Why Should I believe in God?
Romans 1:18-32
The external testimony of Creation
The universe has a Beginner (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 19:1)
The universe has a Designer (Romans 1:18-20)
The internal testimony of our Conscious
Humans have a knowledge of God (Acts 17:24-28) (Romans 1:28)
Humans have a knowledge of right and wrong (Romans 2:14-15)
Slide
What would you say to someone if they asked you if God Existed?
Being that you are sitting in a church on a Sunday morning, I would imagine that the number would be close to 100%.
In America as a whole, according to a 2007 Newsweek poll, 91% of Americans believe that God exists.
Accessed 4/19/2009 at http://www.christianpost.com/Society/Polls_reports/2007/04/poll-9-of-10-americans-believe-in-god-nearly-half-rejects-evolution-02/index.html
But what would you say if they asked you how you know God existed?
That is a little tougher question to answer.
We can all give our opinion, but to support that opinion in some rational way is harder, especially when we are talking about God since He hasn’t too often made a physical appearance on the scene.
I am sure you have heard it said or perhaps even thought it yourself, “If God would just show Himself, then I would believe in Him.”
But while God may not have made a physical appearance in the last 2000 years, is there any other evidence that points to His existence that can be used to help others see that there really is a God?
How do we answer someone’s question
Why in the world Should I believe in God?
Slide
That is what we are going to look at this morning.
We are going to try and
see what God Himself has done to make Himself known to mankind and try and
help people to think about the implications of that evidence
so they might come to recognize the truth that there is a God, so that we can eventually help them see the truth that Jesus is God in the flesh and come to trust in Him.
We are going to begin in Romans 1:18-32 (p. 796)
Slide
Within this passage, Paul reveals some ways about how God has made himself known as he talks about God’s anger toward the things people do who turn away from Him and the knowledge of Him.
So, I want to read this passage and look at some specific things that Paul talks about that testify to the existence of God that everyone can see or know.
Let’s begin.
Romans 1:18-32
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For 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.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Paul speaks of a couple of things in these verses that testify to the existence of God that God himself has made available to all men.
The first is
The External Testimony of Creation
Slide
Romans 1:18-20
In the beginning verses of this section, Paul tells us that men can see evidence of God by what has been made (verse 20).
Now as we get started here, I want us to understand, that the Bible assumes God, it does not try to show that He exists, but we can deduce from the Bible many things that do support and testify to His existence.
And that is what we are tying to do today.
We are going to look at some particular passages of Scripture and deduce what would be true about God and look for that in reality.
So, Paul tells us that God’s existence is supported by the external testimony of Creation, that we can see evidence of Him in the things He has made, that He is the creator.
Now being a Creator of something implies at least a couple of things.
One that you began it and
Two you designed it, you thought about it, it wasn’t just random.
And that is what we see creation testify to.
Now, we are going to go into a lot more detail in 2 weeks when we talk about Creation vs. evolution, but we do see that
The external evidence of Creation…
testifies to the existence of God because
It reveals evidence of a Beginner
Slide
Romans 1:20 starts out saying, “For since the creation of the world…”
Genesis1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The Bible states that God began things, that he created the entire universe.
Does the Creation as we see it support the idea that all of what we see started at some point?
Yes it does. It does not even matter if you are an atheist or a believer in evolution.
You can look at the created universe through the science of astronomy and see that it is expanding and see that it had a beginning point.
Once you arrive at that conclusion, you have to acknowledge that if there was a beginning, then there was something or Someone that started things off.
On one website I visited that supports evolution says this about how life began:
“Speaking in general terms, life can only have come from one of two possible places:
• Spontaneous creation - Random chemical processes created the first living cell.
• Supernatural creation - God or some other supernatural power created the first living cell.”
How Stuff works. Info accessed on 4/16/2009 at http://science.howstuffworks.com/evolution/evolution11.htm
Now you tell me which is a greater leap of faith. Random chemical processes?
Where did the chemical’s come from?
What energy was making them move to create some process? S
pontaneous creation? Really. And this is science?
The universe has a beginning and it therefore has a Beginner. Christianity would say that that Beginner is an eternal God that was not caused but is the Creator of all things, including time.
The Evidence or creation points to a Beginner that stands outside of time and is in itself uncaused.
A worldview that holds a belief in God would say that God is that uncreated, uncaused being that began all things including time.
A worldview that wants to discount God, would say that it was some random force that spontaneously occurred that created time and space and everything we see.
Both of those views would require faith, because neither of those can be tested in a lab.
But this is not the only evidence from creation that testifies to God’s existence.
The external evidence of Creation…
Also testifies to the existence of God because
It reveals evidence of a Designer
Slide
Now this is different from a first cause, something that just started things out, because Design requires intelligence.
The Bible says God designed things
When we go back to the very beginning of the Bible, we read not only about a beginning and that God started things, but we see that He was active in designing things as well.
He created light and separated light from darkness (Genesis1:4)
He separated the waters to water and an atmosphere
He gathered dry land together in the midst of the waters
He created vegetation
He put the sun in its place and created the stars and the moon
He designed animal life into species
He designed man in His own image.
And God saw that it was all good.
This is what the Bible tells us in Genesis 1, that God not only began things in the universe, but that He designed them according to His liking, they were not random events, but the result of an Intelligent Designer.
Creation shows a Designer
But perhaps you have yet to believe the Bible. We will talk next week about that.
But in Creation, we see evidence of design and not just a randomness.
This universe we live in is not the result of a random set of circumstances that just happened to create a universe that has the ability to support life.
There are design elements all over the place.
The fact of the matter is that earth has so many unique circumstances and properties that are all present simultaneously that support the sustainability of life here.
Our solar system must be in a very narrow zone in the galaxy
Between spiral arms and not too close to the center nor too far.
