So we'll come back to Psalms chapter number 104, but if you want to go ahead and turn over to Romans chapter 1 Romans chapter number 1
I preached a sermon last Sunday night entitled the concept of God. I'm gonna kind of continue on in that vein
Not necessarily a series, but I did want to preach some other ideas
Kind of along that same line and we're gonna talk about this morning the existence of God the existence of God
And if you remember last week when we preached when I preached about the concept of God
We looked at the fact that you know mankind has been given this unique
universal ability to
Conceptualize just the idea of God and we talked about the different conclusions that man comes to right and wrong
Using that, you know God-given intuition to to know and understand that there is a God
So this conceptualization again is something that is God-given. It's intuitive. It's instinctive. It's inherent
It's just something that's built right into man to know and understand that there is a God and we talked about
You know the atheist, you know how the fool say it has said in his heart
There is no God how the atheist is at Kant, you know is is at odds with his own nature when we deny
God and we talked about how that that intuitive nature, you know
The the cons the conceptualization of God is something that comes, you know without observation we can do it devoid of senses
It's just something that's built right into us and I want to kind of build upon that this this morning and talk about
you know how we can use that intuitive knowledge and then you know build upon that and
And come to an understanding about the existence of God and eventually we'll lead into you know
The the specific attributes about God and get more specific. So as we're kind of going through this series
We're just kind of narrowing down some things about God, you know, and if you don't like talking about God you're in the wrong place
Okay, this is church. All right, so that's what we're here to do and
What we'll look at this morning is the fact that again that intuitive knowledge that man has to know that there is a God
Could you turn down that AC a little bit give us a little more cool air somebody?
I don't know if any one of you guys can reach over there. It's it's warming up already
It's not because of the preaching. Okay that comes later, but
That intuitive knowledge that's something that can be developed and three ways that we can develop that is through
Reason through
Revelation and through reality through reason through revelation and through reality we can develop we can build upon
that
Intuitive nature that man has to seek after or to think about or to you know
Conceptualize is the big word, you know about God. Okay and
Reason, you know, that's something that we're gonna look at this morning and that what that does is that establishes the existence of God
You know and I was I was telling somebody I'm a little I was a little gun shy to preach through these sermons just because
I don't want to come across that I'm saying look
You know, we come to a saving knowledge of Christ through our intellect that we know it's our intellect that saves us or you know
I don't want to get up here and come across that I'm you know, trying to just philosophize about God, you know
But it would be it would be foolish to sit here and say look to say that God has not given man
Certain faculties
You know in his own nature to understand and know that there is a God and that he can use his reasoning
that is God given to understand further some things about God and
Then upon that reason revelation comes in and that's really what we start to talk about faith because that revelation is the scripture
Okay, but God has given man an intuition to know that there is a God he has given man
The reasoning be able to use his own mental
faculties to understand that there is a God and to understand some things about God and
Then so we use our reason then comes the revelation which is scripture which you know
The it develops it establishes some things it can't put some things in concrete about who God is
Okay, and that's what we're gonna lead into in the coming weeks
But the last thing that we'll look at this morning also is reality
You know after we've used our reasoning and come to the conclusion that there is a God maybe even determine some things about who we
believe God is
Then comes the revelation right the scripture after that, you know that we have
Reality and reality is basically just the confirmation of the existence of God
We start to look at reality about ourselves about our surroundings and we start to say look this confirms everything that I've
Reasoned about this confirms everything that I've read about the revelation that's been given me
So again, we're talking about the existence of God this morning and how that intuitive knowledge that is given to us to know and understand
That there is a God can be developed by reason by revelation and by reality
So let's look at reasoning first of all this morning
Our reason establishes the existence of God we can use our own mental
Faculties to understand some things about God not just his existence but some also some of his attributes and
You know, there is this universal belief. Okay, the belief in God is universal. There's a lot of people out there
They're gonna tell you well, not everyone, you know that it's not universal
Look, I understand there's people out there that don't believe in God
Okay, but as I talked about last week, I don't want to preach last week's sermon
You know the atheist even has still determined something about God, haven't they?
