Proof of God in the Face of the New Atheism

Good morning, everyone. Good to see all of you. I'll be back with you after a few weeks' absence.

This is a Bible study set up this Sabbath, so we're not having a sermonette. You've got me then for the entire time. What I want to go through is some material that I've been going over myself in preparation for an upcoming telecast that I will do this week with Jim Franks, and I are going to do a television program called The New Atheism. We are going to talk about the existence of God. And in going back through a lot of material that I've had over the years and reading some new works that have come out, it got my mind churning in that direction. And so I wanted to go through a study with you in a presentation that talks about the proof of God.

That might seem like an odd subject to cover in a church service because most of you profess belief in God, don't you, I would think? But I think there are a number of reasons to go through a subject like this. There are a number of attacks that have recently been mounted in many different ways, questioning the authority of the Bible, questioning God, the existence of God, questioning Jesus Christ and His divinity, which is another way of questioning God's existence. Because if you can get people to deny the divinity of Jesus, then you are really, you've denied God right there. That's the spirit of Antichrist, but you are on the road to atheism in that sense. But that is, there's been a lot of press, a lot of in the popular culture, and a lot of so-called scientific finds and archaeological finds meant to discredit belief in God, belief in the Bible, the authority of the Bible that I try to keep you abreast of. And I know we do that as well in the good news and try to keep you abreast of some of those things that are taking place. But the actual matter of proving God and proving His existence is something that I think I've learned over the years that we should never ever take for granted. We can believe in God and have a belief that is based on God in various pillars, various parts of the foundation. And it's important that we certainly know why we do believe God, and we feel that we have proven His existence without any doubt in our minds. But sometimes I've learned over the years that the manner by which we come to that conviction in our mind is as important as the profession of belief that we might have regarding God and whether or not we believe in God. How we come to believe in God and to know that we know that God exists is as important as any proof we could put up on a chart and PowerPoint or read in a book that indeed can provide us proof of His existence. But when it comes to our personal conviction and what really makes us believe in God to the point where we're going to stick with that belief through thick and thin, through anything that happens in our personal life, through any illness, through any curve that comes across our lives, loss of a job, other difficulties that come up in life and cause us to question, you know, where is God? Why is this bad thing happening to me or someone I love?

Why is all this happening? We've got to individually have a very deep conviction that is rooted and grounded on more than academic scientific knowledge that is readily available and can provide us with information and provide us with proofs of God. But the manner by which we come to that deep convicting is the important thing. You know, there's a lot of questions that are important. Why were we born? The purpose of human life? Is the Bible true? Where is God's church? These are all questions that you can readily recognize as titles of booklets that we have used over the years in the church to preach the gospel and to teach people of the truth of God, to help them come to understanding of the purpose of life, where the church is, whether or not this book the Bible can be relied upon. And those are all important questions.

But perhaps the most important question is whether or not God exists. That is probably the most important question that I think any of us could really grapple with. That's where it all begins. I think if you want to look at a logical progression, you would prove whether or not God exists.

And then the second question might be, what is His Word? Or what is He telling us? What does that God have as His purpose or His plan? What is His purpose? And that's where you would come to the point of the Bible. Or, if it's not the Bible, some other holy book that's going to be the source of inspiration, the source of knowledge for you to discern and divine how to live. And then perhaps the third question, in terms of the relative importance, might be, well, then why were we born? And again, that book should tell us why we were born and the purpose for our life. And then, fourthly perhaps, where is the church or where is that group of people who believe the same way that are carrying on the work of God as outlined in the Bible? But the proofs of God or the proof in God's existence is probably, in my mind or in my hierarchy of priorities, the most important one to be able to prove that beyond any shadow of a doubt. I might ask you, what are the proofs in your mind that came to you at whatever point in your life where you proved God exists and it is undeniable proof for you? Could you write them down? Could you write a sentence? Could you write a thought, you know, a partial sentence that would explain why you believe God exists? You don't have to. This is not necessarily a pause here for a writing exercise, but think about it. If at any time in your life when you were a teenager, when you were coming into the church, when you were struggling with something in your life, what is it that nailed it in your mind in terms of the existence of God? You may have been taught about God as a young person. You may have read the Bible. You're part of a church. You've been inherited a belief in God because of your family, maybe your extended family or society or whatever else. But in the dark moments of your mind, when you've perhaps been exposed to the other side, the other ideas of those who don't believe in God, how have you combated those in your mind and in your heart? How have you shoved them back, if you will, and said, I don't accept that idea. I don't believe what this atheistic friend or teacher or commentator that I'm watching on television believes.

Because... you would fill in the blanks. What is it in your mind? Is it the universe?

