October 21, 2025 • 42 mins
Start with the biggest question on your mind late at night: not how life works, but why you have life at all. From the Areopagus in Athens to our own cultural crosswinds, we follow Paul’s bold claim that God made the world, made humanity, and made every nation from one man—then pressed that truth into the deepest layers of identity, sin, and hope. The thread is simple and disruptive: if Adam is real, the gospel’s architecture holds together with clarity; if Adam is only a metaphor, the logic of sin, death, and redemption frays at the edges.
We explore why a literal Adam and Eve matter for more than debates—they guard human dignity, expose the ugly history of racial “progress” narratives, and align with what genetics actually shows about our shared family. Along the way, we look at the rise of theistic evolution inside the church and the quiet habit of weighing Scripture in the scales of “nature,” instead of reading nature in the light of Scripture. Not to dismiss scientific insight—science explains how matter behaves—but to admit its limits: it cannot tell us why the universe exists, why love binds conscience, or why death feels so wrong. Purpose comes from a voice, not a lab report.
We also sit with Paul’s second claim: God sets the seasons and boundaries of nations. That truth rescues us from panic and from the illusion that we must save history, while calling us back to our true work—witness, neighbor-love, and trust. And because God is near, not far, seekers who grope in the dark can finally find what reason alone cannot name. One race, united in sin by the first man; one hope, offered by the Last Adam, who creates a redeemed people from every language and land.
If this conversation sharpened your thinking or encouraged your faith, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review so others can find it. Your voice helps keep thoughtful, gospel-centered conversations in the spotlight.
Stephen's latest book, The Disciples Prayer, is available now. https://www.wisdomonline.org/store/view/the-disciples-prayer-hardback
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:06):
When you're born again, you are born again into a
new redeemed race.
A particular possession of God.
We are all members of one bodythat's universal in its truth,
local in its application, 1Corinthians chapter 12.
So it's very important, and Isay all of that, because it's
important that you have aliteral historical first Adam.
(00:30):
That's where sin came from, andafter his fall, death, and you
have a an historical last Adam.
SPEAKER_00 (00:52):
So why are you here on this earth?
Why is God giving you life?
Today, Christians are consideredfools if they believe that the
human race comes from a mannamed Adam and a woman named
Eve.
Thinking we came from lower lifeforms is far more fashionable.
(01:12):
This is Wisdom for the Heartwith Stephen Davy.
On our last broadcast, we sawthat God is the creator of all
that exists.
Today, we come to a passagewhere Paul expands that to
include humanity.
There are significantimplications to the fact that
God created us.
And we'll explore that next.
(01:34):
This message is called Adam andEve for Real.
SPEAKER_01 (01:41):
You know, the more you discover about God, the more
you come to appreciate the factthat He is, and really He must
be, omniscient, all-knowing,omnipotent, all-powerful,
omnipresent, transcendent aboveand beyond creation, yet
imminent, involved, personallyinvested in creation.
God never had a beginning.
(02:02):
The great I am never began.
And he never adds anything tohis knowledge.
For he knows all things at alltimes.
And he knows that which is bothpossible and that which is
reality.
He knows every option frometernity past to eternity
(02:25):
future.
Another way to put that is youwould never want to challenge
him in a game of chess.
He knows all of the moves andall of the options already.
To put it another way, God hasnever ever learned anything.
He's never learned anything.
He's always known.
He's never discovered one thing,one truth.
(02:48):
Not one red blood cell in yourbody is ever out of his sight.
Nor are the spinning stars andin billions of galaxies beyond
his immediate observation andcontrol.
He created all there is, andwe're only beginning to discover
(03:08):
a sliver of what he already hascreated.
Just a little portion of it.
Now part of the problem ofhumanity is the attempt to take
what little they know andredefine God on that basis.
To discover something and thento define God on that basis
(03:30):
alone.
It's like a mortician definingGod's power over death based on
what he has seen in his careerat the funeral home.
Ignore the biblical revelationof God.
The unbeliever is bound.
In fact, Paul says that he isblinded by the God of this
(03:50):
world, unable to see theglorious light of the gospel.
2 Corinthians 4, 4.
Apart from God's revelation thatyou have with you tonight, God's
self-disclosure, we really haveno idea where or how anything
began with any certainty, fornone of us, in fact, no one was
(04:13):
there.
In 1872, John Sachs wrote anEnglish poem about a group of
blind men who decided to visitan elephant, determined by their
powers of observation, what anelephant was truly like.
His poem goes like this.
Now, it's written in 1872English, okay, so bear with me.
It was six men of Indostan, tolearning, much inclined, who
(04:36):
went to see the elephant, thoughall of them were blind, that
each by observation mightsatisfy his mind.
The first approached theelephant, and happening to fall
against his broad and sturdyside, at once began to baw.
The second, feeling of the tusk,cried, Ho, what have we here?
So very round and smooth andsharp, to me 'tis mighty clear
(04:59):
this wonder of an elephant isvery like a spear.
The third approached the animal,and happening to take the
squirming trunk within hishands, thus boldly up and spake,
I see, quoth he, the elephant isreally like a snake.
The fourth reached out his eagerhand and felt about the knee.
What most this wondrous beast islike is mighty plain, quoth
(05:21):
he, 'tis clear enough theelephant is really like a tree.
The fifth, who chanced to touchhis ear, said, Even the blindest
man can tell what this resemblesmost, deny the fact who can.
This marvel of an elephant isvery like a fan.
The sixth no sooner had begunabout the beast to grope, than
seizing on the swinging tailthat fell within his scope, I
(05:41):
see, quoth he, the elephant isreally like a rope.
And so these men of Indostandisputed loud and long, each in
his own opinion, exceeding stiffand strong, though each was
partly in the right, and allwere in the wrong.
On this windswept hill inAthens, that we have been
(06:03):
traveling each week up to listenin on Paul's declaration to the
Supreme Court of Athens, he'sbasically saying, you have some
things that are partly right,but you are completely wrong.
You have an understanding thatthere is some kind of divine
power, that there areimmortalities, that there are
(06:25):
deities, so to speak.
Of course, for them it wasplural, but you are completely
wrong.
He's also effectively tellingthem, don't depend upon the
power of your observation, withwhat little you can you can see.
In fact, Paul says, I want tointroduce to you this unknown
God to you.
(06:46):
I'm going to make him known.
Now, if we if we pick our studyback up in Acts 17, I want to
organize our thoughts around twostatements.
And these two statements willsort of steer us, they'll
summarize what Paul says nextabout God.
The first statement is this Godis the creator of humanity.
(07:07):
Now, we begin in our lastdiscussion noting that whenever
you deliver the gospel to apre-Christian world, which is
where we're living now, animportant place to begin is
Genesis chapter 1, verse 1.
By the way, the message Pauldelivers to the court in Athens
is a critically needed messagefor the people in America and
(07:32):
every other country for thatmatter, that God is the creator
of humanity.
Now I want you to notice themiddle part of verse 25, sort of
drop back in there.
He himself gives to all life andbreath and all things, and he
made from one every nation ofmankind to live on all the face
(07:57):
of the earth.
For us, perhaps, who know thegospel, who have been in the
Word of God, it's like, okay,sure.
