Is There really A God? And Does It Matter?
TEXT: Acts 2:25-26; Heb. 2:1-4
INTRODUCTION:
1. Is there really a God? And does it really matter?
2. You say of course there is a God, but What If you attended a school where they ridiculed belief in God. Could your faith withstand the ridicule of a high school professor or a university Biology prof. who made fun of God?
3. The Bible challenges us:
1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
4. A faith that we refuse to examine is not faith at all it is prejudice.
DISCUSSION:
I. There are several reasons that faith in God is important.
A. Without it it is impossible to please God.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
B. The effect faith in God or atheism has on man.
C. No one ever said I was a no good bum. Then I read a book about atheism and it turned my life around.
1. Article: Liberal Missouri.
2. If there is no God then the Christian has only a better life to show for his mistaken belief.
3. he has been a better husband/wife, a better child, a better employer or employee, a better citizen.
4. he has saved thousands of dollars in sin taxes.
D. If the atheist is wrong he has lost it all for without a God there is no hope, we are just animals in the field.
1. Plato.
2. Ingersol’s brother.
II. The Cosmological argument.
A. Hebrews 3:4 "For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God."
B. The cosmological argument is one argument from cause to effect. It states that for every effect, there must be a cause great enough to have produced the effect (Strong, 1907). St. Thomas Aquinas called this cause a prime mover. This argument based on the idea that nothing comes from nothing is also found in Hebrews 3:4 "For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God."
C. Baxter (1971) relates a story about Benjamin Franklin which illustrates this argument.
"While living in Paris Franklin was a member of an elite literary social and scientific club. At certain of the meetings of this intellectual group, atheistic sentiments were expressed, leaving the impression that only the superstitious and uninformed still believed in God as the creator of the universe. At the next meeting of the group Benjamin Franklin brought a beautifully designed and executed model of the sun and our entire solar system. The earth and the other planets were in their proper relationship to the sun and to each other and of appropriate sizes. It was a masterpiece. Upon seeing it, one of the sophisticated members of the club asked, "Who made it?" Dryly, without the trace of a smile, Franklin responded, "No one. It just happened" (p. 54).
D. First Cosmonaut, "I don’t see God. I Guess he does not exist."
1. Why did he not stop breathing? He did not see the air.
E. Romans 1:20 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,
F. Isaiah 40: 21-26.
G. Man’s explanation Discuss the big Bang theory.
H. God’s account of creation agrees with the second law of thermodynamics
I. Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
III. The argument from design Teleological.
A. Teleological comes from telos which means "end or design, purpose" It argues that since there is order and design in the universe, it logically follows that there must also be a designer or Supreme Architect (Hoover, 1965).
B. Look at the glass of water.
C. Statistical probability of life beginning.
D. the room full of Monkeys.
E. 10 243
F. Molybdenum
IV. But what about the missing links What about Lucy?
A. Hisperopithicus Man: The American ape-man. created by Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1922. hailed as a colony of missing links. Came from the tooth of an extinct Peccary pig.
B. Piltown Man. Hailed as the missing link by the Encyclopedia Britannica. Turned out to be a human skull and the jaw of an Orang-utang. The teeth had been filed.
C. Neanderthal man.
D. Lucy.
E. Psalms 139:14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
F. $2.00 worth of chemicals. Why has no one assembled them yet.
G. The world’s most advanced chip has less then $2.00 worth of chemicals in it (mostly sand).
H. Last week an all out effort was announced to produce life in a test tube. That will prove that it takes life to create life
I. Man’s explanation, random probability.
V. The Theistic Argument.
A. When Man looks at the Universe there seems to be an innate awareness that there is a god.
B. Romans 1:17-23. "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." For 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, 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, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man; and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.
C. Psalms 19:1-4 "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world."
D. The bible never argues the existence of God. It just assumes it (Gen. 1:1)
VI. The prophecies about the life of Jesus.
A. Prophets had to be right 100% of the time
1. Jean Dixon right 6% of the time.
B. Statistical probability of fulfilling the prophecies about the life of Jesus.
C. List some of the prophecies.
CONCLUSION:
