, just so you know, each of

our services are going to be unique.

So if you want to hear some of the other answers to some of the

other questions that we're going to be navigating, make sure you

take full advantage of watching our online service or watch on

playback. Now to help you take your next

step, we have invited Doctor Sean McDowell to partner with us

this weekend. A little bit about him.

He has devoted his career to help bring the truth to the next

generation, which our church loves.

As a college professor, as a high school teacher, as a

prolific author. He has exceptional insights into

prevailing culture and imparts his observations to fellow

educators, pastors, parents and to students.

He is currently the Associate Professor of Christian

Apologetics at Biola University, the largest and top ranked

graduate program of its kind in the world.

As a part time high school teacher, Sean was awarded

Educator of the Year in his hometown in San Juan Capistrano.

Now he is a highly sought after speaker.

We were very, very lucky to be able to have him come and spend

time with us this weekend. He spoken at various camps,

churches, universities worldwide and is a frequent guest on radio

and television shows. He is the best selling author

and has written and or Co written over 20 books.

So if you're a reader, pay attention.

He has a master's degree in both theology and philosophy and APHD

in apologetics and worldview studies.

And on top of that, when he's does this guy sleep?

He is the Co host of the Think Biblically podcast.

But most noteworthy, he is a dedicated husband and father.

He's been married to his high school sweetheart Stephanie

since 2000. He lives in beautiful Southern

California, which is where we need to put our next campus so

we can get out of this weather. He has three children.

He is here with us this weekend to help you grow in your faith

and help you jump start your faith.

If you don't have a faith, would you please give a warm crossing

Welcome to Doctor Sean McDowell. Thanks money.

So before we get into the deep stuff, I I told him a story.

I might as well share it with you.

I went off to Bible college believing in God.

Believing that God had called me into full time ministry, but

there were a lot of questions that were still bumping around

in my soul. And so I signed up for the

apologetics classes at Bible college because I was going.

There are some questions about faith that I need to get figured

out. And if I'm going to bet not just

my salvation on it, but my entire life here on earth on it,

I better know the answers to those questions.

And one of the very first books that I read was a book called

More than a Carpenter, and it was written by his father.

And they have actually updated that book you, I mean, he was

written 20 books, so you can buy all of them.

But I tell you that story because they're, I, I know I'm

not going to be able to get through all the questions this

weekend. And between all five of the

services, we're just not going to get through them all.

But I know that you have questions and I want you to know

there are really stinking good answers.

And so I want you to chase those out, learn, grow, put yourself

on a growth track. But what we want to do right now

is we want to stop hearing from me.

We want to start hearing from somebody who is way, way, way

smarter than me. And I watch his YouTube channel

and he's just been a gift for me as I'm always trying to make

sure that I'm building and bolstering my faith.

So you guys ready for some big, heavy questions?

If you're ready, turn your neighbor and say I'm ready.

You ready for this one? All right, let's go.

The Bible Is it a product of God, humans, or both?

Great question. What's unique about the Bible is

it's a divine book that is written by humans.

So God has chosen to communicate in a lot of different ways.

So he communicates through prophets, God communicates

through creation. He communicates at times in

dreams, but when he wanted to make his plan for the world most

clearly known, he chose to communicate that through human

beings. So it says in second Peter

chapter one. It says that no prophecy has its

source in human will, rather it comes from God.

And then you use this really interesting metaphor that it's

like God carries along the riders as they report it, almost

like wind carrying along the the the sails on a ship, so to

speak. So what's unique about the Bible

is it's actually both. And this matters for a few ways.

So if you look at like the Greek of Matthew, it's going to read a

little bit differently than Luke.

Why? Because they're both God's Word.

But God uses the personality of Matthew differently than uses

the personality of Luke or Mark or Paul.

Why is this important? It matters that the Bible's a

divine book because the source is God himself.

The Bible's unlike any other book that's ever been written.

In one sense, that's true for its impact.

It's been read more, it's been studied more, it's been

translated more. It's had more influence on the

world lives than any other book. But if God is the source of it,

that means there's an authority in this book that there's not in

any other book. God is the source of this.

If I can give just one quick example, why why I think the

Bible's divine, you say, OK, well then how do we know it has

a divine source? Well, one way you could say is

there fulfilled prophecy within this book?