Is it the design of the universe? Is it the beauty of a flower and the intricacy of the interrelated aspects of all life on planet that this planet... is that the proof for you that there is a God? Or is there something else? Is it answered prayer? Is it what you have proven from history and prophecy and things like that? Is that a proof for you? Whatever it might be, that's fine. But all of it needs to stand the test of experience. It needs to stand the test of trial that comes our way. And it needs to be able to withstand the various challenges that would... that will come about. As I mentioned, I have been doing a lot of work just in preparing for 30-minute television programs. Amazing what you have to kind of load up on and fill up your memory and your RAM, to use a computer term, in your mind to prepare for something, a talk like that. And for 30 minutes, you spend hours and days just going over material and filling up on a particular subject to be able to sit down and appear to be an expert on a subject and not look like a fool and feel completely uncomfortable. But in this subject, I've been going through a number of books and a lot of reading, but there's been a... there's a lot of material. And what inspired this program and the study was the existence in recent months of a number of books that have come out and have become best sellers on atheism. I've got two of those books on my desk. I didn't bring them with me today. I just didn't want to lug them up here. But there are three that are right now that have been out. I have two of them on my desk. One of them is called God is Not Great. So you know right up front from the title that what where he's coming from. That book is written by a man named Christopher Hitchens. I have a... this was a Newsweek article a few weeks ago that was talking about Mr. Hitchens and his book. Some of you may have seen Christopher Hitchens on... he's a... he makes up the rounds of all the talk shows and the news shows, Fox News and others in MSNBC commenting on politics and world affairs and religion. But he is an avowed atheist. And the title of this article that was in Newsweek on May 14th was called With God in His Sights, as if he's got God in the sights of his gun. But he takes on all of religion and his book is called God is Not Great. I've read parts about part of it. I haven't completed all of it. And he is a very, very hostile atheist. And he... one of the main tools that he tends to use is ridicule and intimidation. That seems to be... he has a lot of other so-called logic and proofs as well, but he does tend to make fun of people who don't agree with him. And he does that whether it's talking about religion or politics. There's another book that is called The God Delusion. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Richard Dawkins is an English scientist and he has written a book. And his book is on the New York Times bestseller list. And he is, again, an avowed atheist. And he has been making the rounds talking about it as well. Then there's a third book called The End of Faith by a man named Sam Harris. He's an American atheist.

And one of the common thoughts that all of these men have in common as they are promoting atheism is that as they look around today's world, they see so much religious strife. The terrorism that is caused by Islamic fundamentalists and terrorism of so much of the world, especially the Islamic fundamentalists' terrorism, it all stems and flows from religion. And they are using that as a another kind of a new approach to the subject of denying, attacking religion and attacking God because see what we have to deal with, the intransigence, the hate, and the insoluble problems of our planet and among human beings. So often they say, and they're right in that sense, they go back to religion. They have religious origins. And so then they use that to, again, show the illogical origins of religion and the belief in a deity. And if this is what it causes, it's just another proof that that it's not right and that God doesn't exist. But they have gained a great deal of attention in the press. And their books are selling quite a bit. Well, that doesn't mean that America necessarily is turning to atheism. I saw a recent extensive poll that showed that, you know, while most Americans still profess a belief in God, I think it's something like 80 percent of Americans believe in God, say they believe in God. That doesn't mean they believe what he says, and they are going to do what he do what he says, but they profess a belief in God. Atheism is still a very small minority opinion in the United States. In Europe, it's a little different matter. There was another article in The Wall Street Journal back in, this was in April, that talked about how Europe's atheists are seizing the pulpit. And again, because of Islam's rise, it's given boost to militant unbelievers. And they profiled one celebrity atheist, a Frenchman by the name of Michael Anfret, who has been promoting his particular brand of atheism and drawing large crowds in some of his appearances and writings in Europe. And so, Europe is, they say, a post-Christian society, and the majority of people in Europe will say they do not believe in God and organize religion.

So the polls in Europe are completely the opposite of what they would reveal in the United States, and that reflects a lot of their character and their situation. But it talks about Europe's struggle between belief and non-belief, but this is also being used by these individuals, these atheists, to strengthen their argument. And going on here, there was one part of this article that says, atheists and their foes agree on one thing. God, declared dead over a century ago by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, is making a comeback, at least as a focus of controversy.

Faith is on the public agenda in a way that is unprecedented in recent times.

And again, that's part of what they used to make the argument that God is part of the problem in the world ills that we have today. So I thought a title of the new atheism, although the arguments for a non-belief in God are not any different today, it still made a good title for a program to make, and it is a good subject for us to get into. As I say, the title of the program is the New Atheism, but atheism is not new, because men have argued for years over the questions about God's existence, and it has been an age-long debate, quite frankly, as old as mankind. We'll find arguments against it in the Bible, and Paul had obviously had to address it and deal with it. Many philosophies have different methods of reasoning and coming to the conclusion that God does not exist. But for you and I, we understand that it does matter that we can answer this question. It matters because we are told in the Bible that if we're going to have a relationship with God, if we're going to please God, we must believe Him.

In Hebrews 11, there's a statement we ought to first turn to, Hebrews 11, the chapter, in verse 6.

It says, Without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is. In other words, that's another way of saying we must believe God exists.

Whoever comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. So it is important to answer this question and to have a solid answer for it because, again, as I said, if we begin to waver because of problems and trials that we might be having in our life, then it can then weigh on our faith. And verse 6 tells us that when we come to God without faith, we are not going to be pleasing in His sight because we must believe that He is. And that means that more than that of what He, more than that He exists, but also that He is able to stand behind His word and that His word is effective and solid principles of faith upon which to base our decisions. And we know that and we have confidence in that and we continue forward in our life without hesitation. And therefore, we are able to resist temptations to give into sin or discouragement or doubt that can rip our faith apart. That then, having this firm foundation of faith in God's existence is important in maintaining the standard of faith. And it's really more than an academic question that can be settled by reading a book or setting back in our easy chair. I think we all realize that life is real.

