God is Self-Evident

Scripture Reading

Luke 19:32–40 ESV

So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

What is Self-Evidence?

We are diving right in to our new series this week titled “God is”. We’re going to look at several different characteristics of, or truths about God, how we know them to be true, and what they mean for Christians.

This week, we’re going to be taking a look at how God is self-evident.

Things that are self-evident do not need to be demonstrated, or explained. They are plain to see.

So, basically, our claim today is that the fact that the universe was created by a God who is all-knowing and all-powerful is obvious to those who simply exist in creation.

That the glory of God is so clear among His creation that if we did not worship Him, the very stones would cry out that He is God.

Now - I get how crazy that sounds in today’s world. I fully understand that it doesn’t make any sense to claim something is self-evident that so many people do not believe to be true! Shouldn’t the very existence of atheism prove that God is not self-evident?

Well, before we put too much stock in the power of humanity’s ability to recognize the self-evident, let’s take a look at just a few things that humans thought needed to be prove. These are just a few examples of actual, well-funded, professional research projects that I came across while preparing for this:

In 2007 a group of Italian and Danish researchers conducted over a year of research to conclude that if it is cold outside in the morning, people will dress warmer on their way to work. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132306003672

A famous 1960 study titled “The Visible Cliff” came to the incredibly helpful conclusion that parents should in fact not leave babies beside a steep ledge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_cliff

Finally, in 2009, the invaluable Institute for Aging Research released it’s shocking conclusion, that women who wear high heels are more likely to experience foot pain. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/469376

Did anyone in this room need peer reviewed, quantified research to understand that any of those conclusions are true?

All of this to say, just because something is self-evident, does not necessarily mean that people will accept it is so. The same can be said about the existence of God.

In The Psalms

Scripture, however, is emphatic that creation teems with proof of God. Turn with me to Psalm 19.

Psalm 19:1–4 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,

The heavens, the psalmist says, declares the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19 is a psalm of David, and David, as we know, was a shepherd before he became king. He would have been intimately familiar with seeing the skies above the field where his father’s flock would sleep.

An interesting thing about sheep is that they will often seek higher ground to sleep on at night, and Bethlehem is located in the hilly countryside of Judea to the south of Jerusalem. I don’t know if you’ve ever had the chance to look up at the sky from the highest point in the countryside on a clear night, but the view that David had of the expanse of God’s creation would be hard to rival anytime and anywhere.

As the psalmist says, “there is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.” To put it another way, the majesty of creation speaks plainly of God who created it in every language, to every people.

But SCIENCE?!

But! We hear the skeptic claim, of course David was impressed by the stars, but he didn’t know what we know, they are just balls of helium and hydrogen that are light years away, we know better today, we know that it is science.

And let me be clear, this will not be a sermon that attacks science. I am, after all, an engineer Monday through Friday and rely heavily on science and its methods to do my job.

Instead, I want to be very honest about what science can, and cannot explain.

In the millennia since David wrote about the heavens declaring the glory of God, scientists have done an outstanding job investigating, understanding, and explaining individual components of the system of our universe. These breakthroughs have led to massive increases in human comfort, I’m particularly grateful today for the air conditioning units that are cooling this room, and the complex electrical systems that provide power to them.

I’m grateful for the ability to stream this service to anyone who wishes to view it around the world!

hey mom...

hi grandpa.

But as time has gone on, we’ve learned more than ever that science simply doesn’t know what set the universe into motion.

In fact, until the early 1900’s when George Bryan, Eugene Wigner, John Von Neumann, and Albert Einstein were expanding our fundamental understanding of the universe as it exists, many if not most scientists would claim that the universe has simply always existed. They would say that the universe has always been and had only recently reached a point where the factors exist to support human life.

Unfortunately for these claims, such discoveries as the First and Second Law of Thermodynamics have made it clear that the universe has to have had a beginning.

The simplest way I can explain it is this, the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics states that the universe is constantly consuming energy, and the 1st Law states that the amount of energy in the universe is finite.

To blatantly steal a metaphor from the book “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist”, it essentially says that the universe is like your car, it only holds a finite amount of gas, and it uses that gas over time. If your car has been running an infinitely long amount of time, it would be out of gas by now. The fact that it is still running proves that it was, at one point, turned on.

All of this is to say that the greatest minds in science have, after hundreds of years of investigating, come to the same conclusion that the Bible has recorded from the time of Moses, the universe has a beginning.