I think there's dozens. But one of my favorite ones from

the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 13 and Jeremiah chapter

Isaiah 13 · chapter mention Jeremiah 50 · chapter mention

50, describes that Babylon, the ancient city, one of the most

influential largest cities in the world, would be destroyed,

never rebuilt, and things like jackals and owls and hyenas

would live there. Well, a friend of mine is an

archaeologist in the Middle East, and he actually had a

chance to go into ancient Babylon, which is modern day

Iraq. And he went into the old city of

Babylon, which is right next to where the walls of Saddam

Hussein's palace was. And Clayton, it's like a

graveyard to this day. And this is now at least 2000,

you know, few, 100 years later, it's never been rebuilt.

And you see owls, jackals and hyenas there exactly as

predicted a long time ago. That's just one example.

We could give many more. That gives me pause and says,

wait a minute, There's something about this book that is

different. And if it is divine, that's why

we would see it changing so many people's lives.

So I got to warn you. You said it again.

You said I've been, you know, for those of you who are at

church and those of you who are back church haven't been here

for a while, I warn you, if you're going to read the Bible

with an open heart and an open mind, it can change your life.

Hebrews 4 says it is like a sword piercing the soul.

A lot of books can change your life.

I'm thrilled to hear about More Than a Carpenter.

That's amazing that my dad's book did that.

But that pales in comparison to the change that the Bible can

make and does make and will make in your life and mine, because

God is the ultimate author. That's an incredible answer.

Would you guys give a big round of applause for that?

OK, that one, you know, that was an easy one.

Let's let's ratchet it up right? Lots of people say they believe

in God, but is there any physical proof of God's

existence? There's actually a lot of

different kinds of proofs. So there's some historical

proof, like fulfill prophecy that we gave, or historical

proof that Jesus did miracles or rose from the grave.

There's philosophical proof or evidences such as the moral

arguments. If there's really a moral law,

the best explanation is a moral law giver.

But there's also what we might call physical or scientific

proof. Now, there's a bunch of

different kinds I won't go into like really quickly.

For example, like when we look inside the DNA, inside the cell,

we see more information, more sophisticated than anything

humans can create. We see information.

The best explanation is an information giver, a mind.

Another kind of argument would be what's called the fine tuning

of the laws of physics and cosmology.

There's a number of different laws of physics that have one

strange thing in common. They're set exactly on the

parameter they need to be set at to have a universe capable

supporting life. Well this could happen by

chance, like the fine tuning of an old radio points towards a

fine tuner. Those are two kinds of arguments

from something we physically see within the universe to a God.

But one I want to spend a little bit more time on is called the

Cosmological Argument for the existence of God.

Now, it sounds fancy, but it's 2 premises and a conclusion.

I was sitting on a plane not long ago and a girl next to me

goes, do you believe in God? I was like, well, I pulled out a

napkin and I literally dropped this argument and we talked

about it. So here's what's significant

about this is for years up until really the middle of the 20th

century, scientists thought the universe was eternal and had no

beginning. But then with findings of

Einstein and some other scientists, we began to realize

things like the second law of thermodynamics, what's called

the redshift, Big Bang cosmology point towards the universe not

being eternal, but having a beginning.

Well, you see the problem right? If universe began to exist, then

this seems to point towards the need for a cause outside of the

universe to bring it into existence.

In fact, some scientists who argued the universe had a

beginning in places like Communist Russia and Nazi

Germany were persecuted because people understood that the

beginning of the universe pointed towards the beginner.

So here's the simple argument. Just it's it's so common sense.

Whatever begins to exist has a cause.

Whatever begins to exist has a 'cause if something begins to

exist, we know it had a cause. We don't see things popping into

existence uncost, right? If something begins to exist, it

has to have an adequate cause. Premise #1 Premise 2.

The universe began to exist. Now we have philosophical

arguments for that. Now we know the science points

towards the universe beginning to exist.

So track with me here. If whatever begins to exist has

a cause, and the universe began to exist, then what's our

conclusion that the universe? Had a cause.

Has a cause? Exactly.

Now if the universe has a 'cause, then what caused it?

Something outside of time, outside of space, something

smart, something really incredibly powerful.

This is sounding a lot like God. So just as we say, to answer

your question, physically, the DNA points towards an

information giver, the fine tune of the universe points towards a

fine tuner, the beginning of the universe points towards a

beginner. I think these are three good

arguments from something we physically see in the universe

being best explained by their mind.

Bring it into existence. That is a perfect answer.