And there are real problems that come about that shake us up, can shake our foundation, marriages can fail, love can wane within a relationship, all kinds of issues can come up.

And when those things happen, just an academic belief in God is not going to be enough. Or what we just listened to from a parent or in church through the years is not going to be enough.

That's where it really hits the road for us, and we are going to be tested in our own heart and mind as to what we believe and what we are going to do. So we have to understand that if He does exist, then everything matters. Back in 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3, and verse 1. John writes, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. If you take this and approach it from this idea, this question of proving God and God's existence, in verse 1 it says that the world doesn't know us because it did not know Him.

Now, that can be referring to a world that professes religion or belief in God or gods, as in the world of John's age, the pagan world of Rome, they believed in gods and goddesses. Our world believes in God, if you will. But the thought here is that it really comes to knowing the true God, and that we are His children, and a revelation that comes to be able to see God as He is. We'll see a little bit later that that a person can profess belief in God and be completely working against God's purposes and God's plan, and have to be brought up short and be brought to know the true God. And I think an argument can be made that that, in a sense, is coming to really prove the existence of God, the God of the Bible, for the first time. When you see Him in a whole different light than what He has been seen before, and you see the revelation by His the revelation of His Spirit, that we see Him as He is, then this question becomes even more important in our in our minds, and is important for us to to fulfill, because belief in God is really belief in everything that matters, and it's important that we purify ourselves as He is as He is pure, and make sure that that is what is embedded in our hearts and minds as a is like the seed of the gospel or the seed of truth that can't be taken away.

In Matthew chapter 13, there's a thought from this parable of the sower that I wanted to go to that weighs on this issue as well. The parable of the sower, you are familiar with this. Let me just briefly review it. We're not going to go through every verse in this section here, but it is a parable that begins in chapter 13 of Matthew, and it's about a sowing of seed in a field, and it is a description of the kingdom of God, how the kingdom of God is sown.

In verse 18-19, it says, anyone who hears the word of the kingdom does not understand it, and wicked wood comes and snatches it away. The parable of the sower is talking about the sowing of the seeds of the gospel of the kingdom. And in verse 3 here, it mentions, the sower went out to sow, and he sowed some seed on the wayside, and the birds came and devoured it. Some fell in stony places, and they didn't have much earth, and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground, and yielded a crop some 100-fold, some 60, and some 30. And then over in verse 18, he begins to explain this. And verse 19 says, anyone who hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside, but he who received the seed on stony places is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. He has no root in himself, but endures only for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises of the word, because of the word, immediately he stumbles. And then it goes on to explain the one who received it among thorns and the cares of the world takes it away. And then the last category is he who receives it on good ground and bears fruit some 100-fold, some 60, and some 30-fold. So this parable shows that some taste of the seed of the truth and have it snatched away by the wicked one, and that's referring to Satan himself. You might ask, why is it snatched away? Why would something be taken from someone who, to at least a small level, understands the seed of the gospel, if you will, the knowledge of the truth? And we can also say and throw into this focus, at least on the idea that the part of believing God, that believing that he is and believing in God as his existence. And yet you can apply this to say that even that can be taken away as well, that belief in God. And again, the answer to the question is why that can happen.

I've already mentioned trials can hit, difficulties can come our way, but the reason is because people have not really proven this most important question and really proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in their life, by the fruits of our life. That's why it is so important. I have known of those who have grown up in the church, who are now atheists, who don't believe that God exists.

So I know that it can happen. I've seen people who walk through that. I've seen people who profess atheism and then come back out of it as well and recognize that it's not something that to them at least they can be intellectually honest on. We don't want to take anything for granted. And again, this is important that you and I don't as we look at this subject and sometimes see the challenges to it and make sure that we understand in our own heart and mind why we know God exists. The Bible says God exists. This book is self-evident in that revelation. You go no further than Genesis 1, verse 1, and it says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. All right? So from the very beginning, the Bible reveals God as existing and as the creator. It doesn't – it takes that point as a non-starter. It is a given that God exists.

John 1 in verse 1, which since we're in the New Testament, let's just turn a few pages over to John 1 in verse 1 and see that this is where at least John begins his gospel with this statement that again affirms God. John 1, verse 1 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. So God is in the picture. The Bible very, very clearly shows that through the scriptures. Now, let's turn back to a scripture in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 46. Isaiah, chapter 46. And verse 9. This is another teaching through the prophet Isaiah, one of God's soliloquies where he goes on a long discourse.

And verse 8 says, Remember this, and show yourselves men, recall to mind, O you transgressors. Verse 9 of Isaiah 46. Remember the former things of old. For I am God, and there is no other.

I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel will stand, and I will do my pleasure. So God here says that He is God, that He exists, and there is none like Him. So no matter what men write, no matter what men say, and men can write books and hold ideas that He doesn't exist, but there's one psalm over here that shows very clearly how God looks at that. Psalm 14. Psalm 14 and verse 1. This is a classic verse on this subject, but it says, The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good. The fool says in his heart, There is no God. Now, for very intelligent people, it is very fashionable to believe, or to not believe in God.

