How to Have a True Foundation

I. Introduction

There’s no better place to start than in the starting place, which is the most read verse in all of the Bible. Now the most loved verse in all of the Bible is John 3:16. But the most read verse in all of the Bible is Genesis 1:1. More people have read that than any other verse because more people at some time or another have said, “Let’s see what this book is about,” and they start at the starting place. That’s a good place for us to start, so I want you to open your Bibles tonight as we’re talking about a Christian worldview. And we’re going to start tonight at the starting place, and then we’re going to build out from there.

The starting place is Genesis 1 and verse 1: “In the beginning …”—in the starting place—“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) This is foundational truth. Now if you want to understand truth, you’ve got to enter into the temple of truth. And in the temple of truth the key is on the front door. It is Genesis 1:1. And very frankly, folks, when we come to Genesis 1:1, we come with a teacup to an ocean of truth. We do not have the ability, nor the time, nor the insight, to exhaust this one verse, the truth of this one verse.

But there are three thoughts about God that I want to give you that come out of this one verse that will be foundational:

a. Scripture: Genesis 1:1

And as always, I’m going to ask you to stand with me, if you are able, as we read from God’s Holy, Perfect, Sufficient and inerrant Word.<Pray>Thank you, and you may be seated.

III. Major Points

1. A God Who is Simply Presented

2. A God Who is Sovereignly Powerful

3. A God Who is Surely Personal

IV. Point #1: A God Who is Simply Presented

Explanation

Now in all philosophy, really, there’s only one great question: Did God make man, or did man make God? And everything else just flows out of that according to the answer to that one particular verse. Now God made man. And what you see here in this one verse, first of all, is a God who is simply presented. Write that down: “A God who is simply presented.” God is not argued. God is not explained. God is not defended. God is just simply presented. “In the beginning God …” (Genesis 1:1) Now it might surprise you to know that the Bible writers never tried to prove the existence of God. If you try to prove the existence of God, you’re going to do something that the writers of the Bible never attempted to do. And the Bible has all that you and I need for faith. It is full and it is complete. And there is no explanation in the Bible for the existence of God. God is simply presented. And God must be accepted by faith.Now, you know, to look for scientific proof of God would be like taking a piano apart looking for a song. God is not subject to scientific proof. Now whether you believe in God or not is not a matter, therefore, of intellectualism. It’s not a matter of the mind. It’s a matter of the heart. The Bible says, in Psalm 53, verse 1, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” (Psalms 14:1; Psalms 53:1) Now when the Bible uses the word fool, it does not mean the man who is mentally deficient; it means the man who is morally deficient. The word nabal, or fool, does not deal with the intellect. It deals with integrity; it deals with morality. And what God is saying is that a man with a wicked heart is the kind of a man who denies God.

Illustration

There was once a trucking firm whose headquarters is in Atlanta, Georgia. And that trucking firm gives a test to everyone who applies for a job there. It is a lie detector test. And one question on that lie detector test is this: Do you believe in God? And not everybody said they did. There were some who said they did not believe in God. But everyone who said they did not believe in God, the lie detector said, he’s lying—he’s lying—everyone—how could that be? You know why? Because down in the human heart there is that residual thing that the Bible says, “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith,” (Romans 12:3) and Christ is that light that “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1:9)

That’s why the Bible says in Psalm 14:1 - “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”…why? Because he knows better! Everyman knows there’s a God....deep inside he know sthere’s something bigger and greater than himself.

Application

You see God is presented very clearly here....it’s our introduction to Him....He’s in the very first words in the very first verse and the very first chapter of the very first book....It’s God. The world says everything happened by accident…all the order around you came from nothing and and chance and totally by accident....

