Preached in Rogersville, Alabama

Thank you all for your desire to learn more about God and His Word. I appreciate you all very much and pray that you will seek first the Lord’s Kingdom! What I want to do now is ask the question, CAN WE COMPROMISE?

[PP 1] Exodus 20:11- “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

Let us read Genesis 1:1 & 2:1-4. This is the literal truth on how all things were created that we can see all around us. If we cannot say from these scriptures that the creation took place in 6 literal days, what else in God’s word can we not take literally? [PP 2-3]

·        Were Adam and Eve real people? What about the curse on the serpent?

·        What about God’s laws on marriage and divorce?

·        Was the flood of Noah real or a fairy tale?

·        How about Abraham and Moses? Were they real men that led and taught real principles?

·        And what about Jesus? Did the crucifixion really happen? What about the resurrection?

·        What about the promises that God has told us about? Are they really going to happen or were those verses not to be taken literally?

·        What about Peter and the Apostles? Did they really teach that one must repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins?

·        How are Christians to decide on matters of the use of the Lord’s money, Baptism, the use of instruments, whether to support organizations of man, supporting preachers, Romans 14 issues, etc.?

·        We determine those things by studying the literal Word of God. We count on the Word being true so we can know what God wants of us (John 17:17).

·        That is why it does matter whether you believe in the literal accuracy of the Genesis account of creation!

·        It is interesting that there are many Christians and religious people who have no problem believing in evolution/theistic evolution/long gap theories/long day theories, when there is absolutely no hint of this in God’s word.

Let’s look at some examples.

[PP 4] None of the writings of Moses (Exodus 20:11, Psalm 90:1-2), Job (Job 9:5-10, 38:1-40:2), David (Psalm 8, 19:1-6, 33:6-9), Solomon (Proverbs 3:19, 8:22-31, Ecclesiastes 12:1), Isaiah (Isaiah 6:3, 40:28, 45:5-13, vs.18), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 51:15), Jonah (Jonah 1:9),

[PP 5] The Apostle John (John 1:1-5, Revelation 4:11), The Apostle Paul (Romans 1:20-25, Ephesians 3:8-10, Colossians 1:13-16), Luke the Physician (Luke 11:45-52, Acts 14:15-16, 17:24-28), The Apostle Peter (1 Peter 4:19, 2 Peter 3:5-7), or Jesus Himself as recorded by the Apostle Matthew and Mark (Matthew 19:4-6, Mark 10:6, 13:19), all agree with Genesis.

These are all pretty smart men. When they speak of the creation, none of them even hint at any of man’s theories. If God used one of these other ways of creation, it seems He would have revealed that to His Creation! But you see man sometimes thinks He knows more than God (Matthew 15:9, 1 Corinthians 1:25-29). And if you disagree you are the foolish one. Isn’t that how evolutionists and folks in the world think?

Christians need to proudly stand behind and defend God’s Word. The world may get angry and others may want to water things down, but if we stand for the truth some souls may be saved and God will be glorified! We Christians need to be the influencers (Matthew 5:13)!

[PP 6–7 – Problems with Evolution] – I hope each one of you read over this handout.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER [PP 8]

·        Where are all the in between steps of evolutionary development from one kind to another (Genesis 1:12, 1:20-22, 1:26, 2:19-20)? Even Darwin questioned this.

·        Why does the Bible say we were created in His image if He meant we would eventually be like Him?

·        Why does the Bible describe creation as being 6 days when it really took billions of years? (Exodus 20:11)

·        Why was the Sabbath Day so important to Israel if creation was accomplished by evolution or long epics of time? (Gen 2:3, Ex. 20:8-11)

·        If Bible creation is not literal, what parts of the Bible do we accept or reject?

·        If theistic evolution is true, when did God put a soul into the ape-man to make him a man?

·        Are the prophets and writers and the Holy Spirit not telling the truth about creation?

·        If God used long epics or eons of time to create us, wouldn’t He have told us?

SOME CONSEQUENCES OF COMPROMISE [PP 9]

1. Children are raised with a lack of morality. Children are not taught the Bible. Man’s Theories promote Atheism, Immorality, Humanism, and selfishness (Romans 1:22-32, Philippians 3:17-19). The world does not want God’s Word to be the standard (Jeremiah 10:23). Our society has people risking lives to save trees and at the same time will murder millions of babies (called freedom of choice or abortion).

2. God’s truth is suppressed in schools (Romans 1:18-20, 1 Timothy 6:20-21). So-called scientists suppress evidences that do not fit their theories. For example a couple months back I gave a talk on the eruption of Mt. St. Helens to over 100 8^th graders. I told them that mountains did not need millions of years to grow because Mt. St. Helens has grown 1,000 ft in 28 years! Do you think that is stressed in science class? Kind of what happened when Jesus was resurrected from the dead (Matthew 28:11-15).

3. People live selfishly. They live for the moment since they are told they are only an

animal that will soon die. If there is no God and no hope of life after death, why not get all out of life we can? The problem is this type of life results in losing one's soul (Luke 12:13-21). God’s way leads to life (Matthew 5:14, 1 Timothy 6:17-19)!

4. Religious people want to mix God with man’s thinking. This ends up with many who say as long as you follow the God of your choosing, you will go to Heaven. It was of great disappointment to me when President Bush referred to the pope as “The Holy Father”! The problem is God does not say that you can worship Him and obey Him in any way that you wish (Matthew 7:21-23, James 1:21-25). We must listen and be doers of God’s Word. We have no right to change what His Will is; no matter what man or society says is politically correct.

People want to put man’s science together with God's Word. If a theory of man demands changing God's Word, the theory is worthless (Galatians 1:6-9). Be careful brethren. Beware of these false teachers, even within the Lord’s Body (Acts 20:29, 2 Peter 2:1, Jude 3-4). 

[PP 10-11 (HANDOUT #1) and PP 12] Let us ask ourselves a couple of questions.

Are these writers of the Bible telling the Truth?

Was the Holy Spirit telling us the Truth?

Were the prophets telling us the Truth?

Were the apostles telling us the Truth?

Was the Lord and Savior of the World telling us the truth?

The question we started out with was “Can We Compromise?” on God’s Word. The answer is NO. We all must diligently stand for all of God’s Word (Psalm 119:160, Ephesians 4:4-6, 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16-17).                              

TURN OFF POWERPOINT

If you believe the authors of the Bible are teachers of truth and you are not a Christian tonight, please listen to the Master Teacher in Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus says to become one of His disciples one must be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we repent of our sins and are baptized, our sins are forgiven. Man may say these scriptures are not important. But we all have to answer the same question; Am I going to follow God or Man? Why not become a Christian? Then you will have your sins forgiven, a loving savior at your side, and eternal life to look forward to. These are very good reasons to obey tonight. Please come while we stand and sing.