And when you look through the study of some notable atheist down through history, it does seem to center in the realm of those who desire to, who are very intelligent, and who certainly put themselves forward as the intelligentsia of an age. Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher that I quoted earlier, who in the 1800s wrote a, he was very atheistic against religion and against God, and he is the one Nietzsche coined the term, God is dead.

Okay? So Time magazine did not invent that in the 1960s when they put that on their cover of Time magazine and said, God is dead. They were just quoting Nietzsche about a hundred years earlier, 75 years or so at that particular time. Nietzsche died a very sad and lonely man. He did not have a happy life. That's a lot of religious people who don't have happy lives. That, in and of itself, doesn't prove anything. But the point is, so many of those who are atheists are very intelligent. They are very smart. You can't say that they're dumb. This Scripture does not say, the dumb say, that there is no God. The low, those who score low on or score high on a intelligence exam say that there is no God. No, it just says those who are foolish. You can be smart, but be a smart fool. You can be an intelligent scientist and philosopher, theologian even. Some theologians are atheistic as well. But you can be foolish. A fool is one who, to take a simple definition, who when confronted with incontrovertible evidence, reasonable evidence, and facts, still refuses to see the truth of a situation and acts them contrary to their own best interests or that of their society and refuses to acknowledge things that are factual, true, or self-evident. And when presented with all of that, makes a conscious decision not to do it. You are acting foolishly, we say. And when you make those types of, when you and I make foolish decisions, it's very often because we are doing so against common sense, against reason, against the facts. And that's the intent here that is being said, that when you look at all of the subject about God and you look at what the Bible says, you look at what we can discern from our own world and the world around us, David's conclusion, and even in his time. And keep in mind, this was a time this did not have, they didn't have all the scientific advances that we have knowledge of that can either affirm our faith or take away faith.

This was not a scientific age in ancient Judea at this period when David wrote this psalm. David looked up and he saw the same heavens from the same perspective that you and I see. He did not have the advantage of a telescope that could see the multiple thousands, hundreds of thousands of additional galaxies that are out there.

All he saw were stars. And he didn't know that they were, you know, he was only seeing a portion of it and he didn't even probably know the term galaxy. Didn't understand how our son and other planets worked to create what we call today a solar system. He just looked at the sky and to him that helped to define his belief in God. And I think David looked at other things that were surrounding him, the beauty of life, the interdependency of at least as he saw it, understood it at his time. And he added in the factor of religion and of revelation and what he saw and knew from the history of his people and his own personal experience.

And he wrote this song and its opening line, the fool says in his heart there is no God. And so we can deal with this today. We can look at this and understand it. In fact, most people in this class of people called fools today are pretty smart fools. They're scientists, they're philosophers, they're brilliant men. I mean, I look through these books that by written by these atheists and read some of their things and I've, you know, see some of the ones that may come on a particular talk show or debate it on television.

And it's obvious. They could talk circles around me. They can write circles and reams and volumes around me in thinking and come to prove and attempt to prove their particular point of view. They are very intelligent, educated, but foolish. And that's where they are. When you study into the subject of this idea of God and the arguments that have been put forth over the years, I think it is helpful to look at the various proofs that have come up and the things that have been used as people have studied this. Because not only have scientists and philosophers studied it and come to a conclusion that God doesn't exist, but they've also come to the conclusion that He does exist, many on the other side.

Isaac Newton, the most famous physicist and astronomer of our, you know, modern world, perhaps, Stephen Hawking is giving him a close run of it today. But Isaac Newton stands, I think, still head and shoulders above in terms of his experiments and what he came to see. But Newton believed in God. In fact, Newton also believed he was fascinated by the book of Revelation.

He tried to uncover or decipher the book of Revelation in his lifetime, as well as understanding why an apple fell off of a tree and explaining gravity. But Newton believed in God, and a lot of scientists do. And the way by which people come to believe in God or disbelieve in God, in a sense, things are not new, things are not old in that way.

There are various proofs that people come up to, come up with. There's one quote here I wanted to give you from a one of the encyclopedias I have on my shelf that cataloged a lot of the discussion and arguments through the years on the proof of God. And this one quote, I think, sums it up, as some of the methods that people have used to prove God.

It says, the arguments for the existence of the gods or of one God constitute one of the greatest attempts of the human mind to go beyond the sensible or phenomenal world of experience. The attempt has been made in every age and by minds of quite different persuasions in religious belief or philosophical outlook. So when I say the new atheism, I'm focusing on a new thrust and a new approach to it, but atheism by itself is not new.

It has been something that has been discussed through the ages. And this article or this one paragraph says, it is possible to classify the arguments into two or three main types in terms of the approaches. Let me just give you two up front that kind of summarize the approach to the arguments for God and that summarize a lot of people's belief there. One of them is what is called the a priori approach. A then is the second word priori, p-r-i-o-r-i. Now, to simplify that, that really just talking about a proof that is self-evident, a self-evident proof, meaning it's self-evident that if we exist, then God exists.

If what we see around us is life exists, consciousness, a world, if that exists, then God must exist. It's an argument from self-evidence that if we as humans can conceive of a perfect being like God, then God must exist. That's the way the argument kind of runs. Other different names for it. I won't burden you down with other fancy names there, but it's basically it's an understanding that if you can conceive that God exists, that He exists. That is the idea. Now, for some, that can be ample proof that there is a God.

