23-1112p Transcript

Preacher: John Nousek

(1:18) Good evening. (1:22) So that’s really good news. (1:25) What Tom just read, (1:27) you know, a new heaven and a new earth, (1:35) God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

(1:38) No more death, no more sorrow, no more crying. (1:42) That is really, really good news, as long as it’s true. (1:50) So how do we know it’s true? (1:53) Well, I believe it.

(1:55) I’ve studied a lot, as some might call it a lot. (2:00) But I will tell you that I keep something sort of mentally ready (2:06) when people ask me this question. (2:08) And they’ll ask, Oh, you believe that book, do you? (2:12) Yeah, I do.

(2:13) That book we call the Bible. (2:15) And I believe what it says, (2:19) and I believe what it means. (2:21) And God’s given it to us.

(2:24) And I keep something at the ready which I’ll refer to. (2:28) There’s a fancy word for this. (2:31) It’s called acronym.

(2:35) And it’s an abbreviated form, (2:39) an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words (2:44) and pronounced as a single word. (2:47) That single word is maps. (2:50) Just like we have a map that draws out and helps us find our faith, (2:56) helps us find our way in the darkness.

(3:00) And the word maps stands for four words. (3:06) Manuscript, archaeology, prophecy, (3:12) and the S, which is what I’d really like to focus on tonight, (3:16) which is scientific foreknowledge. (3:21) So the M in maps, the manuscripts, (3:27) many will say, well, we just don’t know if we have the original text.

(3:33) Yeah, God said so, and someone wrote it down, (3:37) and then they told it to someone else, (3:39) and it went on and on into the game of telephone. (3:43) And I don’t buy that, (3:45) because God is stronger than that, first of all. (3:49) And what’s interesting is in the 40s, 1940s, (3:53) the Dead Sea Scrolls came out.

(3:55) You find these scrolls. (3:58) 2,000 years they’ve been sitting in a cave, (4:01) and suddenly they’re found, (4:05) including the entire book of Isaiah (4:08) and fragments of other books. (4:12) And it’s the same thing we have today that’s on the shelf.

(4:16) Not in English, because they didn’t write those scrolls in English, (4:20) but the words. (4:22) We have the exact same thing that God gave us thousands of years ago, (4:28) and we can look at it, and it’s on display, (4:33) and it’s available to people if you were to travel, for instance, to Israel. (4:39) There’s a big museum there, and they’ve had these things on display.

(4:46) Then there’s archaeology. (4:49) Archaeology is, if you will, the digging in the ground (4:52) and finding what there is to find (4:56) and finding out if what’s written in this book (4:59) actually exists in the places that he says they existed. (5:06) And we have digs going on today in and around the Holy Land, (5:12) and we find the various locations.

(5:17) We find the various cities, (5:21) and they can excavate. (5:24) For example, in July of 2021, (5:29) the Israeli Antiquities Authority, it’s called the IAA, (5:34) announced a discovery of the eastern section of Jerusalem’s Iron Age Wall. (5:39) The previously missing Jerusalem Wall, (5:43) stretching along the eastern slope of the Kidron Valley, (5:46) was uncovered in the City of David Archaeological Park.

(5:51) That’s in capital letters, the Archaeological Park, (5:53) a short distance from the Temple Mount. (5:56) So this is in July of 2021. (6:02) Stamps and seals and other objects found along the wall (6:06) allowed the excavators to date the wall to the Iron Age, as they call, (6:12) indicating it was likely part of the fortifications built by King Hezekiah, (6:18) in Isaiah 22.9, as he prepared for the Assyrian invasion, (6:24) which occurred around 701 B.C. (6:28) This would have been the very same wall ultimately destroyed (6:31) during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem about 100 years later (6:35) that we read about in 2 Kings 25, verse 10.

(6:43) So the archaeologists are still digging, still finding, (6:46) still confirming this book, that the scoffer might say, (6:52) just a book, and it’s more than that, and we have the proof. (6:59) And then there’s the key prophecy. (7:05) To me, that’s a pretty strong set of evidence and facts.

(7:12) And gee, how often is it that someone says, (7:15) I know what’s going to happen, this is going to happen, (7:16) the Browns are going to win today, or whatever, (7:21) or they’re going to lose, or this is going to happen, (7:23) or that’s going to happen. (7:26) How often does it happen exactly as? (7:29) Well, in the scriptures, we have lots of prophecy about Jesus Christ. (7:38) I’m an accountant.

