Divine Revelation

Divine Revelation and the Need to Know Why We Believe

So if you remember last week, what we did was we started more of an introduction of the book and what the purpose was and how we would follow a lot of the topics, but not necessarily all of them, and that as we go through it, there are some topics that Sproul addresses that we would more than likely disagree with, especially being Baptist in our thinking, and we'll come back to those when we get to it.

So if you remember last week, I tried to bring out some reasons, and let me just establish the purpose again. My real purpose was to try not to do something like a systematic study, but rather, I want to see if we can understand not only what we believe, but why we believe it, so I really think that's important.

I think that a lot of people at times, somebody will ask them something and they'll answer it, but they don't necessarily know why they answered it, they just know that's the answer, and so I think it's important for us to be able to not only know what to say or what not to say, but why we would say it, and so that's really what we covered last week, and then if you remember, we had a small conversation about belly buttons, and that came out of Set Free, and I told you that, and I think it was you, Brother Gary, said that Adam had a smooth belly?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I don't really want to go back down that road.

We don't want to go there, man.

No, no, we don't.

We got in trouble with Cindy.

What Divine Revelation Means

So, anyway, let's move on, so for this morning, I want to start with the thought of divine revelation, and I don't mean the Book of Revelation, I mean divine revelation. What would you say revelation means?

How would you understand somebody speaks about revelation? Any takers?

Okay. Mario?

Like something being revealed?

Yeah, yeah, it's really the revealing of God to us, and I want to start there, because really that's the place to start, if you think about it, because if we don't start with God speaking to us, then how are we ever going to know?

If God doesn't reveal himself to us, we can never really know him as we should, and so I want to spend some time on that, and there's some different ways to consider it. I want to speak about how does God reveal himself?

Is there a difference between what I would say is general revelation and special revelation? How does God communicate to us? So, as we go through this, and I'm going to try to stick somewhat to Sproul's thoughts on it, but if you think about it, let me just try to do it this way.

So let's just say there's God, and there's man, okay? How does God reveal himself to us, in what ways? And for this morning, at least to start with, I want to speak about this, that God speaks to us through nature.

Does anyone disagree that God speaks to us through nature? I mean, that seems relatively straightforward, right? And I want to look at a couple of scriptures, because God has been pleased to reveal himself in, certainly in that way, but that's not the sole way.

God Reveals Himself Through Nature and Scripture

So let's look at just the two sections. First is Psalm 19. So let's just look in that and think about that for a minute. Psalm 19. And this is something that there are a number of people who wouldn't even acknowledge this, but look what it says, Psalm 19 in verse 1.

It says, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. And there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard, and their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run his race. Its rising is from one end to heaven, and its circuit to the other end, and there is nothing hid from it there.

So simple diagram, right? God has been pleased in one way to reveal himself to us through the creation. And let's just look at one more section, because I think it's certainly parallel to it, and that's in Romans 1.

And of course, many of us know this section, but I think it's important for us to read through it as we consider how God reveals himself to us. Revelation chapter 1, and I'll pick it up in verse 18. It says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

And we're going to come back to that, because to me, in my understanding, that already is saying that God does reveal himself. And that what does man do with it? He suppresses it. And you'll see as we go on.

Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. And we're going to come back to that, because there's another way in which God has revealed himself to us. And that is where?

How?

I mean, there's a number of ways, so maybe we'll do that. How does God reveal himself to us? We're going to look at. God reveals himself through nature. How else does he reveal himself to us? His word?

For sure.

Huh?

Yeah, sure. God reveals himself in the outworking of his plans and purposes.

His son?

Yeah.

I mean, certainly that's the ultimate expression of God's revelation to us, is that he that has seen the son has seen the father, right? And that he is the express image of the invisible God. So God reveals himself through nature.

God reveals himself through his word. God reveals himself. I'm going to have us consider as a way in which God reveals himself, that he reveals himself through the conscience of man. And I think that's what, in part, Paul is trying to set forth, not just here, but as we read a little bit further.

Mario, go ahead, buddy.

I was going to say, God in normal nature, the miraculous, like across the Red Sea, like things that would normally we don't expect to happen, like when you mess with the elements.

And I think that's what you were saying, right? That God reveals himself, and certainly he does that, and we'll look at it just briefly, but God revealed himself in different ways at different times, didn't he?

I mean, what does it say in Hebrews 1? It says that God had revealed himself in old times to the Father in visions and in dreams. But in his last days, he's revealed himself to us through his Son. So there's a number of ways, but for right now, again, let's focus on this thought about nature, and I think that's what Paul's driving, trying to drive home for verse 24.

