HopeLives365

Mark Finley: We grow and mature there. Yes, we need that kind of forever place. The ties the whole of our lives to an eternal relationship with God. We need that forever reminder that one day, Christ will remake a new heavens and a new earth.

Guest (Male): This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: An Advance on Eternity, part one. Enjoy, and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: My topic is an advance on eternity. The casualties on both sides were high. The shelling was intense. Heavy bombardment from the Axis aircraft lasted all day. The ground shook violently from the incessant pounding. The Allied forces responded with a fire of their own. Rival armies faced each other across the trenches. Joe, an 18-year-old American GI, leaned back against the earthen wall of his freshly dug trench, exhausted. The sun was setting. Another day passed and he was still alive. It was Christmas Eve, 1914.

Thoughts of home flooded into his mind: Mom, Dad, his brother Tom, his sister Alice, freshly baked apple pie, homemade raisin cookies, roast turkey, colorfully wrapped presents, the Christmas tree, smiles, hugs, logs burning in the fireplace, hot chocolate, peace. But in this nightmare called war, death stared him in the face. Peace on earth and goodwill toward men were only figments of his imagination. The battlefield was quiet now. The air was crisp and clear. The stars twinkled in a moonlit sky. Then he heard it. Could it really be singing? Were his ears deceiving him this Christmas Eve in 1914?

Was this some kind of subtle trap? Was it a sinister plot? What was going on? What was that singing all about? The sounds of a familiar Christmas carol gladdened the air. Although the words were German, the tune was unmistakable: "Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright, round yon virgin mother and child." German soldiers sang Christmas carols a few hundred yards away in full view. Slowly, cautiously at first, Joe pulled himself out of his foxhole. His heart was touched. His emotions were stirred. Suddenly, he couldn't restrain himself any longer. Spontaneously, he too began singing, "Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright." His American colleagues joined in the singing.

Soon, voices which a few hours before shouted the curses of war now echoed a chorus of praise. The two opposing sides approached each other. They embraced, they laughed, they sang. For one night, they were brothers. They shared a common humanity. The fighting stopped, the bombing ceased, the mortars were silent. On that Christmas Eve, for just a brief moment, enemies became friends. In a sense, they recognized a profound truth expressed in Acts chapter 17, verses 24 and 26. Here in Acts chapter 17, the Scriptures share with us an eternal truth that comes echoing and re-echoing down the ages. It speaks to us today.

Acts the 17th chapter, beginning there with verse 24: "God, who made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands." Verse 26: "He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation." The essence of humanity's dignity is a common creation. The fact that we're uniquely created by God places value on every human being. Did you get the power of this text? Did you get the significance of this text? God has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth.

God is our Father. Ours is a shared heritage. We are sons and daughters of the King of the universe. We belong to the same family. We're brothers and sisters fashioned, shaped, molded by the same God. Creation provides a true sense of self-worth. The Creator of the universe created me. I'm special. When the genes and chromosomes came together to form the unique biological structure of my personality, God threw away the pattern. And you're different than me. Every snowflake has a different pattern, and I'm told that Swiss lace makers at times get their patterns for Swiss lace, uniquely different than other patterns, from these snowflakes. You're like that.

There's no one else like you in all the universe. You're unique. You're a one-of-a-kind creation. Evolution is dehumanizing. If I'm an enlarged protein molecule, if I'm simply the product of fortuitous chance, if I'm only an advanced form of the animal creation, life has little meaning. I'm merely one of five billion people calling at one another for living space on a planet called Earth. Creation provides a moral imperative for living. I've been created by God and I'm accountable to him for my actions. The one who made me holds me responsible. He's established absolutes in a world of moral relativism.

Evolution provides no moral ethic for living. Since humans are advanced animals, the highest standard is the human mind. Morality is determined from within. There's no absolute eternal standard to govern behavior. Let me give you this example. If I'm simply an animal creation, maybe like a dog, a stray dog comes walking down the street and it sees food on the porch of someone's house. This dog doesn't know that that's old Puff's food, the dog that lives in the house. So this stray dog coming down the street smells the food. He doesn't think, "I'd better not go take that food because it's stealing, and stealing is contrary to the law of God, and I'll violate my conscience."

Is that the way the dog thinks? Not at all. His mouth is salivating, he hasn't eaten in a while, he rushes up on that porch and grabs that food. The owner opens the door and says, "Get out of here!" and the dog begins running away. Are we simply animal creations, acting by biological impulses? Not at all. God has created us. God has fashioned us. God has placed in our minds a conscience. We are accountable to God for our actions. He holds us responsible. Evolution doesn't provide any of these guidelines for life. It says since humans are advanced animals, the highest standard is the human mind. Morality is determined from within. There's really no absolute eternal standard to govern behavior.

