Start the message off with the short 1 minute video "We Believe" found at SermonCentral.com
This 4th of July weekend I’ve been asked about if I’m preaching a patriotic message, or like I’ve done in the past, a message about our country’s Christian roots. Yes, this country was founded on Christian beliefs and principles, and as is common know, we, as a nation and as people, have long set aside those beliefs and principles. Why?
As I considered what message to preach today, I keep coming back to the theme that God’s instrument and tool to affect culture and to change the lives and souls of men, the church, has been lacking. As the country left those principles, I reflected on the role of the church as a whole. The church has not been changing the culture, rather the culture has been changing the church.
When asked, what do we, as Christians, who claim to be saved, who claims to have a home in heaven, when asked, “What do we believe?” we stumble, we heeemm and haaaw, and many of us cannot even give a good, concise testimony of how our belief in Jesus has changed us (assuming we are changed at all). We are hard press to define what our relationship looks like with the Almighty God, the Creator of the universe.
There are many misconceptions among so-called Christians out there that are completely non-Biblical. For example:
There are many roads to heaven. Not so, there is only one way and his name is Jesus.
We all worship the same God. Not so, our God bears little resemblance to the gods of Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, and we will not even consider the god and gods of Hindus, Buddhists, Shinto.
Being religious and going to church saves us. The fact is, by itself, being religious and going to church does not “save” anyone. It helps and it points the way and I believe you cannot be a growing Christian without being an active member of a church. But I also believe you can be an active member of a church and still be without Christ and still be dead in your sins.
The fact is, there will be many church members in Hell one day. Only those with a personal relationship with a personal knowledge in Jesus will be saved.
So many people have approached me and said they have read the Bible, yet they are hard pressed to give me any significant details about what they claimed to have read. But I also believe that the Bible cannot be properly understood without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but more on that in a following message.
Another example of a “Christian misconception” is that many claim they are fully justified in all they do in the name of “love” because the Bible says God is love (1 John 4:8). But here is a problem: The Bible’s definition, hence God’s definition, of love is not the same as the world’s definition of love. The fact is, what the Bible calls “the lust of the flesh,” the world calls “love.” And I’m talking about those who call themselves Christians. Unfortunately, the examples are endless.
Because these and what I see as a failing of the church in America today, I have been led to preach a series of messages on just what it is that we, as professing Christians, should be believing. We need to go back to the basics. We need to examine just what it is that we profess to be believe. It all starts and finishes in the Word, the holy Scriptures, the Bible. We, as the church in America, need to go back to the basics.
The sermon title today is "We believe in God. Today I will start with our belief in God. The one true and only God. Then in the weeks to come I will first move on to the Scripture upon which we base all our beliefs and then talk about Jesus, the Holy Spirit, our need for salvation, and many other subject near and dear to our hearts. Our focal scriptures today deal in the basics about God.
Genesis 1:1
Romans 1:20–22
The studies are in and the results have been published. According the latest Gallup polls, belief in God by Americans have dipped to there lowest levels (81%) since the question was first asked in 1944.
This may seem high compared to Europe where only 26% say they believed in the God of the Bible, and an additional 36% believe in a "higher power," according to a 2018 Pew poll.[1]
The statistics are broken down by age groups: for example, not surprising is that the stats say only 68% of adults 18-29 say they believe in God compared with 87% of Americans age 65 and older.
Also not surprising, those that self-identify as Democrats is 72% the believe in God compared with 92% of those who identify as Republicans.
This poll only asked about a belief in God with only a yes, no, or no opinion as the only options. It has no bearing on whether the person is a committed Christian or not. [2]
Gorge Barna and his research group have said in a 2021 report that the term “Christian” is now just a generic label. Of the 2,000 U.S. adults surveyed,
69% self-identified as Christian. Yet of that group,
72% say people are basically good (not true according to Bible teachings, i.e. Jerimiah 17:9),
64% say all religious faiths have equal value,
58% say people can get to heaven by performing good works,
and 57% believe in karma.
The broader group of self-identified Christians also tends to reject several biblical teachings; for example,
only 46% say God’s plan for marriage involves one man and one woman,
and only 32% say premarital sex is morally unacceptable.
About one-third of survey respondents identify more specifically as either born-again or evangelical Christians. “Despite using different terminology to identify themselves,” Barna says, “self-identified born-again and self-identified evangelical Christians possess nearly identical views on most of the beliefs evaluated.” Yet even among those believers,
62% say the Holy Spirit is symbolic, not real;
61% say all faiths are equally valuable; and
60% say people can get to heaven by performing good works.
The article goes on to say the among those who self-identify as Christian, fewer than 6% hold to a hold a biblical worldview and consistently apply biblical principles to their lives. [3]
We have a real problem in America today. The people who claim to know God have no clue as to who He is. No wonder this nation is in the mess it is in. Those who claim to know God do not, and we have allowed the nation to put God out of everything because He no longer matters to us. Look at our focal passage today. The very first verse in the Bible:
It didn’t start out:
“In the beginning, the earth was without form and void.”
OR “In the beginning, monkeys became human and walked in the garden”
OR “In the beginning when the sun and solar system evolved”
OR “In the beginning in a galaxy far, far, away”
It simply says:
Genesis 1:1a In the beginning God …
Let’s just start here. I’ve preached whole sermons on just the first four words of the first verse in the Bible. It is interesting the Bible just assumes the existence of God and does not try to prove it. Neither will we this morning. Our purpose this morning is to understand the ramifications of God’s existence. To know who this God is. Before there was anything else, there was God.
