God Is...

Introduction

I wanted to begin a series of sermons this month looking at some of the attributes and characteristics of God. We want to look at His sovereignty, His mercy, His justice, and His holiness. But as I began to think about these thoughts, I began to think about what it means to believe in God. And I began to ask how it is that we believe in God.

We believe that God is real. We know that there is a God. We know that He is out there, and He is real.

Augustus Strong defines God in this way.

Systematic Theology Chapter I: Origin of Our Idea of God’s Existence

God is the infinite and perfect Spirit in whom all things have their source, support, and end.

Strong goes on to say, The existence of God is a first truth; in other words, the knowledge of God’s existence is a rational intuition. He then defines intuition as direct knowledge. IN other words, what Strong is saying is that everyone knows, everyone realizes that God is real, that he does exist.

I believe this to be the case. I recently watched a debate between Christopher Hitchens and John Lenox, professor of Mathematics at Oxford. and Hitchens was making the point that the universe has transcendancy about it, and admitted that there were some things that we could not understand about the universe.

The saying is that there are no atheists in foxholes. Although there are many in life who will live without God in their day to day lives, no one can honestly consider the evidence in front of all of us and say with a straight face, there is no God. As the verse of our text states clearly,

Genesis 1:1 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

So, how do we know there is a God? I will give you three things, although much more can be considered.

I. We know there is a God because of Creation.

We sang a song, O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the world thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, How great thou art.

What the songwriter is attempting to describe is how, in looking and considering the role of the created order, he can not help but to see and worship the greatness of God.

Because the truth is, one can not observe the created world without seeing the beauty and power of God manifest throughout. The Psalmist stated it best when He said,

Psalm 19:1–6 ESV

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Did you hear those words? The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day they are speaking of the reality of God, and every night revealing more and more about their supreme Creator.

And notice that he says, there is not a speech, or words, where the miracle of creation is not heard. The voice of creation goes throughout all the earth, the words of creation go throughout the ends of the world. Everyone knows and sees that this world is miraculously created, and created by a Supreme Being.

Consider the fact that we are here today, the first Sunday of a new Year. How do we know, how did we come to realize that this is a new year, that this is a new time, a new season, if you would. Is it not because, for the last several thousand years, the earth has rotated around the sun completely, marking the passing of a new year. And the earth rotates on its axis, bringing forth a new day. And you can say it’s all coincidental, its all a result of a cosmic accident, or you can see the hand of God at work in creation.

This is why Paul says the wrath of God is being revealed against mankind.

Romans 1:18–20 ESV

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

What can be known about God is plain to the, because God has shown it to them. His invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. You can see in the beauty and majesty of creation the power of God.

Romans 1. The Gentiles (1:18–32)

Seeing the beauty and complexity of creation carries with it the responsibility of acknowledging the Creator both as powerful and as living above the natural order. Disbelief requires an act of rebellion against common sense. It displays fallen humanity’s fatal bias against God. Although the created order cannot force a person to believe, it does leave the recipient responsible for not believing.

Acts 17:24–28 ESV

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

God has made everything, God has given to humanity life and breath, he has determined their days, and for what reason? So that we might seek after Him. So that we might look for him.

We’re told in this day and hour to trust science. As a Christian, I wholeheartedly affirm that statement. Science as being defined as observation, testing, coming to conclusions based on reasoning and deduction. I only qualify my affirmation by stating that this is what science must do. It can not be based in political or cultural agendas .

The reason I say that is that when we follow the science, it will lead and point us towards God. We will see God when we observe the orders of the universe. It’s inevitable.

Psalm 8:1–9 ESV

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

So God is revealed through creation, and secondly,

II. We know there is a God because of Conscience.

Consider the state of our political discourse today. It is in vogue to look at our political opponent and characterize any and every position they take as being that of Hitler’s. You want to raise taxes. You are Hitler.

Why do we do that? Granted, our political leaders of lacking in intellectual capabilities. We once produced the federalist papers and had the Lincoln-Douglas debates, now we have tweets. Yea us.

But there’s something more. We have determined that calling a person Hitler is the most painful, damaging insult you can make against someone. And why? Because we believe that Hitler’s crime of killing 6 million people based on ethnicity is totally wrong. But how do we know it’s wrong?

We can say it’s because of societal standards or norms, or we can be honest and say that its because of something much greater. It is the fact that inwardly, we know that there is a thing called right and wrong, and no matter how liberated we claim to be, there are standards that can not be crossed. Among those are the acts of Adolf Hitler.

It’s in our hearts. God has placed within us a sense of right and wrong. This is what Paul teaches in Romans 2.

Romans 2:12–15 ESV

For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

What is being said is that if you have the law of Moses, if you are a Jew, you will be judged by that law. Did you measure up? And if you don’t have the law of Moses, you will still be judged because you by nature do what the law requires. By nature, by the law being written on your hearts, your conscience bearing you witness that what you are doing is right or wrong.

A word to prospective parents out there. You are going to have a child and you will think he or she is perfect. And they are, for about 15 minutes. Then it doesn’t take very long at all to realize that they are sinful human beings. And they know it. They can’t read the Bible, but they’re hiding after they have done something wrong. Why? God has placed in their hearts his law.

By the way, I’m not saying a 6 month old child has the same capacity to understand sin like we do, but it is written on their hearts.

In 1 Kings 2, Solomon has just taken the reign of the kingdom of Israel. He’s dealing with some of David’s enemies, and one of them is named Shimei, who is of the house of Saul. He tells Shimei to build a house in Jerusalem and to not leave the city. However, Shimei does after 3 years, looking for some run away servants. Solomon brings him in and condemns him for his crime, saying these words,

1 Kings 2:44 ESV

The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your own heart all the harm that you did to David my father. So the Lord will bring back your harm on your own head.

Your own heart betrays you of your sin.

We have conscience, we have creation. However, these are known as general revelation. They point to the reality of a Creator, but do not tell us his name or his intentions for our lives. For that we need to move from general to specific revelation, and that is our third point today.

III. We know there is a God because of Canon.

Canon simply means a collection of texts that are deemed authoritative. By using this term, we are referring to Scripture. The Bible is what we use to determine who God is and what His plans and intentions are for our lives.

Psalm 19 perhaps helps us in this regard.

Psalm 19:7–11 ESV

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

The law of the Lord, the word of God. Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and he mentions how the rich man wants Lazarus to go back and warn his brothers, but Jesus says,

Luke 16:31 ESV

He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

After Jesus’ resurrection, on the road to Emmaus, the two disciples were discussing the events of the week. Jesus joins them, and Luke tells us,

Luke 24:27 ESV

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

We do not have the time this morning to consider all the ways the Bible is proven to be reliable. That would take far longer than we have. But when you consider the fact that we have more copies of the Bible, closer to the original writing than any other ancient piece of Literature, when archaeology consistently verifies the historicity of Biblical events and places, and even secular historians claim that Jesus was a real, historical being, you can not help but realize that this book is true and it points us to God.

Conclusion

The reality is, there is a God. And if there is a God, then we must ask, what does He want from our lives? The answer is simple, is it not? God’s desire is to have a relationship with his creation, for each and every one of us. If you are here, and you don’t know Him, do so today. if you do know him, then partake of the table this morning and rejoice that He has saved you.