They've still used their own mental capacity. They've used their own reason to come to a conclusion about God
Right. And again, I don't want to repreach that but by and large there is a universal belief in God
You know, there's all you know
billions of people, you know around the world for for thousands of years have
Worshipped God in some shape or form whether it was right or wrong and this intuition of God's existence
You know, it isn't is in all men everywhere, okay
Why is that? Why now you say well, how are you gonna use your reason? What does that mean about you know?
About the existence of God. Well that shows us that because man, you know
Has a belief a universal belief in God that shows us that God has put that in us
Because we are created in the image of God. We are conscious of God. Okay
Now you're there in Romans chapter 1 look at verse 18
It says for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness
Because that which we may known of God is manifest in them. Look this it's again. It's inside of us. It's built in
It's something that is intuitive inside in it within man
That there is a God can be known that what isn't it can be known of God that which may be known of God is in
man, it's universal and
Of course, you know God if that makes man accountable
So we see that this universal belief, you know
This this intuition of God's existence is in all men everywhere because of the fact that man is made in God's own image
this kind of gets into
you know another aspect of using reasoning to come to the conclusion of the existence of God is that
You can't have that for every cause or for every effect. There is a cause okay
Why is it that we can step back and say well all men have you know some?
Concept of God. Why is that? You know, what is the cause of that? You know, it's because there is a God
Now this is why this explains why the reprobate, you know is so upset by this right because Romans chapter 1
That's what we're talking about those that have been getting over to a reprobate mind that have been given over by God
They've been rejected by God. That's what it means to be a reprobate. I'm not gonna preach, you know, we preach all that again
But you know the reprobate they're gonna try to minimalize this fact
They're gonna look at the fact that you know that belief in God is a universal thing around the world and they're gonna say well
You know it they'll they'll say things like quote. It's a silly human construct
Which is what I had some recent reprobate tell me or some reprobate. Just tell me recently
They said oh your belief in God is a silly human construct and hopefully humanity will progress past these ancient superstitions
Well, good luck with that. Okay, but you know, why is that? Why did why do people feel that?
Why do you want to minimalize this?
Universal belief in God that's just inherent in all men to a silly human construct
Because they don't want to retain God in their knowledge because they are convicted by the fact that there is a God
They are afraid of that fact
If that's why it says there in Romans chapter 1 verse 20 for the invisible things of him from the creation of this world are
clearly seeing being
Understood by the things which that are made, you know, we understand we are those things which are made we understand
That the invisible things of God why through his creation we use our reason we look around we say there is a God
That's not just a silly human construct. That is human nature itself to come to that conclusion. That is that is a
God-given
Use of reasoning to come to that conclusion. Okay?
So
This universal belief, you know, this is the result of a universal cause why is it that all men have this?
Intuition to know that there is a God because of this universal cause, you know belief and God is not this isolated thing
You know, I know it's a smaller crowd in here
But you know what there's across the country today and across this world. There's people going to church
That are going to hear about God, you know, there's people that you know, even outside of Christendom
There's people that are going some Buddhist temple to some Hindu temple
They're going to you know, some form of religious worship because of the fact that belief in God is universal
It's something that all men have
And you know, we're that's not to say that we're becoming more godless as a society
But what we really mean by that is that we're becoming more
We're becoming less moral as a society our morals are on the decline
That doesn't necessarily mean that there's less of a belief in God now there might be
The Pew religious landscape. This is a an article out of Wikipedia surveyed that as of 2014
22.8%
So just for you know sake of ease
Let's just call it 25%
25% of the American population is
Religiously unaffiliated now all that means is that a quarter of the country just simply doesn't have they wouldn't say well
I'm Christian. I'm Buddhist. I'm Hindu. I'm Muslim. I'm Catholic
They were there religiously unaffiliated that doesn't mean they don't believe in God
That just means they haven't you know, subscribe to some dogmatic belief in God, okay
Of that 22% atheists made up
3.1% so 3% and
Agnostics made up 4% so less than setting less than 10% as a whole would say that there is no God
Or that it's impossible to know whether or not there is a God
So again, this isn't just some isolated
Silly human construct when we talk about the existence of God. This isn't just us being delusional
This is something that comes from the very nature of man
This is something that's built into us and we can use our reasoning to
Establish the existence of God and we can look around around the world and say look how many people believe in God
Clearly there is one big why because of cause and effect
Things don't just happen do they there's always the cause and effect if you do this then this okay?