I like numbers. (7:41) I follow statistics. (7:44) And you look at the prophecies that are written about his life, his birth, (7:51) where he was born, how he would die, what would happen, (7:56) how he would be raised from the dead.

(7:59) Who claimed that they would be raised from the dead, and then they did it? (8:05) I’ll be back. (8:08) And he was back. (8:14) I like statistics.

(8:16) The odds of that happening in that way to that person, (8:20) in the way that he predicted, it’s not possible. (8:26) If we’re really honest with ourselves, it is not possible. (8:29) It is mathematically not possible.

(8:34) That’s really compelling. (8:36) And the last in maps is the S, (8:39) and that’s what I really wanted to focus on tonight, (8:43) scientific foreknowledge. (8:44) So in the book of Job, which is written in the neighborhood of 3,500 years ago, (8:54) it reads, Job 26, 27, (8:57) he stretches out the north over empty space.

(9:01) He hangs the earth on nothing. (9:05) So instead of, as once was believed, the earth is just flat. (9:12) Christopher Columbus, maybe I’d fall off the edge of the earth.

(9:16) I’d sail too far. (9:18) That’s in 1492. (9:22) That’s not a million years ago.

(9:26) He thought the earth was flat. (9:29) Except 3,500 years ago, God said, (9:34) hang the earth on nothing. (9:37) And now we know the earth hangs on nothing.

(9:41) It hangs out in outer space, spinning around, (9:44) orbiting the sun, (9:48) hanging on nothing. (9:52) And in Isaiah, it says, (9:54) and this one was written maybe 2,800 years ago, (9:59) Isaiah 40, 22, (10:01) it is he who sits above the circle of the earth. (10:08) Not above the flat of the earth, but above the circle of the earth.

(10:12) Words are important. (10:15) So the Bible informs us that the earth is round. (10:20) Though it was once commonly believed the earth was flat, (10:24) it was the scriptures that inspired Columbus to sail around the world.

(10:28) He wrote, (10:30) it was the Lord who put it into my mind. (10:35) There is no question the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit (10:38) because he comforted me (10:41) with rays of marvelous illumination from the Holy Scriptures. (10:47) That’s from Columbus’s diary.

(10:53) Now I’m going to ask you to think a little bit on these next couple. (10:56) A little deeper. (10:58) Hang in there with me.

(11:00) So in Genesis, at the very beginning, (11:03) Genesis 2, verse 1, (11:06) it says, (11:07) thus the heavens and the earth and all the hosts, (11:11) all the hosts of them were finished. (11:14) And the key word here is finished. (11:17) The Hebrew word uses the past definite tense of the verb finished, (11:24) indicating an action completed in the past, (11:27) never again to occur.

(11:31) The creation was finished. (11:33) Once and for all, (11:34) this is exactly what we call now the first law of thermodynamics. (11:39) I told you you’d have to think a little bit.

(11:43) Albert Einstein distilled it down to a mathematical equation. (11:48) I love mathematics. (11:51) E equals MC squared, (11:57) which means matter cannot be created nor destroyed.

(12:02) It just changes form. (12:05) It just goes from this type of energy to that type of energy, (12:08) from this type of mass to that type of mass. (12:13) And that’s what Oppenheimer used when he created the atomic bomb.

(12:19) Small amount of mass, massive amounts of energy. (12:26) But God said right in Genesis, (12:30) I made it all. (12:32) It’s over.

(12:33) It’s finished. (12:35) Nothing to create. (12:37) Nothing to be destroyed.

(12:40) Until he’s ready. (12:45) And in the Psalms 102, 25, and 26, (12:49) you get the point? (12:52) There are a lot of these examples that God says, (12:57) look, this is how it works. (13:01) You can figure it out.

(13:03) You’re going to take time. (13:05) You think you’re smart, (13:09) but God’s smarter. (13:13) Psalm 102, 25, and 26, (13:16) of old, you founded the earth, (13:19) and the heavens are the work of your hands.

(13:23) Even they will perish, (13:25) but you will endure, (13:27) and all of them will wear out like a garment. (13:31) So the Bible tells us that the earth is wearing out like a garment. (13:36) That’s the second law of thermodynamics.

(13:40) The law of increasing entropy. (13:43) I like to describe it this way. (13:46) If I have a glass of water, (13:51) or a bowl of hot soup, (13:54) hot soup’s probably better, (13:56) especially like right now.

(13:59) But a bowl of hot soup, (14:00) and it sits on the table. (14:03) And then you walk away, (14:04) and you come back an hour or two later, (14:06) because you didn’t eat it. (14:08) What happens to the soup? (14:10) It cools off.

