In the same way that a novel-writer will
not attempt to prove that he exists, the Bible does not attempt to prove the
existence of God. The first four words
of Genesis tell the story – In the beginning God.
With that the Bible assumes what
addle-brained atheists, and so-called intellectual evolutionists have been
wrong about for centuries...God IS!
Protagoras, a philosopher who lived 2500 years ago, said Man
is the measure of all things: of things which are, that they are so, and of
things which are not, that they are not.[1] That's like saying that the
genius in automatic transmissions is the intricate gears, or that the beauty of
the Mona Lisa is in paint and canvas. A
car’s transmission would never have existed without the excellence of a human
engineer putting it together; the Mona Lisa’s beauty never could have shown
from the canvas, except it first existed in the mind of a master artist.
In just that way, the center of every
original thought and deed of all time and eternity is the One we call God. As Psalms 14:1 tells us, it is only the fool who has said
in his heart, there is no God. Man may be the crown of all creation, but he
is still the object of creation, and not the
Creator. For that you need God!
We do our best to prove to the unbeliever
that God exists; but it is largely unnecessary to convince ANYONE. Romans
1:19-20 says that the reality of God is apparent to all people even as they
behold the things of nature. Knowledge
of God is inherent in created beings; we KNOW He's real! And any nonsense about Him being dead,
asleep, or never was, is just THAT....NONSENSE!
This morning I would simply like to start
where the Bible does, with the FACT
that God IS, and like the
writer of Hebrews reminds us,
And it is impossible to please God without
faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he
rewards those who sincerely seek him. Hebrews 11:6
In our act of diligently seeking God this
morning, please note three STATEMENTS of reality about God....
Statement #1. God is Spirit
For God is Spirit, so those who worship
him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24
In speaking to the Samaritan woman at the
well, Jesus revealed the great truth that our God is not impressed with outward
displays of righteousness.
He exists in a realm that provides Him with access to the inner being of
any man or woman. Jesus saw the deep
spiritual need of the woman, and he knows our needs also.
It is possible to please God only when the
inner person – that inner place of humanity, (the soul/spirit/will within each
of us) is in harmony with the heart of a spiritual God. Jesus told us in His earthly ministry that
the only way to come to the Father was through Him. And so that tells us that it is only possible
to worship God by accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. God is Spirit.
Statement #2. God is
Personal
The personality of God is seen in the
personal way God has dealt with mankind.
From a bush that burned, and was not consumed, God said to Moses, I Am. Reality and cognizant existence are personal
qualities. God weeps, loves, hates,
cares, creates and feels loss or grief.
There is a concept of God called pantheism
which says that God is in everything, trees, grass,
oceans, porcupines...literally, as a component part, just like we have cells in
our bodies. This robs God of
personality, making him substance, or part of the creation. God is personal, and He takes a personal
interest in His creation.
There are those who may still subscribe to
the "hands-off" type of God.
This was popular in the 50's and early 60's. The picture is God as creator who made the world
like a craftsman makes a grandfather clock, winds it up, and lets it run by
itself...no interference, man can take care of himself; we’re alone on planet
earth.
In one episode of "The X-Files,"
agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are discussing a prison chaplain who claims
that God speaks directly to him. When
Mulder expresses skepticism that such a thing could ever happen, Scully asks, don’t you think God can talk with people? Mulder replies, God is just a spectator. He only
reads the box scores.[2]
But that's not the way it was when the
children of Israel
cried-out to God from bondage in Egypt. God rocked the kingdom of Pharaoh
until he drove them out. God didn't
apply hands off when His people were being chased by Pharaoh’s
armies, boxed-in with mountains on two sides, with Pharaoh's army behind, and
the Great Red Sea in front. God's
personal breath blew every last drop of water out of the way, and His personal
family walked over on dry land.
How different is the biblical view of God!
The Lord
is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. Psalm
145:18
There are billions of humans on this
planet and He is a personal God who loves us consciously. The world was lost in sin and degradation,
and the personal God who loved us came to our rescue.
God is spirit, personal, and....
Statement #3. God is Holy
The word itself (holy) means other,
or different. In Isaiah’s
vision the prophet saw angels, the seraphim gathered around holy God:
It was in the year King Uzziah died that I
saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty
throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending
him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with
two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were
calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” Isaiah 6:1-3
We sing the hymn, "Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty". God IS
different than we are. There are several
characteristics that describe God’s holiness
1.
In His Holiness God is ETERNAL
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First
and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Revelation 22:13
Nothing existed except by the creative
hand of God. When it says in Genesis
that God created, the word created in the first chapter of
Genesis is only used in the Bible when referring to God’s activity. The word in Hebrew (bara) means to create from nothing. Words used in reference to the creativity of
man carries the inference of re-creating, taking what has already been created,
and reforming it. God is eternal in His
holiness, and…
2.
In His holiness, God is OMNISCIENT
The Lord
is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3
Omniscience! I used to think the word was pronounced
"MOM-niscience"! My Mom had
eyes all over; she always knew what I was doing, and especially if I shouldn’t
be doing it.
