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When I invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Genesis Chapter 1 and we're going to read Genesis 1 and then we're going to Immediately move to Romans chapter 1 and read a few passages from there as well So we're going to read Genesis 1 1 and then We're going to move to Romans 1 18 Genesis 1 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth And now to Romans chapter 1 beginning at verse 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth? For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them For his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature Have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made so they are without excuse May God add his bleeding blessing to the reading and to the hearing of his word Well, good morning, I thank you for all Taking the time this morning to be together.
I'm thankful for that Thankful for God bringing us here We have been in a study of Genesis now for several weeks and we have yet to break through chapter 1 and verse 1 Because there is so much information contained in just the few words of chapter 1 and verse 1 and This morning we're not going to break past it.
We're going to focus again on it because I think it's needful Genesis 1 1 says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and it begins with several assumptions The first assumption is that the universe is not eternal It had a beginning That the earth itself was created and that everything Universe earth and everything in it was created by God But one of the things that Genesis 1 never does and in fact the Bible never does is it never seeks to explain or defend the existence of God There's a discipline in Theology, in fact, it was one of my major studies in seminary and that is the discipline called apologetics apologetics is defending the faith comes from the Greek Apologia, which means to make a defense for something not to say I'm sorry, which is the modern use of the term apology But to stand and give a defense it was a legal term that when a lawyer would stand and give his defense He was giving his apologia or he was giving his apology his defense And one of the first things that you do if you're an apologist Meaning someone who gives a defense for the Christian faith often one of the most Fundamental things you learn to do is you learn how to make arguments for the existence of God? Yet the Bible doesn't do that.
I mean I my master's thesis was on science in the Bible and I and I studied the the the the subject of apologetics very in depth and and I studied the Teleological argument the moral argument and and the the ontological argument all of these different positions that have been taken down through the centuries to defend the existence of God But the Bible doesn't do that it simply says he is and the assumption is we know he is in The Bible God is not an argument God is an assumption.
In fact, he is the grand presupposition upon which all other knowledge is built yet in recent times as Much as we know God exists and as much as the Bible says only the fool says to God doesn't exist Psalm 14 1 the fool is said in his heart There is no God only the fool says God doesn't exist and yet even in the midst of that and in the face of that we have seen especially in recent times the rise of People who claim that God does not exist Now not all of them identify as atheists, in fact atheism is still very politically incorrect only about 3% of The United States population when polled Will actually admit to atheism but 20% and rising are those who identify as Irreligious, so it's not as if Because such a small percentage are atheists.
It's not as if There is a lack of unbelief There is a lot of unbelief.
In fact We see it all the time Can't say anything in the public square anymore because it offends.
I don't believe so I don't want to hear what you believe in the midst of the rise of unbelief Is the truth that the Bible teaches us that all men know that God exists We read it already in Romans 1 in fact That was why I tied it to the Genesis 1 because if you read Genesis 1 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and then you go over to Romans 1 and it says That the wrath of God is being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness Suppress the truth for that which can be known about God is evident to them For God has made it plain to them in the things that have been made So they are on a polygate to Greek without excuse without defense every man knows in his heart of hearts Not only that God exists But that God created the heavens and the earth in fact I want to show you another passage brother Adam read it for us this morning, but if you'll turn very quickly to Psalms Psalm 19 This was our call to worship, and I always try to tie the call to worship into our sermon Psalm 19 is one of my favorite psalms Because it affirms What I'm saying to you this morning That all men know that God exists Psalm 19 verse 1 says this the heavens Declare the glory of God in the sky above proclaims his handiwork What does that mean that means when we walk outside and we look up and we see the sky Only a fool would say yeah, that's that that happened without a creator when we look out and we see the firmament around the earth when we see the sky and the clouds and we see the Universe with the stars and the planets and we see all this amazing Life around us and the creation around us.
We say yeah, that's just an accident It says the heavens declare the glory of God the sky above proclaims his handiwork day to day it pours out speech and night Tonight it reveals knowledge There is no speech There are no words Whose voice is not heard their voice goes out through all the earth and the words to the end of the world in them He has set a tent for the Sun which comes out like a bridegroom leaving its chamber and like a strong man It runs its course with joy.
