Date:      17th December 2008                                                              (Wednesday PM)                                                                                Ref: A0413

Place:     Kambah P.S.

Title: Foolish Atheism

Text:        & Psalm 14:1

Illust:     VICTORIAN state primary school students will soon be able to take religious education classes which teach there is no evidence God exists.  The Humanist Society of Victoria has developed a curriculum for primary pupils that the state government accreditation body says it intends to approve, The Sunday Age newspaper reported.  Accredited volunteers will be able to teach their philosophy in the class time allotted for religious instruction, the newspaper said.  As with lessons delivered by faith groups, parents will be able to request that their children do not participate..  The article closes with this little summary sentence     Humanists believe people are responsible for their own destiny and reject the notion of a supernatural force or God. [1]

I.                   God

A.               Heavens Declare

i.                 The entirety of the Scriptures makes the claim that God is. He exists outside of time & space & that He is the creator of all matter, time & space. ~ From the very first verse.

        Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (NKJV)

ii.               The more the scientist studies the natural world, the more astounding it becomes, from the smallest living organism, highly complex and perfect to the ordered vastness of the universe. – Screams out in a deafening shout of praise that there is a designer, a creator.

        Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (NIV)

iii.             Paul even goes so far as to say that nobody has any excuse for not believing in God, Forget evolution, it’s a theory the missing links are still missing, Macro evolution has never been seen & can’t be repeated.

           In fact so unlikely is it that Richard Dawkins postulates that there a multiple Universes where maybe life evolved & then somehow transferred across to our Universe – That’s Not Science, it is a philosophy. R.A. Torrey would call Dawkins a ‘foolosopher’

           Paul even predicted that people like Dawkins & the current crop of atheists would surface: ~  & Romans 1:20-23

B.               His Story

i.                 Not only creation but His Story – history proves that God is. – The sweep of history from the earliest recorded writings of civilised cultures has seen empires rise & fall, but always inexorably lumbering forwards & onwards struggling with the inescapable folly of man’s innate sinfulness towards a point of destiny & judgement. – Proves that God is

ii.               History of the nation of Israel – It’s rise, it’s falls, its dispersion, & it’s regathering in the land as promised by God 2500 years ago ~  & Ezekiel 11:16-17. – The modern state of Israel proves that God is

iii.             The Word became flesh, the history of Jesus. – Despite centuries of some of the most educated scholars trying to discredit the Gospels accounts of Jesus life, it still stands to day as an unassailable rock, Jesus lived, He Died, was crucified & on the 3rd day rose again as the scriptures proclaim.

II.                 God Is

A.               Great

i.                 God is, He exists, and He is great. – How great is our God – How awesome, it is He who flung the stars in space, the black hole is a play thing in His hand. The amazing distant vistas that we see through the multi billion dollar Hubble Telescope, His artwork.

        Psalm 147:4 He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. (NKJV)

ii.               The more you take the time to understand the creation, to see the beauty to see the majesty of God’s handiwork – The more you are brought to your knees in wonder & worship to honour & praise our great God/

iii.             The greatest greatness of God is that He made a way for you & I, lost in your sins, separated from Him through the vileness of your own iniquity, your sin, No hope of doing anything to restore relationship. He by His own actions, His own love, made the way. Sending His only son born in a manger in Bethlehem to declare the Kingdom of God & to die in our place, the sinless Lamb of God.

B.               Holy

i.                 God is Holy. – Holy, separate, different, apart, - Far above & beyond all that we can conceive or even hope to understand.

        1 John 1:5  God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. (NKJV)

ii.               He is totally holy, beyond righteousness. So different to us that in His presence we would tremble and fall on our faces before Him. – Remember the reaction of Isaiah, one glimpse into the throne room of heaven – the Holiness of God. & Isaiah 6:1-5

iii.             Woe is me, throughout the Bible, on almost every page, the sacrifices, the types, the ceremonies & the explicit teaching declare that God is Holy.

III.              After This

A.               The Fool

i.                 This is why given the overwhelming evidence for God, the greatness and Holiness of God that it is so amazing that the ‘humanists’ think they are so enlightened when they reject a belief in God. An overtly high opinion of themselves. – Our text says they are fools

      In Britain atheists organised a campaign to place adverts on 30 London Buses for four weeks saying “There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life"

      Ads proclaiming, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake", will appear on the outside and inside of Washington DC Metro buses throughout December.

ii.               Listen to God’s response to any who would think that they, finite man, whose time is so short, whose knowledge is so limited dares to question Him.

        Job 40:2 “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.”

iii.             I want you to notice that the psalmist very clearly lays it out that The fool has said in his heart,“There is no God.” – It is not the head, but the heart. – Don’t want to believe in God.

           To believe that there is a God who created you might mean (as it does) that you have an obligation to Him, that He expects you to live a certain way, that you will be accountable to Him. – Can’t do what you want, live like you want

           Deliberate choice to ignore the evidence to live in rebellion – Foolish.

B.               The Meeting

i.                 It is particularly foolish given the certainty of the coming meeting that every person will have with their creator

        Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, (NKJV)

ii.               Every man & woman must someday meet God. Every Judge, business leader, politician, scholar, media personality, sports star, next door neighbour, family member, even you. ~ & Revelation 20:11-12

iii.             Foolishness to live your life as though God does not exist when there is a coming judgment & all those who have not accepted the free gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ will meet the destiny chillingly recorded in & Revelation 20:15 – Foolish to be an atheist.

IV.             Altar Call

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[1] http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24797483-421,00.html