The parent star must be larger than average and very steady in the output of energy.
Solar system must have a large Jupiter like planet with a nearly circular orbit to vacuum up most asteroids.
If it were an elliptical orbit, it would disrupt any small earthlike planet and make life impossible.
Must have a large moon, otherwise the planet’s axis will wobble and it’s climate would be unstable and unsuitable for life.
It must be in a narrow distance from the parent star where water can be in liquid form.
Info Accessed 4/17/2009 at http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/news/expandnews.cfm?id=352
These are just a few of the numerous fine details that when searched for in space, seem to be quite rare. These details must all exist simultaneously with very little room for adjustment for life to be present.
This evidence indicates design instead of just something random and supports the evidence for an intelligent Designer in the creation process.
This doesn’t even take into account the design elements in the life that does exist.
We are going to talk more about that in 2 weeks as well, but when we stop and consider the laws of the universe, the mathematical design built into so many things within the universe, the design of human life, the intracacies of our life systems, such as the respiratory system, the reproductive system, etc.
The created world in space as well as in the smallest details support evidence for a Divine Designer.
Maybe you are not all that into science.
Just take a look around.
Picture slides
Look at the beauty of the created world.
The night sky
A sunset on the water
The colors of fall
If we stop just for a moment and think of how this beauty could be random chance, it boggles my mind.
Cycle through remaining picture slides while I read the next 2 verses
Romans 1:20
20 For 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.
Psalm 19:1-2
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
Creation shows evidence of Design and therefore a Divine Intelligent Designer.
But not only is there the external evidence of Creation, there is also
The Internal Testimony of our Conscience
Slide
How does the fact that we have a conscience testify to the fact that there is a God?
It testifies to the existence of God because
Mankind has a knowledge of God
Slide
First, the Scripture confirms this.
In the first chapter of Romans, Paul writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in
Romans 1:28 - since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
Paul tells us that there were people who did not retain the knowledge of God, the knowledge that He gives each human.
Well it doesn’t appear that everyone believes in God.
Not everyone does. Those who don’t have turned away from Him and their hearts became hard.
Romans 1:21-23
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
That we even think of God
But the fact that any humans, let alone a large part of the human race would believe in a God of some sort lends support to the fact that there is a God because it is not something that man would come up with on his own.
Wouldn’t life be easier, in regards to the life we live in this world, to live without belief in some God who is watching over us?
I mean we could do whatever we want without fear of our conscience hindering us.
We could pursue personal pleasure as our highest priority.
But we don’t see that. Why?
I believe it is because in our consciences we know there is a God, even if
we don’t want to think about Him,
we don’t want to be accountable to Him,
we don’t want Him to interfere in our lives.
The fact of the matter is that deep inside us, we have a knowledge that He is there and we are going to have to answer to Him.
I would say that those who claim to be atheists are those who have rejected the knowledge that God has placed within them, because they believe that they should be able to understand everything, and nobody can completely understand God.
Isaiah 55:8-9
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
So Mankind has a knowledge of God, even if there are those who choose to resist that knowledge that he has placed within us.
Not only that, but
Mankind has a knowledge of right and wrong
Slide
This too gives evidence that there is a God.
In the next chapter of Romans, chapter 2, as Paul is speaking of judgment, he tells us that even those who do not follow a written law, have a law written on their hearts.
Romans 2:14-15
14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)
I could walk into any society in the world and kill someone for no reason and there would be consequences to my actions.
I could spend time in any society in the world and after learning their language, lie to them without reason all the time and there would be consequences to my actions.
That is because there are certain things that are considered universally wrong.
In societies across the world, in cultures that are very different, there are some absolutes even though we may differ in practice.
That is because God has written certain moral truths upon our hearts, just as Paul wrote.
Rejection of God perverts our consciences
Now, as we reject God, those moral truths become perverted and hard to discern.
This is what accounts for one person thinking killing someone is ok and another person thinking it is not.
And it is the rejection of God that has led to suffering and evil in the world, not that there is not a God.
God created the world in perfection and one day, we will return to that perfect state.
Sin has perverted life and brought into this world death and suffering.
Well if there is a God, can’t He just end suffering?
Listen, God has brought into creation a world that will most glorify Him out of all the worlds He could have created.
He could have created a world where nobody had choice, but that world would not have brought Him as much glory as a world where people can choose to obey Him, or choose to follow Him. But you can’t have choice without the ability to choose not to follow.
It is in that choice not to follow, sin in its most basic sense, that has brought all suffering and death into the world. To eliminate suffering and death would mean to eliminate choice and the lack of choice does not glorify the Lord.
But there is hope.
Even in the midst of all of our poor and sinful choices, God has glorified Himself by providing a way for
our sins to be forgiven and
relationship to be restored and
suffering and death defeated.
His incredible love and His infinite Justice were satisfied in sending His own Son to pay the price for our sins so that we once again have the opportunity to return into relationship with the Father and will one day experience the eternal glory in which He first created this world.
To me this is just a further evidence that God exists, because nobody would come up with a story like this, a story where we could do nothing to get ourselves out of our bad situation.
Man would come up with a man made scenario to escape suffering and death.
God exists and He revealed himself through His creation so we could know there is a God.
And He has revealed Himself in a special way through His Son and His word so that we can know not only that there is a God, but what He is like and how much He loves us and How we can be restored to relationship with Him and be saved from the eternal death and suffering that our sin deserves.
That is through Jesus Christ.
It is my hope that as we go through this series, if you are a skeptic, that God might be able to use the evidence that He has provided to help you know Him by putting your trust in Jesus Christ as Savior.
We are going to pray and if you would like to know more about Jesus Christ or receive Him as your Savior, we will have people up near the front ready to pray with you for any need you may have.
Let’s pray.