Uh next verse, please.
No, these are staggering claimsin the opening lines of the
sentence.
God is the original source ofall life, all breath, and all
(08:20):
things.
And I want to notice with youagain and spend a little time
here this phrase.
He made from one every nation ofmankind.
Now that prepositional phrasemeans that all of mankind tracks
back to a common ancestor.
One nation came from man andevery nation from them tracking
(08:44):
back to him.
Now, Darwin taught that man, ofcourse, evolved from apes and
continued evolving as variousraces, with some races more
developed than others.
Frankly, I'm shocked that ourworld doesn't bring Darwin's
horrific racism into the openand expose his belief that the
(09:10):
dark-skinned races, whateverthey might be, develop slower
than the light-skinned races.
For instance, he believed thatAfricans were not nearly as
evolved as the European whiterace because of their dark skin.
Why don't they ever put that inthe science books they handed
children?
(09:31):
They don't.
Even Stephen J.
Gould later would admit, and Iquote him, biological arguments
for racism may have been commonbefore 1859, but they increased
exponentially following theacceptance of evolutionary
theory.
This is one of the ugly secretsabout evolution that never quite
(09:54):
makes it into print.
Ken Hamm is going to be with usnext week, and I've pulled a
number of quotes from hiswonderful book entitled Six
Days, but he writes this: Darwin's error was later exposed (10:04):
undefined
through the field of genetics.
What Darwin didn't know was thateveryone has the same
brown-colored skin pigmentcalled melanin.
A person's genetic makeupreceived from his parents
determines his potential toproduce a certain level of
(10:26):
melanin, which is why we see arange of skin shades in people
from light to middle brown todark.
Frankly, I wish I had more ofit.
I walk from here to the parkinglot and I get burned.
I'm pale pink.
I could use some more of it.
Ken Ham goes on to write this: after the scattering of the (10:43):
undefined
Tower of Babel, where Godcreated language distinctions
among all peoples, groups ofpeople migrated according to
their language and thus becameisolated wherever they moved,
allowing for a concentration ofcertain physical variations
(11:03):
within those groups.
The development of lighter ordarker skin in certain
demographic groups had nothingto do with evolution, but the
decreased genetic potential forvariation in isolated
populations.
Our differences, I like thisstatement, are only skin deep.
Paul effectively announces tothe Supreme Court of Athens that
(11:27):
humans are not split intovarious races because of higher
or lower stages of evolution.
In fact, no matter what our skincolor or our ethnic background,
we all actually belong to onerace.
One blood, you could literallyinterpret Paul saying, one human
(11:49):
race.
And we all came from the firsthuman beings created, Adam and
his wife, Eve.
Now, evolutionists obviouslydon't like the idea of one
literal man who became thefather of a human race.
And I think that it's because,in part, there is the gospel
communicated in that.
Listen to what Paul writes tothe Romans.
(12:11):
He says, sin came through thisone man.
Romans 15, 12.
Now again, that takes you backto Genesis chapters 1, 2, and 3.
Here's Adam, the father of allhuman beings.
Adam sinned.
His wife sinned first.
She was deceived.
We'll learn later in the NewTestament as it's clarified.
(12:34):
But Adam purposefully,knowingly, defiantly, without
being deceived for a moment ofall of Satan's ridiculous
promises, took and ate of thefruit in defiance and
disobedience to God, and thuspassed on then to the human race
(12:55):
his fallen nature, the nature ofAdam.
And the human race is nowcondemned in sin.
And we prove very early that wehave his nature, don't we?
Very early.
For some of us earlier thanothers.
Now the gospel informs us that asecond Adam, another literal
man, the last Adam, came tocreate a new race.
(13:20):
A new race through faith and hisatoning work.
1 Corinthians 15, 45.
Listen to what Paul writes toRomans, the Romans, the Roman
believers again in chapter 5.
For if by the transgression ofthe one man, many died, much
more did the grace of God andthe gift by the grace of the one
man, Jesus Christ, abound to themany.
(13:44):
So what Paul is doing iscontrasting the gospel in the
sin of the first Adam, a literalman, by the way, and the atoning
work of the sinless second orlast Adam, Jesus Christ, a
literal human being, both fullyGod and fully man.
In other words, let me put itthis way: Adam's blood unites
(14:08):
humanity in sin.
The blood of the second Adamunites us in salvation.
You have one race, and that raceis in deep trouble, condemned.
When you're born again, you areborn again into a new, redeemed
race.
(14:28):
A particular possession of God.
We are all members of one body.
That's universal in its truth,local in its application, 1
Corinthians chapter 12.
So it's very important, and Isay all of that, not to, you
know, uh wear you out, but I sayall of that because it's
important that you have aliteral, historical, first Adam.
(14:50):
That's where sin came from.
And after his fall, death anddisease and corruption.
And you have a an historicallast Adam where there's hope and
redemption.
Now here's where evolution hasinvaded not just our culture,
but the church.
(15:10):
The church is becoming more andmore besieged by theistic
evolutionists.
That is, they believe Godstarted everything, but then
left it to evolve over millionsand millions of years, and the
human race eventually evolvedfrom animals.
Part of their problem, ofcourse, is in the church, at
(15:34):
least, theistic evolutionists,is to somehow erase or redefine
what the Bible has to say aboutAdam and Eve, and somehow
spiritualize it away becausethey don't want to outright deny
it.
They got to do something withit.
Listen, I got to tell you, I amdeeply saddened by church
(15:56):
leaders today, seminaryprofessors, not here, pastors,
authors, who are continuing tocompromise the Genesis account
of six days, and they also thenmust deny a literal Adam and a
literal historic Eve.
(16:16):
But since the Bible speaks soclearly about Adam and his wife
Eve, they have to performinterpretive gymnastics with the
text in order to make some sortof compromise that allows for
both God and evolution.
So we got a problem, and theproblem is Adam.
(16:38):
The problem is Eve.
We've got to do something withthese two people.
Let me give you some quotes frompeople living today, and I could
give you more, but I'm gonnastick with these.
(17:17):
Adam and Eve don't have to bethe first couple on the planet.
And Genesis 1 and 2 are reallykind of a bit clunky.
I like that word.
It's clunky if you take it tooliterally.
Dennis Alexander, anotherscholar in religion and science,
asserts that Adam and Eve wereone of many couples living at
the time.
He writes this I would see Adamand Eve not as the first human
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beings on earth.
I think there were plenty ofhuman beings around.
Adam and Eve were farmers thatGod chose to come into
fellowship with himself and tounderstand what fellowship with
God was all about, who thenfell.
Now, what he's really trying todo is allow for evolutionary
millions and millions of yearsbefore God ever chose that human
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couple named Adam and Eve tohave fellowship with.
But of course, in the meantime,he ends up destroying the
credibility of the Genesis textand opens the door to disbelieve
all of it.
Listen, you don't have to be arocket scientist to know that if
Adam and Eve weren't really inthe text and they really didn't
live and they really weren'twhat the Bible seems to say they
(18:26):
were, if they really weren'tcreated by God, as the text
clearly says, how do we knowthat they really had fellowship
with God?
And how do we know that theysinned?
And how do we know that wereally got from them that sin
nature from Adam?