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. Let's just stop there and think about that.

What do you think Paul means when he says that God has revealed himself in the creation, and that men are without excuse? How are they without excuse? What is it about God's revelation, even through nature, that renders man inexcusable before God?

I would say that the conscience itself, man himself, he knows.

Sure.

It's written on our hearts.

It's written on our hearts, and so certainly, as man views the creation, wouldn't it say in Psalm 19, there isn't a place where it's not revealed? And so as we work through this and we begin to think about it, God's revelation, and that's why I brought up the idea, and we'll look at it, that there is, I'm going to say, there is a general revelation.

God has revealed himself to every man everywhere in nature itself, and that in and of itself renders man inexcusable. And so you could think about different things about the creation, right? You could think about that when a man looks up, he sees immensity.

He sees design. He sees diversity. He sees a power that's outside and above him. And in and of itself, that renders man responsible to search out that God, and as we said, and what Paul says here is the response of many is to suppress that truth, that there is a supreme being, that there is one who is above all and beyond all, and that they are without excuse because look at verse 21, because although they knew God, and that's pretty interesting.

Is that saying that every man knows God?

Not relationally know God, but they may know that there is a God.

And that's where we'll work into this whole thought of conscience, right, that God has instilled within us an innate understanding that we are not our own, that we are not our own creator, that we are not our own God, that there is something above and beyond us, and it's interesting how he says that because although they knew God, I guess you could say they knew of God or did they know God, and I think that's where what you say, Amario, would be a way to distinguish it, that there is this, if you will, there is this response that comes from looking at God's creation, but there is also a relational response, and that man is without excuse just for the very thought that God has created the world.

So look at verse 22, professing to be wise, they became fools, and again, taking truth and what, denying it, changing it, altering it, considering it as nothing, and they changed the glory, we're in Romans 1 right now, brother, and look, verse 23, and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.

So again, man takes the truth of God being displayed and revealing himself in nature, and they twist it, they turn it, they alter it, they suppress it, they do all kinds of things, and I said I wouldn't mention it to myself, but I'm going to mention it anyway, because it's getting near the holiday season.

You might know my understanding of verse 23, they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. I'm going to say the incorruptible man is Santa Claus, the birds are the turkeys, the four-footed beasts are the bunny rabbits, and the creeping things is Halloween.

But you know what, I mean, honestly, that is exactly, well, in my humble opinion, that's exactly, but when you try to explain that to certain people, they will literally tell you, this is not that, and I think that a lot of us have become so scared to speak that truth, to go against the flow, because we want them to receive other truths, but if they deny that truth, it's often hard for them to receive other truths.

Yeah, I mean, you know, and again, I'm not really wanting to spend too much time on this, but you think about the idea of Santa Claus, and again, I'm not, Santa Claus is omnipotent, I mean, he knows everything, he knows if you've been bad or good, he's the giver of every good and perfect gift, and I'm not trying to say people shouldn't celebrate Christmas or Santa Claus, I mean, everybody's got to do what's right in their own mind, but what I am saying, to your point, is that God has revealed himself in nature, and man takes it and in many ways flips it, and although I'm not saying that any other commentator would agree with me that that's what those four are in verse 23, I do think it fits to a certain extent, and it's different in various places, I mean, it's no different than if you went to the darkest ends of the world, and somebody was worshipping a statue, or a totem pole, or something else, my point is, God revealed himself in nature, and men have suppressed it, twisted it, and turned it.

Yeah, but yet men still have, they still need to worship, there's something there that they.

Have to worship.

Absolutely, that's an innate, I'm going to say that's something that God has instilled within our hearts, and we'll look at that in just a moment in Romans 2, because he says that, he says that even when the Gentiles who knew not God do the things that God's law says they should do, that's because they have something written on their heart.

Brother Burt, do you want to add anything on that?

No, sure.

Okay.

We have a set of...

We'll make a good sermon, don't we?

I was thinking about just Abraham, when God revealed himself to Abraham, Abraham was from a pagan country.

Sure, yeah.

He was not far from Babylon, and he was worshipping statues, and then God, but he knew that there was a God bigger than all these gods that everybody in the country is worshipping.

Right, and God reveals himself to Abraham in a different way, ultimately, than he revealed himself to Abraham's father, right? Because his father was an idolater, and when God took him out from that, what happens then?