The existence of God is just our starting point. If God exist, and indeed He does, what is the ramification on our lives, on our very existence. These first four words of the Bible form the foundation for faith. Believe these words, and you can believe all that follows in the Bible. [4]
This is where most of the world runs into problems. Even for those who profess a belief in God, most of those people do not understand the implications of such a belief. For starters the Bible tells us that God has very clearly made His existence known.
Romans 1:18–19 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
The Bible is clear. God will deal severely with those who do not acknowledge His being. Yes, God is a God of love, but make no mistake, He is also God of wrath to those who reject Him.
God’s name for Himself deals with His existence:
Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
Translators have a difficult time translating this phrase because it can be interpreted in so many ways:
I AM THE PRE-EXISTING ONE
I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE
I AM THAT I AM
God’s very name for Himself proclaims His existence. We cannot begin to please God unless we sincerely believe His existence:
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
How many people really seek out God? How many really searches for Him?
Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Herein is part of the problem in America today. Our prosperity is quite literally killing us. We have no felt need for God, so why search for Him? But the fact is, God has made himself known, the God of the Bible is involved in human history, but will we see Him? Will we seek Him out?
Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
How can you stand in dark open field on clear night and observe all the stars and not praise God. Or witness a magnificent sun-rise or sun-set, or see the beauty of fall colors across a mountain range. Those who are spiritual and attuned to the things of God will break out in praise:
O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art.[5]
God has been revealed in the natural world around us, he has shown his “His eternal power and divine nature” to us. Theologians call this “Natural Revelation” God has revealed His existence to all people, but this natural revelation is limited. This revelation is sufficient to even the most primitive among us to acknowledge there is a God who created it all. But there is not enough to tell someone how to approach God and this knowledge cannot mediate salvation.
So there is natural revelation and then there is special revelation. In special revelation, God has revealed Himself more fully, most notably, God has revealed Himself to us through His Word, the Holy Scriptures, through which we might find Jesus, the only means of salvation.
Herein is another fact the word does not like. Jesus is not a way to be saved, He is the only way.
But in the natural world, God has revealed Himself in such a way to hold all people accountable. For His attributes
“have been clearly seen” and in Romans 1:19 we read: “for God made it evident to them.”
Now going back to the first verse in the Bible:
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God created it all. He owns it all, therefore we all are answerable to Him. But man does not want to be subjected to anyone but himself. Today, even science completely disregards the supernatural (God). In fact, today in the science world if you use the very word “God” or the notion of a divine creator, it is dismissed as NOT science, but is considered as superstition or merely religion, but no part of science.
The theory of evolution is just man’s attempt to eliminate any need for God.
Dr. George Wald, a Harvard professor and the winner of the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize, stated: “When it comes to the origin of life on this earth, there are only two possibilities—creation or spontaneous generation—there is no third way. Spontaneous generation was disproved 100 years ago, but that leads us to only one other conclusion: that of supernatural creation. We cannot accept that on philosophical grounds, therefore choose to believe the impossible, that life arose spontaneously by chance.” [6]
So for Dr George Wald and many in the world of science today, the Scriptures say: “so that they are without excuse” and thereby subject to the wrath of God. Furthermore, we read:
Romans 1:21–22 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools …
"Fool" is the word the Bible uses for those who do not believe:
Psalm 14:1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.
The “fool” in Biblical terms means more than just a person who lack good sense or sound judgment. It means a moral degenerate, someone who is worthless and godless.
Here is a cold fact as stated in Scriptures. We cannot go to God on our own will. Paul writes, paraphrasing from the same Psalm:
Romans 3:11–12
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
But here is the good news, because man failed to seek after God, God came seeking after us.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
God sent Jesus. And as we will see in a later message in more detail, Jesus is God in the flesh.
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
And the Bible is quite clear, Jesus is Lord over all. The fact remains, whether God is acknowledged or not, there is coming a day when all will proclaim Jesus as Lord.
Philippians 2:10–11 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. What is critical is who will bow the knee and proclaim Jesus as Lord today?
Don’t buy the lie! Much of the world believes in some sort of a god, I’m just not sure we believe in the same God. The god of the Muslims, the god of Mormons, the god of Jehovah Witnesses, the god and gods of the Hindus, Buddhists, Shinto’s, is the not the true God we worship. The true God is as revealed by the His Holy Word. Our God is:
The God of Creation
The God of wrath
a Holy God who will bring justice to the world.
But also a God of love,
The God of our Salvation.
The God who is at work in our world today. God is not an inactive God as One who set things in motion, then sits back in watches what happens. God is active in His creation today as well as in times pass.
God is the Beginning and the End.
And God desires a personal relationship with His creation through His son Jesus Christ.
God is all powerful, all knowing, all present, and He is unchanging, He is eternally the same.
Because He is God, He makes the rules and they have never changed. He alone determines right and wrong, not us.
And we all are answerable to Him. What is your answer to Him today?
[1] https://religionnews.com/2022/06/21/poll-americans-belief-in-god-is-dropping/ Religious News Service dtd June 21, 2022.
[2] https://washingtonstand.com/news/nationwide-belief-in-god-at-an-alltime-low The Washington Stand, dtd June 20, 2022
[3] https://churchleaders.com/news/405034-george-barna-christian-is-now-a-generic-label.html; ChurchLeaders, dtd September 10, 2021 by Stephanie Martin.
[4] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 32.
[5] Stuart K. Hines, “How Great Thou Art”
[6] Dennis Gordon Lindsay, Foundations for Creationism, Creation Series (Dallas: Christ for the Nations, 1990).
