Revelation

Luke 1619 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

• 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’

• 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Theist• One who believes in God

• Revelatory Theist– We believe that God has spoken to us; that he has

revealed himself to us.

“God's willful disclosure, wherein He forfeits His own personal privacy so that His

creatures might know Him”

Carl F.H. Henry

Apologetics

The practice of giving a defense for a certain belief system.

(1 Peter 3:15)

Types of Apologetics

• Classic Apologetics Reason your way to God.

Aquinas’s 5 Arguments for the Existence of God

1. Unmoved Mover2. Causality3. Contingency4. Perfection5. Design

Types of Apologetics• Classic Apologetics– Reason your way to God.

• Evidential Apologetics– Start with evidences from history and build a case.

• Reformed Epistemology– Argue that everyone believes in God already (in

some manner of speaking).• Presuppositional Apologetics– Start with the presupposition....

Imagine This...

NO DIET COKE AT VALLEYDALE CHURCH

Here’s Your Options:1. Obey2. Disobey3. Hide4. Change the sign5. Get rid of the sign

General RevelationGeneral Revelation is God’s communication of

Himself to all persons at all times and in all places.

Millard Erickson

MeaningEcclesiastes 3:10 I have seen the business that

God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

The Created Order• Psalm 19:1 - The heavens declare the glory of

God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

• Romans 1:20 - For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

The Human ConscienceRomans 2:11-1611For God shows no partiality. 12 For all who have

sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

Romans 2:15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

All God would have to do to condemn us is hang a tape recorder around our neck, and then at the judgment play back for us all of the time that we judged others, saying, “he shouldn’t do that” or “he ought not do that.” We would surely condemn ourselves.

Francis Schaeffer

Acts 17:22-25

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything

Proverbs 30:24-2824 Four things on earth are small, but they are

exceedingly wise: 25 the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer; 26 the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs; 27 the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank; 28 the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.

Natural TheologyAn attempt to build theology on the basis of

General Revelation alone.

Does this really exist? Is it salvific?

Next Week....

The Inspiration of Scripture