Go over to uh, go over to keep something in Romans. I
Know I got you in Psalms. We're gonna spend a little time in Psalms. So go over to Psalms 8
I'll get you in the neighborhood of where we were Psalms 104
But look things don't just happen. There's always a cause and effect
Right and the Bible talks about this the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 30
Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter
You know, that's a pretty that's a pretty, you know down to down to earth example of this of this
You know concept that there's cause and effect you look if you turn milk, you're gonna get butter
I know it I've seen it happen and it goes on and says and the ringing of the nose bringeth forth blood
Now if you want to put this to the test, I recommend you go with the the former illustration not the latter
Go ahead and turn the milk don't ring the nose. Okay, cuz you know look if you ring the nose there will be blood
What is it? You know, what is it? What are we getting at here? What am I getting at?
Is that for every you know for every cause there is an effect?
So when we look around and we say look at all these people that have some idea of God that have some concept of God
That must mean that God exists and then we begin to look at what they believe about God and
We could say well that must be what God is like in some shape or form
The Bible says in Galatians chapter 6 be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man
So if that shall he reap for every cause there is an effect
So we look around and we could see what what what?
What result can we see around us that would lead us to believe in God?
creation
Creation itself. It's said in proper in Romans
Where you were I'll read to you in chapter 1 for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen
We can't just look around the world and say well there must not be in God
Look if we look around the world and and see creation and we're honest with ourselves
We would come to the conclusion that there is a God
Whether or not it's gonna be the God of the Bible, you know, that's that's another thing
But look the cause and effect if we look at the cause of creation
We come to the conclusion that there are excuse me
If we look at the result of creation, we come to the conclusion that there must be a what a creator
That's what the Bible is telling us. Are you in Psalms 8?
Look at verse 1 Oh Lord our Lord
How excellent is thy name in all the earth who has set thy glory above the heavens look at verse 3
When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers and the moon and the stars which thou is ordained
What is man that thou art mindful of him and son of man that thou that is visit ist him
You know David saying here when he looks at the heavens, you know, he gives that glory to God
He doesn't just say wow. What a what a coincidence
When he looks at creation saying that's amazing. This all came from nothing
That's not the logical conclusion that man comes to man has to do a lot of mental gymnastics to come to that conclusion
They have to go to universities and spend a lot of money to have people convince them of that fact
Well, it's not even a fact of that philosophy. They have to go and they spend a lot of time
reassuring one another and trying to convince each other that there is no God because
Coming to the conclusion that there is a God is the natural
conclusion that a person comes to and if that's the conclusion you come to if that's the effect that you see then the cause is
There is a God you think up you come to the conclusion that hey there, you know, there is a God then there must be one
Especially you see billions of people coming to that same conclusion to sit there and write that off is a very foolish thing
And not only that but when we look at creation go over to Psalms 19 Psalms chapter 19
We can conclude some things using a reason about God
We can see that not only is there a God but that God is powerful that the God who created all these things is
Magnificent that he is powerful and that he is
Almighty which is one of his names, right?