I mean, all of it is easy todisbelieve if in the first
chapter and the second chapterand the third chapter, it's just
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my new favorite word, clunky.
Okay?
Alistair McGrath, professor oftheology at King's College,
London, by the way, again, I'mquoting popular authors.
Their books are in the Christianbookstore.
There are those who will saythat Adam and Eve is in some
way, that they designatespecific historical figures.
(19:09):
I can understand why people saythat.
I think it makes quite a lot ofsense.
But for me, it makes even moresense to say that in some way
Adam and Eve are stereotypicalfigures, and in some way they
encapsulate or represent thehuman race as a whole.
In other words, it makes moresense to him that Adam and Eve
(19:32):
weren't a literal, historicalcouple.
They just represent the humanrace in some stereotypical way,
a race that will evolve overmillions of years rather than a
race that descended from aliteral couple who were created
on the sixth day, according toScripture.
Carl Gibberson, a formerprofessor of Eastern Nazarene
(19:55):
College, along with FrancisCollins, wrote, We make no claim
that the description provided inGenesis is how God created us.
Neither science nor the Bibleanswers that question.
Oh?
Oh, that's my word, by the way.
I slipped into the quote.
I just wanted to be part of thatquote.
The Genesis account says littleabout how God created.
(20:19):
Again.
Oh.
Adam was created from dust andGod's breath.
Eve was created from Adam's rib,but none of these explanations
can possibly be actualdescriptions.
It's simply not reasonable totry to turn the brief comments
in Genesis into a biologicallyaccurate description of how
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humans were formed.
Really?
Well, the problem I have withthis quote, by the way, is that
it's not coming from the sciencedepartment at NC State or UNC
Chapel Hill.
The problem is it's coming froma Christian college, from a
Christian professor.
Who's trying to somehow makescience, nature, and reason fit
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with some miraculous accountthat just to him doesn't seem
reasonable?
And if you notice, he says thatwe just don't have enough
information about it.
No, the problem is he doesn'tlike what little information
we've been given.
And by the way, I wonder if thisprofessor would have a problem
with the fact that we have evenless biblical information on how
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God is going to recreate ourbodies that'll last forever.
Do we believe that?
How somehow he's going totranslate us from mortality to
immortality, and he's going tocreate a heaven that we'll enjoy
forever.
We have less on how God did thator will do that.
I imagine he would like tobelieve that.
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William Dembski, a professor atSouthern Evangelical Seminary in
Matthews, North Carolina, let'sjust bring it home here, right
here in North Carolina,correctly makes the connection
between a literal understandingof a literal Adam and Eve and a
young earth.
And that's because, as parentsand the genealogies provided for
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us, if you take it literally aswe would Genesis chapter 5,
you're going to end up with ayoung earth view of creation.
But for Dr.
Dembski, he admits this is aproblem.
He writes, the young earthsolution to reconciling the
order of creation with naturalhistory makes, note this, good
exegetical and theologicalsense.
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In other words, if all you haveis are the scriptures, it makes
good exegetical sense to come upwith that.
He says, indeed, theoverwhelming consensus of
theologians up through theReformation held to this view.
I would adopt it in a heartbeat,except that nature seems to
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present such a strong evidenceagainst it.
Never mind, good exegeticalsense, theological sense, and
those within the church, upthrough the Reformation and
beyond, really, it just seemsmore likely based on what I see.
Again, what do you see?
What little do you see orunderstand?
(23:16):
We only know a fraction of whatGod has done.
It's a tragic error, by the way.
He's saying we need to evaluatescripture in light of nature,
not evaluate nature in light ofscripture.
And this is from an evangelicalseminary.
By the way, what would theevidence of nature tell you
about the new heaven and the newearth?
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I mean, what kind of quarry didthat require?
Where's the refinery for thatgold?
How long would it take to createthat?
And where did those, I know Imentioned this before, but it
always comes back to me.
Where do you get those hugepearls from?
Where are those monster oystersliving?
And how long to create thosegates of pearl?
(24:00):
And by the way, I went back intothe text of Revelation 21, and
it does indeed say specificallythat each gate is one pearl.
How long did that poor oysterwork on that one?
What would the evidence ofnature lead us to?
The normal processes of naturecannot explain the miraculous.
(24:26):
In fact, Jesus Christ told hisdisciples in John chapter 14
that he was going to preparethat heavenly city, the Father's
house, and then he was going tocome back and take all those who
believe in him back with them.
Well, how are we going to gofrom here to there?
Wouldn't that defy the naturallaw of gravity?
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I hope so.
I hope he can.
And he will.
And a million others.
The problem is our world oftheologically compromising
Christianity.
It's somehow trying to make theBible fit an evolutionary
schematic.
Even Dr.
Dembski admitted this.
He said, a young earth seems tobe required to maintain a
(25:12):
traditional understanding of thefall.
I'd like to say a biblicalunderstanding of the fall.
And yet a young earth clashessharply with mainstream science.
Paul, in this text, isintroducing God to the Athenians
by effectively introducing Adam.
(25:34):
And by virtue of a literal Adam,a young earth, and every nation
coming from him.
But Paul is in other passagessaying the same thing.
Listen to what he wrote toTimothy.
For it was Adam who was firstcreated.
And then he first Timothy 2.13.
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Not born, not evolved, createdby the word of God.
Dr.
Peter Enns is a professor foryears, was a professor for years
at Westminster TheologicalSeminary.
Again, another seminary thatstarted because of the
liberalism that was encroachingin the community.
Now it's been around many, manyyears, but in he retired in 2004
(26:19):
and he wrote with some openfrustration with the emphasis of
Paul on Adam.
I just couldn't help butchuckle, but it is it isn't a
laughing matter.
But he says this it's not somuch that Genesis talks about an
Adam, it's the fact that Paultalks about an Adam.
That's the heart of the tensionconcerning Genesis and
(26:40):
evolution.
If Adam just stayed in the OldTestament where he belonged, we
wouldn't have this problem.
But Paul draws him out.
And for Paul, Adam is the firsthuman being.
Well, maybe we ought to listento Paul.
What do you say?
Can you imagine?
By the way, that happens to bethe gospel message of Paul to
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the Athenians.
Look back at chapter 17 andverse 26 again.
And he, God, made from one man,a literal man, every nation of
mankind to live on all the faceof the earth.
Listen, that is not clunky.
That is descriptive.
It's descriptive.
(27:22):
Paul is confirming in the NewTestament what happened in the
Genesis account in the OldTestament.
And by the way, what he's sayinghere, understand this.
It isn't any more popular inAthens as it is in America.
Those Athenian council memberswere sitting there, and by now
they're probably thinking, thisguy is a bit off.
(27:46):
See, they believed that Zeus wasthe originator of life.
And they believed it came fromhim.
The Greek word for life, by theway, is Zoe.
And Paul is effectivelyconfronting that.
He's saying in this manner, thisis what they would be hearing,
(28:07):
that Zeus did not produce Zoe.
Thaos, God, produced Zoe.
Life.
And God created all thevariations of color and physical
attributes within one race.
There's only one human race.
(28:28):
And the Athenians, by the way,didn't like that, because they
had for centuries believed thatthe Greek race, they believed,
was a distinct race and was themaster race.