And in that sense, God reveals him to him in a different way, and I'm going to say that's not a general way, but it's a special way. And so that's where we have the privilege that God has not only revealed himself to us in nature, but he's revealed himself to us through Christ by the power of the Spirit, and that we, above all people, should be most grateful that God has been pleased to do that.

And so, let me just finish this little section here, because look at the response. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God, verse 23, into an image made like a man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things, therefore...

Here's God's response. Therefore, God gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.

Amen. And then you can continue on, and you can see how this works out in people's lives, and of course it gets into the whole idea of how we've twisted sexuality around, and we've twisted all the things.

And to me it's interesting that he talks about that, and he says in verse, well let me just continue to read it. Verse 26, for this reason God gave them over to vile passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.

So when you think about that, and people have all these philosophies and thoughts about sexuality, and is it wrong for a man to be with another man and a woman to be with another woman, and in that sense, doesn't even nature itself teach you that these things are unseemly?

I mean, we have tried to make it sound palatable, to your point. And not only that, but if you think about it, not only are we supposed to tolerate it, we're supposed to do what? We're supposed to celebrate it, right.

We're supposed to be enthralled that they are doing what God says is against nature.

I actually had a conversation about this from a guy I don't sit free with, he says, he believes that there's a gay gene. I'm like, there is? I'm like, where? I'm like, most, yeah, people try, people debate that, I've probably never heard this, but like, it goes against nature.

He said, yeah, people are wantingly supporting gay. I'm like, uh.

Yeah, and again, when you begin down a path of suppressing the truth, is there really any place that you would be unwilling to stop? Because it's really a downhill descent, right? As soon as you move away from truth, and even the general truth that God reveals in nature, and again, as Paul, I mean, as the psalmist said, it goes out to the ends of the earth, and everyone sees it, and I just like the way it says it in Psalm 19, it says, day unto day are the speech, night unto night shows knowledge, and there is no one hidden from its heat thereof.

Everyone knows that.

Andy, it says, I don't know if you'll hear it, but the last verse of chapter one talks about, you know, the dangers in trying to make it palatable, where it says, though they knew God's decree, and those who practice such things, what they deserve, they, ooh, boy, I need some glasses.

In other words, we're in danger of giving approval to those things as well, you know, inviting people into Christian circles, to be unified with them, and that sort of, we seed up, we seed ground when we do that.

Sure, and again, once you open the door, or if you will, allow a mixture of thinking, there is no, there is no stop gap, unless you're going to speak the truth, and that's where certainly the truth comes from God's word, and so, since you were unable to read it, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but what?

Also approve of those who practice them. And that's the interesting part of it, is that, and even as you said before, if you think about it, the Christian life really goes against the grain of this world, doesn't.

It?

It's almost swimming against the tide, and the tide is the world running to all these, and again, it could be anything, right? And usually it is a whole philosophy of things that people are more willing to accept than the design of the creation speaks of what?

If you have design, you have to what?

Design it.

You have to have a designer, right? If you have a creation, you have to have a creator, and it's interesting to me that how we have taken mother nature, just to use the term that people use, and we made mother nature.

What?

Mother nature becomes God. Mother nature becomes the creator, the sustainer, and certainly, some people would even say the judge because of the things that take place in the creation. But when you think about it, and that would tie into me, in my understanding, evolution, because evolution excludes, although some might have a different, varied understanding of evolution, it still excludes a supreme deity.

Yeah, and I was, I know Keith did a big one on evolution. He's a Christian, but he affirms evolution to an extent. He says man came from apes. He brings out meat, one of the first humans on earth.

Yeah.

I was like, this guy's a reformed believer, and he's saying this stuff. This guy's reformed, he's saying this stuff.

Yeah, there's some, again, once you begin to either deny, doubt, twist the scriptures, there is no telling where you'll wind up, and so certainly, that is something that we have to think about. So, God has revealed himself in nature, and because of that, men are, without excuse, but, let me ask you a question.

As God reveals himself in nature, is it possible for a man to know salvation?

Through nature?

Yeah.

Okay, anybody say yes? We'll just throw rocks at you if you say yes, but. Can anybody come to a saving knowledge merely through beholding the creation? Brother Burr?

Not very likely. It can be a stepping stone.

Absolutely.

Just as the law was. Yes.

But without the salvation of the full revelation of Christ, no.