Creation provides a sense of hope. The God who created me loves me. He cares for me. He'll guide me through this life. Evolution looks from within to find strength for life's trials. Creation looks without. It looks to a loving, powerful, all-knowing God. Look, think about it this way: if you have no belief in God, you're going to do pretty well in life. Certainly, you won't have the peace, the joy, the satisfaction that comes from knowing Christ. But if you don't have a belief in God, you're going to do pretty well as long as the external pressure is not greater than your internal resolve to cope.

If your internal resolve and your internal strength is greater than the external pressure, you might do okay. But in all of our lives, there comes a time where the external pressure is greater than anything that we have within. The trials of life, the difficulties of life, the challenges of life are so overwhelming that we can't handle them. It's at that time that secular people fall apart. It's at that time they're stressed out, they become depressed, they have heart attacks. But believers, facing challenges that they can't cope with, are led to confidence in the eternal God because they recognize that the God who loves us, who created us, who cares for us, can strengthen us in those times of difficulty.

They recognize also that creation provides a sense of destiny. The God who created me has prepared a place in heaven for me. Death is not a long night without a morning. The grave is not some dark hole in the ground. God has a glorious new tomorrow planned. For the evolutionist, death's the end. There's no tomorrow. Creation speaks hope. Evolution echoes death. Creation speaks of a certain future. Evolution echoes blind chance. Creation answers the eternal questions of life: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? Evolution provides a distorted view of life's origin, fails to address the question of life's purpose, and leaves the soul barren regarding life's ultimate destiny.

Creation unites us with God. It establishes our self-worth. It forges ties with all humanity. It creates a common ancestry. It inspires confidence in a God who cares. It links us to God's inexhaustible power, and it encourages us with hope of life after death. It's because our world so desperately needs the reassuring message of creation that God gave the seventh-day Sabbath. In the mid-1800s, when the evolutionary hypothesis was taking the intellectual world by storm, God sent a message of incredible hope. It's found in Revelation 14, verses 6 and 7: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue and people."

Guest (Male): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers and effectively share with confidence his life-changing truths with others. You can support this ministry and help us reach even more by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: That's why the Bible says, "For by grace are you saved," Ephesians 2:8, through faith. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But then the text goes on to say, we are his workmanship created unto good works. And so here, what is the gospel? It is the power of God unto salvation. What is grace? Grace pardons our past and empowers our future. Grace delivers us from the guilt of sin and the grip of sin. Grace delivers us from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin. So it's the everlasting gospel. And it says with a loud voice, "Fear God."

Now, what does that word "fear God" mean? Well, some people say it means reverence God. That's true, but it's not all the truth. The Greek word for fear there is the word *phobeo*. The New Testament is written in the Greek language. And *phobeo* means take God seriously. So it says, take God seriously. Make him first in your life. Matthew 6:33: "Seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." So seek God first. Give glory to him in everything you're doing. Fearing God has to do with what we think and how we think. Giving glory to God has to do with how we live, how we act.

Fearing God has to do with our thoughts. Giving glory to God has to do with our actions. So for the Christian, every thought is brought, 2 Corinthians 10:5, into captivity to Christ. Thoughts rush into our mind, but we say, "Jesus, I want to have you as the center of my thinking. I want, as Colossians chapter 3, verse 1 and 2 says, set your affection on things above, not on things on earth." So that's the mindset of the Christian: to fear, to reverence, to place God first in our thinking. Giving glory to God is to place him first in our actions. Whatever I'm doing, is God first in my life?

Am I making God a priority in my life? Can I do this act in the presence of a holy, righteous God? Giving glory to God has to do with what you eat and drink. The Bible says whatever you do, do all to the glory of God, whatever you eat. So we can eat to the glory of God, or we can eat to the destruction of our bodies. We can have habits that destroy us. And then it says worship, for the hour of his judgment is come. In other words, we're living in the judgment hour. This is a special time in earth's history, just before the return of our Lord. And worship him that made heaven and earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters.

So here, God then tells us to worship the one that made heaven, earth, sea, and the fountains of waters. What do you call the one that made heaven, earth, sea, and the fountains of waters? You call him the Creator. He is the Creator of earth and sea. The Bible says to worship the Creator. And Revelation's message that calls us to Jesus is a message that calls us to worship the Creator. Now, did you notice "worship the one who made heaven, earth, sea, and the fountains of waters"? That's an exact quote from the fourth commandment in Exodus chapter 20. So John in the book of Revelation is quoting Exodus the 20th chapter.

And here in Exodus chapter 20, it says after verse 8, it says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." In an age of rush and hurry and tension, God calls us to find our rest in him, our security in him, our safety in him, our worship in him. He says remember the Sabbath. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. God says remember; most of the world's forgotten. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. Many Christians think the seventh day is just old legalism. The Bible says it's the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, not the seventh day of the Jew.