And that's what the Bible says in Psalms chapter 19 verse 1 the heavens declare the glory of God and the firm it showeth his handiwork
Day unto day utter a speech and night unto night showeth knowledge
The creation itself shows that there is a God that's what he's saying the heavens declare not only God but God's glory
if we say wow this creation shows that there is a God then we look at creation and how
Magnificent it is and say God is a glorious God
God himself must then be magnificent because of what he's created
Because the cause has to be proportionate to the effect
You know an illustration of this mode be you're not gonna look at you know, some some, you know
Painting some famous but you're not gonna look at like a Rembrandt in some museum somewhere and wonder whether or not you know
A three-year-old did that with a box of box of Crayolas
You know, you're gonna look at that and say this is a very talented
Individual to make such a beautiful piece of work
And there's somebody put a lot of time and effort and practice and skill someone has, you know understanding of of
You know of how to do all that how to you know
Understand understands lighting and how to portray that understand these I mean some of these paintings are just amazing
We wouldn't look at that and just write that off as oh, is that nice we stand in awe of that
But what about creation
I mean we stand out here on the sidewalk at sunsets on Sundays Sunday evenings and look at that sunset over the
You know over the mountains over here and we often say wow, that's beautiful. What a beautiful sunset
We look at the hills and everything around here
and say that's beautiful, but that should lead us to the conclusion that there is a
Powerful God behind that and that God is a magnificent God
That's why it says the heavens declare what the glory of God and the firm it show with his handiwork
You know, it's God that did that day in the day uttereth speech creation itself. Just cries out
There is a God there is a God there is a God just creation itself
Utters that speech and night and tonight show it what knowledge there is no speech nor language
We're where their voice is not heard
Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words unto the end of the world
You know people often say well, it's not fair
About the people that don't know about God they've never heard about Jesus
But the Bible showing us here that his their line has gone out through all the earth
That the testimony of God has gone out to all the earth
because creation itself
You know, it's uttering day to day night to night showing knowledge their lines gone out through all that their words to the end of the world
You know if people really wanted to know the truth about God
all they'd have to do is seek him and he'd be found and
It's not like nobody, you know, Jesus Christ is probably
the most is the most famous person in all of history and
and every nation and in the world somebody knows about Jesus and
we have the testimony of creation that just
declares the glory of God to the entire world
So we can use our reason to develop the our intuition about the existence of God
okay, because of
Through through the the use of cause and effect, you know
If you came over to my house and you saw a hole had been dug in the backyard
You're not gonna think my son did that because he's only five
You know, you're I'm not talking a hole right now. He can dig a hole but it's like that deep
You know you came over and saw some massive hole in my backyard. You'd say well, what are you up to brother Corbin?
What are you doing? Are you making a pool?
Right, you wouldn't attribute that hole you would instinctively do that
You wouldn't wonder gee, I wonder which one of his daughters took the time to dig this hole
you would say this clearly is the work of brother Corbin right because he's the one that has the strength and the and the
You know the the ability to dig that hole
So when we look at creation, we look at the magnificence of creation the beauty of creation
We could conclude that there is a God and not only that is that there is a God
But what kind of a God he is that he's a powerful God
That's why the Bible just simply declares that God is and we talked about this last week a little bit too that in the beginning
God created the heaven the work at the heaven on the earth, right? That's Genesis 1 right out of the gate
There's no lead-up to that. Well, let me convince you of God's existence first
God just comes out and says in the beginning God period created the heaven and earth, right?
Why because of the fact that creation itself just screams there is a God and because man has been given an intuition and a reasoning
To come to that conclusion that there is a God
And he uses that reasoning of cause and effect
And what is causing what is that ability? What is that ability that we possess?
To to use our reasoning and say well cause and effect, you know that that shows that we are intelligent beings now granted
Some are more so than others, right?
But we're intelligent beings we can sit back and we can reason we can you know
We have cognition we can sit here and come to conclusions that would tell us that God also is intelligent
if
God if man is intelligent then God must be as well if God if God's the one that made man, you know, he must
And he said I'm gonna make man intelligent. That means he himself is intelligent
This is just some, you know using our reasoning to come to conclusions about God
The Bible says in 1st Corinthians 14. God is not the author of confusion. God is intelligent
You know, we have a personality don't we we're all we're all have our own unique personalities. We're all have different
Makeups when it comes to our personalities that would also indicate that God has a personality as well
You know, God isn't just some impersonable force
You know, God isn't just some you know
Some cold being that we're just going to merge with one day like the Taoists would have you to believe God is
Intelligent God is personable. He is individual and
God also is powerful again. This is we're just using you know
The logic of cause and effect and looking at ourselves
look at what the way we are coming into determinations about the way God must be and we're looking at creation saying wow that it's a
it's a very powerful thing creation and
That we would have been understand that we would use that to come to the determination that God also must be powerful
All right, I should have had you staying in Psalms go over to a Psalms 139 Psalms 139
The Bible says he telleth the number of stars. He calleth them all by their names
You know David we read earlier he was out and he said when I consider the heavens
You know if we go out and do the same if we go out and consider the heavens, you know
We're taken aback by them. You start to feel very small
Especially when you get out somewhere where you can really see those stars
Well, we would come to the conclusion that look that must mean that God is powerful and that's what the Bible tells us
Right. He it says he telleth the number of the stars
He what does it mean to tell them? Well, I think of like a bank teller. What does a bank teller do they count, right?
