GodQuest Series
How can I know if God exists?
Romans 1:18-32
The external testimony of Creation
The universe has a Beginner (Romans 1:20; Genesis 1:1; Psalm 19:1)
The universe has a Designer (Romans 1:18-20; Genesis 1)
The internal testimony of our Conscience
Mankind has a knowledge of God (Acts 17:24-28) (Romans 1:28)
Mankind has a knowledge of right and wrong (Romans 2:14-15)
Slide
Good Morning. Welcome to Hickory Creek.
I am so glad you are here today as we begin a new series called GodQuest.
Series Intro
In this quest, we will be seeking to ask and answer questions that will help us know for ourselves and be able to communicate to others, answers to some of life’s most deep felt questions in regards to God that we have most likely thought at one time or another and that our society has asked and continues to ask
How can I know if God exists?
Can I trust the Bible as God’s word?
If there is a loving God, why is their evil and suffering?
What about the evidence for evolution in contrast to the creation account in the Bible?
And is Jesus really the only way? Can’t there be other ways?
We will be looking to answer all of these over the coming weeks, but this morning, we are going to begin with a place that we must start to truly answer the other questions.
Sermon Intro
How can I know God exists?
Slide
Now some people just seem to know and believe God exists, while others don’t believe there is a God at all.
Is there any evidence that we can look at to discern if there truly is a God, or is it just something you have to believe or not believe?
How can we know the truth regarding if there is a God or not?
Now this morning, we are going to look into God’s word and seek to see if what He says about knowing Him is true. Maybe, however, you say, well I don’t believe in God, so why would I trust His word?
Well, this morning, it is not as if you have to trust it, but we want to test what it tells us against what we find in Real life.
Turn with me to Romans 1:18-32
Slide
Here we are going to learn of some evidence that God tells us that points to Him and that He has given us so that men can know of his existence. Not only that we are going to see in these passages what happens when we refuse to believe the evidence He has given us.
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.
Pray
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
Paul tells us in Romans 1:19-20 that “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.
God has made his existence plain to men by the things He has created.
He tells us that in His word, but the question we must ask is
How does creation testify to the existence of God?
Well, creation implies a couple of things.
First, creation implies a creator. If you created something, that something wasn’t there before, so there must be a beginning and for there to be a beginning, there must be a Beginner.
And that is one of the things we see that the external evidence of creation testify to.
Creation reveals evidence of a Beginner
Slide
The Bible states that God began things, that he created the entire universe.
Genesis1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
But, science also affirms that there was a beginning to the universe as well, that it started at some point.
Expansion in the universe
Through observing the universe, Scientists and astronomers see that there is some kind of expansion going.
When they work backwards from the expansion they observe, everything comes back to a point, an infinitesimally small point, and many will say that at this point, things started with a “Big Bang.”
But the problem for those who do not want to acknowledge God is – How did that start? What was the cause of putting things into motion?
You can’t acknowledge a beginning without a beginner. Things don’t just go from a state of nonexistence to a state of existence and motion without some force or energy or first cause that will put it in motion.
Newton’s Laws of motion tell us that a body at rest stays at rest unless it is acted on by some external force.
Now to the believer in God, this is not so confounding. We would believe that an eternal, uncreated God is the Beginner, the one who created the heavens and the earth.
That doesn’t seem like such a great leap of faith when we look at the evidence of a beginning.
But there are those who do not want to believe in God, who start with the assumption that it cannot be God, so it must be some other things we don’t know yet, but certainly not God.
Dark Matter & Energy
This amazes me. It amazes me that those who do not believe in God say they do so because they do not want to believe in anything that cannot be tested or seen with their own eyes.
Ok, I understand that thinking. I think it is wrong but I understand it.
But the part that amazes me is that these same people who only want to believe in what they can see and test, believe in something called Dark Matter and Dark energy in our universe.
They believe in this because given the current theories of how our universe functions and reacts, they say there should be more matter in the universe and more energy than they see out there.
So, they say there is something called Dark Matter and Dark energy, that cannot be tested in a lab or seen with any type of telescope because it neither emits nor absorbs light or any other kind of radiation.
They give this matter and energy properties that will help explain what they find in their observations, but as of yet is unable to tested for, observed, or anything else to confirm its existence. Now I am not saying that Dark Matter and Dark Energy does or does not exist.
What I am saying is this.
Why can people believe in Dark matter or Energy that can’t be tested or seen, but not in the fact that there is an eternal God?
We are going to look at some reasons as to why that is in a few minutes, but I want you to just think about that as we continue on.
But realize that in Creation, the evidence points to a beginning and thus a beginner.
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
Creation reveals evidence of a Designer
Slide
Now this is different from a beginner or 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.
We see that after God created the heavens and the earth that it was formless and empty (Genesis 1:2).
Then He took what was formless and empty and designed things in such a way so there was light and darkness, water and land, vegetation and animals, and man designed in His own image. (Genesis 1:3-30). And God saw all that He had created and designed out of nothing was very good.