God is a different kind of holy; He not
only knows WHAT is going on all over, but he knows the
intents, the motives of our hearts. That
has implications of judgment. If God
knows all, that means that one day there will be a day of
fearful reckoning for those who have treated His holiness lightly. In his holiness God is eternal, omniscient,
and…
3.
In His Holiness God is OMNIPRESENT
Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and
earth?” says the Lord. Jeremiah 23:24
Knowing that God is everywhere can be bad
or good. It depends on your relationship
with Him. A person who has a daily
fellowship with God and surrenders daily to do His will has a desire to be
constantly in His presence.
On the other hand, those who would rather
God leave them alone and stay out of their business have God's permission; it’s
called free will.
But someday that permission will end; and Jesus predicted[3] that in that Day of Judgment men and women who
have avoided the presence of God in their life, will call and beg for the
mountains to fall in on them to drive out the presence of a holy and righteous
God of judgment.
But there is the positive side of the
omnipresence of God. It is found in the
comforting of His Holy Spirit. Jesus
said we would be His body here on earth; we would do the things that He did,
and greater.
When you consider the omnipresence of God
you find that His presence sometimes takes the form of human compassion and
ministry, initiated by heavenly means. Jesus
said he would never leave or forsake us!
In His holiness God is Eternal,
Omniscient, Omnipresent, and…
4.
In His holiness God is OMNIPOTENT
A Sunday School teacher was questioning
her pupils after a lesson on God's omnipotence. Now children, she asked, is
there anything God can't do? The
Pastor’s son thrust his hand into the air. The teacher, feeling certain that he
had missed the point of the lesson, asked half-heartedly, well, just what IS it that God
can't do?
Replied the boy: I heard daddy say yesterday that
even God can't make EVERYBODY, at this church happy![4]
Omnipotence means there is no power that
originates anywhere but from the throne of heaven. Perhaps, in the age of nuclear power, space
shuttles and power at our fingertips we may miss the enormity of the power of God.
Here’s a small glimpse into just how POWERFUL
our God is…
Our star, the sun, is 93 million miles
away. Traveling at the speed of light (a
million miles every 5 seconds) it takes 8 minutes to get to our sun! If we launched a rocket at that speed of
light, aimed at the nearest star past the sun, it wouldn't arrive at Proxima
Centauri until Thanksgiving of 2023.
That's the closest star!
The scientists tell us there are 8,000
stars we can see with the naked eye. The
Hale Telescope in Mt Palomar, Cal can reach 175,000 light years out into space. Our galaxy, known as the Milky Way, has about
100-200 billion stars. That's our
neighborhood.
The nearest galaxy outside of our
neighborhood is the Megallanic Cloud, about 130,000 light
years away. So the Milky Way and the
Megallanic Cloud are just two galaxies (or neighborhoods) covering a distance
of about 300,000 years, travelling at the speed of light. Those are two of the closest neighborhoods
for us. Now, are you ready for
this?
Radio telescopes indicate there are over
800 million galaxies THAT WE KNOW OF!
The total amount of stars that computers
have been able to record is one quintillion (that is 1, with 18 zeroes
following). It is no wonder the Psalmist
asked, what is man that thou art mindful of him?
We are so incredibly minute, compared to
this vast universe. Isaiah 40:12 tells
us that God holds all of that in the hollow of his hand.
So, how big is YOUR
God?
Here is an application for us today.
I believe in a God as big as the Bible has
described for us. I believe He is
Spirit, personal, and that he is holy; our God is the eternal, omniscient,
omnipresent and omnipotent King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
I also believe He is love!
And a God who is that big and powerful and
loving is able to
ð comfort me when my loved one dies.
ð meet my need when the mortgage comes due
too early.
ð handle the worry I feel when governments
threaten to blow us off the face of the earth, or a new virus spreads like wildfire.
ð or 13-year-old children get pregnant.
ð or answer the empty-headed skeptics who doubt
His existence.
ð And He is able to save a sinner like
me! And, more!
Bottom line…If He is able to create a universe as wonderful as that in which we
live and hold all of it in the palm of his loving hand, He is well able to keep
me until the day of judgment, and forever!
Our prayer
Father, you are the certain and central
reality of the universe. Your power and
grace are without measure. In a world of
turmoil and uncertainty our God is a Rock and a Redeemer!
Grant us a glimpse of You. As you did with Your servant, Moses, when you
had him hide in the cleft of the rock – allow us to sense Your glory and power
as you pass even in this place, in these holy moments.
We are a needy people. We ask for faith to strengthen our belief in
You, and our trust in Your providential care.
We ask so that we may be people of faith,
strong faith in a world that has lost faith.
Do this, we pray, O Lord, that we may be strong instruments of peace and
grace in Your Almighty, All-knowing, Ever-present, Wholly powerful hands.
For thy kingdom’s sake…
In the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…
Let it be so
in each of our lives!
[2] Stephen
Nordbye, Charlton, Massachusetts
[3] Luke
23:30, Revelation 6:16
[4] Greg Cooper on SermonCentral.com