So that's what he means there. He tells the numbers of the stars. He can he counts them
God knows how many there are even the very hairs of your head are numbered. Jesus said
He called them all by their names God not only knows the number of them, but he's got names for them
And that's why he comes to the conclusion of verse 5 great is our Lord and of great power. His understanding is infinite
so David here is using his reasoning and looking at creation and
Looking at the effects of creation and saying well the cause must mean that God is
Great that God is of great power and that his understanding is infinite
Because he can tell all the stars and he number at them and knows them by name
So again, we're looking at how we use our reasoning to develop our
Intuition when it comes to the existence of God, okay, and that's one argument, you know
It's the cause and effect but also we could just look at the you know
Going kind of building upon that this argument of design. Okay, we understand that God created everything
But not only did he create everything but he created everything with purpose with a design, right?
Which shows this that if he designed something there's intent behind his creation
It's not like he just said well
Let's just see what happens if I you know mix all this up and see what comes out of it
There was intent behind all of it. Well, it just further shows that God is
You know intelligent, you know a guy doesn't sit down and build a grandfather clock without knowing why he's building it
Doesn't take the time to carve all that wood put all those fine pieces in there
Get it tuned just right so that he can and people go. What's it for? Well, I don't know
That's I think you'd make a great doorstop
Right and you set that in front of your door. You could probably keep it open through a hurricane
That no there's intention behind that design. Look I'm building this
I'm taking the time and putting everything just so so that it can tell people time. Okay, and so when we look at creation
We see not only that it's it's powerful, but that there is intention behind it
That is I mean think about how delicate creation is. I
Mean just think about how delicate really our existence is
And we might have learned a little bit about that with this, you know coronavirus and all the plagues in the past
It doesn't take much, you know and whole populations can be wiped out
You know, there could be some great famine in the earth and and people just die
Right, even it just shows us that there that not only is creation powerful, but it's also very
It's very deliberate, you know, there's a lot of design behind it. There's intention in creation
You there in Psalms 139 verse 14
He said I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous
I thy works and my soul know it that right well now go to Psalms one for 104
Psalms 104
He said I am fearfully and wonderfully made, you know, God made us
Very specifically, you know, God made man what in his own image. I mean God could have made us to look like anything. I
Mean God could who knows what I mean we could say imagine all kinds of different things
But God said no, I'm gonna make them in my image meaning we have the the appearance of God
You know God looks like us he has a body like us
Look at I'm there with you in Psalms 104. We're gonna look there
Let's just pick it up pick it up in verse 10 and you'll see here
Look that there is intent behind God's creation. The guy didn't just create things
You know just randomly that everything he did he did intentionally, okay
He sendeth Springs. It says verse 10 into the valleys which rung among the hills
Okay, well, why did he do that verse 11 they give drink to every beast of the field and the wild asses quenched their thirst
By them shall the fowls of heaven have their habitation which sing among the branches
So he did it with intent God created something with intention
So look, I'm gonna create these Springs and these hills what to feed the animals that are there, you know
And that's always something that's kind of blown my mind about God and you know, maybe this will be you know
A little melodramatic for you
I don't know
But I remember just thinking about the fact that you know
It's some far-off remote part of the world where man's foot has never even tread
There's just some some place that we haven't even seen
That nobody cares about there's you know
There's like a spider or there's some kind of insect there that God knows about and make sure he feeds it that day
And that happens just millions of times every day. God has just taken care of his creation over and over and over again
Because God has intent behind his creation
It says in verse 13. He watered the hills from his chambers. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works
He caused it the grass to grow
why for the cattle and herb for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the earth and
Wine that may get the glad the heart of man and oil to make his face to shine and bread which strengtheneth man's heart
verse 16 the trees of the Lord are full of sap the cedars of Lebanon which he had planted
Where the birds make their nests as for the stork the fir trees are her house
The high hills are refuge for the wild goats and the rocks for the Coney's he appointed the moons for seasons
The Sun knoweth is going down thou maketh darkness as it is ended
It is night wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth
Young lions roar after the prayer and they seek their meat from God so you can see in this