Is it enough? Is it perhaps the most effective way to reason our way to the belief in God? Perhaps, at least as part of the picture. You know, when you look back at what God said to Moses when he confronted Moses in the burning bush there as Moses was being called. Remember that story in the book of Exodus. And God revealed Himself when He said, take off your shoes, you're on holy ground.

And the words that God used, Moses said, well, who do I tell them sent me?

Moses or God said to tell them, I am sent you. I am that I am is the term He uses to explain to Moses who He is. And if you just look at that on at its face value without going into all the Hebrew and everything else that that that would mean, just look at what that says on its face. God says to Moses, I am that I am. It's kind of like a parent saying to a child, because I'm your parent, I am here. I am in charge of this house and my word in this family is going to go. That's a very simplistic approach to it. But God said to Moses, I am that I am. And in other words, it's self-evident that I exist and that I am who I am. And I'll prove that to you by the works that I do. So in a sense, that's that is a part of the way by which God approached Moses in Israel there at the beginning. And there are his efforts to begin to work with these people and to bring them into a relationship with him. It's interesting to think about it just at the very beginning as he was working with Moses before he started with all the other miracles and the plagues and the miracles with the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, that he starts basically with this declaration that I am. It's self-evident that I am. I am. Do you see the bush burning up?

It's continuing to burn. And, you know, understand that. That's an approach. Another approach that has been time-tested through the ages by many different peoples as to God's existence is what's called the reasoning from the facts of experience or the evidences of nature.

Reasoning from the evidence found in nature. This is a this is a valid approach. Nothing wrong at all. It reasons that there is a cause for everything that we see in the universe.

A cause for what we think in our mind. A cause for what we approach. This particular approach, the evidence of nature or experience, is at the basis of so many of the proofs that creation demands a creator. You may remember from the old booklet that we used to have, Does God Exist? that we went through, I think, seven basic proofs of God's existence there. And this was one of them. Creation demands a creator. It comes under this idea that there are self-evident proofs from nature of God's existence. That law demands a lawgiver. Design demands a designer. And there are very good arguments there for proving God's existence. No question about that. But I think that we have to admit and realize that all the arguments that we can marshal do not always prove in the mind of those who have an opposing view, an atheist, that that God exists. You can come up with all kinds of arguments, but that doesn't mean that people are going to accept that. Let's look at some other approaches that talk about the proofs of God, because these are important to at least note and to understand. There's another argument for God's existence called the cosmological approach. This is the argument that the universe came into being at the hands of God or some superior being, the cosmological approach. That's not what we put on our face, ladies. That's talking about the universe and what we see. The stars, the planets, the galaxies all came into existence at the hands of God. Just what Genesis 1 1 says, that in the beginning God made the heavens and the earth. That's the cosmological argument, which is a very strong view held by a lot of scientists today who do believe in a God, who do believe in some first cause or a divine being as being the originator in the cause of the universe. Now, this is a proof that Paul looks to in the book of Romans, if you turn over to chapter 1 of the book of Romans. When Paul was writing here, he was really had this in mind.

Romans chapter 1. Let's begin in verse 19. Let's begin in verse 18, Romans 1 18.

It says, The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. So he's pointing to creation as showing the invisible attributes of God, showing that God can be understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power.

Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. So he echoes the same language that David used back in the Psalms, where the fool says in his heart there is no God. Paul used the same thought here to say, look, you can look at the heavens and know that they declare the glory of God. Psalm 19 in verse 1 says, the heavens declare the glory of God. I don't know if we have that. We used to have a hymn that was written off of Psalm 19. I don't know if that's in our current hymnal or not, but the heavens declare the glory of God.

And this is what Paul here is saying. And to look at that and to understand that is a proof that so many scientists have today even looked to and caused them to believe in a God. There's a book that I don't just read atheist books. I have another book that actually has been very, very helpful. I would recommend. I don't recommend you buy or get the other books I was talking about, but I would recommend this book. If you want to go into this subject in more detail or for a young person wanting to really go through it, this book is called I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. And it's written by Norman Giesler and Frank Turrick. And it really, each chapter builds on itself and goes through the book and talks about proving God's existence, proving the Bible, proving the divinity of Christ, goes into a quite a long theological treatise. But it's very easy to read and very simple. It's not difficult to read at all. In fact, it's very well written. I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. And that's their point. It takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to believe in God when you marshal all the thoughts. They have a chapter in here on this concept, this idea of cosmology. It's chapter three entitled, In the Beginning There Was a Great Surge. And they opened with a quote from Einstein, Albert Einstein, who said, science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind, which is a very interesting quote. And they start off here in talking about how Einstein was a little bit dissatisfied with some of his calculations that led into his great theory of relativity, which was proven to be more than really a theory and has been proven to quite a large degree. But it starts off here. It says, it was in 1916 and Albert Einstein didn't like where his calculations were leading him. If his theory of general relativity was true, it meant that the universe was not eternal but had a beginning. Einstein's calculations indeed were revealing a definite beginning to all time, all matter, and all space. This flew in the face of his belief that the universe was static and eternal. Einstein's theory of relativity, that its heart proved that there was at one point way back in the far distant universe, there was a point when the universe began. In other words, there was a point when it didn't exist.