We could never really know God's redemptive plans, right? Now, again, I would agree that nature would lead a man to think, there's design, there's. I need to know the designer, because of the immensity of it and the scope of it all, but I would say that the nature in and of itself can never really reveal God's ultimate redemptive plans.

I think sometimes when you ask that question, people hear, can a man get saved without a.

Preacher?

Can a man get saved without, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

And I guess, because I've had people say, well, yeah, people come without going to church.

Or whatever.

It's like, they just see it and they're like, no, unless the Holy Spirit intervenes.

Yeah.

Isn't that what Paul says? He says, how could they be saved unless they have a word? And how could they have a word unless somebody be sent? And so the preaching of the word ultimately is by the power of God and by the work of the Son and by the power of the Spirit, it can become real.

So I would agree with you, Bro Bert, that certainly it is a stepping stone, but there is something that is missing until God is pleased to reveal it. And that's what I'm going to say and I'll show you.

It's like when I said my sister is into shamanism.

Yeah.

That's what they do. They go worship the earth, right? She'd been to Peru. She'd been to Thailand seeking Buddha. She'd been to Peru seeking, sitting like an Indian up there in the middle of the mountains,.

Right?

Seeking earth. And she says she's healed by the earth. So they've taken it to a whole different realm and perverted the whole thing.

Yeah.

And she's completely confused about it.

Right? Yep.

And again, the creation is meant to cause us to search out the true God.

Right?

And what men do is they just decide to invent one. And so everyone has, many people have different gods that they have established as the creator. And certainly the earth becomes the whole thing with mother nature and father time and that they somehow have been the creator or the earth just is.

Do you ever talk to somebody like that?

Oh yeah.

I met a pantheist before.

Yeah.

And I know someone. I talked to him and I said, well, where did this all come from? You know what his answer was? And he said it with all seriousness. It's just serendipity. It just happened. How in the world can you...

Nothing produces nothing.

Exactly.

How could nothing produce something?

I wonder if that person had any kids and go, yeah, they're serendipitous.

And that's what evolution has done.

It replaced the special creation. It has.

The general revelation has replaced that.

Yes.

So thus we have no other place to go to beyond that.

No.

And again, once you leave that, then you're open to a whole world of... And not only that, but who's to say... So if there's not one true God, then who's to say who's wrong?

Right?

So this is your God, this is my God. You know how many people have said that though? Right? How many people say, well, we all reach God on a different road?

Oprah.

Okay.

But it's not possible. And so that leads me to, and I just want to look at this, that God has been pleased not only to reveal himself through nature, but at times God revealed himself through visions and dreams.

And so let's just look at that in Hebrews chapter 1 real quick. It's just the first opening verses of Hebrews. And it highlights some of the things that we've already set out. But look, God who at various times, or your translation might say sundry times, God who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, so there is the word of God, which we'll come back to, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the world.

Now that's beginning to get into this whole thought of special revelation. But God did, and you brought up Abraham, God did reveal himself to Abraham how? In a vision. And God appeared to him. And there was actually a manifestation of God, right?

Certainly we could think about that. But there has been not only nature, but there has been ultimately dreams and visions. There's his word, which we're going to look at. And as we come to it, as it says here, in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son.

And that's why Jesus says, if you don't believe in me, you're going to die in your sins. Because he, again, is the express image of the living God. He's the brightness of his glory. He is the one who is God manifest in the flesh.

And so, again, no one can really ever come to know the true God if they don't know Jesus. And again, people will accuse us of being what? Exclusionary. You Christians are too narrow-minded. No, you're too very-minded.

You have too much floating around in your head. He is the only mediator between God and man, because he reveals God.

I was in a conversation I had with a guy, one of my roommates. I said, Bree, you know, he is kind of confused between Christianity and, you know, the denomination. And then he said his sister was a Mormon, which they have their whole different view of God.

And I told him the difference between what makes a Christian a Christian is, like, one, like I said, the resurrection, being the one true God, triune God, and the fact that you can do this. And you, basically, I was explaining the whole Nicene Cree, Apostle Cree, the creeds that established Christianity from the other religions.

Yeah, and so certainly, again, everybody has a, once you move away from truth, everybody has a doctrine or everybody has something to think about. And then, in that sense, who's to say you're wrong and I'm right, or I'm wrong and you're right?

So let's think about this a little bit. So let me try this. And this is a diagram that was in his book, and I thought it was pretty good. So let's just say we do this, and then we'll do this. Okay, here is where this would be general revelation.

