The Most Hated Verse In The Bible

And we are going to start something new... Chris is preaching through first Timothy, so I'm not going to try and pick up and fill in what Chris is going to be doing.

But, I'm going to start here with a question for you. Here's the test. I said there is going to be a test. Here's the question. Let's say that this afternoon you hear from God... a plain and clear voice... you hear from God and He tells you that He's going to take away all the Bibles in the world. No more Bibles. Not only that, He's going to take away your memory of all Bible verses you've ever memorized... all gone except for three. And you get to pick which three Bible verses you would like to retain.

What three verses, now think through this, which three verses would you like to be able to retain in your memory?

Now I want to flip this question around. What three Bible verses do you think Satan would most likely want to get rid of? Which ones does Satan hate? Now we think that the ones we love are going to be the ones he hates, right? So what part of scripture does Satan attack the most? I don't know the mind of Satan... I'm not going to try to guess his verses. I don't your minds either. You're probably going to come up with different verses than what I come up with. But, I have my three verses.

So are you ready for this? What are my three verses?

I think the first one is kind of obvious... it's probably the most widely quoted verse in the Bible. It's been called the "Gospel in a nutshell." It summarizes everything. So my first one is... John 3:16 -- “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” Great verse. There's the gospel right there.

That's a good one... What about my second verse now? Second verse. For my second verse I picked another famous one. It's one that is well-known. It's a verse that is distorted and changed a lot. It's a verse that tells us who Jesus is. That's very important to know. So my second verse is... John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

So there's my first two verses.

That has got to be the most plain, straight-forward statement about Jesus' divinity. Jesus is God. Jesus is the God of the Bible. Jesus is the eternal God who already existed at the beginning... He already was... And Jesus was with God. He is God... He is the second person of the Trinity. John 1:1 is so clear about who Jesus is.

And just as John 3:16 summarizes the gospel, John 1:1, and actually the first part of John, the first thirteen verses, it's a great summary of the entire book of John. Really, the book of John is nothing more than filling in the details for John 1 verses 1 through 13. It is just as packed, and John 1:1 is packed with great information.

What's my third verse? What is my third verse?

Well, it is one of the most important verses in the Bible... and Satan knows that. In fact, this verse that I've picked, it opens a section of scripture that is more attacked by Satan than any other section of scripture. He really goes after this one. In fact this is a section of scripture that is actually denied in many seminaries. It is denied and actually attacked in churches. More has been written in opposition to this section of scripture, than any other part of scripture.

And the distortion that is taught about this section of scripture... it has resulted in the destruction of our churches... the destruction of our culture... the destruction of morality... the destruction of life in the womb... and the celebration and protection of criminals and evil/ It all comes from the distortion of this section of scripture that I've picked as my third verse.

This verse is the foundation upon which everything else in the Bible is built on. So what is my verse? My verse is Genesis 1:1

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Just ten words. Very very powerful words. It seems so simple. It's overwhelming. But they're very important words. And they tell us a lot about who God is, and about who we are.

So when Chris is away... we're going to be studying Genesis. As I said, the first three messages... This is just an introduction, we're not going to get into scripture too much, because we've got an introduction of what Genesis is about. And why it is attacked so much. We'll talk about those things. And then we'll pick up when Chris goes on vacation and continue from then on.

This is the verse that Satan hates the most. I'm going to prove that. it is the most attacked section of scripture. And we'll see that you are being lied to and you may not even know it. And we'll talk about one of the most important theological questions that is answered in this verse.

So why is this verse so important ... actually all of Genesis 1 through 11... why is it so important?

When we studied Daniel several years ago I pointed out that Daniel is one of the most attacked books in the Bible. Why? Because Daniel includes so many specific prophecies... that were fulfilled within historical times, that it is humanly impossible for anybody to have written the book of Daniel. Only God could have written the book if Daniel. It had to come from God.

So when you read the book of Daniel you have to either accept it and know that God is real... and God is who He says He is... or you must totally deny Daniel and find some excuse... some way to show that Daniel's prophecies aren't really actual prophecies... that they're not true.

The most common approach to do that is, is to claim that the book of Daniel was written at some later time after those prophecies were fulfilled. Well that doesn't work. When we studied Daniel we saw that was very easy to refute. What they are saying is that Daniel wasn't writing prophecies, he was writing history. Well that's very easy to refute, but we're not going to spend time going down that rabbit trail today.

Just know that Daniel is a very important book. Probably on a scale of 1 to 10... 1 to 10, meaning ten meaning the most attacked book in the Bible, that Satan really goes after. One being no big deal. Daniel would rate around an 8 or 9. It's right up there as being a book they really try to tear down. But, there is one book, Cause if Daniel is true, there is a God. So you have to get rid of the book of Daniel. So if you want to deny God you have to deny Daniel. You must claim that Daniel's prophecies are not true prophecies.

So now we're talking about the first eleven chapters of Genesis. On our scale of one to ten, for the first eleven chapters of Genesis... let's see if I can rate this... Genesis is attacked... scale of one to ten... I would rate Genesis... I'm pretty tall I can reach up pretty high here. I rate... Genesis is probably about a hundred.

It is way, way over the top. Genesis is attacked like no other book. It's attacked in our entertainment... it's attacked in our media... the attacks are deeply embedded in our schools... actually starting in preschool and even before. Even in our churches Genesis is attacked... you can not get away from attacks on Genesis. And I'm going to show you that this morning.

And why? Because, Satan wants to destroy Genesis. If he can destroy Genesis 1 through 11, he has destroyed the truth of Daniel. He doesn't have to deal with Daniel. He doesn't need to attack Daniel. If the foundation of Genesis is destroyed, all of the Bible is destroyed.

If Genesis is just a myth story, then the rest of the Bible can also be a myth story... we get to decide. We can pick and chose what we like and what we don't like. What's a myth and what's not a myth. The Bible becomes really nothing. If Genesis isn't historical truth... we can make the Bible say whatever we want it to say... and that is exactly what happens.

So Genesis is important. All scripture is important. All scripture is the Word of God... but... Genesis provides the foundation, it's the foundation on which everything else rests.

So now... when you think about Genesis, what do you think of? What comes to mind right away? Well it's the creation vs. evolution debate. That's the big elephant in the room. You can't miss that. Except... that is the topic that is avoided in most churches. I attended a church where the pastor preached through Genesis, verse one all of the way to the end... never mentioned anything about God creating. Managed to avoid that entirely.

Why? Well... because you know there are a lot of people in our churches, a lot of Christians who believe in evolution. And we don't want to insult them and get them angry, and they're not going to come back to church, and they're not going to make any offerings, and our church will go away.

Well, that's not what we do here at Cannon Beach Bible Church. You came here today to hear what scripture says... and we always preach what scripture says.