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What should a person believe? What is okay to believe? You examine the world today. There are a tremendous amount of teachings geared towards who God is, whether there even is a God, and to the possibility of even knowing truth. This morning we’re going to begin a journey called believe. We’re going to investigate through the next few weeks, the core foundation of what the early church believed. The early church had a belief that was so strong that for the first three centuries that Christianity existed after the death of Jesus, they faced tremendous persecution, and without fear they were led to a martyr’s death. For the first 300 years that Christianity existed before the legalization of Christianity by Constantine, 150 years of those 300 years were under extreme persecution, where if you told people you knew Jesus, you could very well lose your head. And yet the early church did, to the point that today we quote, the blood of the martyrs was the seat of the church. What foundation did they rest upon that gave them such security in their faith? Even at the face of death, they could walk into it without any fear. What should a person believe? Do you know why you believe what you believe? Or do you believe in anything at all? Regardless of where you are in that spectrum, these next few weeks will help us as a family begin to investigate what this God is all about.
Who is Jesus? Is all of this really dependable and can I place my faith upon it? Maybe at some point in your life you find yourself a lot like me. You wanted to know who God was, didn’t really know how to begin. But as you begin to look at the lives of other people who claim to follow God, it gave you such a sour taste in your mouth that although you knew on the inside that a God may exist in this world, you were very dissatisfied with the people who pointed you towards him and so rejected God altogether. My encouragement to you throughout this series would be not to look at one another, but to simply begin this investigation for yourself. Is there a God? Is he knowable? Because if he is, it should change our lives. If you’re a believer and you’re here this morning, the Bible gives you a certain amount of responsibility and the nobility of God as you grow in that relationship with him. How do you know that God exists? How? This morning do we know that God exists? Tells us in Genesis chapter one, in the very beginning, before you even begin to pour throughout Scripture, the assumption of the existence of God is poured forth and never tells us or explains to us where this God came from, how he came into existence, how to really know about him. It just assumes and presumes for us that there is a God.
If you’re a believer this morning, it tells you in first Thessalonians 521 to prove all things and hold fast to that which is right or good. And first Peter 315 always be ready to make a defense to anyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. But when you do it, do it with gentleness and reverence. Some people today reject altogether the existence of God, so much so that by theologians the 20th century has been referred to as the century of atheism. And when you begin to examine biblical Christianity, there are two ways that Scripture identifies for us to prove the existence of God under two spectrums. We’ll begin to investigate in the weeks ahead, but the first is under general revelation through God’s creation. Can he be made known to us? Further on in this week, we’ll begin to identify just the special revelation God has given to us through His Word and through Jesus. Under those two spectrums, will we come to know God’s Word as trustworthy, will come to know who who Jesus truly is. But in both spectrums of general revelation and special revelation will come to understand that yes, there is a God. Yes, we can know him, and yes, we can grow with him. Today, when we look at this general revelation, there’s three questions that I want to primarily focus on for us this morning.
One, how do we know God exists? Two where did God come from? And if there is a God. Three. How do we explain evil in the world? If we were to pick up our Bible and just begin to read from the very beginning, the very first verse, it says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. From the very first chapter of the first verse of the Bible, we have great conflict and division among people, and whether or not they choose to accept or reject God. Does he exist or doesn’t he? If you reject the existence of God from the very outset, the Bible just won’t make any sense to you at all. But how do we know that God exists? Point number one this morning that I want to point out to us that comes from the chapter of Genesis one is the underlying word created. Created in Hebrew means literally out of nothing. There was this nothingness. There was God. There was this nothingness that existed. And from this nothingness, God brought forth life. Regardless of what belief you hold to in this world. A cause always has an effect. Popular. Popular. Contrary teaching to what Scripture declares to us that God formed out of nothing is evolution. You examine the claims of evolution. At some point there becomes great conflict and understanding the beginning of all existence, because out of nothing had to come something.