Now, what I mean by that is just what we've been talking about, that God has revealed himself through the creation, right? And that everyone is privy to it. That's what it said in Psalm 19, right? There is no place, no language where the voice is not heard.

But then, and this is what we'll spend some time on, I'm going to say that this is special revelation. And that that is the revelation of God as he reveals himself to us, again, through the person of Christ, by the power of the Spirit, and then ultimately we are born again.

Sir?

So when we were at an academy Wednesday and the pastor was talking about Scott Phillips and the tribe, an individual there was revealed that a white dude was going to come. So what would you categorize that?

Well, that's what I'm saying. Certainly those people that were there, they were exposed to general revelation, right? The heavens declared the glory of God. God was pleased to reveal through a dream or a vision or whatever his experience was, that someone was going to come who had, and if you remember, a great message, right?

And then when that message came through Scott Phillips, God used that as a way to reveal himself in a special way to those people. So I would say that it's similar to, it's similar in some ways to what happened in the book of Acts.

If you think about it, what did John the Baptist preach? He preached what? Repentance. Do you remember in the book of Acts, and there's a couple of different sections in Acts, where people only knew the baptism of who?

John.

And then it says Paul preached to them Jesus, and then they were filled with the Holy Spirit. So I would make that distinction and say, again, general revelation will reveal that there is a God. Special revelation reveals who that God is.

And that without that special revelation, man would be lost, searching forever, and not being able to find who this great and glorious God is. And these that are, I guess we could say that this would be, well let me ask, would you agree that this is the elect?

I would say, if we're talking about coming to faith, this special revelation is only revealed ultimately to the elect. And it doesn't mean that people don't hear the gospel. If you consider it, it really is a manifestation, not only of special revelation, but of grace.

For by grace you have been saved. And so when you think about that, this is God's people, and ultimately those are the ones who will come and receive that special revelation. I want to read something, and I'm starting to run out of time.

I want to read something that I pulled out from Charles Hodge. Charles Hodge was, he's a great thinker, a great writer, and he's got a systematic theology. But I was just looking at a section, and he said this, and so just listen to it and see what you think.

It says, the scriptures, and now he's talking about the word of God, which we'll have to deal with more next week. But he says, the scriptures declare God to be just what we are led to think. He is, when we ascribe to him the perfections of our own nature in an infinite degree.

We are self-conscious, so is God. We are spirits, so is He. We are voluntary agents, so is God. We have a moral nature, miserably defaced indeed. God has moral excellence in infinite perfection. We are persons, so is God.

All this the scriptures declare to be true. The great primal revelation of God is as the I am, the personal God. All the names and titles given to Him, all the attributes ascribed to Him, all the works attributed to Him are revelations of what He truly is.

He is the Elohim, the Mighty One, the Holy One, the omnipresent Spirit. He is the creator, the preserver, the governor of all things. He is our Father. He is the hearer of prayer and giver of all good.

He feeds the young ravens. He clothes the flowers of the field. He is love. He loved the world. I think that kind of speaks to directly how men will say that God is this or God is that. And you know the Old Testament is full of, and we read it fairly recently as we read through Isaiah, of how people will take inanimate things and turn them into gods.

And then what does the psalmist say? They can't hear. They can't see. They can't speak. He even goes on to say they have feet but they never run. And what does Isaiah say? They got to be carried around on carts and on people's shoulders.

So when you think about it, if we are people, if we are beings, so is God. How could it not be? Unless again you want to say that we evolved over gazillions of years from, you know, a toad or a frog or just serendipity.

We just came into being. So when you think about it that way, like I said, the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows its handiwork day unto day in utter speech. And it renders man inexcusable.

So when we get into a discussion to end this, when we get into a discussion with people that want to take us down all these crazy roads, it's simple in a sense to just take them back to what God has revealed and what God has revealed in his word.

I mean I can take the atheist who says, what does the proverb say? The fool has said in his heart there is no God. So God calls him a fool because he is a fool. And then I could take him to Psalm 19 and I could say to him, well here's where God has revealed himself in nature.

I could take him to Romans 1 and I could say this is how God has revealed himself and what man has done with it. And then I can easily take him to Christ because that's the one who is the express image and the brightness of God's glory.

Creation, Evolution, and the Limits of Natural Revelation

Real quick, Merrill, go ahead.

I know it's like a secondary issue, but people say, oh, how do you know the earth? Because you know in the Bible, the earth is supposed to be like 3 ,000 years old. But evolution says the earth is like millions, billions of years old.

Even science agrees with the Bible in that sense.