The only difference at this point, is that an unbelieving physicist would say that the beginning sounded like, well, a big bang. The Christian would say it sounded like the Lord saying “let there be light”. Honestly, I’m not entirely convinced those two things would sound that different.

In fact, in some ways of looking at it the Christian explanation is more scientifically sound than the Big Bang Theory at this point, because of the Law of Causality. The Law of Causality is quite simple, and is the foundation of every science experiment since the beginning of time, it is the idea that every change in nature has a cause.

Christians can say that between the time that the universe wasn’t and the time the universe was, the cause was that God spoke.

The Big Bang theory, at its most basic level, says that the difference was an infinitely small and infinitely dense singularity superheated and exploded, sending all the matter in the universe hurtling outward.

Ok, well, what caused the singularity? This theory is, as they say, turtles all the way down.

If scientists are ever able to concretely demonstrate what came before the big bang, we will always have the right to ask, “and what led to those circumstances?” This is because their claims are based on conditions inside the confines of our universe, and ours come from outside it, where the Law of Causality need not apply. God does not need a cause becuase He is not bound by nature, He is outside the system of our universe.

Perfect Creation

The Big Bang theory also falls far short of explaining the perfect of our planet for life. One might accept that it was simply chance that led to this planet being perfectly suited to support human life, but if we actually look at how finely tuned our planet is to our needs, this seems less and less likely. Again, these examples are unashamedly stolen from “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist”:

Oxygen makes up almost exactly 21% of our atmosphere. At 25% oxygen, there is a significant risk of fire and explosion. At 15% oxygen, humans would start to suffocate.

If gravitational force is altered by less than one thousandth of 1%, the sun would not exist, and I think you know what that means for life on earth.

If the amount of water vapor or carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were slightly greater than they are right now, the greenhouse effect would cook the planet and human life would not be feasible.

If Jupiter’s path of orbit were slightly off from it’s current alignment with Earth’s we would be constantly bombarded by asteroids and comets.

If the crust of the Earth were slightly thicker or thinner, the resulting change to the environment would make it impossible for human life.

Astrophysics Hugh Ross has identified a list of 122 constants, including the 5 I just listed, that were they slightly altered, would not allow life on Earth.

The probability of all 122 of these constants meeting their exact window to allow life on Earth without divine intervention is one chance in 10 to the 138th power, or once in 1 with 138 0’s after it. Essentially, it is impossible.

So perhaps in David’s time the most convincing evidence of God was in the expanse of the heavens, and perhaps today it is best seen in the precise tuning of the world around us, perfectly made for us to live in.

So What?

So God is self-evident, which is to say God’s existence, God’s power, God’s wisdom is evident without any need for additional demonstration or or explanation.

What does this mean for Christians?

First and foremost, I want this sermon to simply be an encouragement to you in a world that feels so superior about itself that just about anyone who holds faith in God can be written off as foolish, uneducated, easily tricked.

The fact that God is self-evident, both in the majesty of creation AND in the intricate design of creation that’s been discovered by science, can encourage our faith, and strengthen us to live out our faith as exiles among the nations of the world.

Triumphal Entry

In our reading today, Jesus was making His triumphal entry to Jerusalem shortly before His crucifixion. And His disciples had secured for Him a donkey and He was riding into town. Astute and humble scholars of Torah might have noticed that Jesus was, self-evidently, the humble king that was promised in Zechariah 9:9.

Zechariah 9:9 ESV

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

But the Pharisees of His time, who were supposed to have great knowledge of Torah, like so many in our time today, completely missed what was made plain before their eyes. Instead, they seem to think that Jesus surely doesn’t intend for His disciples to name Him king, and so they implore Him:

“Teacher! Rebuke your disciples!”

Sometimes, with these Pharisees, I like to think what Jesus’ thought process might be like. I mean, He’s been healing people and performing other miracles all over Galilee, He sent His disciples into town ahead of them to grab this colt specifically to fulfill the Zechariah prophesy, and He’s apparently finally ok with being publically called the Messiah, and this Pharisee actually walks up to Him and is like, “hey… pssst... hey! Rebuke your disciples will you?! They somehow got the impression you’re some kind of like, Messiah or something… CRAZY right?”

And in my head I can just imagine Jesus going “wait… what? I mean… how do they not get it yet? Ok, ok, not a big Zechariah guy… no worries no worries I get it there’s lots of scrolls to choose from and only so much time in the day. But everyone knows Isaiah, right?! Let’s hit him with some Isaiah”

And Jesus just looks back at this man and says “I gotta tell ya, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

What Jesus is invoking here is Isaiah 55:12, let’s look at that together.