(14:12) Where does the energy go? (14:13) It dissipates. (14:14) It goes out away from the soup. (14:15) It leaves the place of high concentration, (14:18) and goes to a place of less concentration.

(14:22) Everything levels off. (14:23) Everything decays. (14:24) Everything breaks down.

(14:27) Trust me. (14:28) I’m in my 50s. (14:30) I don’t feel like I did when I was in my 20s.

(14:34) Little things start breaking down. (14:36) Let’s just be honest. (14:38) And it’s going to happen.

(14:45) And then there’s Amos. (14:46) And I want to flip to Amos, (14:49) because I really found this one to be good, (14:52) amongst everything else. (14:55) This is in the book of Amos, chapter 9. (15:02) In Amos 9, verse 6, (15:08) it reads, (15:10) He who builds his layers in the sky (15:15) and has founded his strata in the earth, (15:20) who calls the waters of the sea (15:23) and pours them out on the face of the earth, (15:27) the Lord is his name.

(15:31) So in Amos 9.6, (15:34) there are three things that came to mind. (15:37) Well, the first was, (15:38) he builds his layers in the sky. (15:40) How is it that someone thousands of years ago (15:46) knows anything about layers in the sky? (15:50) We can see the clouds, so I guess that.

(15:55) But we have, to the best of my knowledge, (15:59) no less than seven different distinct layers in the sky. (16:03) The troposphere, that’s where we live, (16:07) down here near the earth. (16:09) And then it goes to the next layer up, (16:12) the stratosphere, that’s where the ozone layer is at.

(16:16) The mesosphere, the ionosphere. (16:20) The thermosphere, starting to get really cold up there. (16:24) And finally, the exosphere.

(16:25) And then you’re into outer space. (16:27) And each one of these have different types of characteristics. (16:33) We’re familiar with the troposphere (16:36) because that’s where the air is.

(16:37) That’s where the oxygen is. (16:38) That’s where we live. (16:41) We’re into mountain climbing (16:43) and you went to the top of Mount Everest (16:45) and the air starts to get thin.

(16:47) Well, you’re starting to leave the troposphere. (16:51) It’s getting hard to breathe and it’s cold up there. (16:56) How did someone so many, many years ago (16:59) know anything about the layers in the sky (17:06) unless someone gave that information to them? (17:12) And then the second part of that is the strata in the earth.

(17:16) And gee, I remember back to grade school, (17:18) learning about the crust and the mantle (17:21) and the core inside the earth. (17:26) Well, someone told me about that. (17:29) Would I be able to figure that out (17:32) sitting here in Cleveland, Ohio on a cold day? (17:39) No.

(17:43) And then finally he calls, (17:47) he says, who calls the waters of the sea (17:50) and pours them out on the face of the earth. (17:56) So the Mississippi River dumps over 6 million gallons of water (18:02) per second into the Gulf of Mexico. (18:07) That’s more than I can drink.

(18:10) Where does all the water go? (18:12) Keeps going and going and going, day and night, (18:15) seven days a week, doesn’t take a break. (18:17) Six million gallons every second. (18:22) And that’s only one of thousands of rivers, (18:24) although it’s a big one.

(18:25) It’s one of thousands of rivers all around the world (18:29) that continue to flow into larger bodies of water. (18:33) Where does it all go? (18:36) The answer lies in the hydrological cycle, (18:39) something not fully understood until the 17th century, (18:44) but so well brought out in the Bible. (18:47) The scripture informs us, (18:49) all the rivers run into the sea, if the sea is not full, (18:52) to the place from which the rivers come, (18:54) there they return again.

(18:56) That’s out of Ecclesiastes. (18:58) It’s in chapter 1, verse 7. (19:05) Scientific foreknowledge. (19:08) Maps.

(19:12) Then there’s the science of oceanography. (19:17) So in Psalm 8, 8, you see the phrase, (19:24) and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea. (19:31) When’s the last time you saw a path in the woods (19:35) that you could walk on and you could see (19:37) where other people have walked (19:38) and the ground is clear of green stuff? (19:43) It’s just dirt.

(19:45) All those footsteps. (19:47) You don’t see that in the ocean. (19:52) The sea is just a huge mass of water.

