"The Prime Cause"
Genesis 1:1
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Introduction: This morning with the Lord's help I'm going to try and do something a little different. Let me take a quick poll. How many of you know anything about physics? If you are like me not much, right! I do know that what goes up must come down because I have flirted with this law of physics on several occasions. (For instance if you climb a tree and a limb breaks underneath you, then you will come down, with a howls of pain I might add.) But did you know that you cannot understand the concept of God and who He is without knowing a little bit about physics. Now the conventional wisdom of this world is that science (physics) and theology (compound word which means theo = God and ology = study) so theology is the study of God; are in opposition to one another but that is not true. True science and theology are not only compatible but complimentary. Classical Science, which dominated studies of the physical universe before the Twentieth Century, generally held an opinion that there are no events that happen by chance. For many centuries, it seemed obvious that all things were caused by something physical or mental.
This idea was expressed by Hippocrates of Cos (c. 460-377 B.C.): "Every natural event has a natural cause." [1, p.12].
David L. Bergman and Glen C. Collins in the History of the Concept of Cause and Effect wrote:
The concept of order maintained by the law of cause and effect is a scientific principle with a history traceable through Hebrew, Babylonian, Greek, and modern civilizations.
The Hebrew Concept of Causality is a matter of irrefutable historical record. Certain Hebrews acknowledged the role of causality in the universe before the Babylonians and Greeks. These Hebrews denied chance and its offspring chaos: Listen to what the Hebrew Scriptures declare about Elohim, (God): (God is speaking to King Cyrus)
Isiah 45:6 I do this so that everyone from one end of the world to the other may know that I am the LORD and that there is no other god. 7 I create both light and darkness; I bring both blessing and disaster. I, the LORD, do all these things. 8 I will send victory from the sky like rain; the earth will open to receive it and will blossom with freedom and justice. I, the LORD, will make this happen." 9 Does a clay pot dare argue with its maker, a pot that is like all the others? Does the clay ask the potter what he is doing? Does the pot complain that its maker has no skill?
FOUNDATIONS OF SCIENCE
Reprint/Internet Article © 2004, Common Sense Science http://CommonSenseScience.org August, 2004 Page 1 David L. Bergman and Glen C. Collins
For thousands of years, the law of cause and effect guided scientific inquiry. In fact, the history of the concept of causality can be traced through Hebrew,
Babylonian, Greek and European cultures. Certain Greek philosophers, however, introduced the atomistic concept of chance-events to oppose the common-sense
application of causality. The resulting conflict between cause versus chance has not only shaped the history of science but has imposed lasting effects on Western culture as a whole. This conflict intensified during the Twentieth Century as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP) became the leading tool of the proponents of chance. More recent findings have now demonstrated that the HUP fails in six actual cases. Common Sense Science counters chance-based philosophy by returning to causality and other principles of Classical Science such as the conservation
of energy and the use of physical finite-sized models for fundamental particles (e.g., the electron). This paper shows how physical models based on the laws of
electricity and magnetism fully implement the law of cause and effect in the manner of the four causes required by Aristotle. Chance-based physics is exposed as false science based on erroneous assumptions about supposed chance-events instead of causal relationships.
"Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, 6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. 7 I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things." 9 "Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'? 11 Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him: "Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands? 12 I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. 18 For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other. [2, Isaiah 45:5-7, 9, 11-12, 18]. ESV
From these and other writings, it is clear that the Hebrews believed in a Creator who not only created the universe but who also continues to maintain order in the universe through the law of cause and effect. In the Hebrew concept of causality, God first created (caused) the universe and now controls natural events by imposing physical laws that all creation follows. Thus, the Creator is both the prime cause of and the sustaining cause in the universe. The Hebrew concepts of order and causality by the power of the Creator were subsequently adopted in Christian doctrine:
For by him were all things created, That are in heaven, And that are in earth...All things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, And by him all things consist [3, Colossians 1:16-17].
By the short phrase "...and he is before all things..." the writer is specific about a feature of the law of cause and effect: every effect has a preceding cause. The cause is that thing which makes something else happen. The effect is what it is that happens as a result of the cause. So there is always a relationship between cause and effect. According to the Hebrew scriptures God is the first cause and the material universe is the effect! What can we learn from the text about the first cause? We learn that the first cause has a name and that name is translated "God" in the English Bible. The first cause is:
I. The Pre-existence of God
A literal translation of this first phrase would read like this: "God was, in the beginning" A general definition of this great First Cause, as far as human words dare attempt one, may be thus given: The eternal, independent, and self-existent Being: the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence: he who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, and most spiritual of all essences; infinitely benevolent, beneficent, true, and holy: the cause of all being, the upholder of all things; infinitely happy, because infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made: illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only to himself, because an infinite mind can be fully apprehended only by itself. In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived; and who, from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just, right, and kind. Reader, such is the God of the Bible; but how widely different from the God of most human creeds and apprehensions! Clarke
a. pre-existent
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
b. self-sufficient
Self-Sufficient God -- The Definition
God, being identified and defined as self-sufficient, means He possesses within Himself every quality, ability, and supernatural command with never-ending measure. Every attribute or mighty and wonderful power is His endlessly. God wants for nothing and lacks nothing; He is complete.
