1 John 1:1-5
Why...do you believe in God? That’s a good question. Why do you believe? Why do you believe God...the Bible...in Heaven...Why do you believe? ...Why do we pray? Why do we believe in eternal life? Why do we come to church?
...Before we talk about WHY we believe, let’s ga ahead and state the fact, We Do Believe! We’re not the first and we won’t be the last!
• Peter believed... “We believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Jhn 6) When everyone else was walking away, Peter announced he had no where else to go. He believed – He wavered a time or two...But on Pentecost we see and hear a true believer!
• Paul believed... “I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able...” (2 Tim 1:12) Paul proved his belief in God by believing when there was no reason to believe... Even in prison he believed.
• Jim Elliot believed... Died for what he believed in. In 1956 he was killed, along with four others while evangelizing the Waodani people...a people group who had never heard the Gospel of Christ.
• Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna believed... A first century Bishop of Smyrna we read about in Revelation. At 86 yrs old as he was bound and ready to be burned at the stake said, “86 years I have served Him...How can I now I deny the king who saved me?”
• Dietrich Bonhoffer believed... He was executed in 1945 for being a part of the German resistance against Nazism and Hitler and helping found a Christian church there. Bonhoffer wrote while in prison, “When God calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
Why We Believe: 1 John 1:1-5...
Jesus appealed to their ears: “That which we have heard.” For three years they heard him. Whether it was a public sermon or a private lesson…they sat at his feet dying to hear what he had to say. He spoke with authority, not like the scribes…and some even said, “never has a man spoken like this…” Oh that we would hear Jesus.
Jesus appealed to their eyes: “That which we have seen with our eyes.” They saw him daily walking and talking, preaching and teaching…ministering and healing. They saw him transfigured. They saw him on the cross. They saw him resurrected from the dead. His disciples, John included, were eye-witnesses as well as ear-witnesses of Jesus. Peter said, “We were eye-witnesses of his majesty,” 2 Peter 1:16.
Jesus appealed to their mind: That which we have observed…” It’s one thing to see it, its another to observe it. Observing carries with it the idea of thinking about what you’re looking at. John said in his gospel (1:14), And we beheld— his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father. Observing means they discerned, considered, studied, etc… John walked away having observed saying, "He’s real!"
Jesus appealed to their sense of feeling: “And our hands have handled the Word of life.” This probably refers to what Thomas…and most likely the other disciples as well, experienced when they touched him after his resurrection. Jesus showed them his hands and his side, knowing Thomas’s unbelief…and allowed Thomas to touch him.
What more could he have done? They saw him…heard him…observed him…and touched him. And John said, “We declare Him to you.”
Why Do We Believe?
1) The Testimony of Fellow Believers- “That which we have heard” What we have learned from other believers. Think about it. All we know about our faith has been handed down to us from other believers. The testimony of fellow believers, from Paul to Billy Graham, tell us the same old wonderful story.
Remember the great old hymn....I love to tell the story, of unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love.
I love to tell the story, because I know 'tis true; it satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.
I love to tell the story, 'twill be my theme in glory,
to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love.
Peter Told the story...2 Peter 1:16-17 “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” ...We believe what Peter believed...and what Paul believed...and what men who were willing to die for their beliefs.. believed.
It is a story that never changes...and an invitation which never closes!
2) The Testimony of Personal Experience- “That which we have seen...looked upon and handled” John had certainly seen the Lord...and surely had touched him, maybe even after the resurrection along with Thomas...He knew the Lord.
After the resurrection, as some of the disciples met Jesus on the way they never forgot what they experienced...Luke 24:32-33, “And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"
Our experiences do not take the place of scripture. They are not substitutes for truth. If an experience seems a little weird...go to the Word. Personal experiences must never violate the testimony of scripture.
3) The Testimony of Scripture- What a sad and tragic account of those who refuse to believe. Luke 16:27-31 "Then he said, 'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.' Abraham said to him,'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
Here it is... “Unless they hear the scriptures they will not believe.”
We Believe By Faith. Hebrews 11
1- Evidence of things not seen – Our belief is more Who than Why.
2- Substance of things hoped for – Our belief is more Who than When.
3- Confidence in things unexplainable – Our belief is more Who than How.
We believe in God because He believed in us.
