the Word of God. We do not expect scientists who do not know and love the Lord to admit their own mental deficiencies; rather do we ex pect unbelievers to swell themselves up with the empty wind of pride and to pat themselves on the back as if they were creators and sustainers of the universe. This has been the dead-end road traveled by men without God since the beginning of sin (cf. Rom. 1:18-23). But honest men will, through study, research and investigation come to the conclusion that only God could be respon sible for all they find in creation, and, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, may come to the place where they discover God’s greatest revelation in the person of His blessed Son (John 1:18; 1 Cor. 2:14). Nature Opens Windows on the God of Power It would be of great profit for the stu dent to study carefully the entire section of Job in which the lesson text is found, that is, Job 38:1-42:6. In this section of Job God is questioning Job for the purpose of bringing out the vast ignorance and impotence of this man and of every man. Notice the questions God asks and answer them in your own way. You will dis cover that when the examination is over you will do exactly as Job did in 42:1-6, namely, humble yourself before the Lord and acknowledge His greatness. Surely infinite power was expended in the creation of the universe, in laying the foundations of the earth (38:4, 5), in setting the comer stone thereof (v. 6), in restraining the tremendous pressure of the oceans (w . 8-11), etc. Study through this entire’ amazing passage and note the power of God in bringing all this to pass. And remember that there is a practical application to all this: first, we learn to revel in our great God. The Christian is proud, and justly so, of the Saviour, for it was He who did all these things re vealed in Job (cp. John 1:1-4; Col. 1:16- 19; Heb. 1:1-3). There is yet another practical value to the realization of the power of God: that marvelous power is available to the believer for ability to live for Christ and to do the will of God. The weakest man may obey the Lord, and can do miracles for the Lord through His mighty power (Acts 1:8; Eph. 3:20, 21; Phil. 4:13). Nature Opens Windows on the God of Wisdom This, again, is the purpose of sending Job through the “ school of experience” in order that he might be able rightly to answer his final examination as it is given in Job 38:1-42:6. The design and apparent purpose of the creation speaks of the wisdom of God. Study the heavens through a telescope or study living cells through a microscope and the result is the same—amazement at the marvelous wisdom of our great God. Every part of this vast universe has some important part to play in the over-all plan of God. The human body is an il lustration of this truth: we have many members in the one body, and every member does not have the same function, but without the proper functioning of each member the entire body suffers. So it continued on page 46
anything. But, in reality, there are many things man cannot do. He cannot save himself from his sin (Acts 4:12; Gal. 2: 16). He cannot create anything, he can only use that which God has already created. He cannot create life, he can only study the processes of life as God has given it. The study of the vastness of the universe and littleness of man should humble him and bring him to his knees before God. Surely a study of the creation ought to convince man of his ignorance when con trasted with the omniscience of God. The universe demonstrates unbelievable wis dom. There is order and design and pur pose written in large letters into creation. Only One who is infinite in wisdom could be responsible for it all. The passing of the centuries has unfolded wonder after wonder in man’s discoveries of the secrets of the universe. Would to God that these discoveries would show man how ignor ant he is and how wise is the Lord God, and would to God that this knowledge would send him humbly to the Lord to' confess Him as his Lord and Saviour. The Great Declaration of the Creation Study Psalm 8:1, 2, 9 and Psalm 19: 1-6 in this connection. Creation declares, and this word means preaches the glory of God, that is, His wonderful power,- wisdom and majesty. W e believe that it was for this purpose that God made the universe and put man on it, in order that He might have multitudes of creatures to sing His praises and to magnify His love and grace and the wonders of His Person. Are you doing this? There is not a man in the world who is not responsible to worship the true and living God because this sermon of God’s greatness goes out unmistakably to the entire world (Psalm 19:2-4; cf. Romans 1:18-20). It would be a fine thing if you could get some truly Christian person who knows something about science to visit your group and show you some of the wonders that God has put into His creation. This will help you to under stand more of the meaning of the two Psalms we have been studying. Aug. 30, 1953 Nature's Open Windows to God Job 38:1-14, 22-41 There are many people who feel that science is in desperate conflict with the Bible. This, however, is simply not true. You see, it is not the task of the Bible- believer to try to fit the Bible in with the findings of science, as so many people seem to be trying to do. It is the task of true science to fit its findings in with the revelation of God in the Bible. Let no Christian ever be guilty of changing the Bible to meet the ridiculous demands of juvenile science. Let us de mand that science change its views to meet the demands of God’s Word. Now this we say because the Bible is God’s inspired Word and the discoveries of men are always fallible, that is, liable to error. The record of science proves this: many, many changes have been made by sci ence through the centuries, and every change, that is, every change to the truth, has brought science closer and closer to
Y O U N G P E O P L E continued from God (Rom. 1:18-23). The conse quences of their sin of disobedience and idolatry are sketched for us in the pas sage in Romans which follows (1:24-32). That this has been the actual history of man no honest person can deny, or would care to deny. History bears tragic witness to the fact of this record. The con science of man will not let him alone, but since he will not admit the true God into his life he has manufactured gods of his own and paganism on a world scale is the awful result. Again, God speaks to man through His Word. The Rible is the most amazing hook in the world. There never has been a book comparable to the Rible and there never w ill be. The Bible is supematurally given (2 Peter 1:21). It is supematurally perserved; and it is supematurally under stood (1 Cor. 2:14). The Bible is God’s revelation. A revelation is the giving of information that could not otherwise be known. No man could discover, for ex ample, the truth of the Trinity, apart from the revelation of that doctrine through the Word. Man could know nothing about his sin in the sight of God, or about how to get forgiveness of that sin, nor about the fact of heaven and hell apart from the revelation of these truths by God Himself as He has done in His inspired Word. How we ought to thank God for the Bible! How we ought to love it, and live it, and give it out to others! God has revealed Himself to man in each of these three ways, but He has re served the crowning revelation in the Per son of His Son. Jesus Christ is the Creator become a creature, the Infinite become an Infant at the Incarnation. The matchless Son of God became the Son of Man in order that all who believe might become the sons of God (cf. Phil. 2:5-12; John 1:1-18; Heb. 1:1-4; 2 Cor. 5:21). The Humbling Influence of the Creation Psalm 8 If only all men would study this Psalm carefully and prayerfully it would come with marvelous humbling power upon them. I think you will agree that cer tainly men need to be humbled in this awful day in which we live. Man today is standing at the crossroad—he has within his grasp the most awful power ever known to man. Man has the secret of the power of the universe and holds that power in his own hand. Man, unre strained by the sweet and gracious in fluences of God, could wipe out civiliza tion in the matter of a comparatively short time. We know, of course, that God is not going to permit this. When the time comes for judgment, and it is surely coming, God Himself will take this matter into His own hands, for ven geance belongeth unto the Lord alone (Rom. 12:19). Notice the humbling power of a study of the universe as it is demonstrated in the life of the Psalmist (Psalm 8:3, 4). His study of creation showed the Psalmist how powerless he was in contrast with the power of the Almighty. Some men in this day have forgotten this truth, and seem to believe that they are able to do
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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