Isaiah 55:12 ESV

“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Isaiah is providing encouragement for the people of Israel in exile, and as he describes the peace that the Lord will bring to His people through the coming “servant of the Lord”. He tells them that when that peace comes, that the mountains and hills and trees shall all praise God.

But still they don’t see! And Jesus recognizes that as He draws near to Jerusalem. Let’s look in the next passage here in Luke 19, verses 41-44.

Luke 19:41–44 ESV

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Jesus weeps over these people, of this city of over 600,000 people at the time, because they have completely missed what should have been self-evident. And because of that, because they “did not know the time of their visitation”, in the year 70 Rome would ransack Jerusalem, destroying the temple, killing over a million people, between the residents of the city and those who had come for the passover.

They had refused to believe, what God had made self-evident.

Praise like the Disciples

So what are we to do?

We, like the disciples singing and rejoicing as Jesus made His way into Jerusalem, have recognized what is self-evident. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, who has come to bring salvation.

Therefore we, like the disciples, when we praise God can do so wholeheartedly knowing that we praise the One who created us, who redeemed us, who loves us dearly.

The psalms are full of beautiful praise that recognizes God’s obvious role in creation.

Psalm 148:1–6 ESV

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

MORE

I think the self-evidence of God should change the way we praise Him. I think that if we take just a moment to internalize how clear He has made His role in the universe, we will certainly praise Him more enthusiastically than we could without this sure knowledge.

Evangelism

So, God is self-evident. That’s helpful as an encouragement to our faith, it should increase our praise, but it is also helpful as we prepare for evangelism.

You see, Paul relies on the self-evidence of God to explain why all people are in need of a savior. Let’s turn to Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1:18–23 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. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

In the same way that the self-evidence of God is encouraging to the Christian, it is condemning for the unbeliever.

Today, verses 22 and 23 might read that “claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for their own limited knowledge and their own sense of self.” We live in a world where our friends, our neighbors, our families are missing what is self-evident.

And Paul makes clear in his letter to the Romans that failing to recognize the self-evident is no excuse, that “his invisible attributes… his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world.” That should change how we evangelize in 2 key ways.

First, it should give us a sense of urgency to share the Gospel that has the power to bring salvation to all who are far from God. Because every single person has seen what God has made self-evident. That there is a standard of what is good and what is right and it comes from the God who created the universe, and everyone has fallen short of that standard.

Second, it changes the conversation, if you think about it. We do not necessarily need to convince someone that God exists, scripture tells us that is self-evident. Our job is not to argue for God’s existence until non-believers are overwhelmed with our inductive reasoning and strong thesis statement, swayed to know God as we walk them point-by-point through our apologetic argument.

Evangelism is loving people, like we have been loved, letting them know that the God that self-evidently exists loves them very much and sent His only Son to die in their place so that they can receive forgiveness and join us in being made better tomorrow than we are today. Not, necessarily better by being wealthier or healthier or stronger or more powerful, but better in that the Holy Spirit will live in them and make them more like the humble, righteous king who brought salvation with Him as He entered Jerusalem on a donkey.

Conclusion

I hope you’ll seek to share that love, that grace with others this week. I pray that we will model the forgiveness we have received by showering those around us with grace and forgiveness.

I hope that you will sing these songs louder and more fully, knowing that God’s majesty permeates all of His creation to the extent that even if we sang nothing at all the rocks themselves would cry out in priase.

I pray that you’ll be confident in your faith this week, and as you walk through a cynical world that wants to make you ashamed for what you believe, that wants to make you feel foolish to put your faith in God. I hope that you’ll remember that it is not the Christian who ignores what is obvious, and self-evident, but the skeptic.

Call

If you have not yet put your faith in the self-evidence salvation that comes through Jesus Christ, we’d love to assist you with that this morning.

Because the scriptures say that to find the salvation that Jesus brings, we need only call on His name, repenting of our sins and submitting to Him in baptism, and He will give us the grace that comes through faith and an eternal home in the Father’s house.

Or maybe you’re a Christian who has lost track of what God has made self-evident. Maybe you’ve been stricken by doubt or by cynicism or any of the other tools of this world that the enemy tries to use to pry us away from the Father to instead cling to created things, to our own knowledge, our own self image.

Maybe that’s you and you’d like the prayers of the church, encouragement from the body of believers.

Whatever need you have this morning, won’t you make it known by coming forward, while together, we stand, and sing.