Even in the realm of evolution, when we begin to form or things begin to evolve into creation, you have to ask yourself, in the most simplest elements of evolving, where did those basic elements come from? Something had to come from nothing. Who created it. The Bible tells us in the beginning, the one who created something out of nothing was God. It goes on and reflects to us throughout Scripture, not found in Genesis chapter one. It begins to describe the the beauty and the glory of God being evident to us through his creation. After Genesis one, we find that God did create and Psalm chapter eight, Psalm 19, Romans chapter one. All the authors of those books begin to share with us how God’s creation reflects to us and displays to us his glory. The universal design displays an intelligent designer. The universe is designed with intelligent order. God sort of had this idea in mind when we looked upon creation as human beings walking this earth, we would begin to reflect upon such a glorious creator. In Psalm 19 and verse one, it says, the heavens declare the glory of God, hold on to those. That phrase for just a moment, because it’s going to become very important to us in the following slides. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech. Night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech. They use no words.
No sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth. Their words to the ends of the world. The intelligent design of the world reflects an intelligent designer. If you were to consider just for a moment the glory of God’s hand creating, and to think about the earth and all of its beauty, if we were to go beyond the earth, we would find, depending on whether or not you want to say, Pluto as a planet. Today I vote he’s in the sun. Three rocks back from the sun. Us this morning and on it continues into nine planets. Pluto. Sticking with it. Look at the magnitude of the sun in comparison to the Earth. The sun and the nine planets that make up our solar system that we are aware of and learning about in grade school. But next. What about the galaxy? Our galaxy. It’s referred to as the Milky Way. Do you know that the scientists say that within the galaxy, there are somewhere between 200 to 400 million stars and over 50 billion planets that make up the Milky Way? Where are we in this Milky Way? Well. Right there. If I were to show you. If you could just take, like, the head of a pin and just maybe pop it on that little arrow that’s pointing to the to the sun. Remember how big the sun was in comparison to the Earth? We can’t even see the sun in comparison to the Milky Way that is the galaxy in which we live.
But what really blows my mind as we examine the galaxy is that the galaxy isn’t all that there is to the universe. Scientists still have no idea how many galaxies are out there, but they estimate it’s somewhere between 200 billion to 500 billion galaxies that exist. The heavens declare the glory of God. Night after night, they sing forth his praise. Intelligent design reflects an intelligent designer. There is order to this world, and that order reflects a creator. We examine just the details of this organization. Even upon planet Earth. Everything is dependent upon something else to produce life and which is formed here on Earth. All of it interwoven and intertwined, as if an intelligent designer created it. There was a man by the name of William Paley who thought about the existence of God. The story goes, one day he was walking along a sidewalk, and upon the sidewalk he saw a watch placed upon the sidewalk. And he had just a simple thought. There is a watch here. And the way that watch got here is that a watchmaker designed it, and upon designing it, someone dropped it. And the evidence goes as follows. Throughout our life, if you see a watch, it was formed by a watchmaker. If you see a picture drawn on a refrigerator, it was likely drawn by a child.
If you see the model model of a Lego, maybe dad got a hold of him, but a person designed it, right? The clothes you wear, designed by a seamstress. The the mail you pick up in your mailbox was placed there by a mailman. Written by an individual. A skyscraper designed by an architect. This world created by God. Thank you. Jacob. Order and design reflects an intelligent designer. It’s interesting to me. For the last 150 years, science has been hijacked by a form of teaching that denies the existence of God. But when science first began it. It began in the enlightenment period through a group of Christians. The idea went as follows. God created all of this. If we were to scientifically examine it in more detail, what it would allow us to do as people is come to know God better in our lives. Within the last few decades, science has now begun to take a turn back to a theos, a God creation. Today, it’s believed and estimated that over 90% of astronomers believe in God. Doctor Robert Jastrow, one of the world’s greatest astronomers, is the founder and director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA. In his book God and the astronomers, he says the strange developments are going on in astronomy. One of these was the discovery of the universe, and that it had a beginning. And that means that there was and had to be a beginner.