There are many names for God in the Bible. Each name is actually a word that describes His nature and attributes. For instance, in the original Hebrew text, "El-Shaddai" was first used in Genesis 17. It is used throughout the Bible and is still an accepted name for God today among Christians and Jews. "The most simple translation is 'God' ('el), THE ALL-MIGHTY ONE (shadday), to clearly differentiate the One true God from other 'gods, as 'el' was a common term for any god at that time, age and area. It is significant that it is THE Name that God uses in reference to Himself as He begins to set aside a people for Himself, to be uniquely His as a possession, and to be uniquely His as His representatives on this planet. It was at this point that God revealed Himself as 'THE ALMIGHTY GOD', or the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient One."1Others names include Jehovah Rapha--the LORD who heals; Jehovah Jireh--the LORD who provides. For as many things as you can name, He has a name declaring His ability to fulfill it.
Who Would You Quote in Outer Space?
On Christmas Day 1968, the three astronauts of Apollo 8 circled the dark side of the moon and headed for home. Suddenly, over the horizon of the moon rose the blue and white earth, garlanded by the glistening light of the sun against the black void of space. Those sophisticated men, trained in science and technology, did not utter Einstein's name. They did not even go to the poets, the lyricists, or the dramatists. Only one thing could capture the awe-inspiring thrill of this magnificent observation. Millions heard the voice from outer space as the astronaut read it: "In the beginning God".
From a sermon by Joseph, McGaha, Something from Nothing, 12/8/2009
II. The Personality of God
Many attempts have been made to define the term God: as to the word itself, it is pure Anglo-Saxon, and among our ancestors signified, not only the Divine Being, now commonly designated by the word, but also good; as in their apprehensions it appeared that God and good were correlative terms; and when they thought or spoke of him, they were doubtless led from the word itself to consider him as The Good Being, a fountain of infinite benevolence and beneficence towards his creatures.
When we teach our children to pray we teach them to acknowledge the goodness of God. "God is great, God is good...one of my favorite new songs is "Good, Good Father..."
Oh, I've heard a thousand stories of what they think you're like
But I've heard the tender whispers of love in the dead of night
And you tell me that you're pleased
And that I'm never alone
You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am
Oh, and I've seen many searching for answers far and wide
But I know we're all searching
For answers only you provide
'Cause you know just what we need
Before we say a word
III. The Plurality of God
The original word àìäéí Elohim, God, is certainly the plural form of àì El, or àìä Eloah, and has long been supposed, by the most eminently learned and pious men, to imply a plurality of Persons in the Divine nature. As this plurality appears in so many parts of the sacred writings to be confined to three Persons, hence the doctrine of the Trinity, which has formed a part of the creed of all those who have been deemed sound in the faith, from the earliest ages of Christianity, nor are the Christians singular in receiving this doctrine, and in deriving it from the first words of Divine revelation.
An eminent Jewish rabbi, Simeon ben Joachi, in his comment on the sixth section of Leviticus, has these remarkable words: "Come and see the mystery of the word Elohim; there are three degrees and each degree by itself alone and yet notwithstanding they are all one, and joined together in one, and are not divided from each other." Clarke
a. Father
Our text declares that Elohim (God) was in the beginning or literally before all things.
b. Son
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
c. Holy Spirit
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
IV. The Power of God
Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
a. He is the creator
This first verse is a general introduction to the inspired volume, declaring the great and important truth that all things had a beginning; that nothing throughout the wide extent of nature existed from eternity, originated by chance, or from the skill of any inferior agent; but that the whole universe was produced by the creative power of God (Act_17:24; Rom_11:36)
WHO CREATED THE UNIVERSE?
In 2005, Newsweek and Beliefnet asked Americans this question: "Do you believe that God created the universe?" Eighty percent of those responding said the universe was created by God. That's good news! And it's pretty amazing that after all of the money and effort spent on teaching evolution, 80% of people still believe that God created the world.
Carlson and Decker summed up the false teachings of evolution this way: "In kindergarten we are taught that a frog turning into a prince is a fairy tale. When we get to college, we're taught that a frog turning into a prince is science."