It's rising is from the end of the heavens It's circuit to the end of them and there is nothing hidden from its heat Basically what this passage is saying is the Sun is like the greatest pastor in the history of the world Because every morning he comes up and wakes everyone up and reminds you Hey God created me and he goes across the sky and the whole time he's in the sky He's saying hey look God created this and then at night when he goes down.
He's reminding you I'm gonna be back in the morning to do it all over again He's a pastor that every person hears and his truth is inescapable As he proclaims it as he goes through the sky Nobody has to come to me later and tell me I know that the the earth is moving in the Sun is in the center And all I understand heliocentricity So let us not get that my point being we see the Sun and it moves as if it were moving and we see it Proclaiming the glory of God and it's like a preacher in the sky all day long One of the arguments for the existence of God which I think does agree With the scriptural argument Is something called the teleological argument now that comes from the Greek word telos which means purpose or design It actually means end similar to the word to tell us die when Jesus said it is finished it's completed It's a similar root so we have telos which means end or finished or goal or purpose And we call this the teleological argument because basically what it says is this the earth was created for a purpose And we see that purpose in the creation William Pele who lived in the late 1700s and early 1800s Gave probably the best example of the teleological argument.
Maybe some of you've heard it He said imagine you were walking in a field and you found a watch laying in the field you would through simple logic and basic deduction Know that it was not produced by some kind of random formation But that it had been intelligently designed All of the pieces being assembled perfectly Functioning properly and being set to the proper time would prove to you beyond doubt that this was not an accident That this didn't just happen on its own This is evidence of a designer design is evidence of the designer Many naturalists try to argue against Pele's simple logic But I would say to you it stands as a good example of the biblical argument because that's the argument Paul made in Romans 1 He said when men look out and see the world they are without excuse because the world testifies of me That's what the psalmist David is writing in psalm 19 The heavens are declaring the glory of God you gotta be a fool to look at that and say nah So today what I want to do.
I have three points today.
I have three subjects I'd like for us to look at three lines of thought and This is on the idea that God created the heavens and the earth and I want us to examine the evidence That God has given us to know that that's true now.
I want to say this from the outset.
I'm a presuppositionalist I start with God, so I'm not saying the evidence proves God.
I'm saying that when I look at the evidence I have no other I Have nowhere else to go and any man who says the evidence takes him elsewhere, but God is a fool That's what I'm not I'm not saying I start with the evidence I start with God because he is the ultimate presupposition So just to be clear But I do think again even as a presuppositionalist I can look at the evidence and I can say see everything supports this truth And so I want to provide you three things to consider today And I want to say this from the outset and you may need to hear this for the next few weeks And maybe I'll say it again.
I am NOT a Scientist I Am a theologian.
I would consider myself an apologist but I am NOT a scientist and So when I speak of things that are scientific I am going to quote scientists in their field to support what I'm saying if it is necessary and So today you're going to hear me quoting a few men And I think it's important and helpful not because they affirm God's Word But it just shows the absolute rank ridiculousness of denying God's Word So let's look at the first of three points the first point today is this our planet is not just improbable It is impossible I'll explain what I mean, but just understand.
That's the point I read a book in preparation for my study of Genesis And I've been studying for several months to get ready for this series, and I read a book entitled the improbable planet by Hugh Ross Now Hugh Ross is a Christian and he's a scientist But he and I would disagree on several things including the age of the universe and all that we're going to talk about that in Subsequent weeks, but I want to say this the improbable planet that he wrote Had Some of the best exposition of what makes the earth unique that I've ever read things that I've never even heard of before That makes our earth absolutely unique in the universe not improbable and That's why I would disagree with Ross because Ross says our planet is improbable.