Scientists have scaled the mountains of ignorance. We’re about to conquer the highest peak. And as we pull ourselves over the final rock, we are greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries. The great astronomer Pierre de Laplace said the evidence for God, as opposed to the evidence against him as the creator of this universe, is as infinity to one. It could not be measured. In the 1990s, there was a book written. It was considered one of the greatest and monumental scientific books written at its time. 60 Nobel notables. Excuse me 60 notable scientists helped compose this book. 24 of them were Nobel Prize winners. The title of the book, cosmos Bios and Theos in English means universe, life, and God. The co-editor editor of the book, Yale physicist and Nobel Laureate Professor Henry Margenau, concludes this there is only one convincing answer for the intricate laws that exist in nature. Creation by an omnipotent, omniscient God. The order of the universe displays to us an intelligent designer, and in displaying to us an intelligent designer reminds us that yes, life has a purpose. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16 four, the Lord has made everything for its own purpose. The complexity of the structure of the earth displays no random accident. Its intricate details of relying upon other created things designed for interdependency in life is by no accident, because the universe has order and it has purpose.
The world was created with levels of order, causing one thing to depend upon another. If you think about just the structure of the Earth itself, if it were 10% smaller, if it were 10% larger, it couldn’t sustain life. If the Earth were any closer or further from the sun, it couldn’t sustain life. If the earth were tilted at 20, the earth were tilted at 23 degrees. It would not tolerate the health, healthy life before the sun. It would create polar ice caps on the top and and became the the equator become incapable of bearing the heat. Even the moon itself. Without the moon, the Earth wouldn’t survive. The moon creates the tides. The tides create the waves in the ocean without the waves in the ocean. The ocean would become one large stench pool. Without those waves in the ocean. Creating the oxygen for the animals to to to breathe. The first thing that would die would be the plankton. The plankton, being the lowest on the totem pole, also begins all of life within the ocean, and the the life of the ocean would die and with it would go the earth. Random chaos does not bring the order of the galaxies, but an intelligent designer does. The order of the universe reminds us that there is a purpose, perhaps even in our own lives, the the point of life when we realize that there is more to life as seen in death.
Have you ever been in a time of crisis and the depth of your soul? Seeing a loved one pass away. Going through such pain and anguish that your soul and your spirit tells you that this is not the way things should be. God created us for life. When you read through the entire Bible, you find that we call it the Book of Life. God is a God of life. When God created us, he didn’t intend for death to exist, but man rejected him and death reigned. And when we go to a funeral, we’re faced with tremendous crisis, and we stare death in the face. Our soul aches because we know internally we were not intended to experience death. But when sin reigns, so did death. It tells us in First Corinthians 1556, the sting of death is sin and the time of crisis. We find what we truly believe as our soul cries out for the loved ones that have passed on. For you. Read in revelation chapter 21. Verses three and four reminds us that God, though sin reigns currently, God will come back one day as a triumphant warrior and defeat all pain, all sorrow, and all death. Death was never intended for our soul to experience, and so when death happens, it is a grievous thing on behalf of our lives. As we experience the loss of another without a God, life has no meaning.
Without a god, death should not affect us. But on the inside we we know it does. A moral, intelligent being cannot be explained apart from a moral, intelligent God. Especially when you begin to consider, consider the immaterial parts of man. Matter itself, or the evolution of matter into human beings doesn’t have the ability to be intellectual, to think, to plan, to have emotions, morals, or even drawn to the desire to worship. But if you look at man, the Bible tells us that what should be evident in our lives is the fingerprint of God says in Genesis 126, let us make man in our own image. God is talking. Genesis two seven then the Lord God formed man out of the dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. God’s spirit breathed into our spirit, creating for us life. And in so doing, the immaterial part of us as human beings should reflect the identity of God. See, God is the explanation for our spiritual longing within our souls. The Bible tells us in Psalm 139 and verse 14, I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. And the best part? My soul knows it very well. Your soul draws to worship something greater than yourself, because God created you for something greater than yourself. Do you realize in life it is impossible not to put your faith in something, whether it be you, whether it be a higher being.
It is impossible to live your life not putting your faith in something you were created to worship. Let me give you an illustration of how we know anyone. Ever been to the Grand Canyon, or the ocean, or the sand dunes? I don’t like the sand dunes, but pick your place for a minute if you’re not. If you’re from the east, like me and you moved west, the mountains are still captivating to me. But you think about those moments where you stood on the precipice of something more glorious than you, and that moment of all. Did you stop and say, man, I’m so glad all of this randomly happened. This was a great roll of dice. Or do you stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon and look down and say, man, I know there’s a hole there, but look at that arm, that tan. It is great. I am so good looking, I am incredible. No. Do you know why? Because God has instilled in you the desire to worship, to have faith, and to reflect upon things which are glorious, and to have those awful moments in which your breath is taken away by things greater than you are. When we look at pictures of the Milky Way and we see us and we just feel so small in this world.