(The Creation Debate - Genesis 1:1-5, 31; 2:1-4 - Sermon by: Rodney J. Buchanan - Mulberry St. UMC - Mount Vernon, OH - July 9, 2006. Fast Facts on False Teaching, Carlson & Decker, 1994, p.57. Found in "In Other Words" - June 2002 - Issue 2. From a sermon by Rick Crandall, Praise the God of our Creation! 7/5/2011)
b. He is the controller
Nature miracles are wonderful but they are the exception rather than the rule. We might wonder why? Some people have intellectual difficulties with miracles. It's true that the laws of physics are God's usual way of working. Their consistency speaks of His faithfulness but there's no reason at all why He can't accelerate the natural forces for His own specific purposes. A Christian minister who is also a scientist gives an explanation that gives me satisfaction. "If the order in the Universe is a reflection of God's faithfulness in creation, then miracles could be seen as special acts of grace when God supersedes His normal ways of working. If God did too many miracles then the world would become totally unpredictable; if he did no miracles it would be extremely boring."
Conclusion:
CHOOSING TO BELIEVE WHAT'S IMPOSSIBLE
Evolutionists say that life arose as a result of spontaneous generation; that it all began as inorganic matter, or pre biotic soup, a puddle of green slime. They call it a "fortuitous concourse of atoms." Doesn't that sound intellectual? A flash of lightning hit the puddle of scum and life began. Now why would intelligent people believe that?
Dr. George Wald (Nobel Prize winner in Biology and professor of Biology at Harvard) said, "There are only two possibilities as to how life arose; one is spontaneous generation arising to evolution, the other is a supernatural creative act of God, there is no third possibility. Spontaneous generation, that life arose from non-living matter, was scientifically disproved 120 years ago by Louis Pasteur and others. That leaves us with only one possible conclusion - that life arose as a creative act of God. I will not accept that philosophically because I do not want to believe in God, therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation arising to evolution."
(From a sermon by Joseph McGaha, Something From Nothing, 12/8/2009)
Is There Really A God?
93 million miles from the blistering surface of the sun hangs the planet earth. A rotating sphere perfectly suspended in the center of the universe. The ultimate creation from an infinite mind, an unbelievable intricate complex design, a supernatural testimony, an irrefutable sign, that there is....a God.
The size, position and angle of the earth is a scientific phenomenon to see a few degrees closer to the sun we'd disintegrate, a few degrees further we'd freeze. The axis of the earth is tilted at a perfect 23 degree angle and it's no mistake that it is. This allows equal global distribution to the rays of the sun making it possible for the food chain to exist. Or take for example the combination of nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere we breathe every day. It just happens to be the exact mix that life needs to prosper; it doesn't happen on any other planet that way.
You see, the Bible says the invisible things of God are clearly seen through His creation, to believe this is not hard. If there's a design, there's a designer, if there's a plan, there's a planner, and if there's a miracle, there is a God. There is a hope, there is a light. There is an answer to all answers. There is a flame that burns in the night. And I know there is a God. The scripture says the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands. If we allow our minds to drink all the truth that just surrounds us, creation itself will help us understand.
Did you know the moon controls the tides, it's the maid that cleans the oceans, and even the waves don't crash the shore in vain. The tides drag impurities into the depths of the sea; its nature's constant recycling chain. It simply boggles the mind to think that the stars will rotate with such exact precision that it's true. That the atomic clock they move though they silently orbit, the sun, the moon, the stars are like celestial evangelist above who circle the earth every 24 hours shouting in every language that there is a God. Atheism is the wedge under the foundation of our faith trying to topple our relationship with Christ. When the fool said in his heart, there is no God, he rejects the truth God painted on the canvas of the disease or calmed a fear. Atheism has never still given answers to our existence, peace to a troubled mind or even dried a tear. For it's God who created heaven and earth and flung the stars in space and breathed in the handful of dirt and it became a man. It's God who sits on the circle of the earth and measures the mountains in a scale and holds the seven seas in the palm of His hand. It's God who sent His only begotten Son to the cross of Calvary to God who heals and God who is worthy of a thunderous ovation of praise...There is a hope, there is a light, there is an answer to all questions. There is a flame that burns in the night. And I know I know, I Know, there is a God. There is a hope there is a light. There is an answer to all answers. There is a flame that burns in the night. And I know, I know, I know, There is a God!
Sermon Central Illustration
Conclusion: Boudreaux was out fishin' when he came back in with a boat load of fish. The game warden was watchin' and came and said, "Boudreaux, how you caught all dem fish?" And Boudreaux say, "Com' see." They both went out again and then Boudreaux said this is the spot. So he pulled out a stick of dynamite and lit it. The warden he done started hollerin', "Boudreaux, you can't do dat! You can't fish dat der dynamite! What you tink boy?" Just then Boudreaux threw the dynamite to the warden who caught it and said to the warden, "You gonna sit there a hollerin' or you gonna fish?" What does it take to change your convictions? For some it may take dynamite for many others it is as simple as the breeze blowing.