That, of course, will be pickedup later by Hitler and the
Germans, who would believe thatsame thing centuries later.
Not so, all of mankind aremembers of one race descending
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from one man, a literal firstman by the name of Adam, who was
created.
And let me kind of draw it intothe gospel then.
So no matter what color you are,when it comes to the gospel, God
is colorblind.
No matter what part of thefamily tree, you know, you fell
from.
When it comes from the when itcomes to the gospel, God is
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socially blind.
No matter how much money youhave or status, God is
economically blind when it comesto the gospel.
No one has the inside track, forall have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God.
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Listen, we thank God for Adamand the human race, but we must
not cling to the human race.
But by faith become a member ofGod's chosen race, a redeemed
people, a prized possession,who've been called out of
darkness, our eyes have beenopened into a marvelous light.
So in just a couple of sentenceshere, Paul literally confronts
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the Athenian theories oforigins.
And for us, the theory ofDarwin, along with theistic
evolutionists as well.
God is the creator of humanity.
I have a second point.
We'll do this a little quicker.
God is the controller ofhistory.
Notice verse 26 again.
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And he made from one, one man,you could render it.
ESV translates it that way,which I prefer.
He made from one blood or oneman every nation of mankind to
live on all the face of theearth, having determined their
appointed times and theboundaries of their habitation.
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In other words, every nation andthe borders of every nation and
the length of the history ofevery nation is under the
sovereign control designed byGod.
Which means it isn't the role ofthe Christian to save his nation
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from perishing.
God has determined the length ofits history.
Any more than it is your role tosave this planet from perishing.
We do not take the place of God.
It's his.
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No, be a good guardian of it.
It doesn't mean that you're notsupposed to care about this
country.
It's one thing to be responsibleand even a patriotic citizen,
which I happen to be with greatjoy.
But it's another thing to assumesovereign ownership and believe
that if you don't save it, thatsomehow God's purposes will be
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shortchanged.
What's God gonna do if we don'tsave it?
By the way, the worldlings aredetermined to attempt to save it
because they have been able todetect, as God has allowed it,
that this universe is windingdown.
It's winding down.
Well, God has in his omnipotenthand a stopwatch, and it is all
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divinely ordained according tohis purposes, and we're right on
track.
Paul states here the nationsbelong to God.
He's the Lord of history.
He goes on to add in verse 27that these nations should seek
God if perhaps they might gropefor him and find him, though he
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is not far from each one of us.
Now, that doesn't mean thatthey, any nation or individual,
can find God on their own.
Paul wrote to the Romans, howcan they believe in one in whom
they've of whom they've neverheard?
They have to hear about him.
How will they hear?
He writes, without a preacher ora messenger, Romans 10, 14.
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Faith comes by hearing, andhearing by the word of God.
The gospel has to be delivered.
And it has to be delivered for aperson to be saved.
They must hear the gospel,Romans 10, 17.
What Paul means here is that theAthenians are close to the truth
in that they know there aredeities, so to speak.
They know that there areimmortalities, they know there
(34:03):
are spirit beings, but like theblind man of the blind men of
Indostan, they are partly right,but they still end up entirely
wrong.
Now, the word Paul uses here,that's a key word to describe
their searching, you might havenoticed that he writes, if
perhaps they might grope forhim.
(34:26):
That word means to feel around,like the groping of a blind
person who has difficultyfinding the object he wants to
hold.
And this is so incrediblystrategic here.
Paul is using the same verb togrope that one of Athens' most
famous citizens used in hisbest-selling work entitled The
(34:48):
Odyssey.
The author's name was Homer, andHomer told the story of
Odysseus, the Greek championwarrior, who is trapped on one
occasion with his soldiers in acave, and the cave is controlled
by a one-eyed giant namedCyclops.
Odysseus, this warrior champion,is able to blind the giant's eye
(35:13):
with a spear, and then he andhis men try to avoid the blinded
and rather upset, enraged giantwho is groping for them with his
hands.
And he uses that same word.
Paul now uses that famousAthenian's writings.
(35:34):
And he chooses, of course, bythe leading of the Holy Spirit,
that same verb to describe theAthenians in their groping about
trying to find God.
But he also implies in that,would you notice, that the true
and living God wants to befound.
(35:56):
He desires fellowship,companionship.
He doesn't need us, but hedelights in us.
Mankind was created for worshipand companionship with this
creator, God.
Adam and Eve sinned, and Godcame because they used to walk.
(36:17):
I'm not exactly sure how thatworked, but they walked
together.
God came looking for them andcried out, Where are you, Adam?
They're hiding behind somebushes, some tree that God
seeks, as it were, companionshipwith those people that he has
(36:37):
created.
In his book, John Lennoxexplains the inability of reason
alone to grasp the answer to themost important issues of life.
A study of mythical origins, andall the theories actually can't
answer the question thatresonates in the heart, really,
of every human being as theypillow their head.
(37:01):
And Matilda, he says, has made abeautiful, luscious
three-layered cake.
The cake is taken to be analyzedby a group of the world's top
scientists, nutritionists, andbiochemists.
The nutrition scientistsfinishes their examination and
are able to tell us the numberof calories in the cake and each
specific nutritional element andeffect upon the human body.
(37:21):
The biochemists are able todetermine the structure of
proteins and fats and why youshouldn't eat it, but it's a
great idea anyway.
All of that in the batter in theicing.
The physicists are able toanalyze the cake in terms of
fundamental particles and so on.
The mathematicians are able todetermine the behavior of those
particles with sets of elegantequations and how they
correspond and to what degreewith each other.
(37:43):
They present an elaborate reporton how the cake was made and how
its various ingredients relateto one another and how the cake
will affect the body, and on andon.
He says this.
But suppose you ask the expertsone question.
Why did Aunt Matilda make thatcake?
(38:06):
They will not be able to answer.
The only person in the roomsmiling would be Aunt Matilda,
because she alone knows itspurpose.
And listen, it isn't an insulton any scientific discipline to
do everything that they do andyet be unable to answer the
question why?
(38:26):
Because they cannot.
In fact, the only way we'd everget an answer to the question
why is to ask whom?
Aunt Matilda.
And she will tell you it's abirthday cake for her nephew to
celebrate with him.
Listen, without any disclosure,no amount of scientific analysis
(38:49):
will ever be able to enlightenus.
The study of origins has hasenough trouble with the
question, how?
Think about it.
How did life originate?
How did all of the elements thatwe can detect and analyze, how'd
they come together to form life?
But even if they can come closeto the answer, how they still
(39:10):
will be millions of miles awayfrom the answer to why?
Why is there life?
Why does this universe exist?
Why do you exist?
Why do you have life?
Analyze the chemicals in yourbody.
You cannot determine the purposeof being alive.
(39:34):
Why this universe?
Measure it, study it, exploreit.
You will never be able to answerthe question, why?
God's word comes along and says,let me answer that for you.
The heavens.
Oh, their purpose is to declarethe glory of God.
(39:56):
For us to effectively stand inawe of his creative might and
power.
And listen, let me say this, andwe're done.
You exist to serve and representand worship and love and enjoy
and one day talk with and walkwith and worship and praise and
(40:24):
serve your creator.