Wow. And when we stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon, the reason my thoughts don’t go to me and all my problems. And I just reflect over that glorious sight. I say, wow, God not only has created me fearfully and wonderfully, God has created all of this fearfully and wonderfully, and my soul knows it very well. God explains your spiritual longing. God also explains our pursuit for just positive emotions. But the fruit of the spirit, the things in God that draw us to the the goodness, its its love, its joy, its peace, patience, kindness and gentleness these things were drawn to who told us these emotions were supposed to be what were drawn to his people? It’s because we’re created in God’s image and God reflects in his nature these good things. What about our morals? See, in the book of revelation, it’s talking about a local church, referring to her as a female. It says I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her, of her immorality. Think about how God explains our morals. God, in even giving us the opportunity to repent, suggest to us that we have an internal knowledge with our inner being of what is right and what is wrong? I mean, when you were born, who had to come and tell you that good should win over evil when you’re drawn to go watch movies in the theater.
Why is it you cheer for the movies in which John Wayne gets the bad guys? Who told you that was good? Who told you that was entertaining? I mean, could you imagine if we just flip flop all themes of movies? And in the end, every bad guy won. We’d walk out so depressed and never go to the theater again, would we? After a while, we just couldn’t take it anymore. Where did that inclination and idea of good triumphing over evil come within your life? There was a man who did a study going around to all tribal groups within the world, trying to investigate. Is there a group that exists that doesn’t have a sense of morality? Is there a group that exists that doesn’t have an idea of any being higher than themselves? Upon his investigation, he found out no. Every people group within the world reflect upon a higher being. Every people group within a world have a sense of right and wrong, a moral compass within them, God given. God explains the ability for us to think, to plan, to dream, to mature, to progress. When you look in Genesis chapter one and verse 28, where did all these ideas of even dreaming come from? How can matter even begin to dream? How can matter think and plan for the future? But it tells us in Genesis 128, When God created you in his image, he said, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
Do you know why you get depressed when you’re not being productive? Because God created you to be productive. Ephesians chapter two and verse ten says, he created us for good works. God created you as a being to reflect his nature and we as people fail to do so. We have those feelings of negativity. We feel empty inside, like our purpose isn’t good enough and depressed that we’re not accomplishing whatever it is that we’re supposed to accomplishing, maybe not realizing that God has created us to do so. God is the only explanation for how we as people think, how we as people seek to progress, to plan, to grow, and to love and rejecting God. We come up with several fundamental problems for the existence of us as people. We can’t, without God explain how something came from nothing. You’ll have to explain how nothing of intelligence made a universe of intelligence. You’ll have to explain how the unintelligent design of chaos created a sustaining purpose and order in this world. I would say for things that we’ve seen in the multiple galaxies that exist, you’ve got a better shot of a tornado ripping through a junkyard and creating a 747 jet. Then you do this universe coming into existence.
Without a god, how can matter create immaterial parts to produce a being with a soul, a conscience of feelings of morals, or a desire to worship, to stand in moments of awe as he sits upon the precipice of the canyons. If you reject God, you deny a purpose to an organized world. Why organize something of such great, beautiful design and intellectual complexity without no long term purpose? Without God, life becomes meaningless. Without God, death becomes meaningless. When it comes to scientific reasoning, you have to explain how modern science is now beginning to reject the idea of evolution and accept the idea of intelligent design. Even if you’ve recently saw the movie conducted by Ben Stein called expelled, it goes through scientific reasoning of the existence of God that’s not able to be taught within public schools today. If you don’t believe in a God, possibility is you believe in evolution. One final thought I would just throw out to Kerry is if you believe in the idea of evolution, you have explaining to do as to how you’re not racist. Think about that for just a moment. Historically, if you study the great communist leaders in history who caused World War two, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler. Do you know and realize that both of those men were believed in evolution? They clung to the teachings of Charles Darwin. Do you know why Adolf Hitler began to massacre the Jewish people? They hadn’t evolved into the supreme race.
