Can We Know God?
Sermon Notes
Hey everybody my name’s Louis, I’m the lead pastor here at City Awakening, it’s great to gather with you both onsite and online. At this time we can dismiss the children to children’s church, and if you didn’t get to check your child in please see our children’s ministry leaders in the back and they’d be more than happy to assist you with that...Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Romans. It’s a series about renewing your mind, for the transformation of your life. Well today we’re talking about God’s existence, and sooner or later everybody asks the question does God exist? Skeptics claim God doesn’t exist, believers claim God does exist, and both claims require a certain level of faith to believe. It takes faith to believe God doesn’t exist, just like it takes faith to believe God does exist, because both skeptics and believers weren’t there in the beginning to see how life began. So a skeptic can’t prove God doesn’t exist, just like a believer can’t prove God does exist. But what we can do is look at some of the clues our world provides, and then make a faith decision to believe or not believe based on those clues. Today we’re looking at some of the clues for the existence of God. We’re addressing the question can we know God exists?...Can we know God exists, and if so, can we know God relationally? Let’s turn to Romans 1 and get into it. You can find Romans in the last quarter of the Bible, and we’ll be in Romans 1:18-25. Title of today’s message is Can we know God? The big idea is the fingerprints of God are all around us...The fingerprints of God are all around us...
Here’s your context. Romans was written by the Apostle Paul who was considered a highly respected, highly educated man. But he was also a skeptic, an enemy of Christianity, until 35 A.D. when he had an interaction with Jesus that changed his life, and he became a Christian. He writes Romans 20 yrs later to teach Christians living in Rome about Jesus and the gospel that transformed his life. In vs 1-17 he talks a little about what the gospel is, and in vs 18-25 he talks about God’s existence and human depravity. This week we’ll focus on the part where he talks about God’s existence, because if God doesn’t exist then human depravity doesn’t matter. But if God does exist, then God’s judgement exists, and human depravity matters deeply. So let’s start with the question can we know God exists, and can we know God relationally? Let’s find out.
Romans 1:18-25, “For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth...” Why is God’s wrath being revealed? Why is God angry? It’s because people are suppressing the truth. They’re suppressing the truth regarding who he is, which leads to suppressing the truth regarding how he wants us to live. When people reject God it leads to a rejection of his moral standards, which is appealing to a lot of people, because it allows them to pursue any desire and lifestyle they want. They suppress or even substitute the truth of God, for other beliefs that support their desires and lifestyle. It’s like today’s cancel culture where people want to cancel whatever doesn’t align with their desires and lifestyle, except in this case they want to cancel God. If God doesn’t align with their desires and lifestyle, they cancel, suppress, substitute the truth of God for other beliefs that do. They either explicitly deny God’s existence, or implicitly create a false god in their mind that aligns with their desires and lifestyle. But a God that doesn’t ever challenge your desires and lifestyle isn’t a true God. You’re suppressing the truth of God for lies that align with yourself, so what you’re really following is yourself. God is infinite in wisdom, we’re finite in wisdom, so his truth will eventually challenge any beliefs, desires, lifestyles that don’t align with his heart. Are you suppressing the truth?...Are you suppressing the truth regarding God’s existence?...Are you suppressing the truth regarding a certain lifestyle you’re living that God doesn’t want you to live?...God’s desire is to remove sin, restore the sinner, and restore his creation from sinful destruction. His wrath is revealed and reserved for those who don’t want him or his restoration. Instead they want to keep suppressing the truth, to live their own lifestyles without him.
Again vs. 18, “For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.” Paul’s talking about the existence of God here, and what he’s saying is we can’t claim ignorance for our suppression of truth. We can’t say “Wait a minute God! It isn’t fair to judge me, to pour your wrath on me, to hold me accountable for living a lifestyle that didn’t align with you, when I didn’t even know you existed!” Paul’s saying we can’t use that excuse, we can’t claim ignorance, since God’s existence and attributes can be seen through his creation. He’s saying if we’d stop suppressing the truth, we’d see there’s clues, fingerprints of God all around us, which should at least spark our curiosity toward faith in God. So let me give you 4 clues, 4 fingerprints of God’s existence, and if you’re a skeptic be open to exploring the truth, instead of suppressing the truth.