SPEAKER_00 (40:38):
You've been listening to wisdom for the
heart.
Stephen Davy is working througha series from Acts 17 entitled
Introducing God.
We have one more message to goin that series, and we'll bring
you that message next time.
In the meantime, we'd love tointeract with you.
If you have a comment, aquestion, or note that you'd
(41:00):
like to send to Stephen, ourmailing address is Wisdom
International.
PO box 37297.
Raleigh, North Carolina 27627.
We'd enjoy getting a card orletter from you.
Our website is found atwisdomonline.org.
(41:22):
Thanks for joining us today.
Please be with us next time formore Wisdom for the Heart.
When you're born again, you are born again into a
new redeemed race.
A particular possession of God.
We are all members of one bodythat's universal in its truth,
local in its application, 1Corinthians chapter 12.
So it's very important, and Isay all of that, because it's
important that you have aliteral historical first Adam.
(00:30):
That's where sin came from, andafter his fall, death, and you
have a an historical last Adam.
SPEAKER_00 (00:52):
So why are you here on this earth?
Why is God giving you life?
Today, Christians are consideredfools if they believe that the
human race comes from a mannamed Adam and a woman named
Eve.
Thinking we came from lower lifeforms is far more fashionable.
(01:12):
This is Wisdom for the Heartwith Stephen Davy.
On our last broadcast, we sawthat God is the creator of all
that exists.
Today, we come to a passagewhere Paul expands that to
include humanity.
There are significantimplications to the fact that
God created us.
And we'll explore that next.
(01:34):
This message is called Adam andEve for Real.
SPEAKER_01 (01:41):
You know, the more you discover about God, the more
you come to appreciate the factthat He is, and really He must
be, omniscient, all-knowing,omnipotent, all-powerful,
omnipresent, transcendent aboveand beyond creation, yet
imminent, involved, personallyinvested in creation.
God never had a beginning.
(02:02):
The great I am never began.
And he never adds anything tohis knowledge.
For he knows all things at alltimes.
And he knows that which is bothpossible and that which is
reality.
He knows every option frometernity past to eternity
(02:25):
future.
Another way to put that is youwould never want to challenge
him in a game of chess.
He knows all of the moves andall of the options already.
To put it another way, God hasnever ever learned anything.
He's never learned anything.
He's always known.
He's never discovered one thing,one truth.
(02:48):
Not one red blood cell in yourbody is ever out of his sight.
Nor are the spinning stars andin billions of galaxies beyond
his immediate observation andcontrol.
He created all there is, andwe're only beginning to discover
(03:08):
a sliver of what he already hascreated.
Just a little portion of it.
Now part of the problem ofhumanity is the attempt to take
what little they know andredefine God on that basis.
To discover something and thento define God on that basis
(03:30):
alone.
It's like a mortician definingGod's power over death based on
what he has seen in his careerat the funeral home.
Ignore the biblical revelationof God.
The unbeliever is bound.
In fact, Paul says that he isblinded by the God of this
(03:50):
world, unable to see theglorious light of the gospel.
2 Corinthians 4, 4.
Apart from God's revelation thatyou have with you tonight, God's
self-disclosure, we really haveno idea where or how anything
began with any certainty, fornone of us, in fact, no one was
(04:13):
there.
In 1872, John Sachs wrote anEnglish poem about a group of
blind men who decided to visitan elephant, determined by their
powers of observation, what anelephant was truly like.
His poem goes like this.
Now, it's written in 1872English, okay, so bear with me.
It was six men of Indostan, tolearning, much inclined, who
(04:36):
went to see the elephant, thoughall of them were blind, that
each by observation mightsatisfy his mind.
The first approached theelephant, and happening to fall
against his broad and sturdyside, at once began to baw.
The second, feeling of the tusk,cried, Ho, what have we here?
So very round and smooth andsharp, to me 'tis mighty clear
(04:59):
this wonder of an elephant isvery like a spear.
The third approached the animal,and happening to take the
squirming trunk within hishands, thus boldly up and spake,
I see, quoth he, the elephant isreally like a snake.
The fourth reached out his eagerhand and felt about the knee.
What most this wondrous beast islike is mighty plain, quoth
(05:21):
he, 'tis clear enough theelephant is really like a tree.
The fifth, who chanced to touchhis ear, said, Even the blindest
man can tell what this resemblesmost, deny the fact who can.
This marvel of an elephant isvery like a fan.
The sixth no sooner had begunabout the beast to grope, than
seizing on the swinging tailthat fell within his scope, I
(05:41):
see, quoth he, the elephant isreally like a rope.
And so these men of Indostandisputed loud and long, each in
his own opinion, exceeding stiffand strong, though each was
partly in the right, and allwere in the wrong.
On this windswept hill inAthens, that we have been
(06:03):
traveling each week up to listenin on Paul's declaration to the
Supreme Court of Athens, he'sbasically saying, you have some
things that are partly right,but you are completely wrong.
You have an understanding thatthere is some kind of divine
power, that there areimmortalities, that there are
(06:25):
deities, so to speak.
Of course, for them it wasplural, but you are completely
wrong.
He's also effectively tellingthem, don't depend upon the
power of your observation, withwhat little you can you can see.
In fact, Paul says, I want tointroduce to you this unknown
God to you.
(06:46):
I'm going to make him known.
Now, if we if we pick our studyback up in Acts 17, I want to
organize our thoughts around twostatements.
And these two statements willsort of steer us, they'll
summarize what Paul says nextabout God.
The first statement is this Godis the creator of humanity.
(07:07):
Now, we begin in our lastdiscussion noting that whenever
you deliver the gospel to apre-Christian world, which is
where we're living now, animportant place to begin is
Genesis chapter 1, verse 1.
By the way, the message Pauldelivers to the court in Athens
is a critically needed messagefor the people in America and
(07:32):
every other country for thatmatter, that God is the creator
of humanity.
Now I want you to notice themiddle part of verse 25, sort of
drop back in there.
He himself gives to all life andbreath and all things, and he
made from one every nation ofmankind to live on all the face
(07:57):
of the earth.
For us, perhaps, who know thegospel, who have been in the
Word of God, it's like, okay,sure.
Uh next verse, please.
No, these are staggering claimsin the opening lines of the
sentence.
God is the original source ofall life, all breath, and all
(08:20):
things.
And I want to notice with youagain and spend a little time
here this phrase.
He made from one every nation ofmankind.
Now that prepositional phrasemeans that all of mankind tracks
back to a common ancestor.
One nation came from man andevery nation from them tracking
(08:44):
back to him.
Now, Darwin taught that man, ofcourse, evolved from apes and
continued evolving as variousraces, with some races more
developed than others.
Frankly, I'm shocked that ourworld doesn't bring Darwin's
horrific racism into the openand expose his belief that the
(09:10):
dark-skinned races, whateverthey might be, develop slower
than the light-skinned races.
For instance, he believed thatAfricans were not nearly as
evolved as the European whiterace because of their dark skin.
Why don't they ever put that inthe science books they handed
children?
(09:31):
They don't.
Even Stephen J.