Do you know how slavery existed in America? Looking at people less as human beings. The idea of evolution teaches, at its very core, racism. People aren’t equal. Some have evolved more greatly than others. In America, we don’t like to hear that, do we? Created equal is what we stand for. There is a God to the idea of the universe through the details of man and his complexity. With the fingerprint of God, it can be seen. Night after his praise goes forth, his glory is declared through his creation. It tells us. But if God created this world. Great question to ask where did God come from? You ever wonder that if God started all of this? Where was God’s beginning? How to remind us this morning that if God created all this, one of the things that we can’t do is define God through his creation. We look at all of creation, all that God has designed. We seek to define him through things that exist. God and His Word even does that for us. God is both immanent. He’s personal in our lives, but he’s also transcendent. He can’t always be defined or understood. For instance, if I were to say to us, God is eternal, we can’t always grasp what eternal means because we ourselves have no definition of eternality other than the word stated. We are eternal. We have a beginning, but God doesn’t.
And sometimes in the idea of his creation, it reflects who God is. And other times when we try to confine him to his creation, we get an inappropriate definition of who God is. And we can’t always define him within the world in which we live. Everything we see in creation came into existence, and therefore we conclude that all of it has a beginning. Nothing exists on this earth that was not made. However, we can’t conclude God’s works the same way as created things because God is not defined to this world like the things that he created. He is the creator, which means he is to be separate from his creation in order to create it, in order to exist. To come into existence. What you need is a is a particular time in which your existence began, a place in which you came from, and a creator in which who gives you life. When it comes to God’s existence, this is the way the Bible defines it. If you open up your New Testament to the Gospels and one of the very first Gospels, or, excuse me, the last gospel that you read in the New Testament, it says, in the beginning was the word referring to Jesus, and the word was with God, and the word was God. In the beginning, God. If you open up to Genesis chapter one, what you find is in the beginning God. Not that God has a beginning, but God is the beginning tells us in in Psalms 90 and verse two.
From everlasting to everlasting you are God. Without a point of origin. To begin, God has no beginning. He simply is. In order for something to have a beginning, it must have a time to exist. However, before something could be created, time must have been designed for something to have a beginning. Who started time so that things could exist? The answer is God. He has always been. If you were to read further into creation, it tells us in Genesis chapter one, in the beginning God created, created literally out of nothing. God has no time in which he could come into existence. God has no place in which he could be from, because there before God was nothing until he created. Do you realize this? Follow this line of thinking for a moment. The idea, just the concept or idea of being able to create nothing could be created until the idea of creating came into existence. Who formulated the idea to create before things could be created? Something had to. And out of nothing God made it tells us in Colossians 116, referring to Jesus, For by him all things were created. For by him both in the heavens and the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. Meaning before everything in this world that we know, everything that we don’t know existed, God is.
Third, a creator to come from says in Isaiah 4310, before me there was no God, and there will be none after me. Isaiah 44 and verse six, there is no God besides me. Isaiah is writing to a people group who have accepted several gods in which they worship. And and he’s got this great cause within the chapters of Isaiah, the very end of Isaiah. And he’s sharing with the people. There is no other God but God. There is no God before him. There is no God after him. He is God and God alone. God has no time to exist, no place to exist, no creator to create him. He simply is. So where did God come from? The conclusion God did not come from somewhere because there was nowhere to come from. There was no time created for anything to come into existence until God made it. There was no place from which to be made until God made it. There was no greater being for which to design him, because God is it. Moses came before God, and Exodus chapter three God appeared to him, and Moses said, when I go back to the nation of Israel, he’s in the desert away from the nation of Israel, who’s under persecution and slavery in Egypt. And he says, when I go back to my people after you’ve had this conversation with me, who do I tell these people that sent me? I mean, what am I going to say to them? God simply says in Exodus 314, tell them I am has sent you.
