Does God Exist? Series

Introduction: One of the biggest questions that people all over the world struggle with is God’s existence. Is God real? If God exists then why doesn’t He give us more evidence? Why doesn’t He just show Himself once and for all to everyone and be done with it? If God does exist what are the implications for my life? These are all questions we are going to be grappling with today.

A certain college student attended a philosophy class which had a discussion about God’s existence. The professor presented the following logic: “Has anyone in this class heard God?”Nobody spoke .”Has anyone in this class touched God?”Again, nobody spoke. “Has anyone in this class seen God? “When nobody spoke for the third time, he simply stated, “Then there is no God.” One student thought for a second, and then asked for permission to reply. Curious to hear this bold student’s response, the professor granted it, and the student stood up and asked the following questions of his classmates: “Has anyone in this class heard our professor’s brain?” Silence. “Has anyone in this class touched our professor’s brain?”Absolute silence. “Has anyone in this class seen our professor’s brain?”When nobody in the class dared to speak, the student concluded, “Then, according to our professor’s logic, it must be true that our professor has no brain!”

Over the past 10 years we’ve seen a rebirth of a kind of virulent atheism in the West; a neo-atheism that is intent on driving God from the public consciousness. Atheistic evangelists such as Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have all written best-sellers with titles like “God is Not Great,” “The God Delusion,” and “Letters to A Christian Nation.” So how do we respond to such ferocious attacks on the existence of God? We respond with truth. Jesus said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free (John 8:32). It is incumbent upon every believer to be able to offer a well reasoned defense of their faith.

“…Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet.3:15).

As believers we don’t have to check our brains in at the door. There is this connotation that Christians are simple-minded, uneducated, easily duped and given to superstition. But there are some very good intellectual reasons to believe in God. In fact some of the smartest people who ever lived believed in God (i.e., Copernicus, Galileo, Isaac Newton, Kepler, Descartes, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Ben Carson, Francis Collins, etc).

Transitional Sentence: Let’s examine some of the evidence for God’s existence.

1. Evidence from Natural Revelation.

“18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Rom.1:18-20).

This verse is telling us that what may be known about God has been made plain through His creation and that we have no excuse not to believe in Him. So let’s take a look at some of the natural evidence God has given us.

a. Cosmological Argument (Argument from Creation). The creation itself testifies that God exists. This world didn’t come into existence by itself. The Law of Causation states that everything that begins to exist must have a cause. Nothing exists without a cause. The universe began to exist therefore the universe must have a cause. The cause of the universe must transcend the universe and have great power. The Bible tells us that Yahweh is the Great Uncaused Cause behind the universe (Gen.1:1). Not only did He create the universe and everything in it but He sustains it by the word of His power (Heb.1:3).

b. Teleological Argument (Argument from Design). The design of the universe is so complex that it could not have possibly happened by chance. Since all design implies there is a designer then the universe must have a supremely intelligent being who designed it. The complexity of God’s creation is stunning. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork.” Think about this for a moment.

• Earth is just one small planet in a galaxy called the Milky Way. The Milky Way is just one small galaxy in a universe of billions of galaxies.

• The earth is spinning on its axis right now at over 1,000 miles per hour.

• One second of energy given off by the sun is 97 million times greater than the average electricity used each year in the U.S.