Gould later would admit, and Iquote him, biological arguments
for racism may have been commonbefore 1859, but they increased
exponentially following theacceptance of evolutionary
theory.
This is one of the ugly secretsabout evolution that never quite
(09:54):
makes it into print.
Ken Hamm is going to be with usnext week, and I've pulled a
number of quotes from hiswonderful book entitled Six
Days, but he writes this: Darwin's error was later exposed (10:04):
undefined
through the field of genetics.
What Darwin didn't know was thateveryone has the same
brown-colored skin pigmentcalled melanin.
A person's genetic makeupreceived from his parents
determines his potential toproduce a certain level of
(10:26):
melanin, which is why we see arange of skin shades in people
from light to middle brown todark.
Frankly, I wish I had more ofit.
I walk from here to the parkinglot and I get burned.
I'm pale pink.
I could use some more of it.
Ken Ham goes on to write this: after the scattering of the (10:43):
undefined
Tower of Babel, where Godcreated language distinctions
among all peoples, groups ofpeople migrated according to
their language and thus becameisolated wherever they moved,
allowing for a concentration ofcertain physical variations
(11:03):
within those groups.
The development of lighter ordarker skin in certain
demographic groups had nothingto do with evolution, but the
decreased genetic potential forvariation in isolated
populations.
Our differences, I like thisstatement, are only skin deep.
Paul effectively announces tothe Supreme Court of Athens that
(11:27):
humans are not split intovarious races because of higher
or lower stages of evolution.
In fact, no matter what our skincolor or our ethnic background,
we all actually belong to onerace.
One blood, you could literallyinterpret Paul saying, one human
(11:49):
race.
And we all came from the firsthuman beings created, Adam and
his wife, Eve.
Now, evolutionists obviouslydon't like the idea of one
literal man who became thefather of a human race.
And I think that it's because,in part, there is the gospel
communicated in that.
Listen to what Paul writes tothe Romans.
(12:11):
He says, sin came through thisone man.
Romans 15, 12.
Now again, that takes you backto Genesis chapters 1, 2, and 3.
Here's Adam, the father of allhuman beings.
Adam sinned.
His wife sinned first.
She was deceived.
We'll learn later in the NewTestament as it's clarified.
(12:34):
But Adam purposefully,knowingly, defiantly, without
being deceived for a moment ofall of Satan's ridiculous
promises, took and ate of thefruit in defiance and
disobedience to God, and thuspassed on then to the human race
(12:55):
his fallen nature, the nature ofAdam.
And the human race is nowcondemned in sin.
And we prove very early that wehave his nature, don't we?
Very early.
For some of us earlier thanothers.
Now the gospel informs us that asecond Adam, another literal
man, the last Adam, came tocreate a new race.
(13:20):
A new race through faith and hisatoning work.
1 Corinthians 15, 45.
Listen to what Paul writes toRomans, the Romans, the Roman
believers again in chapter 5.
For if by the transgression ofthe one man, many died, much
more did the grace of God andthe gift by the grace of the one
man, Jesus Christ, abound to themany.
(13:44):
So what Paul is doing iscontrasting the gospel in the
sin of the first Adam, a literalman, by the way, and the atoning
work of the sinless second orlast Adam, Jesus Christ, a
literal human being, both fullyGod and fully man.
In other words, let me put itthis way: Adam's blood unites
(14:08):
humanity in sin.
The blood of the second Adamunites us in salvation.
You have one race, and that raceis in deep trouble, condemned.
When you're born again, you areborn again into a new, redeemed
race.
(14:28):
A particular possession of God.
We are all members of one body.
That's universal in its truth,local in its application, 1
Corinthians chapter 12.
So it's very important, and Isay all of that, not to, you
know, uh wear you out, but I sayall of that because it's
important that you have aliteral, historical, first Adam.
(14:50):
That's where sin came from.
And after his fall, death anddisease and corruption.
And you have a an historicallast Adam where there's hope and
redemption.
Now here's where evolution hasinvaded not just our culture,
but the church.
(15:10):
The church is becoming more andmore besieged by theistic
evolutionists.
That is, they believe Godstarted everything, but then
left it to evolve over millionsand millions of years, and the
human race eventually evolvedfrom animals.
Part of their problem, ofcourse, is in the church, at
(15:34):
least, theistic evolutionists,is to somehow erase or redefine
what the Bible has to say aboutAdam and Eve, and somehow
spiritualize it away becausethey don't want to outright deny
it.
They got to do something withit.
Listen, I got to tell you, I amdeeply saddened by church
(15:56):
leaders today, seminaryprofessors, not here, pastors,
authors, who are continuing tocompromise the Genesis account
of six days, and they also thenmust deny a literal Adam and a
literal historic Eve.
(16:16):
But since the Bible speaks soclearly about Adam and his wife
Eve, they have to performinterpretive gymnastics with the
text in order to make some sortof compromise that allows for
both God and evolution.
So we got a problem, and theproblem is Adam.
(16:38):
The problem is Eve.
We've got to do something withthese two people.
Let me give you some quotes frompeople living today, and I could
give you more, but I'm gonnastick with these.
(17:17):
Adam and Eve don't have to bethe first couple on the planet.
And Genesis 1 and 2 are reallykind of a bit clunky.
I like that word.
It's clunky if you take it tooliterally.
Dennis Alexander, anotherscholar in religion and science,
asserts that Adam and Eve wereone of many couples living at
the time.
He writes this I would see Adamand Eve not as the first human
(17:40):
beings on earth.
I think there were plenty ofhuman beings around.
Adam and Eve were farmers thatGod chose to come into
fellowship with himself and tounderstand what fellowship with
God was all about, who thenfell.
Now, what he's really trying todo is allow for evolutionary
millions and millions of yearsbefore God ever chose that human
(18:05):
couple named Adam and Eve tohave fellowship with.
But of course, in the meantime,he ends up destroying the
credibility of the Genesis textand opens the door to disbelieve
all of it.
Listen, you don't have to be arocket scientist to know that if
Adam and Eve weren't really inthe text and they really didn't
live and they really weren'twhat the Bible seems to say they
(18:26):
were, if they really weren'tcreated by God, as the text
clearly says, how do we knowthat they really had fellowship
with God?
And how do we know that theysinned?
And how do we know that wereally got from them that sin
nature from Adam?
I mean, all of it is easy todisbelieve if in the first
chapter and the second chapterand the third chapter, it's just
(18:48):
my new favorite word, clunky.
Okay?
Alistair McGrath, professor oftheology at King's College,
London, by the way, again, I'mquoting popular authors.
Their books are in the Christianbookstore.
There are those who will saythat Adam and Eve is in some
way, that they designatespecific historical figures.
(19:09):
I can understand why people saythat.
I think it makes quite a lot ofsense.
But for me, it makes even moresense to say that in some way
Adam and Eve are stereotypicalfigures, and in some way they
encapsulate or represent thehuman race as a whole.
In other words, it makes moresense to him that Adam and Eve
(19:32):
weren't a literal, historicalcouple.
They just represent the humanrace in some stereotypical way,
a race that will evolve overmillions of years rather than a
race that descended from aliteral couple who were created
on the sixth day, according toScripture.