Not that he was, not that he will be, but he is always in the moment. If you go back to all eternity, God is. If you go as far into the future as your mind could possibly fathom, God is. He is not defined by time. He rests outside of the realm of time. God simply, always and forever will be. Jesus comes in John chapter eight and verse 58. And the Jews are asking him to define who he is. And this is what Jesus says. He says to them, truly, truly, I say to you, this means this is the truth I’m about to tell you. Before Abraham was, I am. The same Old Testament name given to Yahweh is now given to Jesus, Elohim, Yahweh, Jehovah, whatever you want to call him, he is the great I am. You know what the Jewish response was to Jesus making the statement, if you were to read the next two verses in this chapter, they picked up stones to kill him because they understood the claims that Jesus was making. Jesus is committing blasphemy against God by referring to himself as the eternal existing God, who always is and always will be. The conclusion where did God come from? The answer is God is asking, where did God come from? Is seeking to define God through his creation.
Everything that we see has a beginning because it has a point in time from which to come and has a place of origin from which to begin, and a creator who can make it. But asking where did God come from is like asking what color, what the color blue smells like. It’s like asking, what does darkness taste like? Or what kind of car is Henry Ford? It’s like placing an object on a tape measure to determine its weight. Or placing an object on a scale to determine its length. God isn’t defined within his creation as to his existence, because God is separate and apart from his existence. God didn’t begin. God is. So if we have a God and he’s always existed, next question we should ask is how then do we handle evil? Where did evil come from? It’s been said by philosophers, and at one point in history, a teacher stood before his young students in class and he said, do you believe that God made everything? Of which the class remarked, yes, we believe that God made everything. The atheistic teacher then responded, If God created everything and evil then exists, then God must be an evil God. That day in that classroom, there happened to be a brilliant young genius sitting in that class, and he stood up before the teacher and the class.
His name was Albert Einstein. And he said to his teacher, teacher, do you believe? Do you believe in cold? And the teacher remarked, yes, of which Einstein responded, well, cold really doesn’t exist. It’s just the absence of heat. Teacher, do you believe in darkness? Which the teacher said? Yes. Einstein responded, darkness really doesn’t exist. It’s just the absence of light. Teacher. Do you believe in evil? The teacher responded, yes. Evil is real, but it’s just the absence of God. God does not create evil, though he temporarily permits. It tells us in second Peter three nine, God is long suffering, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. Do you know why evil is here in this world today? It’s not because of God. It’s because of us. The Bible tells us that God created human beings, or God created creatures with free will. God is love, and he created something in which could respond and reflect to his love. In fact, the greatest command in the Bible says to love the Lord your God with all your heart and God, being a loving God, responded with creating a creature who could respond in loving him back. But in choosing to give us the ability to love, he’s given us the ability to not love. Because love can exist without the ability not to love. God created us with free will for the ability to love him.
But what happened is man rejected him. Evil comes into existence when God’s creatures reject him. It says in Isaiah chapter 14, one of the very first creature that God’s designed here is Lucifer. Satan, the most beautiful angel to ever exist in all of his creation, in charge of music in heaven. It says this is a response of what Lucifer did before God. But you said, Lucifer, in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High. Nevertheless, you’ll be thrust down into Sheol to the recesses of the pit. Evil comes into existence in this world as God’s creatures reject God. When God created Lucifer, it tells us in Isaiah 14, his goal was to make himself like the Most High to become like God. You think that would have been enough to learn a lesson? But when you turn to Genesis chapter three, the serpent who is Satan is now found again in the Garden of Eden. And guess what lie he shares with our parents, Adam and Eve? Serpent said to the woman, you surely will not die. For God knows that in the day you eat from it, eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.
Evil comes into existence not because God is an evil God, but because he created creatures of their own free will and in creating creatures of their own free will, when we choose to reject him, evil is present because all good things originate from God Himself and choosing to reject God. Sin reigns in this world. Romans chapter one. Reflecting on the existence of God, Paul writes, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power, his divine nature have been clearly seen. God is seen through creation, being understood, though what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks. But they became futile in their speculation, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing, I like this, I see this a lot. When we reject God professing to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the Grand Canyon. For of the incorruptible God, for an image in the form of corruptible man, and of birds and four footed animals and crawling creatures. It’s as if we’re looking at God and saying, God, you don’t exist. This is all we’ve got, guys. Let’s just look around and have fun with what we have in this world, because that’s all it has to offer. And therefore, this is what God does. God gave them over into the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among themselves.