So when you if you want to hang your hat on one idea as to how it all began, the Big Bang is getting pretty close to an understanding of how it did begin and is more than probably more than just a theory as this as it is as an explanation for the beginning of the universe. That at some point, the Big Bang essentially says that there was this giant explosion.

At one point, matter came into existence and the universe has been expanding ever since.

Einstein studied that and he came up with his theory of relativity, which gets into a lot of other subjects. But at the heart of his theory was the idea that there was a point of beginning.

And so there was a time when matter, physical, did not exist. And that was his problem, because then you had to admit or you had to have an explanation for that. The only explanation is the divine. The only explanation is that there was a cause, a first cause, as some of them claim it. You know, Genesis 1.1 tells us it was God. And he said he called this discovery, irritating, goes on. He wanted the universe to be self-existent, not reliant on anything outside.

But the universe appeared to be one giant effect. In fact, Einstein so disliked the implications of general relativity that he introduced a cosmological constant into his equations in order to show that the universe is static and to avoid an absolute beginning. The scientists have shown that the universe is not static. It is continuing to expand and accelerating at a rapid rate. Some of the theories that they used to hold that the universe would reach a point far out into the future where it would begin to contract and come back on itself, some recent research has shown that that's not the case because there's not enough matter for that to happen. So they're left with the idea that of an ever-expanding universe and the idea that it's going to all turn around and come rushing back onto onto us. Of course, not onto us because we're going to be long gone by the time it would do that. But that's not factual. According to the understanding they currently have about the universe and its rate of expansion and a lot of other things there. But it goes on to talk about this and some of the other men who came after Einstein, some of their discoveries. But it says in 1929, Einstein made a pilgrimage to Mount Wilson, which is in Southern California, to look through the Hubble telescope. And what he saw was irrefutable proof. The observational evidence showed that the universe was indeed expanding as his theory of relativity predicted.

With his cosmological constant now completely crushed by the weight of evidence, Einstein could no longer support his wish for an eternal universe. The idea that if the universe had eternally existed, then you don't need a creator was the idea behind his hope that matter had always existed. And by what he saw and what he proved, he had to abandon that idea.

He subsequently described the cosmological constant as the greatest blunder of my life. And he redirected his efforts to find the answer to the puzzle of life. Einstein said that he wanted to, quote, know how God created the world. I'm not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum or in this or that element. He said, I want to know his thought, the rest are details. That's probably one of the most fascinating quotes I've ever heard from about, from Einstein. He said, I want to know how God, to know how God created the world, then I'll know why. That was his, in a sense, his ultimate question that he came to. If I know his thought, then all the rest is details. And I submit to you and I that we know the thought. We know the why, from not this book, but from this book here. But the scientists who have looked through telescopes and studied the universe as we see it, come to this proof of an existence of a creator or of a God by this idea of cosmology. And it is a very, very strong subject and very strong proof.

And yet, and yet, there are some for whom it's not enough. They don't accept it as convincing proof of God's existence. Christopher Hitchens, others that I talk about, they deny it, and they can live with the answer. And very brilliant men write very seemingly intelligent books to come up with other explanations as to why God is a delusion and explain the universe and from other scientific points of view. And they can live with that. And so it's not enough. Is it enough for you?

This is a very strong argument and this is a very valid argument. There's another one.

There's another proof that is commonly used and well developed. It's called the teleological proof. Teleological. T-E-L-E-O. Logical. And you simplify that. What that argument says is that there is a design in nature. Nature has a design. And the study of that design proves that there is a designer. It's again, when we wrote in the booklet, Does God Exist? that a proof of God was design demands a designer. We were talking about this idea of a teleological proof. And I think the example used in that booklet was that, you know, that of a wristwatch. I think what was used was a Swiss made wristwatch. I don't have a Swiss made. I have a Japanese made wristwatch here, but the same principle. That the intricate movements, and there may not be as many movements in this one today as there would have been in an older, well-made, handcrafted Swiss watch.

Some of you that might have, anybody have a Rolex on their wrist out there? That would be an example of one. Nobody has a Rolex here? Wow, I thought that I had a richer audience than that. But a Rolex would have a more intricate jeweled movements and not the electronic watches that the Japanese turn out. But the argument from design can be illustrated by that of a very finely crafted watch. You find a watch, did it just come, all the parts come together by themselves?

Or was there a watchmaker who designed it, designed all the parts, machined them, crafted them, and then put them all together to where they worked in harmony to create a masterpiece, a timepiece that works accurately to within a, you know, millisecond or whatever, but keeps time.

That anything that is so beautifully designed as part of our universe, even the natural world, is a proof in and of itself of a designer. And that is the proof from design that says creation has an order, has a purpose, and that it all is working and headed toward a definite end. A flower could not design itself that way, but a watch couldn't put itself together as well. You know, in Psalm 139, what the psalmist says here, I think, reflects this particular proof that we could call a proof from design. Psalm 139. Well, I'm really disappointed nobody has a Rolex out there. Psalm 139.

And verse 14. This is another Psalm of David.

Verse 13 says, You formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. So again, David, with what knowledge he had of life and the formation of a baby in the womb, beginning with that and understanding the intricacies of human life itself, to him was a proof of design. He said, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I praise you as a result of that.