The Bible says: In the beginning....God. And I’ve often wondered what God would say to these people that so blatantly disrespect the Lord....those that make fun of people who believe in God....who work so hard to find alternate explanations for the existence of the universe....who mock God to His face....I’ve often wondered what he would say to the intellectuals who are “too smart” or “too good” or “too sophisticated” for faith....and then I remember how He responded to Job in Chapter 38 and verse 4:

Job 38:4 NASB95

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,

What He’s saying is, “You weren’t around when I did it, and so there’s no way that you can examine it.” Now, you see, folks, we must learn this, that we are not the only ones who are believers. Everybody, all almost six billion people who live on the face of the earth, are believers—everyone. Some believe in God, and some don’t believe in God. But all are believers. We believe there is a God. They believe there is no God. We accept by faith there is a God. They must accept by faith there is no God. They can no more prove that God does not exist than we can prove that God does exist.

Now when I said we don’t have proof, I didn’t mean that we don’t have evidence. There’s incredible evidence. I mean, if you have a creation, common sense tells you you must have a Creator. As we’ve said before, “Nothing plus nobody equals everything” is the creed of the atheists. I mean, it’s pretty stupid, really. Excuse me. I’m not supposed to say that. It’s pretty non-intelligent.

But when you see a sunrise and a sunset....when you feel the wind blow....when you see a father hold his baby for the very first time....when you hear a child’s laughter…when you share an ice cream on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with people you love....how can you tell me there is no evidence for God?

He is presented very simply here in Genesis…and He is presented just as simply in our lives....and that’s where our foundation begins…in the beginning....GOD.

V. Point #2: A God Who is Sovereignly Powerful

Explanation

Now here’s the second thing I want you to learn about this God. He is a God who is sovereignly powerful. Look again at this verse: “In the beginning God”—did what? He—“created.” (Genesis 1:1) He created. His mighty power, Paul says, in Romans, is seen through the creation. (Romans 1:20) Only God has creative power. Only God has originating power. The Hebrew word for create is bara, and it’s used about fifty times, and it means “to make something out of absolute nothing.”

But it’s not just here in Genesis, listen to Romans 4:17 and what it says of Abraham:

Romans 4:17 NASB95

(as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

What that simply means is, God is the only One who can make something out of nothing.

I can build a chair....but I am building it out of materials like wood that God already made....we can build a great bridge....but who made the metal? You see? Only GOD can make something from nothing.

Listen to what the writer of Hebrews saus in Chapter 11 and verse 3:

Hebrews 11:3 NASB95

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

That is, God is the One who makes something out of nothing, the only One who can. Man cannot create anything, and, by-the-way man cannot destroy anything either... All man can do is to change the form.

People talk about the laws of nature. There are no laws of nature. There are God’s laws that nature obeys. Science simply discovers those laws. Science does not create those laws any more than Sir Isaac Newton created the three laws of motion or Gravity because he simply discovered them. You see, in the beginning, God made something of nothing.

Illustration

An eloquent black preacher said—and I quote—“God stepped from behind the curtain of nowhere and stood upon the platform of nothing and spoke a world into existence.” I like that. You see the handiwork of God in what He made. A tiny cell, one cell, just one cell in the human body, is so incredibly wonderful—just one cell. And there are 100 trillion cells or more in your body.

Paul Doty of Harvard University said that one human cell, just one of them, is more complicated in its existence than all of New York City. I hope in a lot better shape, if it’s your cell. But just take that one cell—more complicated than that megalopolis, and there are 100 trillion of them in your body! Much smaller than the cell is the atom. A billion hydrogen atoms put side by side are not as thick as the page of this Bible that I have. The atom is so small, and it’s mostly space.

I read not so long ago, if you were to take all of the emptiness out of everything, squeeze all of the nothing out of it, you could put the entire earth and its remains in a two-gallon bucket. It’s incredible. You think of the smallness, the intricacy of what God made. God made it out of nothing.

And then think of the incredible size of the universe. Light travels at the rate of 186,282 miles per second. That’s how fast it travels. It travels so fast they can’t measure it in miles; they measure it in years—light-years. Traveling at that speed, it passes the moon in two seconds. Bang, bang, it’s past the moon. It takes it, folks, four years to reach the nearest star. That’s four light-years away, four and a half light-years away, and yet light, traveling from earth, would not reach the edge of our known universe for ten billion light-years, traveling at 186,282 miles per second.