For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator. Verse 24 God allows us the freedom of our decision. He looks at us as we reject him, and having our own free will can’t force us to love him. He displays his glory. He displays his hand. He explains his existence. He shares with us how evil came into this world which should propel us closer to God, not further away. And yet man continues to turn their back on him. And God, knowing his desire for us to love him freely, it says he’s not willing for any to perish, but for all come to repentance. And God, being the gentleman that he is, says, okay, have it your way. The message of the existence of God is important because not believing in God is a tragedy of the utmost utmost to the existence of man. W Sanders wrote in the American magazine. I would like to introduce you to one of the most loneliest and unhappiest individuals on earth. I am talking about a man who does not believe in God. I can introduce you to such a man because I myself am one. You know, it’s a great victory for Satan and even in our own depravity, a great victory from Satan. If he can convince us that there is no God. Because in so we are robbed of all of life’s meaning and purpose.
It’s a great victory from Satan if he can keep us from responding to who God is. In light of himself revealing to himself to us as his creatures. But in the end, I could argue all day to prove to people the scientific reasoning for the existence of God. But the truth is, according to Romans chapter one, God holds us without excuse. Maybe you’re like me, and you’ve made the mistake of letting the dissatisfaction of other people claiming to follow after God put such a sour taste in your mouth for who God is, that you’ve rejected him altogether, but internally, knowing that yes, he does exist. Dm Maurice responds to that. To that excuse, he says, if a man rejects God, it’s not because of science, and reason requires them to. It’s simply because he wants to. Romans chapter one is written in our Bible, not because God desires for us to simply recognize that he’s there. God desires for us to recognize that he’s there, and for it to begin to change our life. And rather than worship the creature, we acknowledge the creator. I like verses found in James chapter two. You believe that God is one. Maybe we should insert big deal because you do well. But even so, the demons also believe and shudder. Demons believe there’s a God. Satan himself knows there is a God. Knowing there is a god isn’t enough in itself.
It’s that knowing there is a God and following after him begins to allow us to be changed the way that God desires. Believers this morning. This message, I know, isn’t necessarily an emotional life changer as much as it is an intellectual life changer. But here’s what’s important for us when we recognize in Corinthians chapter ten and verse four, the weapons we fight are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. Maybe for the time being in this room we could think I’m on a on a precipice right now, and I’m. And I’m wondering if God even exists because my life has been such turmoil. I’m just questioning who he is and if he’s really there. Or maybe yourself. You’ve acknowledged in your life that there is a God and you’ve gotten to a point of certain, a certain amount of uncertainty to define him. Or maybe you can reflect on people in your lives who don’t know him. And and maybe the reason they choose not to know him is because they’ve been burnt out on so many beliefs and so much garbage that’s thrown into this world by people who claim to know who God is. Well, the Bible says in Corinthians ten four, these people are trapped in strongholds, but the weapons that we fight with and knowing God demolishes those strongholds. Verse five.
We demolish arguments in every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Do you see the captivating thought of this verse? It’s as if it’s saying to us as Genesis chapter one and verse one, if you are to begin on the foundation of everything that God starts, it begins with the knowledge of God. The fear of the Lord, it tells us in Proverbs three is the beginning of all knowledge. This morning, while we lay before us as the foundational pillar to understanding the early church, what is it they believed that gave them such courage to stand in all opposition? It begins with yes, Virginia, there is a God. The question we ask ourselves today isn’t, Is God just simply knowledgeable in your head? Do you have the knowledge of God in your head? But is is that knowledge of God affecting your heart in such a way that you are changed through knowing him? Is there a difference between who you are apart from God and who you are now with God? Can you reflect back on your life and see now acknowledging his position over you, that you are different? This morning, we’ve just seen a very broad view of the general revelation that there is a God. In the weeks ahead, we’ll be able to define the existence of God, more so through the special revelation of His Word in Jesus. Examine your life this morning and ask yourselves in light of God, is there a difference in me? Let’s close in a word of prayer.