Marvelous are your works. David is echoing here this argument from design, and this extends out even into the universe and the positions of the earth within our own solar system and the exact distance from the sun, this giant star that warms our planet and designs and governs our seasons around which we orbit. The knowledge is there that if the tilt of the earth or if the distance of the earth from the sun was off just a little bit, we would burn up. It would be global warming.

We'd be global toast with just things, just a fraction of a what, different from what they are now, but the earth is placed in a unique position. No other planets that we can see, no other observable universe that we can understand, has the exact positioning of a planet, a body, as the earth does, in order to have a place where life, as we know it, can propagate and live. We haven't found it. Now, some would say, well, it could be out there. We just haven't got far enough. Star Trek hasn't really come to a reality. We haven't designed a powerful enough telescope to see. It could be out there. I don't, you know, there's no need to, in one sense, argue with that. It's ignoring what is already observable in front of us. This book, I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, has another chapter that goes into this argument quite well.

Just read up. I'm going to show you a portion of that. It's chapter four called Divine Design.

And it, here he talks about Isaac Newton and other scientists. It opens with a statement that says, only a rookie who knows nothing about science would say science takes away from faith. If you really study science, it will bring you closer to God. That's from James Tour, a nanoscientist. He says, if you really study science, it will bring you closer to God. Now, I know, because I've looked enough at the books, that you can find, you can line up all the number of scientists on one side of the argument who are atheistic, do not believe in God. And then you can line up an equal number of scientists on the other side who do believe in God, who have looked into the heavens, who have studied biology, and they come to a conclusion that there is a God.

What's the difference? That would be a subject for another sermon in itself.

So, again, we're left with a number of things to think about here. But he talks about, just to read the opening paragraph, the astronomical evidence for God must be strong when atheistic physicists admit that the universe exploded out of nothingness. And agnostic astronomers claim that supernatural forces were so at work in the beginning that scientists are led back to a band of theologians who've been setting for centuries knowing God exists.

But the scientific evidence for God does not end with the cosmological argument, for many, the precision with which the universe exploded into being provides even more persuasive evidence for the existence of God. This evidence, technically known as the teleological argument, derives its name from the Greek word telos, which means design. And it shows how Isaac Newton came to that conclusion where he wrote that the most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. That was Isaac Newton in the 17th century, what he said regarding that. But scientists are now finding that the universe in which we live is like a diamond-studded Rolex, except that the universe is even more precisely designed than the watch. In fact, the universe is specifically tweaked to enable life on Earth, a planet with scores of improbable and interdependent life-supporting conditions that make it a tiny oasis in a vast and hostile universe. And so it is precise. It is highly designed. What's interesting in this book, they go into, they illustrate this by the story of the Apollo 13 mission to the moon. How many of you have seen the movie Apollo 13?

I've seen it lots of times. It's one of these that's always on somewhere on all the cable channels. And when you're surfing through, I tend to fall on it. And I'm always drawn to that story of Apollo 13. This was the moon mission that didn't get to the moon. They had an explosion on board on their way out to the moon, and they had to abort the moon mission and figure out how to get back. And Tom Hanks, Opie, made that movie, didn't he? Ron Howard made that movie.

And it's well done. But he uses that story in here to explain how, as those astronauts, had to hit the Earth's reentry point just right, or they'd skip off out into outer space, or they'd burn up if they came in too steep. And everything that they had to do from the moment that explosion took place within that tiny spacecraft, as they moved into the lunar module, they used as an example to show how those scientists, to get back, everything had to be right down to the millisecond and to the exact degree. They had to do it all basically without the aid of a computer by sight and as their physical condition was deteriorating. And they did it. And he uses it here to line up with the many design arguments for the universe and how precisely coordinated our planet is to sustain the life that we have as a proof of God. It's a fascinating movie. It's a fascinating way that they took it together here to illustrate this particular point.

I will admit, personally, this is a very strong proof in my arsenal of what I use in my mind to prove God's existence that is very strong and very provable to me. But you know what?

Despite that, there are a lot of atheists that it is not enough. They can reason in their mind and reject God as a result. Now, there are a lot of other arguments that you can come down to. There's a moral argument. There's a argument from morality that is essentially that certain things are true. Two plus two is true, and it just seems, you know, wrong in life to lie or to steal. That sense of morality, it just is. Morals must come from somewhere, therefore it must come from God is the way the logic goes in that way of thinking. And that is another line of argument for God. There's the religious experience. Some people have religious experiences, and they have a deep experience. They may have a vision. They may have some other type of experience, and that for them becomes their touchstone for proof of God. So you can go on down the list, and there are a number of ways to examine and to prove this. Some of these others I've spent a little more time on are probably that which are more detailed and perhaps, at least in my mind, more convincing.

But all of them don't prove to an atheist, one who is of a particular mindset that there is no God, it doesn't prove to them that God exists. What will? What does? And even some who have used those and evidences of faith and belief have come to conclusions and a point in their life because of reverses, trials, where they do not believe in God and they reject God.