What am I? Oh yeah, give them a big round

of applause. What you know, you said one of

my favorite lines in there. You said common sense, and I'll

tell you why. A couple of things you need to

remember. I mean, you can correct me where

I'm wrong. Just so you know, the church has

never been the enemy to science and science has never been the

enemy to the church. In fact, the church was

responsible for most of the scientific discoveries because

it was a part of their worship to the God that they were trying

to learn and understand. And recently I there was a guy

who was making some waves for his fun, which is different than

my fun. His kind of fun is he goes

places and he stacks rocks. And literally that's what it is.

He gets a pile of rocks and he stacks them in a really cool

way. And then he leaves.

And then people stumble across the stacked rocks and then

they're trying to find out. Watch this.

Who stacked the rocks? Stay with me.

So if atheists see stacked rocks and go, somebody must have done

that, how on planet Earth do you look at planet Earth and not

come to the conclusion who did that?

It's common sense. If you leave here today at all

of our locations and you see ten rocks stacked on top of each

other, you're going to ask yourself who has been stacking

rocks? You're not going to be going,

wow, something shifty's happening around here.

OK, now so you've you, you've proven you've made a great

argument that there is a God, but let's get more personal.

What kind of God is he? And Christians talk a lot about

God being a loving God. But how can a loving God send

people to hell? OK, so hands down, I think this

is one of the hardest questions for Christian to make sense of.

Why? Because this isn't just

intellectual. Like, let me lay out the

scientific evidence. This is personal, isn't it?

I have loved ones, I have friends who don't believe in

Jesus, and if I'm right about this, they're going to be

separated from God for eternity. I don't like that Hell bothers

me. If you haven't been bothered by

hell, I'm not sure you've taken the time to really think about

what the Bible says about it. That's good.

But I also know that something's not true or false whether I like

it, something's not true or false whether I'm comfortable

with it. So why should I believe that God

sends good people to hell? Well, the first thing is I don't

think God sends people to hell. We see from the beginning of

God's covenant in the book of Deuteronomy.

He tells the people choose life. At the roots of the Christian

worldview is God has made us as agents who can choose to follow

him, choose to love him or choose not to follow him and

choose to reject him. And God is going to honor that

choice. It's CS Lewis who said he said

there's two kinds of people in the end.

Those who say to God thy will be done or those to whom God says

thy will be done. All who are in hell choose it.

I don't think God sends people to hell.

I think God honors our choice and lets us choose to repent and

be with Him or not. Now the second part of the

question was how can God send a good person to hell?

Here's the answer. There's no such thing as a good

person. Now there was one good person

and we crucified him. Jesus said it's out of the heart

that comes sloth and comes lust and comes idolatry.

Romans 3, Paul says no one is good.

No, not one. Look, if I had like the

mechanism to take every one of your thoughts and like, tweet it

out or exit out to the world, would you be like, that's

awesome. Nope, it would not be good.

All of us know in 5 seconds. You know what?

I have thoughts I'm not proud of and I'm glad I don't say those

things. Where does that come from?

You know where that comes from. That comes from your heart.

That comes from your heart. When I was a kid, I remember I

was watching the news and there was a, there was, I can't

remember, some kind of murder story that was going on.

And I said, and that's so inhumane.

My dad stopped me. He goes, son, that's not

inhumane. Inhumane means not human.

He said. Humans did that, and you're

human. That means whatever that person

is capable of, you have the capability that in your own

heart. And that stopped me in my

tracks. None of us are good.

We know what we've fallen short in some fashion.

So why believe in hell? OK, think about it this way.

If I told you after the service. That I was going to hold an NFL

clinic. How to be an NFL quarterback.

Let me save you some time. None of you should show up.

I got nothing. I'm a Chargers fan.

And we're, you know, we're happier now with Harbaugh.

We're feeling like our time is coming.

But if my man Herbert showed up, go.

He's an expert. He has the authority to speak

about this. Let me ask you, compared to

anyone who's ever lived, who has the most authority to speak

about the afterlife, God's judgement, and heaven and hell?

And I'm going with the guy who's the sinless, virgin born,

prophecy fulfilling, miracle working son of God who rose from

the grave on the third day. I don't like hell.

I don't like it at all. But if Jesus said it's real in

Mark Chapter 9, verses 43 through 48, he warned us about

Mark 9:43–48

it. I don't feel liberty go yeah,

I'll pick this from the Bible and not that.

That's gold. That is absolute gold.

