Sermon Central
-
God's Best Word To Man Series
Contributed by Bob Marcaurelle on Nov 22, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: It shows us how God reveals himself through creation, conscience, the chosen people and their Bible, Christ and conversion
Bob Marcaurelle homeorchurchbiblestudy.com
GOD’S BEST WORD TO MAN
John 1:1,14,18
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God / “The “Word became flesh and lived awhile among us / No man has seen God. The uniquely begotten Son has brought Him out into the open.”
If I pass your house for years you will know a little about me; size, race, weight, etc.; but you do not know me. Am I Billy Graham or Adolph Hitler? You do not know.
You can only know “me” when I open up allow you to get to know my personality, who I am and what I am all about. I will use “words” and these words come from my inner word or being.
That part of the mysterious God that we human beings can relate to and begin to understand is what John calls the “Word”. And the Word, who became Jesus, speaks to us in many ways:
THE WORD OF MYSTERY (1:1-2)
1. The Mystery of His Eternal Existence
Close your eyes and picture God. Anything you come up with is wrong. A. W. Tozer said, “We ask what God is like and the answer is that He is not like anything. All we can describe Him with are things that came from Him but are not Him”.
This is the mystery of the uncreated God who brought forth the whole universe out of nothing.
As to His EXISTENCE, we need no proof. The first words in the Old Testament and in John's Gospel, "In the beginning" ASSUMES Him.
Belief in a personal Creator is NATURAL. The Bible dismisses atheism with one verse, “The fool has said in his heart there is no God.” (Psalm 19).
E.Y.Mullins said, “He said it in his heart his head knew better.”
To almost everyone atheism is an absurdity. Belief in God is basic to human nature.
The atheist has not been born yet who can convince us that the courage of a soldier and the laughter of a baby are the products of time and slime.
A young Communist girl wrote on her test that Lenin’s Tomb was inscribed, “Religion is the opiate of the people.” When she learned she was right her first thought was, “Thank God.”
It is a matter of FAITH (Heb. 11:1-6) Augustine in the AD 400's said, "Arguments for the existence of God for the believer are unnecessary and for the unbeliever they are unconvincing."
We have faith in an uncreated Creator and an atheist has faith in an uncreated creation of matter that is complex enough to produce the eye of a gnat and the wings of a butterfly. Neither one makes any sense rationally. They are both "beliefs" (faith).
The same is true with arguments with SCIENCE. If someone tells you they believe in the “big bang” tell them that’s OK because we know the BIG BANGER.
A man said to a little girl walking to church, “I’ll give you a dime if you show me where God is.” She replied, “I’ll give you one if you show me where He “isn’t”.
2. The Mystery of His Plural Description
John says the “Word” WAS God and was WITH God. This introduces us to what the church calls the “trinity” (Three in one).
No one verse specifically teaches it. It comes from the way the Bible speaks of the Son, the Father and the Spirit as distinct, separate individuals (Matt. 28:18-20) and also as being the same (Jn. 14:8-9; 16,18 / Acts 5:4 & 8, etc.).
This cannot be explained intellectually because it is something we experience. It is HOW WE EXPERIENCE GOD.
We know there is a Creator above, beyond and totally separate from our universe. We know that God came to earth and now lives, personally and visibly in heaven. And we know God speaks to us from the depths of our souls.
A little girl was asked, how big is God. She said He is so big the universe can’t hold him and He is so small that I can hide Him in my heart.
THE WORD IN HISTORY
1. Creation (1-3)
In creation we see God’s POWER and WISDOM. Job 12: 13 says, “With Him there is wisdom and strength.”
He has the power to create a billion blazing suns (Isa. 40); and the wisdom to put one just the right distance from earth to sustain life. (Job 40-41).
The Psalmist adds all this up and uses the untranslatable term GLORY. The heavens, he says, “reflect the glory of God.” (Psalm 19)
2. Conscience (4-5)
God shows Himself as a MORAL Person through the inner “LIGHT” of conscience, to us who have the special “LIFE” of being created in His image.
God comes on the scene in the Bible telling us there are lines we should not cross; there are fruits that are forbidden to us.