The point is you cannot prove God to anyone. And it is essentially futile to try to enter an argument that sometimes, unless a person is really seeking understanding, but it's you can't prove God to anyone except yourself. And that's where it is most important. Only you can know how much evidence you need to know to prove the existence of God. And that's the point that we come down to. How much proof do you need? How much proof do you have? Have you ever examined that question in your heart and in your mind? Only you can come to that answer. You know you have enough proof when you're willing to die for the truth. Or if you're willing to die in the truth.

It may not be that any of us will ever have to die for the truth in our life, but we certainly all want to die in the truth, holding to the faith. You have enough proof when you know you're willing to die in the truth and endure to the end. You have enough proof when you know that you're ready to endure any trial, any inconvenience to prove your loyalty to God. Yeah, but you know you have enough proof when you have enough to make a decision to commit to the end and to endure to the end.

We can discuss all of these things and they provide very convincing reasons for us to believe in God. But there may be one final proof that seals it for all of us as a final convincing proof.

It's not an argument from philosophy. It's not an argument from cosmology or biology or anything else. None of those, in a sense, bear on this particular proof. Those are all important, but perhaps the ultimate proof for you and I comes from action. It comes from an active, living faith where we act on the law of God, we act on the way of God, and by that we interact, we engage with God, we experience Him in our personal lives in prayer, in the study of His Word, and in the action of our life and putting it to practice in our life. And by that we come to know God. By that we come to have a relationship with God. By that we come to have a friendship with God.

Like it was said of Abraham, he was a friend of God. That is something that cannot be broken, cannot be shaken by anything. We can't be argued out of it by someone who's smarter, craftier, or cleverer than us. We can't be shaken out of it by anything that happens in our lives or around us.

We won't be moved. But it comes because we have developed a relationship with God over a lifetime, over 10 years, over 30 years, whatever it may be, as we have come to know that God and know His way and know His life. And we prove Him by living His way of life.

In Malachi chapter 3, there is a statement in regard to the matter of tithing that we're familiar with, Malachi the third chapter. But in talking about tithing, we find a principle that applies to every aspect of our relationship to God, Malachi 3 and verse 10.

And here's where God says regarding tithing, bring all the tithes into your storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me now in this, says the Lord, if I will open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing, that there will not be room enough to receive it. Try me now, or as the other translations put it, prove me now by this. In other words, tithing as a living law of God is something that one has to do in order to understand that it works. Every other aspect of God's way of life proves God to us as we keep the Sabbath, as we keep the holy days.

As we walk in faith and confidence, we prove God by living this way of life. And if we'd never come to that point in our life where we prove God in that way, if we were rely on what someone else believed, a parent, a good friend, a minister, for our proof, somewhere, somehow, along the way in our life, that will be tested. And if that's all it is, it will be found wanting. We have to have a stronger evidence for God in our life. And that, I submit, the ultimate proof from us that it can build on all the other things we've talked about today, all the other proofs that we can look at of nature, of design, of cosmology, and everything else. But this builds on that, and it anchors, it anchors everything in that way to where it will not work. I mean, it will not be shaken.

We pray, we obey. We pray, and we walk with God. We study, and we learn to live by faith. And when we come to pray to the one who says that he is God, who says that he is the one who created the universe, and we obey what he says is right, and we study to grow in grace and in knowledge through all of this, no one is going to argue or reason you out of that type of proof. That is a type of proof that is really a combination of true faith and experience. And for a Christian, that's, that is ultimately probably the most important to bring us into contact and to where we can say that we have met, come in contact with God. And in a sense, we have our own road to Damascus experience. It's not a blinding light that may strike us down for a period of three days, like it did Paul there in Acts chapter 9. But when we have an experience by which we come to know God, we give in, and we submit, and we obey, and we follow God, we have an experience that really takes us through every, all the days and weeks and years of our life that help us to prove God and develops a relationship that we're not going to move away from, that brings us ever closer to God. You know, we can have a relationship, a physical relationship with a wife, with children, and through that we know that they are, we know they exist, we know who they are, we know how they're going to act. If you ever move away, if a person by divorce, extreme circumstances, would move away from that relationship from a wife or from kids for 10, 20 years, ultimately you're going to forget what they're like. You're going to forget their habits and the little things. It will happen. We can do the same if we move away from God.

But if we're walking with Him, if we're proving Him regularly, continually, then we're not going to forget Him. We're not going to be, forget that He exists. We're going to know Him. And that is going to be ultimately the most important proof for us all.

In 1 John 2, 2 John 2, verse 3, it says, now by this we know that we know Him.

We can say, by this we know that He exists, that we have a relationship with Him, and all builds on that. But by this we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.

He who says, I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. This approach produces a living faith. It's based on action. This is how we come to know God. Doesn't happen overnight. Months and years may go by to actually solidify this proof in our hearts and in our minds to where we actually know that it is. You know, philosophers can try to act their way to God and fail. I should say they can think their way to God, and they can fail.

You and I can act our way to God, and we can prove that He is. And I think that that in the end is the most important proof that we can lay our hands on and anchor our faith in. It's an important subject we should never ever take for granted how we have come to believe in God, what we know of God.

Understand that the way by which we come to answer that question of God's existence is as important as the answer to the question itself. You all believe in God. How did you come to that answer? Think that one through, and in the process you will come to understand your relationship with God, and you will come to understand God in a far deeper way that will prove His existence in our hearts and in our minds for eternity.