Part 4 God is Real

A.M. Sermon

Spring Hill, TN

2/4/07 a.m.

Series: “Discovering the Spiritual Realm” (Pt. 4)

Text(s): Acts 17:17ff; Romans 1:19-20

Summary: In PART 4, we examine the evidence to determine if we can prove the existence of God.

“God is Real”

Introduction:

A. Atheism’s Advance Upon American Society

1. Conservative estimates indicate that we are now losing 50% or more of our young people after they graduate from high school. In some areas the percentage is as high as 90% (Thompson, Rock Solid Faith, 264).

2. Many of our children are not only leaving the church, but they are loosing their faith in God.

3. Many unsuspecting parents send their children off to secular universities where they are indoctrinated with evolutionary theories of man’s origin and where belief in a supreme being is viewed as being naïve and irrational.

4. Atheism’s agenda has been successful in emptying churches because at least two generations of people in our nation have been convinced that everything must be proven by the scientific method (Brad Harrub, “Proving the Unprovable,” Think Jan 07, pg 15).

5. From an early age, our children are taught that if you cannot see, touch, taste, smell, or hear it, then “it” does not really exist (ibid).

B. Proving God’s Existence?

1. In this series, Discovering the Spiritual Realm, we have already noted that the spiritual realm is not like the physical world in that it cannot be experienced through tangible means.

2. But is that to say that spiritual realities cannot be proven? Does a belief in spiritual things require a “blind leap of faith” without any substantial evidence? Is it possible, for instance, to prove that God exists?

3. In September 1976 on the campus of North Texas State University in Denton Texas, a debate of monumental proportions took place between Thomas B. Warren (Ph.D in Philosophy from Vanderbilt) and Antony Flew (world renowned atheist) over the issue of God’s existence.

4. During the debate, brother Warren presented compelling evidence for God’s existence which caused the atheistic philosopher to state, “Dr. Warren may be assured that I am sobering up from God intoxication. I shall be writing considerably less, if anything, in this area in the future” (p. 143).

5. Twenty-eight years later, in 2004, Antony Flew at age 81 has been persuaded that some type of Deity brought about the Universe.

6. Although he has not yet come to believe in the God of the Bible, what caused Flew to be converted from the world’s leading atheist to believing in a Supreme Being? The evidence!

7. Specifically, when scientists recently became able to probe into the depths of a living cell and see the complexity of the DNA strand, Flew became convinced that such intricate detail could not occur by evolutionary chance; rather, it requires an intelligent designer.

8. Certainly, there is evidence of God’s existence all around us (cf. Rom. 1:20), and when examined carefully it proves the existence of God.

9. In this lesson, we will examine some of this evidence that establishes the fact that “God is Real.”

I. The Existence of the Universe (Cosmological Argument)

A. The origin of the Universe

1. By the sheer fact that we exist we know that the Universe is real. We can observe the stars on a clear night and know this fact.

2. But where did the Universe come from? What is its origin?

3. Logically, there are only three possibilities for the Universe’s origin: either (1) the Universe is eternal, (2) or it created itself from nothing, (3) or it was created by some powerful Being.

B. Is the Universe eternal?

1. For the person that does not believe in God, this is the most comfortable position because it seems to avoid the need for any “first cause” such as God (Thompson, Rock Solid vol. 1 pg 126).

2. However, based upon sound scientific evidence most honest scientists will admit that the universe is not eternal.

3. In his book Until the Sun Dies astronomer and evolutionist Robert Jastrow has drawn the following inescapable conclusion from the scientific data we now have: “The lingering decline predicted by astronomers for the end of the world differs from the explosive conditions they have calculated for its birth, but the impact is the same: modern science denies an eternal existence to the Universe, either in the past or in the future” (1977, pg 30 emphasis added, qtd. in Thompson, 129).

4. In fact, the Second Law of Thermodynamics (a well established scientific law of increasing entropy) demonstrates that the Universe is “winding down” which requires that the universe have a beginning and is not eternal.

C. Did the Universe create itself from nothing?

1. It seems ludicrous that anyone could believe that the Universe could create itself from nothing.

2. Yet, in an attempt to deny the existence of a Supreme Being some scientists have suggested that the Universe created itself.

3. However, most reputable scientists make the same affirmation as physicist George Davis who wrote, “No material thing can create itself” (1958, pg. 71; qtd by Thompson, 129).