Who made all of that? How did it happen? By chance? No. God did it. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Application

Here’s the point folks: If you see a watch, I hope you assume there’s a watchmaker. If you see a water system, I hope you assume that somebody designed it. If you see a building, I hope you assume an architect. And if you see the precise atomic clocks of the universe, I hope you don’t believe that happened by chance. If you see the hydrologic cycle in nature, I hope you don’t believe that happened by chance. If you see the complex structure of your body, or any human body, or any organism that God has made, I hope you don’t believe that that happened by chance.

The world believes that billions of years, plus time, plus chance, can turn frogs into princes. In school, they call that fairy tales. In the laboratory, they call it science. Man cannot create. All man can do is to change things. He can take simpler forms and put them into more complex forms, or vice versa, but he cannot create.

It is GOD that is totally and sovereignly powerful. We should recognize that power and give him praise and glory for it, amen? There is NONER more powerful and great that He is.

VI. Point #3: A God Who is Surely Personal

Explanation

Here’s the third thing I want you to learn about God. Now this is foundational. A God who is simply presented—not argued, presented. A God who is sovereignly powerful—the God who made it all, He is the creative God. The third thing: a God who is surely purposeful. Why did He do it? Well, when you look at creation, there are two things you can see in creation very easily. One is design, and the other is purpose.

So have you ever wondered WHY God created all that He created? let me give you three reasons God created everything:

i. For His Pleasure:

He’s God, and He can do whatever He wishes. And the Bible says, in Revelation chapter 4, verse 11, speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was God’s agent in creation, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Revelation 4:11) He did it to please Himself. He created it for His pleasure.

ii. For His Praise:

Now if you’re taking notes, write these scriptures down. Romans 11, verse 36: “For of him,”—speaking of God—“and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.” (Romans 11:36) Psalm 150, verse 6, says, “Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.” (Psalms 150:6) Everything that God created is a grand paeon in a crescendo of praise. The trees are to lift their branches and say, “Praise the Lord!” The flowers are to unfold their petals and say, “Praise the Lord!” The birds, as they spread their wings, are to praise the Lord. The stars that nestle in the bosom of the sky are to say, “Praise the Lord!” As Niagara Falls rolls and rolls and rolls, it is to say, “Praise the Lord!” God created it all for His pleasure and for His praise…and you know something else? WE, His creation are to praise teh Lord too…amen?

iii. For His People:

The third reason that God made it all is for His people, so you and I would have a place to live, because God was going to create a race, and God had to have a place for them to stand and sleep and eat and work. So He made it for us—a home. And when God made it, God stepped back and said that it was good.

Application

And let me say this too....that all of God’s creation is good, amen? God looked at his creation when he was finished and said “It is good.” Materialism is bad if it becomes your God. But to love the world that God made is not bad. God created it, and God said, “It is good.” And God put Adam and Eve in a garden, and God said to them, “Help yourself.” “Of every tree in the garden thou mayest freely eat.” (Genesis 2:16) And the devil wants you to think negatively about God’s creation, as if God doesn’t love you. But God does love you....he loves YOU personally....He isn’t up there separated and out of our reach....because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, He is intensely personal and within our reach…and He WANTS to save us from our sin in orde rto repair our eternal relationship with Him.

VII. Conclusion

a. Now, folks, we have a God who is simply presented; we should recognize Him. We have a God who is sovereignly powerful; we should respect Him. We have a God who is surely purposeful; we should reverence Him. We have a God who is savingly personal; we should receive Him....it is the foundation of our faith....have you recieved Him by Faith? If you have, are you worshipping and loving Him and following Him? Let’s get on the right track and have a firm foundation in Him as we live out our lives, amen?

b. Let’s Pray