We're going to have we're going to do this one quick and this is

probably we're going to. I'll be fast.

I'm ready to go. I was going to do, well, do it,

do it all right. Lots of people right now are

seeing their news feeds. No, no, no.

I'm a shift. Give me a second.

I'll be fast, I got this. Christianity verse Mormonism?

What separates Christianity from Mormonism?

And you got 4 minutes. OK, let me answer this.

We're not far from Nauvoo or the Kinderhook plates.

You drove past Kinderhook on your way here, OK?

So hold on. This Is Us, OK?

So let me answer this generally and I'll tie it to Mormonism.

This is a part of a larger question.

What makes Christianity unique compared to other religions and

other faiths? And I'll say three things.

One is salvation by grace alone. It is only within Christianity

that salvation is a free gift you cannot earn.

Friends. That is not the case within

Mormonism. Second, Nephi 2523 says that it

is grace. You are saved by after all that

you can do. Hold on a second, Nephi is in

the Book of Mormon. Yes, thank you.

In the Book of Mormon. I don't want them.

Trying to look it up at their by when they get home and not

finding. It you know what, that would be

a lesson in itself. It is by grace you've been

saved. After all that you can do.

That's very different then in Ephesians chapter 2 where Paul

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

says it is by grace you have been saved.

It is a gift from God, not by works, so no one can boast.

And Islam is a religion of works.

Every other religion you have to earn it and work for it.

Christianity is by grace. Second, Christianity invites

investigation. So Acts 2 verse 22 says this.

Acts 2:22

Jesus of Nazareth was attested to you by God with miracles,

wonders, and signs that God did among you through him.

As you yourselves know, the apostles right witnesses that

Jesus says love God with your heart, your soul and your mind

and Isaiah says come, let us reason together.

Whereas in the Book of Mormon, what's the test for the truth.

Read the Book of Mormon and you'll have an internal feeling,

a subjective experience. The biblical testimonies go look

at the external evidence. Mormonism invites a subjective

internal reference and the third one is the person of Jesus.

I think the Book of Mormon in the Mormon church, and I don't

say this lightly, gets the identity of Jesus.

Wrong. Jesus always has been and always

will be God. Period.

God is a Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God is triune. Jesus is not one amongst many

gods. He is the one and only God who

exists, yet he's one with the Father and he's one with the

Spirit in substance and in nature, as we see clearly taught

in the Gospel of John. So I think Mormonism teaches

something different about the person of Jesus and his nature,

and he teaches something different about the nature of

salvation. It has a different test for

truth, and they also add a different additional scriptures

that I think actually go against what's taught in the New

Testament as well. Perfect.

Thank you so much. Jesus was hanging out with his

disciples ancestry of Philippi, and it kind of sounded like it

was Jesus's version of the Lake of the Ozarks.

It's where you kind of get away to hang out.

And when he was with them, he asked them this question.

Who do you say that I am? In Matthew chapter 16, verse 14,

Matthew 16:14

we hear the response of Jesus followers.

They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah,

others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

And a lot of people, people you know, they would answer that

question the same way the disciples answered it.

There are people in your life who'd say he's a fictional

character. He never existed.

Some will say that he was a prophet.

Some will say he was a really good teacher.

Others will say he's a charismatic leader.

Some might even say he was a misunderstood 1st century Jew.

All of this that we made out was never his intention.

But Jesus didn't end the conversation there.

In the very next verse, he asked the most important question.

But what about you? Jesus asked.

Who do you say that I am? The question in front of you,

the question that Jesus puts to all of us, is not what do other

people believe about me, but what do you believe about me?

What do you believe about Jesus? Who do you think he is?

Well, we have an answer. Peter was there, raises his

hand, talks before he's called on.

This is what he says. Peter answered.

You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Peter's answer was the right one.

He realized that Jesus was the Christ, the anointed One, the

promised Messiah, God in the flesh, who was going to deliver

people not just from the penalty of their sins, but from their

sins themselves so they could be reunited with Him in heaven.

And you might be thinking right now, I just want to say

something to the skeptics right now.

It's OK to be a skeptic. She's not OK to stay that way.

I know what you might be thinking.

You might be going easy for Peter to say he was with Jesus.

He saw him do all of those things.

And you are exactly right. He was an eyewitness.

And just so you know, he died taking his eyewitness account to

the nation's because he believed that Jesus was the Christ.