(19:54) How could it have paths? (19:56) Man discovered the existence of ocean currents in the 1850s, (20:00) but the Bible declared the science of oceanography (20:05) 2,800 years ago. (20:08) A guy by the name of Matthew Morey, (20:12) who died in 1873, (20:15) was considered the father of oceanography. (20:18) Notice that expression, paths of the sea, in Psalm 8. (20:24) Morey took God at his word and went looking for the paths.

(20:28) He eventually wrote a well-read book (20:31) called The Physical Geography of the Sea, (20:35) which was published in 1855. (20:37) According to Amazon, you can buy one too. (20:42) It’s still around because it’s valid.

(20:47) He studied this stuff. He studied God’s word. (20:50) He read that and said, you know what? (20:52) I don’t know it.

I don’t see it. (20:54) I don’t understand it. (20:57) God said it.

I’m going to go find it. (21:00) Now we have it. (21:05) There are lots of these, by the way.

(21:10) I could talk about these things all night. (21:13) I have a whole list of them. (21:16) We won’t.

(21:18) I’ve got to get home eventually. (21:20) But I will tell you that…​ (21:23) How much do you need? (21:26) The origin of life. (21:29) Genesis chapter 2, (21:30) And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground (21:34) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (21:36) and man became a living thing.

(21:40) Wow. (21:43) So while scientists in the 21st century (21:47) admit they have lots of theories, (21:51) little science about the origin of life, (21:55) the Bible tells us clearly how life began. (21:58) God did it.

(22:00) Based on the word of the only one (22:03) who was there at the beginning. (22:07) The likelihood of spontaneous formation of life (22:09) from inanimate matter. (22:12) I have this little thing of water here (22:16) which I like to drink.

(22:19) How long would it take for me to take this water, (22:23) set it down, (22:24) or anything else in this bottle. (22:27) You pick the ingredients. (22:30) And let’s see what happens.

(22:32) We’ll wait and wait. (22:38) It’s not coming to life. (22:40) It’s just water.

(22:42) And it will sit there until (22:45) I don’t exist anymore. (22:51) I told you I love numbers. (22:55) They work every time the same way.

(23:00) The likelihood of spontaneous formation of life (23:03) from any kind of inanimate matter (23:07) is 1 divided by a number 1 (23:11) with 40,000 zeros behind it. (23:17) I didn’t say 1 divided by 40,000. (23:20) It’s 40,000 zeros.

(23:24) A thousand is 3. (23:27) A million is 9. (23:30) 40,000 of those zeros back there. (23:34) And you’re waiting for that thing (23:37) to just spring to life. (23:38) That’s not going to happen.

(23:41) Do I really believe that? (23:42) No, I don’t. (23:45) I believe that God created life. (23:48) He made it.

(23:51) He said so. (23:55) So we have this book. (24:00) I could talk to you about (24:04) the countless number of stars in the sky.

(24:10) Jeremiah, written 2,500 years ago. (24:13) As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, (24:16) nor the sands of the sea measured, (24:17) the Bible asserts there are countless stars (24:23) in the phrase host of heaven. (24:26) So when this statement was recorded, (24:28) no one knew how vast the stars were.

(24:30) Maybe as few as 1,100 or so of them (24:33) were visible to the naked eye. (24:39) That’s as many as Ptolemy was able to catalog (24:42) in what he wrote in the Almagest. (24:46) Now we know that there are countless billions of stars, (24:49) an estimated 125 stars in the observable universe (24:56) that can’t be numbered.

(24:58) The Hubble Telescope was launched in 1990. (25:04) It’s now 2023. (25:06) The Hubble Telescope has been surpassed (25:11) by the James Webb Telescope, (25:13) which was launched on Christmas Day 2021.

(25:19) And when the James Webb Telescope (25:21) looked out into space, saw even more, (25:27) because it’s better technology than we had (25:30) 33 years ago when the Hubble was launched. (25:34) It’s unbelievable, unless you introduce God. (25:42) That’s it.

(25:44) There’s more. (25:45) I’ve got pages of these things, (25:47) but we could be here all night. (25:49) So I implore those who have ears to hear, (25:55) let their heart allow them to believe (25:59) that this book is what it claims to be.

(26:05) This book is the very Word of God, (26:07) and we can rely on it. (26:09) And that’s why I called the sermon (26:13) What Do You Rely On? (26:17) God’s Book, His Instructions, (26:21) His Testimony, or Yourself, or Something Else. (26:29) By all means, I implore those (26:32) who have ears to hear to believe.

(26:36) And if you have something you’d like to request, (26:41) in any form, please come forward. (26:43) I’ll be seeing you.