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I PETER 1:1-2 THE PREMISE OF HOLINESS • Knowledge (Beliefs) • Becoming • Actions • Results • Rewards Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. I Peter 1:1-2 NASB Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. I Peter 1:1-2 NASB ESSENTIAL WORDS AND CONCEPTS • Chosen • Foreknowledge • God • Father • Sanctifying • Spirit • Jesus Christ • Sprinkled • Blood CLEARLY SEEN THE TRUTH OF GOD AND HIS WORD TWO QUESTIONS • Why do you believe in God? • How do you know the Bible is God’s Word? HOW DO WE KNOW GOD EXISTS? SOME COMMON ANSWERS… • I just know it, OK? • My parents/church/ school told me God exists! • The Bible tells me God exists! • Look around! It’s just obvious! For since the creation of the world [God’s] invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that [all people] are without excuse. Romans 1:20 NASB FIRST THINGS FIRST 1. Forget everything 2. Reorient yourself to the world around you 3. Think (with your brain) about what you see WHY IS THERE SOMETHING INSTEAD OF NOTHING? SOMETHING = THE UNIVERSE THE UNIVERSE = Time, Space, Matter Two Possibilities: 1. The universe always was 2. The universe came to be POSSIBILITY #1 – THE UNIVERSE ALWAYS WAS • The universe has no cause; it simply is, and has always been • Time regresses infinitely into the past and proceeds into the future POSSIBILITY #1 – THE UNIVERSE ALWAYS WAS The “Past” X The “Present” But wait… • How long did it take to get from there to here? FOREVER! • If it just is, what’s the purpose of anything, anyway? The “Future” POSSIBILITY #2 – THE UNIVERSE CAME TO BE • The universe (time, space, and matter) had a distinct starting point (beginning) • Time proceeds forward (possibly to infinity) POSSIBILITY #2 – THE UNIVERSE CAME TO BE The “Beginning” The “Past” The “Present” • Solves the problem of infinite regress into the past • Always a finite number of moments from beginning to any point in time • Only plausible scenario The “Future” Now THAT makes sense! OK… BUT HOW?!? What was “before” the universe? Two possibilities: 1. Nothing 2. Something CAN SOMETHING COME FROM NOTHING? • If something came from nothing, that makes nothing the cause of something • If nothing is the cause of something, that makes nothing something • If nothing is something then it isn’t nothing ex nihilo nihil fit “out of nothing, nothing comes” SO, THE UNIVERSE CAME FROM SOMETHING But where did that something come from? It makes no sense to say that it came from something else because: • What was the FIRST CAUSE? • An infinite regression of causes is impossible (“turtles all the way down”) • There must be an Uncaused (FIRST) Cause! The Uncaused Caused of all things is by definition “GOD” OK. So there is a God, but… What is GOD like?