4. Grasping at straws to explain the origin of the Universe outside of God’s existence, scientists that suggest that the Universe created itself violate their own established First Law of Thermodynamics which says that neither matter nor energy may be created or destroyed in nature.

5. Regarding the idea that the Universe came from nothing (“inflationary model”), astrophysicist Stephen W. Hawking said that this model “is now dead as a scientific theory” (Thompson, ibid. pg 134).

D. The Universe was created

1. The only logical option that remains is that there must have been something outside the physical Universe that has existed forever and that “something” must be responsible for creating the Universe. And that something was God.

2. In 1995, NASA astronomer John O’Keefe declared, “We are, by astronomical standards, a pampered, cosseted, cherished group of creatures…If the Universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence. It is my view that these circumstances indicate the universe was created from man to live in” (qtd. by Bard Harrab, Think Jan. 07, pg 15).

3. In his debate with Antony Flew, brother Warren made this point visually clear with his chart “What if we found on Mars…” (show on screen).

II. The Existence of Design (Teleological Argument)

A. The Design of the Universe

1. The elaborate design of the Universe indicates that there must have been a designer.

2. The evolutionary theory of origins suggests that the existence of man and the Universe happened by chance; by the right gases and primitive matter being under tremendous pressure causing a huge explosion (“big bang”) resulting in galaxies, planets, animals, human beings etc.

3. Yet, the intricate design and order of the systems within the Universe denies that such could occur by chance.

4. For instance, image scientists attempting to apply random evolutionary processes to manufacture an automobile (show chart by Ralph Gilmore).

5. The design of the Universe demands a designer.

B. The Order of the Universe

1. But notice also the order of the Universe.

2. How can chance explain the Earth’s position in the following: (1) the right type of galaxy, (2) the right location within the galaxy, (3) the odds of being near the right Sun, (4) being the right distance from the Sun, (5) having the right rotation rate and proper tilt, (6) possessing enough water, (7) having the right atmospheric conditions to sustain life?” (Brad Harrab, Think Jan 07, pg. 15).

3. Consider the order that is involved in the human body.

4. It has been estimated that there are between 10-100 trillion cells in the human body (http://ask.yahoo.com/20020625.html).

5. Each cell has a nucleus with each nucleus containing chromosomes that contain your individual DNA coding sequences. These DNA base pairs contain the genes that make you who you are (i.e. blond hair, blue eyes, etc.).

6. The DNA contained in each human cell is infinitesimal in size and yet it contains enormous amounts of information.

7. “If transcribed into English, the DNA in a single human cell would fill a 1,000 volume set of encyclopedias approximately 600 pages each” (Rick Gore, National Geographic 1976, p. 357; qtd. by Thompson, ibid 153).

8. Yet all of that information is contained in chemical format in our cells; in fact, all of the genetic information needed to reproduce the entire human population (about five billion people) could be placed into a space of about one-eighth of a square inch (ibid.).

9. What are the chances of this large amount of information being ordered into our cells by chance?

10. It has been calculated that the chances of artificial DNA assembly by chance is about one in 10^40,000 ! (show chart)

11. It was this type of evidence that convinced the atheist Antony Flew that there must be a supreme being that designed the Universe.

C. The Designer of the Universe

1. Can the existence of God be proven? Absolutely!

2. There is clear evidence all around us that establishes the reality of God’s existence.

3. Science is not the enemy of Christianity. Poor science often misleads, but true science further confirms the reality of God’s existence.

4. Even without the Bible, we can prove that God exists to an unbeliever that is willing to honestly examine the evidence.

5. This is the very approach that Paul took with the philosophers in Athens.

6. Knowing that they were unfamiliar with Scripture, Paul “reasoned” with these philosophers (Acts 17:17) and declared the God who “made the world and all things in it” (Acts 17:24).

7. It is this Designer that Paul later proclaimed is evident to us by the creation of what He has made (Romans 1:19-20).

8. God is not only real and alive, but it is “in Him we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28).

Conclusion:

A. As we attempt to Discover the Spiritual Realm what must come first is a discovery of God.

B. We must first come to terms with God being the Creator and Sustainer of the entire Universe.

C. It is our God who that Isaiah the prophet says (40:22): “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”