When we look around at the world we see, we see beauty and design.
Rare Earth
In fact, some scientists have looked at all that is required for complex life forms to exist as we know it and have determined that all that the earth possesses, that is actually needed for life to exist, is quite rare in the universe, and not only rare, but improbable in their combination.
Our solar system must be in a very narrow zone in the galaxy
Slide
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.
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Solar system must have a large Jupiter like planet with a nearly circular orbit to vacuum up most asteroids.
Slide
If it were an elliptical orbit, it would disrupt any small earthlike planet and make life impossible.
Must have a large moon,
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otherwise the planet’s axis will wobble and its 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 a few 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 intricacies of our life systems, such as the respiratory system, the reproductive system, the eye, etc, it seems apparent that the intricate and unique design elements indicate a Divine designer, not just random chance.
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.
We see evidence of God in Creation through the fact of a beginning and through the design we see.
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?
Well, I would argue that it testifies for 2 reasons.
One is that Inside each of us, in our consciences,
Mankind has a knowledge of God
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Scripture confirms this.
In our text today, 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.
People are born with a knowledge of God, that there is a God who created things and created us.
That we even think of God is evidence for Him
I would argue that the fact that any of us even believe that is evidence of a God, because coming up with a God whom we must account to is not something we would come up with on our own.
Think about it. 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 most people believe there is a God of some kind whom we must give account to.
I believe it is because God has given us a knowledge of Himself as evidence that there is a God.
But not only does mankind have a knowledge of God, that He has placed in us, but
Mankind has a knowledge of right and wrong
Slide
This too gives evidence that there is a God.
In chapter 2 of Romans, as Paul is speaking of judgment, he tells us that even those who do not follow a written law from God, 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 things that are absolutely right or wrong, even though our cultures may be very different.
That is because God has written certain moral truths upon our hearts, just as Paul wrote.
Why doesn’t everyone believe?
Well how come, with all this evidence, and these things written upon our hearts, everyone does not believe in God and there are differences between what some see as right and others see as wrong?
Sin has brought us to a place where we do not want to answer to anyone but ourselves.
You see, scientists can believe in Dark Matter and Dark energy because they do not have to answer to those things as they would if there were an immortal God.
Do you know what happens as we start down the path of denying God in the face of the evidence He has given us?
Our thinking becomes futile and our hearts and consciences become darkened and dull to the knowledge that God has given us.
This is exactly what the Word of God tells us.
Listen again to
Romans 1:21-32
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.
When we deny God, we can do what we want and as we do what we want, you see moral decay from the standpoint of God and those who would acknowledge God, but it looks acceptable to those whose thinking and hearts have denied God and who determine for themselves right and wrong.
Do not let this be you. If we would open our eyes to the evidence that God himself has given us, we would see that believing in the existence of God is completely rational.
But, even though it is rational to believe in God, and the evidence points to the existence of God, I will tell you that the evidence will never prove God.
Why is that?
It is because God wants us to take a step of faith as well. Now it is not a faith in the face of what we know is true. It is a faith in accordance with what we know is true. But it is faith nonetheless.
We learn in Hebrews that “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
We believe the abundance of evidence and take a step of faith of belief and we seek after Him.
As we seek after Him with a heart that desires to know the truth, we will find the one True God.
The Scripture tells us that “everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8)
Conclusion
So what does all this mean for me?
It depends where you are at
For believers in Christ
If you are here today as one who believes in God and in Jesus Christ as God, I hope that you know that belief in God is completely rational and in line with the evidence even though it requires a step of faith. Hopefully this will help you walk more confidently in your faith and be able to communicate to others the evidence for God.
For Skeptics of God
If you are here today as someone who came as skeptical of God, I hope you see the evidence points to the existence of God. I want to encourage you to continue to come out over these next weeks and be open to the truths we will discuss as we continue on this Godquest.
For believers in God, but unsure of Jesus
But maybe you are here as a person who believes that there is a God and you think that is enough.
God has not given us evidence of His existence just so we could know about Him.
He has given us evidence of His existence so we could know Him!
Just knowing that there is a God is only the beginning. God wants us to know Him personally and He has revealed Himself to us intimately in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Scripture tells us in Colossians 1:15-20, that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together…19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Jesus is God. It is through our belief in Him as God and what He has done to reconcile us to the Father, dying for our sins and rising from the dead, that we can truly live the life He has designed us to live.
If you are here and do not yet believe in Jesus Christ as God in the flesh, the One who is able to bring you into relationship with God, then I would ask that you just pray and ask God to reveal the truth about Jesus to you.
And continue to come back as we look into more questions that you feel may be hindering your ability to believe. As we assess and seek to answer these questions, I believe God will continue to reveal Himself to you so that you can, not just know about Him, but that you will know Him and experience the life He has made available through Jesus.
Let’s pray.