Psalm that God not only did he create everything but he created everything with intent behind it
That it wasn't just random
You know, we could talk I'm gonna move on here for the sake of time but
The Bible says in Colossians chapter 1 for by him were all things created
That are in heaven and that are in earth
Visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him
So we understand that all things are created by God, but why well, it says that all things were created by him and for him
You know the ultimate intent that God created everything is for himself
That's why God created everything and we'll talk a little bit more about that here in a little bit later
It says in verse 17. He is before all things and by him all things consist
The other the other argument from reason for the existence of God is the argument of life
You know, and this is one that that people, you know
Atheists and have tried in vain to disprove that own that life only comes from God
That man cannot create life
Now we can we can we can regenerate or we can procreate, you know, we can reproduce
But we cannot create life in and of itself
go over to a
Go over to Ecclesiastes chapter 11 Ecclesiastes chapter 11 man cannot create life and look they've tried
They've gotten together and they've tried to get all the you know
The the acids together and the right environment try to recreate that
Mythical primordial soup and see what would happen and they and they don't even come close
And they say well, you know if we just had a few other things it probably would have happened
Yeah, but it didn't happen and you've proved one all you've proved is that man cannot create life
Otherwise do it you say well we I mean man can clone things
Man can reproduce things but man can't make something out of nothing. It's impossible
It's never been done and it never will be done only God can do that. Okay?
Because here's the thing if everything came from nothing should you be able to replicate that if you if things just happen by chance?
shouldn't you with all the the you know, the the the elements of the world and all the
Laboratories the understanding all the equipment everything we have shouldn't you be able to to do that intentionally if everything just happened by chance and
We understand the complex nature of everything, you know all the different
Components that thing are that things are made of you should be able to read it
You should be able to replicate that don't wouldn't you think?
But they can't they can't do that because life only comes from God
look at Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 5 as
Thou knowest not the way of the spirit nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child
Even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all
Look science, you know, we can understand and look at it and understand. Oh, yeah
You know this this child is at so many weeks gestation, you know, this is when their eyes develop. This is when their ears develop
You know, this is when their heart starts to beat we can we can tell us all these facts about you know
When that when the when the child grows within the womb, you know, we can't tell you is why that happens
How that whole process even occurs or why it occurs what just makes it happen?
Thou knowest not the way of the spirit nor how the bones do grow. Look we know the bones grow
And we know about the approximate size at certain times, but we don't know how they do it
They just do it because life comes from God
So we'll move on to our next point here. We see first of all that, you know
We can develop our
Untuition of the existence of God using our reasoning we can look around at creation say wow
this is amazing God must be amazing and
Then we can you know develop other things we can talk more about that, but we're gonna move on here revelation is
The next part we're gonna look at so what's what's the next thing that we can use to develop this intuition about God that we have
Is revelation this develops the existence of God, you know man has his intuition uses reasoning says, okay
There is a God now revelation comes in and says now let's tell you about who God is. Let's get specific
about God, okay
Scripture is that revelation you our reasoning kind of narrows down our intuition
You know, whereas revelation just kind of hits it right on the head because it's the scripture. It's the Bible
It's the Word of God that's telling us go over to 2nd Peter chapter 1 6 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 19
The Bible says in 2nd Timothy 3 all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction
For instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works
It says that scripture is given by the inspiration of God
And look this is where faith comes in because it doesn't offer any proof for itself. It just simply says that it is
The Bible just has looked I the Bible just says the Bible is the Word of God
That's it. You say why do you believe the Bible is the Word of God because it says it is
You know, that's circular reasoning I know I don't care, you know
It's not that hard for God to write a book and to preserve his word
That's what it says in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 19. We have also a more sure word of prophecy
Where until you do well that you take heat as into a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the
Day star arise in your hearts knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man