Carl Gibberson, a formerprofessor of Eastern Nazarene
(19:55):
College, along with FrancisCollins, wrote, We make no claim
that the description provided inGenesis is how God created us.
Neither science nor the Bibleanswers that question.
Oh?
Oh, that's my word, by the way.
I slipped into the quote.
I just wanted to be part of thatquote.
The Genesis account says littleabout how God created.
(20:19):
Again.
Oh.
Adam was created from dust andGod's breath.
Eve was created from Adam's rib,but none of these explanations
can possibly be actualdescriptions.
It's simply not reasonable totry to turn the brief comments
in Genesis into a biologicallyaccurate description of how
(20:40):
humans were formed.
Really?
Well, the problem I have withthis quote, by the way, is that
it's not coming from the sciencedepartment at NC State or UNC
Chapel Hill.
The problem is it's coming froma Christian college, from a
Christian professor.
Who's trying to somehow makescience, nature, and reason fit
(21:06):
with some miraculous accountthat just to him doesn't seem
reasonable?
And if you notice, he says thatwe just don't have enough
information about it.
No, the problem is he doesn'tlike what little information
we've been given.
And by the way, I wonder if thisprofessor would have a problem
with the fact that we have evenless biblical information on how
(21:27):
God is going to recreate ourbodies that'll last forever.
Do we believe that?
How somehow he's going totranslate us from mortality to
immortality, and he's going tocreate a heaven that we'll enjoy
forever.
We have less on how God did thator will do that.
I imagine he would like tobelieve that.
(21:47):
William Dembski, a professor atSouthern Evangelical Seminary in
Matthews, North Carolina, let'sjust bring it home here, right
here in North Carolina,correctly makes the connection
between a literal understandingof a literal Adam and Eve and a
young earth.
And that's because, as parentsand the genealogies provided for
(22:09):
us, if you take it literally aswe would Genesis chapter 5,
you're going to end up with ayoung earth view of creation.
But for Dr.
Dembski, he admits this is aproblem.
He writes, the young earthsolution to reconciling the
order of creation with naturalhistory makes, note this, good
exegetical and theologicalsense.
(22:31):
In other words, if all you haveis are the scriptures, it makes
good exegetical sense to come upwith that.
He says, indeed, theoverwhelming consensus of
theologians up through theReformation held to this view.
I would adopt it in a heartbeat,except that nature seems to
(22:53):
present such a strong evidenceagainst it.
Never mind, good exegeticalsense, theological sense, and
those within the church, upthrough the Reformation and
beyond, really, it just seemsmore likely based on what I see.
Again, what do you see?
What little do you see orunderstand?
(23:16):
We only know a fraction of whatGod has done.
It's a tragic error, by the way.
He's saying we need to evaluatescripture in light of nature,
not evaluate nature in light ofscripture.
And this is from an evangelicalseminary.
By the way, what would theevidence of nature tell you
about the new heaven and the newearth?
(23:38):
I mean, what kind of quarry didthat require?
Where's the refinery for thatgold?
How long would it take to createthat?
And where did those, I know Imentioned this before, but it
always comes back to me.
Where do you get those hugepearls from?
Where are those monster oystersliving?
And how long to create thosegates of pearl?
(24:00):
And by the way, I went back intothe text of Revelation 21, and
it does indeed say specificallythat each gate is one pearl.
How long did that poor oysterwork on that one?
What would the evidence ofnature lead us to?
The normal processes of naturecannot explain the miraculous.
(24:26):
In fact, Jesus Christ told hisdisciples in John chapter 14
that he was going to preparethat heavenly city, the Father's
house, and then he was going tocome back and take all those who
believe in him back with them.
Well, how are we going to gofrom here to there?
Wouldn't that defy the naturallaw of gravity?
(24:48):
I hope so.
I hope he can.
And he will.
And a million others.
The problem is our world oftheologically compromising
Christianity.
It's somehow trying to make theBible fit an evolutionary
schematic.
Even Dr.
Dembski admitted this.
He said, a young earth seems tobe required to maintain a
(25:12):
traditional understanding of thefall.
I'd like to say a biblicalunderstanding of the fall.
And yet a young earth clashessharply with mainstream science.
Paul, in this text, isintroducing God to the Athenians
by effectively introducing Adam.
(25:34):
And by virtue of a literal Adam,a young earth, and every nation
coming from him.
But Paul is in other passagessaying the same thing.
Listen to what he wrote toTimothy.
For it was Adam who was firstcreated.
And then he first Timothy 2.13.
(25:57):
Not born, not evolved, createdby the word of God.
Dr.
Peter Enns is a professor foryears, was a professor for years
at Westminster TheologicalSeminary.
Again, another seminary thatstarted because of the
liberalism that was encroachingin the community.
Now it's been around many, manyyears, but in he retired in 2004
(26:19):
and he wrote with some openfrustration with the emphasis of
Paul on Adam.
I just couldn't help butchuckle, but it is it isn't a
laughing matter.
But he says this it's not somuch that Genesis talks about an
Adam, it's the fact that Paultalks about an Adam.
That's the heart of the tensionconcerning Genesis and
(26:40):
evolution.
If Adam just stayed in the OldTestament where he belonged, we
wouldn't have this problem.
But Paul draws him out.
And for Paul, Adam is the firsthuman being.
Well, maybe we ought to listento Paul.
What do you say?
Can you imagine?
By the way, that happens to bethe gospel message of Paul to
(27:01):
the Athenians.
Look back at chapter 17 andverse 26 again.
And he, God, made from one man,a literal man, every nation of
mankind to live on all the faceof the earth.
Listen, that is not clunky.
That is descriptive.
It's descriptive.
(27:22):
Paul is confirming in the NewTestament what happened in the
Genesis account in the OldTestament.
And by the way, what he's sayinghere, understand this.
It isn't any more popular inAthens as it is in America.
Those Athenian council memberswere sitting there, and by now
they're probably thinking, thisguy is a bit off.
(27:46):
See, they believed that Zeus wasthe originator of life.
And they believed it came fromhim.
The Greek word for life, by theway, is Zoe.
And Paul is effectivelyconfronting that.
He's saying in this manner, thisis what they would be hearing,
(28:07):
that Zeus did not produce Zoe.
Thaos, God, produced Zoe.
Life.
And God created all thevariations of color and physical
attributes within one race.
There's only one human race.
(28:28):
And the Athenians, by the way,didn't like that, because they
had for centuries believed thatthe Greek race, they believed,
was a distinct race and was themaster race.
That, of course, will be pickedup later by Hitler and the
Germans, who would believe thatsame thing centuries later.
Not so, all of mankind aremembers of one race descending
(28:49):
from one man, a literal firstman by the name of Adam, who was
created.
And let me kind of draw it intothe gospel then.
So no matter what color you are,when it comes to the gospel, God
is colorblind.
No matter what part of thefamily tree, you know, you fell
from.
When it comes from the when itcomes to the gospel, God is
(29:14):
socially blind.
No matter how much money youhave or status, God is
economically blind when it comesto the gospel.
No one has the inside track, forall have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God.
(29:36):
Listen, we thank God for Adamand the human race, but we must
not cling to the human race.
But by faith become a member ofGod's chosen race, a redeemed
people, a prized possession,who've been called out of
darkness, our eyes have beenopened into a marvelous light.
So in just a couple of sentenceshere, Paul literally confronts
(29:57):
the Athenian theories oforigins.
And for us, the theory ofDarwin, along with theistic
evolutionists as well.
God is the creator of humanity.
I have a second point.
We'll do this a little quicker.
God is the controller ofhistory.
Notice verse 26 again.
(30:20):
And he made from one, one man,you could render it.
ESV translates it that way,which I prefer.
He made from one blood or oneman every nation of mankind to
live on all the face of theearth, having determined their
appointed times and theboundaries of their habitation.
(30:42):
In other words, every nation andthe borders of every nation and
the length of the history ofevery nation is under the
sovereign control designed byGod.
Which means it isn't the role ofthe Christian to save his nation
(31:03):
from perishing.
God has determined the length ofits history.
Any more than it is your role tosave this planet from perishing.
We do not take the place of God.
It's his.
(32:05):
No, be a good guardian of it.
It doesn't mean that you're notsupposed to care about this
country.
It's one thing to be responsibleand even a patriotic citizen,
which I happen to be with greatjoy.
But it's another thing to assumesovereign ownership and believe
that if you don't save it, thatsomehow God's purposes will be
(32:29):
shortchanged.
What's God gonna do if we don'tsave it?
By the way, the worldlings aredetermined to attempt to save it
because they have been able todetect, as God has allowed it,
that this universe is windingdown.
It's winding down.
Well, God has in his omnipotenthand a stopwatch, and it is all
(32:54):
divinely ordained according tohis purposes, and we're right on
track.
Paul states here the nationsbelong to God.
He's the Lord of history.
He goes on to add in verse 27that these nations should seek
God if perhaps they might gropefor him and find him, though he
(33:15):
is not far from each one of us.
Now, that doesn't mean thatthey, any nation or individual,
can find God on their own.
Paul wrote to the Romans, howcan they believe in one in whom
they've of whom they've neverheard?
They have to hear about him.
How will they hear?
He writes, without a preacher ora messenger, Romans 10, 14.
(33:39):
Faith comes by hearing, andhearing by the word of God.
The gospel has to be delivered.
And it has to be delivered for aperson to be saved.
They must hear the gospel,Romans 10, 17.
What Paul means here is that theAthenians are close to the truth
in that they know there aredeities, so to speak.
They know that there areimmortalities, they know there
(34:03):
are spirit beings, but like theblind man of the blind men of
Indostan, they are partly right,but they still end up entirely
wrong.
Now, the word Paul uses here,that's a key word to describe
their searching, you might havenoticed that he writes, if
perhaps they might grope forhim.
(34:26):
That word means to feel around,like the groping of a blind
person who has difficultyfinding the object he wants to
hold.
And this is so incrediblystrategic here.
Paul is using the same verb togrope that one of Athens' most
famous citizens used in hisbest-selling work entitled The
(34:48):
Odyssey.
The author's name was Homer, andHomer told the story of
Odysseus, the Greek championwarrior, who is trapped on one
occasion with his soldiers in acave, and the cave is controlled
by a one-eyed giant namedCyclops.
Odysseus, this warrior champion,is able to blind the giant's eye
(35:13):
with a spear, and then he andhis men try to avoid the blinded
and rather upset, enraged giantwho is groping for them with his
hands.
And he uses that same word.
Paul now uses that famousAthenian's writings.
(35:34):
And he chooses, of course, bythe leading of the Holy Spirit,
that same verb to describe theAthenians in their groping about
trying to find God.
But he also implies in that,would you notice, that the true
and living God wants to befound.
(35:56):
He desires fellowship,companionship.
He doesn't need us, but hedelights in us.
Mankind was created for worshipand companionship with this
creator, God.
Adam and Eve sinned, and Godcame because they used to walk.
(36:17):
I'm not exactly sure how thatworked, but they walked
together.
God came looking for them andcried out, Where are you, Adam?
They're hiding behind somebushes, some tree that God
seeks, as it were, companionshipwith those people that he has
(36:37):
created.
In his book, John Lennoxexplains the inability of reason
alone to grasp the answer to themost important issues of life.
A study of mythical origins, andall the theories actually can't
answer the question thatresonates in the heart, really,
of every human being as theypillow their head.
(37:01):
And Matilda, he says, has made abeautiful, luscious
three-layered cake.
The cake is taken to be analyzedby a group of the world's top
scientists, nutritionists, andbiochemists.
The nutrition scientistsfinishes their examination and
are able to tell us the numberof calories in the cake and each
specific nutritional element andeffect upon the human body.
(37:21):
The biochemists are able todetermine the structure of
proteins and fats and why youshouldn't eat it, but it's a
great idea anyway.
All of that in the batter in theicing.
The physicists are able toanalyze the cake in terms of
fundamental particles and so on.
The mathematicians are able todetermine the behavior of those
particles with sets of elegantequations and how they
correspond and to what degreewith each other.
(37:43):
They present an elaborate reporton how the cake was made and how
its various ingredients relateto one another and how the cake
will affect the body, and on andon.
He says this.
But suppose you ask the expertsone question.
Why did Aunt Matilda make thatcake?
(38:06):
They will not be able to answer.
The only person in the roomsmiling would be Aunt Matilda,
because she alone knows itspurpose.
And listen, it isn't an insulton any scientific discipline to
do everything that they do andyet be unable to answer the
question why?
(38:26):
Because they cannot.
In fact, the only way we'd everget an answer to the question
why is to ask whom?
Aunt Matilda.
And she will tell you it's abirthday cake for her nephew to
celebrate with him.
Listen, without any disclosure,no amount of scientific analysis
(38:49):
will ever be able to enlightenus.
The study of origins has hasenough trouble with the
question, how?
Think about it.
How did life originate?
How did all of the elements thatwe can detect and analyze, how'd
they come together to form life?
But even if they can come closeto the answer, how they still
(39:10):
will be millions of miles awayfrom the answer to why?
Why is there life?
Why does this universe exist?
Why do you exist?
Why do you have life?
Analyze the chemicals in yourbody.
You cannot determine the purposeof being alive.
(39:34):
Why this universe?
Measure it, study it, exploreit.
You will never be able to answerthe question, why?
God's word comes along and says,let me answer that for you.
The heavens.
Oh, their purpose is to declarethe glory of God.
(39:56):
For us to effectively stand inawe of his creative might and
power.
And listen, let me say this, andwe're done.
You exist to serve and representand worship and love and enjoy
and one day talk with and walkwith and worship and praise and
(40:24):
serve your creator.
SPEAKER_00 (40:38):
You've been listening to wisdom for the
heart.
Stephen Davy is working througha series from Acts 17 entitled
Introducing God.
We have one more message to goin that series, and we'll bring
you that message next time.
In the meantime, we'd love tointeract with you.
If you have a comment, aquestion, or note that you'd
(41:00):
like to send to Stephen, ourmailing address is Wisdom
International.
PO box 37297.
Raleigh, North Carolina 27627.
We'd enjoy getting a card orletter from you.
Our website is found atwisdomonline.org.
(41:22):
Thanks for joining us today.
Please be with us next time formore Wisdom for the Heart.
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