God's given it to us as a precious gift, as a palace in time. And every seventh day, the palace descends from heaven to earth. And God invites us to lay aside our secular activities, to put our cell phones aside, turn them off, except of course for dire emergencies. And the Bible invites us to spend time with our families, to worship him. It says the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. Then, at the last part of the verse, it says, "In six days the Lord made heavens, earth, sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

So here you have the very phrases—remember in Revelation 14:7, it says, "Fear God, give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him that made heaven, earth, sea, and the fountains of waters"? Well, here's that phrase "heaven, earth, sea, and the fountains of waters" in Exodus chapter 20, verse 11, in the Sabbath commandment. So John on the isle of Revelation, on the isle of Patmos in Revelation, is leading us back to the beauty of Sabbath worship. God's last-day message is one that calls all humanity back to worshipping him as Creator of heaven and earth.

The basis of all worship is the fact that God created us. Accept evolution and you destroy the very basis for worship. John the Revelator succinctly states it in Revelation chapter 4 and verse 11. Revelation fourth chapter, the 11th verse. And here indeed is what John states regarding worship. He says, Revelation 4:11, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power." Why? "For you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created." You and I exist by the will of God. We are not a genetic accident. We didn't simply appear by chance.

We were created by God. And before you were ever conceived in the womb of your mother, you were implanted in the mind of God. You exist by his will. What an encouraging thought. What a precious thought. You're not an accident. You're not alone in the universe. You're not a speck of cosmic dust. You were created by God. And worship acknowledges him as Creator. What does it say in Revelation 4:11 again? "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor, and power, for you've created all things." He is worthy precisely because he has created. If God has not created us, if we merely evolved and life is a cosmic accident based on chance and random selection, there's absolutely no reason to worship.

So in an age of evolution, God gives us a reminder of his creation through the Sabbath. The Sabbath is an eternal symbol of his creative power and authority. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder that we are not our own. He created us; life cannot exist apart from him. Acts 17:28 says, "In him we live and move and have our being." So the Sabbath reminds us that we were created by God. It links our heart to the Creator. It calls us back to our roots. It's a link to our family of origin. The Sabbath has been observed continuously since time began.

It's an unbroken connection back through time to our Creator. The Sabbath tells us that we are not just a product of time plus chance. It keeps us focused on the glorious truth that we're children of God. It calls us to an intimate, close relationship with him. I read an interesting story recently. When Shea was four years old, her baby brother was born. And little Shea began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. They worried that like some four-year-olds, she might be jealous and shake the baby a bit or maybe just even give him a little slap.

Over time, though, since Shea wasn't showing any signs of jealousy, her parents changed their minds. They decided to let Shea have her private conference with the baby. Elated, Shea went into the baby's room and shut the door. But it would open a crack, enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen. They saw little Shea walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his, and say, "Baby, tell me what God feels like. I'm starting to forget." You know, all of us tend to forget. The truth is, we don't have long memories. That's why God says "remember."

The Sabbath is a weekly reminder of what God's like. It calls us to a new relationship with him. Now, let me share with you a not-so-subtle deception, and I'll be very plain: it's a deception. And I want to warn you of this deception. In an attempt to destroy the uniqueness of our creation, the devil has introduced a not-so-subtle counterfeit. The counterfeit, which is accepted by some, goes something like this: God, yes, is the prime cause of creation, but he took long ages to bring the world into existence. Evolution was the process that he used.

Now, this approach attempts to harmonize so-called scientific data with the Genesis account. It asserts that the days of creation are long, indefinite periods of time. It accepts the evolutionary viewpoint that the earth is tens of millions of years old. Now, this synchronistic viewpoint creates far more problems than it solves. It completely disregards many biblical statements. Let me give you an example: Psalm 33, verse 6 and verse 9. Psalm 33:6: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." Verse 9: "For it spoke and it was done."

It was completed. He commanded and it stood fast. Now, the Bible does not say he spoke and it was in the process of being done. The Bible does not say he spoke and it took millions of years, and finally, earth evolved. No, he spoke and it was done: completed, finished. In other words, God spoke and earth appeared. God's word is a creative word. Now, my word can be a declarative word. I can say what is. I can say that's a TV screen. I can say that's a chair, that's a computer, that's a house. But God says what is not, and what is not becomes what is because when God says it, it's done. It's finished.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.

Mark Finley: All week, we spend time nourishing our bodies. We work to make a living. We work diligently with the sweat of our brow to eke out an existence. But the Sabbath calls us from the things of time to the things of eternity. It calls us to enter into his, God's, heavenly rest. It calls us to experience a foretaste of heaven today. It calls us to a relationship with our Creator that will continue through eternity. The Sabbath is in actuality an advance on eternity. There's much more coming. But in the Sabbath, we have the first installment. Is it possible? Is it possible that in the busyness of life, Sabbath is a day that we're too exhausted to renew our relationship? Is it possible that in the stress of life, we overlook the day that can give us energy and strength and intimate fellowship with God?