#1 The Cosmological Fingerprint = The cosmological fingerprint looks at creation and asks, “How can something, come from nothing? How can life, come from non-life?” There’s evidence the universe is expanding outward from a single point like an explosion. But that explosion came from something, so what did it come from? What caused that explosion, and where did the materials come from to make that explosion? Atheist scientist Richard Dawkins admits this is a problem in his book “The God Delusion.” Dawkins states, “Darwin’s theory works for biology, but not for cosmology or ultimate origins.” In other words he believes evolution can explain how life developed, but it can’t explain the origins of life or where the materials to produce life came from. Geneticist and director of the Human Genome Project Francis Collins states, “We have a solid conclusion the universe had an origin, the Big Bang...The very fact the universe had a beginning, implies someone was able to begin it.” What Dawkins and Collins are admitting is something can’t come from nothing, life can’t come from non-life. This cosmological fingerprint is asking “Do you believe the universe and life can create itself from nothing, or do you believe what Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning there was God?...Which is the more logical faith?”
#2 The Fine-Tuned Fingerprint = The fine-tuned fingerprint looks at creation and asks, “How can the universe explode itself, into such fine-tuned proportions for life to exist?” There’s multiple factors that had to be perfectly calibrated for life to exist. For example if there’s a slight shift in gravity, life wouldn’t exist. If there’s a slight shift in the expansion rate of our universe, life wouldn’t exist. If there’s a slight shift in the distance from the earth to the sun, life wouldn’t exist. Then we have all the complex details of human genetics and DNA. Our universe and lives are so fine-tuned, that Cosmologist and Physicist Stephen Hawking states, “The laws of science contain many precise ratios...The values of these numbers seem to be very finely adjusted, to make possible the development of life.” Astronomer Fred Hoyle states, “The probability of life on earth by purely natural means without special divine aid, is less than the probability that a flight worthy Boeing 747, could be assembled by a hurricane roaring through a junkyard.” The point is our universe is so perfectly calibrated for life to exist, it’s statistically negligent to think it happened accidentally without divine aid. What all these scientists are saying is that something infinite existed before the big bang, something powerful started the bang, something intelligent created such precise calculations for life to exist, and that something sounds a lot like an infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing God to me. But some people are so biased against God, they suppress that truth. Dawkins says the probably of things lining up so perfectly for life to exist, comes down to nothing more than luck...It’s pure luck...So the fine-tuned fingerprint is asking, “Do you believe the origins of life started by pure luck, or by the hands of an intelligent designer who intended to create beings like us?...Which do you think is the more statically probable faith?”
#3 The Moral Law Fingerprint = The moral law fingerprint looks at creation and asks, “Why is there a moral law in the human heart?” I mean in nature you never find a lion eating another animal, then feeling guilty and crying over it. You never find a great white shark like Bruce in Finding Nemo saying “I’m not a mindless eating machine. Fish are friends not food.” So if animals don’t feel guilty, then why are we the exception? Why do we sometimes feel guilty? I mean evolution doesn’t care about morality, it cares about survival. So if God doesn’t exist, then things like morality and justice shouldn’t matter to us, just like morality and justice doesn’t matter to the lion. If we’re just evolved creatures like lions, then we shouldn’t care about being moral animals, we should care about being the fittest animals. The moral law fingerprint is asking, “Do you believe God exists and there’s a moral standard to follow, or do you believe God doesn’t exist and there isn’t a moral standard to follow?...Do you believe we should care about being moral animals, or believe we should care about being the fittest animals like a lion?”
#4 The Eternal Thirst Fingerprint = The eternal thirst fingerprint looks at creation and asks “Why is there an eternal thirst for joy in every human heart, that’s never satisfied by created things.” There’s no Gatorade, Powerade, Prime, to quench the eternal thirst in our soul. We can chase all the wealth, success, beauty, sex, whatever we want, but it’ll never quench the eternal thirst for joy in our hearts. Why is there an eternal thirst for joy in our hearts? In Ecclesiastes 3 King Solomon said it's because God has placed eternity in the hearts of humanity, meaning the eternity in our hearts is there to point us to our eternal God. Just like the pleasurable aromas of food aren’t meant to satisfy your hunger, they’re meant to draw you to the food that can. Well the pleasurable sights, sounds, aromas of creation aren’t meant to eternally satisfy you, they’re meant to draw you to the God who can. C.S. Lewis said, “Most people, if they really look in their hearts, would know they want something that can’t be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world offering to give it to you, but they never keep their promise...If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is, I was made for another world.” The eternal thirst fingerprint is asking “Do you believe God exists and only he can satisfy your eternal thirst for joy, or do you believe God doesn’t exist and you can find lasting joy in temporary things?” We all know the reality is there’s nothing in this world that can ever eternally satisfy. Only an eternal God, can quench an eternal thirst.