When we talk to you about placing your faith in Jesus,

hear me, it is a step of faith, but it is a reasoned step of

faith. When I say reasoned, here's what

I mean. There were eyewitness accounts

not just of the life of Jesus, but also of his death and his

resurrection. Jesus appeared to over 500

people after his resurrection, showing him that He is indeed

the way, the truth and the life. The biblical text that you and I

read it can stand up to critics and to skeptics.

The evidence for the existence of God not only stands up to

scrutiny, but it they deliver the best and most reliable

answers. It is the best answer for the

beginning of the universe, the fine tuning of the universe, the

laws of nature, and the existence of objective moral

values. Hear me, that is before you take

into account the countless lives that have been changed,

transformed, redeemed, repurposed, of which I happen to

be 1. Hear me, you might be saying

today, I don't know everything I need to know.

And I want you to know I get it. But I want you to hear me say

this. I think you know enough.

You've heard me talk about this before.

Raise your hand fellas. If you know everything there is

to know about women, I see no hands raised.

Raise your hand if you knew enough to know you wanted one.

If you didn't put your hand up, fellas, and you're with your

wife, this would be the time to put your hand up.

Or your Valentine's Day just got real expensive.

OK, You're going from farm and home to Zales.

OK, That mistake cost. You hear me?

I didn't know everything. I still don't know everything

there is to know about Jennifer, But I don't want to spend a day

without her. I knew enough.

And to be honest with you, it makes sense to me.

It makes sense to me that a God who created the world, set the

stars in the place, wrote the laws of nature, moved the

mountains into their place, and is big enough to hold the waters

of the ocean. And the palm of his hand might

be a little bit too big for me to completely grasp.

But I do know this. I know enough to know that I

need Him. I know enough to know that I

want Him. And if you're here today, that

is the question I want to put in front of you.

When is your faith going to stop being on you and start being on

him? Do you know enough to take your

next step of faith? And I think, I think you do.

We're moving to a time of decision and we're getting to do

something special that we don't always get to do.

Yep. Thank you.

We're staying, we're staying live at all of our locations.

So I get a chance to have this intimate moment with all 12 of

you locations. And I'm so thankful you're

giving me the privilege to do it.

And what I want to do for just a second, I want to talk to those

of you who have never started an intimate, personal relationship

with Jesus Christ. Hear me.

When we talk about God, we are not just saying that He is great

and that He is powerful and that He is majestic and that He is

mighty. All of those things are true.

But I need you to know something else about God.

He is so good. So good in fact, that He did not

make you and I get right and then make our way to Him.

Instead, He came down to us to make us right.

If you want to understand something about His love and His

character and His goodness, you turn in your Bible to Romans

Romans 5:8

chapter 5 verse 8, and this is what it says.

But God demonstrates His love for us in this, that while we

were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Can I unpack that for just a second?

Coming after you was getting right with God was never your

idea. It was His idea first.

He moved on your behalf, sacrificed on your behalf,

before you drew your first breath, before you committed

your first sin, before you rejected His Son, abandoned the

purpose He laid out for you, and He did it anyway.

And He did not come in and take control of your mind and of your

heart against your free will. He did all of it, knowing that

you would have the freedom to either receive him or reject

Him. And to those who would reject

him, he still died anyway. How good is He?

And if you were here today and you're going, you know what?

It's been long enough and you're ready today to start going.

You know what? It's time for me to start

chasing Jesus, to be found in Christ in just a few moments all

across this region, when the people stand around you and sing

and some of them come to the steps and pray.

I want to encourage you to walk to the side of the auditorium

next to where your baptistry is and talk to somebody about how

you can start an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus

Christ. And to the rest of you, to those

of you who already have a relationship with Jesus Christ,

my prayer over you is this, that your faith in God will inspire

you to greater devotion, greater obedience, and greater

participation in the mission of His Kingdom.

May it strengthen you in your prayers and guide you in the

darkest of valleys. Would you guys stand with me?

Heavenly Father, you are the only one who is able to handle

and hold all of our needs and all of our worries and all of

our requests simultaneously and give each of us perfect

attention. And God, you know best what

every person that is hearing my voice right now is going

through, And you know best what every person that is listening

to my voice needs from you. And you know best what every

single one of us needs to do. And so, God, in faith, I am

coming to you, asking you to show us, convict us, reveal to

us the step that we need to take, and then, God, would you

give us the courage and the strength to take it.

And your name I pray. Amen.