06102015FourGreatQuestionsOfLifeDonRuhl

Four Great Questions of Life 

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • June 3, In the year of our Lord, 2015

Prelude: 

  1. I wake up in the morning
    1. have coffee, eat breakfast,
    2. get ready for work, go to work, work,
    3. come home, catch up on the news,
      1. eat dinner,
      2. do something around the house or with the family,
      3. go to bed,
    4. to start all over again.
  2. Would someone please tell me why. 
    1. Do not tell me it is to survive, because
      1. plenty of people do nothing and
      2. someone takes care of them.
    2. Both the diligent and lazy die.
    3. What advantage do I have?
      1. There must be something more to life.
      2. In the Book of Ecclesiastes Solomon wondered about these same things.
        1. We often misjudge royalty and politicians
          1. that they do not contemplate these things, but
          2. having the same nature as us,
          3. they do think about them.
        2. Ecc 2.15–26
          1. If you listened carefully,
            1. you heard Solomon get down on life, but
            2. he also was up on life.
          2. What made the difference?
  3. So I want to know: 
    1. Who am I?
    2. Where did I come from?
    3. What is my purpose?
    4. Where am I going after this is over?
  4. It seems that we have a high purpose Earth. 
    1. I listen to evolutionists say
      1. that we are nothing more than animals.
      2. If that is true, why do we not eat humans?
    2. Last night we had grilled hamburgers with steak rub.
      1. Does that bother anyone?
      2. Will anyone call the police?
        1. You may wonder if it was good, and
        2. because I was the cook it was perfect.
    3. See, we all know that evolutionists are wrong
      1. when they assert that we are nothing more than animals.
      2. We know instinctively that man is above the animals.

Persuasion: 

  1. Who am I? 
    1. What am I doing here?
      1. Why did I end up in the life that I am in?
        1. Notice that I did not ask “How,” because
        2. we think there is more to our lives than the mere how.
      2. To say that I am a man,
        1. does not seem to be enough of an answer.
    2. Many, if not all, people at one time or another ask that question.
      1. We sense something wonderful, but
      2. do not know what it is.
        1. We sense the truth of Genesis 1.26.
        2. Before a person is aware of this verse,
          1. he cannot articulate it precisely, but
          2. he senses its truth.
        3. We can tell that we have a connection with Something or Someone
          1. that transcends this creation, and
          2. that we are above this creation.
    3. Who you are can be answered more
      1. when we answer
      2. the next three questions.
  2. Where did I come from? 
    1. There is a raging debate trying to answer that question.
      1. There are only two answers:
        1. divine creation or
        2. natural evolution.
      2. I want to explain why I believe evolution does not have the answer.
    2. Phenomena evolutionists cannot explain:
      1. Irreducible Complexity
        1. Everything has a point where it cannot be reduced anymore further.
          1. Below that point it cannot operate.
          2. Therefore, it certainly could not have evolved,
            1. especially on its own,
            2. that is, without an intervening cause.
        2. Take, for example, an automobile.
          1. You can remove many things from it and it will still operate.
          2. But how far can you go?
          3. There will come a point at which it will not operate.
        3. Likewise, you can remove many parts from a living being, but
          1. you will finally come to the point at which
          2. nothing more can be remove or it will die.
            1. Now if it will die,
            2. how could it ever have evolved?
              1. Evolution asserts that it did not start out complete.
              2. How did it start with enough parts to evolve?
      2. Evolution is an effect greater than the cause:
        1. The existence of the universe is greater than the Big Bang.
        2. The order is greater than the chaos from the Big Bang.
        3. Life is greater than the non-life from which it allegedly evolved.
        4. The complex and complicated forms of life are greater than the simple forms of life from which they evolved.
    3. Evolutionists believe in
      1. imperial science rather than
      2. empirical science.
        1. Empirical science is what we get from experiment.
        2. Imperial science is what we get from pontification.
    4. Then again “All things are possible for him who evolves” (Lawrence Tisdall).
    5. Thus, the alternative of creation stands.
      1. Proof of creation is now required.
      2. However, with the short time I have,
        1. I will let refutation of the alternative be enough.
  3. What is my purpose? 
    1. Proverbs 4.25–27 gives us something to think about.
      1. Do you know what your purpose in life is?
        1. Why do you wake up in the morning?
        2. What are your goals?
        3. You do things everyday, but why?
          1. Solomon is teaching us to think about what we are doing.
          2. Think about why you are doing it.
          3. Do not get distracted from accomplishing it.
    2. Our purpose is like the heavens, to declare the glory of God.
      1. Psa 19.1
      2. 1Co 10.31
    3. If it is true
      1. that we are here by divine creation and
      2. not by natural evolution,
        1. then we should busy ourselves with finding our Creator.
        2. He is there and is waiting for us.
    4. Listen to Paul in Acts 17.22–28 speak to a group of men,
      1. asking the same questions we are today.
  4. Where am I going after this is over? 
    1. Acts 17.29–31
    2. Job was a man who had all the things in life that we want.
      1. Suddenly they were taken away.
      2. He then wondered what life is all about.
      3. Job 14.1–15
        1. Yes, if we die,
        2. we shall live again.

Exhortation: 

  1. The answers to four great questions of life: 
    1. You are man, male or female created in the likeness and image of God.
    2. You are here by divine creation.
    3. Your purpose is to know your Creator.
    4. Where you are going after all this is over is somewhat up to you.