But holy men of God's spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost
so people say all that book it's just written by men and
In a sense, they're right, but what they actually mean is that it was just made up
They've got that guys just getting a man got together over the course of thousands of years and just wrote a book
That's perfectly succinct somehow
Then it just made up
Well with the Bible saying look it's not it did not come by the will of man
But holy men of God's spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost
You say offer an explanation for your belief that the Bible is the Word of God
Well, all I can submit to you is the Word of God itself and say well
It says here that holy men of God's spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost
So scripture offers no evidence for itself, but simply simply claims to be what it is and this is
What revelation is our intuition tells us there is a God our reasoning tells us some things about God
Revelation the scripture comes along and just says this is exactly who God is and this is where we have to believe by faith
Some things about God it has to be believed by faith. The Bible says without faith faith is impossible to please him
So again the Bible it is it's not trying to persuade us
About the existence of God it asserts that fact. It just says no God does exist and
It doesn't sit there and try to persuade us. It just simply says that God does exist
Bibles is in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 39 know therefore this day and consider in thine heart
That the Lord he is God in heaven alone
Upon the earth and upon the earth beneath there is none else
The Bible just just says that as a matter of fact just a blanket statement that the Lord he is God
In heaven above and upon the earth beneath there is none else
so we use our
Reasoning right to narrow down that there is a God and then we start to say well
Maybe it's this God or maybe it's that God
Maybe it's this religion or that religion the Bible the revelation comes along and says no, it's the Lord God and nobody else
And that's something that we have to believe by faith
Now what we can do is we can look at our reality and
Reality begins to confirm the revelation that we've been given it begins to add up, right?
Because the Bible just says look in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth like God created all these things
And then we begin to look at creation saying yeah that that's true. The Bible is right about that
You know there's many things that the scripture talks about that we can look at a reality and just say what I see in front
Of me, you know what I see about creation what I see about myself what I see about the world lines up with what the Bible
says
so again
Revelation the Bible has to believe by faith, but that's not it's not just this blind faith
Okay, it's a faith that can that we can confirm when we start to look at the reality around us. I
Mean what's what's a one reality that we can we can look at that confirms
What the Bible says or that the Bible is the Word of God?
Well, how about the experience of billions of people throughout time?
How about the millions of people in this world that professed that this is the Word of God?
The millions of people that have put their faith in this book that have been saved through the Word of God
You know, there's the millions of salvation is the change lives
And we can look at we can look at you know
The people being saved people their lives being changed the preaching the Word of God people
You know, they're there their prayers being answered miracles taking place and we could say wow
The Bible really is the Word of God, you know reality we've already come to that conclusion
But you know, it's the reality that begins to back up the revelation
So again, you know our reasoning is what establishes the existence of God
It's it narrows our understanding right we use reason not to conclusion that you know
Jesus Christ is God. That's something you have to believe by faith
it simply narrows our understanding of who God is or what God is like revelation the scripture it comes along and
it further develops that understanding and gets real specific that the Lord he is God in heaven upon and heaven above and upon earth beneath
and that there is none else and
that's where faith comes in and just trusting that the scriptures are what they assert themselves to be the very words of God and
Then reality does what it just simply confirms it establishes
What we've already determined through reason and through revelation
Okay
So let me just sum up by saying this what we see right what we reason
What we what we see what we look around we see our through our reasoning and what we read the revelation, right?
It's confirmed by what we know
reality
What we see, you know our reasoning and what we read our revelation is confirmed by what we know reality
So hopefully that was a blessing to you
You know, it's it's it's kind of a you know, a bit of a philosophical kind of a sermon
But you know it is what it is
We'll develop it and you know a little bit more and get more specific in the weeks to come about
You know the nature of God who God actually is now that we've kind of looked at
You know some arguments for the existence of God and how foolish it is to sit there and say that there is no God
Or that it's something that man just made up and and you know and to what end okay, but I've got to close
Let's go and pray