So can we know God exists? Paul says we can, if we stop suppressing the truth. The 4 examples I gave you are a few clues, a few of the many fingerprints of God that are all around us. Paul says there’s no excuse for denying God’s existence, when his fingerprints can be seen all throughout the complexity of his creation. His clues, his fingerprints are seen in the complexity and beauty of every leaf, every tree, every melodic tune a bird sings! Every waterfall, every sunset, every swirl of the northern lights. It’s all shouting the existence of an artistic Creator! Just like the complexity of a watch reflects there was a watchmaker, the beauty of a painting reflects there was a painter, so the complexity and beauty of creation reflects there was a Creator.
Again vs. 20, “For his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude.” Paul’s saying instead of giving God glory and gratitude for blessing us with the beauties of creation, we’ve pursued other things in creation over him. Instead of making God the center and sustainer of our lives, we’ve made other things the center and sustainer of our lives. We’ve even made ourselves the center and sustainer of our lives. We see this in our me-centered prayer lives. It’s “God do this! Give me this! Fix this!” It’s all me-centered, and if he doesn’t give us what we want we doubt him, lose trust in him, start suppressing the truth about him. We want God aligning with our lives, instead of our lives aligning with God. We are glory thieves, gratitude thieves, who want to be the center and sustainer of our lives instead of God.
Again vs. 21, “For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. 24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts...” This is the 1st wave of God’s wrath that Paul mentioned earlier. It's to deliver them over, to the desires of their hearts. If we don’t want to live our lives with and forGod, he’ll let us to live our lives with and for something else. He’ll let us live our lives with and for whatever desires are on our hearts. This me-centered, self-centered life creates so many issues in our lives, relationships, and world which I’ll talk about next week. But for now the point is if we don’t want life with God, he’ll let us feel the pains of life without God.
Vs. 25, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.” What we’re learning here is what I said earlier. It’s that people exchange the truth of God, for other beliefs that support their desires and lifestyles. God created us as intellectual beings to learn certain truths about who he is and what he wants for us. But we sometimes exchange the truth of God for lies, which leads to a distorted life worshiping created things over the Creator. Author Kelly Monroe Kullberg states, “Truth yields life. If we are sailors lost at sea, we need true north...Truth tells us where we are, who we are, to whom we belong, and the real story in which we can fully live...Lies lead to death and a culture of death, but the truth sets people free for life.” The point is some beliefs are true north and some aren’t. We need God to show us what true north is, or else we’ll continue to be lost in the difficult seas of life...The good news is he has shown us...He’s given us clues, he’s given us fingerprints pointing to the truth of his existence through creation, and pointing us to the truth of his words through the bible, which can help guide us through the difficult seas of life.
The big idea is the fingerprints of God are all around us...The fingerprints of God are all around us, and the good news of the gospel is we don’t just have a chance to seek the truth of God’s existence. We have a chance to have a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus. Jesus came into the world to show us he’s our God who created us, who breathed life into us, who put eternity in our hearts. He died on the cross for our sins because he loves us and still desires to have a loving relationship with us. You can know the power, creativity, intelligence of Jesus, by looking at his creation. You can know his purpose for your life, his plans for your life, even hear him speaking personally to help guide your life, by reading the bible. But the only way you can know he truly loves you, is by looking at the love he poured out for you on the cross.
James 4:8 says, “If you draw near to him, he will draw near to you.” Will you draw near to him this morning?...Will your draw near to him by pressing into the truth of his existence, or suppress the truth of his existence?...Will you press into the truth of his love for your life, or suppress the truth by doubting his love whenever bad things happens in your life?...The deeper you press into the truth of his existence and love, the deeper your relationship with Jesus will be. The deeper you press into Jesus, read your bible, spend quiet time with him in prayer, the more your heart will be aligned with his heart, and the deeper more satisfied your heart will be.