I say no no no It's impossible without God Because let me talk about let me tell you what the probability would be if you give you an example of what probability is if you took all the parts of a 1957 Chevrolet and you place all of those parts in a junkyard mixed among other parts of other cars and You ensure that all the parts were there whether it be the steering wheel or the gear shift knob or or the the key holder Ignition system whatever it's called I'm not a car guy Mike's gonna have a fit because he's the car guy so you got all these pieces Now imagine a great wind like a tornado came and hit that Junkyard and all of those pieces were brought up into the air and mixed about with great power and energy What would be the probability? That all of those pieces would not only come together in the form of a 1957 Chevrolet, but would also be ready and able to work and function Would you say it's improbable? Or would you say it's impossible? The reality that it's that's just not possible But I want to tell you this the earth is so much more complex than a 1957 Chevrolet and everything that brought that God brought into this world life and Food and Medicine and all the amazing things this world provides to us are so much more Complicated than that and yet we are to believe that such a thing came about as a result of random chance The fool is set in his heart There's no God another famous argument.
You probably heard this one Imagine sitting a monkey down at a typewriter And giving the monkey Free reign to hit the keys as often as he would like How long would it take? For him to complete one of Shakespeare's sonnets Well Stephen Hawking believed it was possible.
Oh, yeah, give it enough time Random chance he could knock out one of Shakespeare's sonnets eventually Well, dr.
Girard, excuse me, Gerald Schroeder a physicist Took Stephen Hawking to task And he said well, let's see what it would actually take if we took a monkey and We put him down at a keyboard and we gave him the opportunity to hit whatever key he wanted to hit as often as he wanted to hit and he did the math and Dr.
Schroeder determined this To produce one sonnet of Shakespeare 488 letters randomly Would be 1 to 10 and the 690th power chance that it would ever happen By the way, that's 1 with 690 zeros after But then he went on to say what if it was just a 16 letter sentence and you had all the monkeys in the world And all the typewriters in the world He said it would still take 200 million billion years Before they would ever be able to put together a 16 letter sentence You know what that means It's impossible It's not improbable It's impossible And when we think about the earth this earth is impossible without God because of the complexities of this world We live on what's known as the Goldilocks planet.
You ever heard that? You know Goldilocks was right Goldilocks was that Young child who happened upon the Bears house and when she went in the porridge was in three bowls and one porridge was too hot and one was too cold and the other was Just right and then she went to the chairs and one was too big and one was too small and one was Just right and then she went to the beds and one was too hard and one was too soft.
But one was Just right Even secular scientists who have no intention of believing in God or his word Call Earth the Goldilocks planet Because everything Needed for life is just right National Geographic Magazine is not a Christian publication, but they even Admitted in an article not too long ago That the article was called one strange rock and they were talking about this rock that we live on called earth And in that article they explained just 13 things that make this planet absolutely unique and absolutely Unclonable or unable to be to be the same It's so unique and and some of the things are things you've heard of things like the ozone layer which blocks out the harmful radiation you've heard of things like our our Magnetic field which allows for us to be protected from the Sun's solar outbursts and Also our moon.
It's it's the perfect size to do what it's supposed to do And not only does it create the tides and the the ability for that to happen, but it also creates Stability in our turning because we're turning on an axis and there's a little bit of a wobble in our turn and the moon creates just enough of A pull with its gravitation to cause that wobble to not wobble too much and and to go off the axis And by the way, if you compare our moon to a lot of the other moons out there Our moon is really unique as well.
We go to hole in it We can talk about next week the impossible moon because it's the impossible planet It's all put together It's all designed We're just the right distance from the Sun for water to exist Too close our water would evaporate Before it ever was a liquid form too far away and it would freeze and it would be in a solid state of ice I want to quote again.
Dr.
Ross in one of his articles on his website He said this earth is uniquely and distinctly the water planet Oceans and seas cover almost 71% of the planet's surface with an average depth of 2.3 miles.
That's over 12,000 feet and Deeper than most mountains are tall If we had lakes rivers glaciers and ice caps the water covers almost 75% of the earth in total the earth contains Approximately 1.368 billion cubic kilometers.
That's 2332 million cubic miles of water The abundance of liquid water on earth is further evidence for the design of our planet and solar system liquid waters rarity Demonstrates the earth is truly an extraordinary jewel It also poses a serious dilemma for those searching for life on other planets since liquid water is essential to supporting life for Christians However water is just one more reason to praise the Creator who designed our habitat for our benefit Amen that'll be a good time to take a sip of water now some people argue that with the immensity of the galaxies and the billions of stars and the Opportunities for other planets that there just have to be other Earth's out there.
In fact Neil deGrasse Tyson Astrophysicist he says, oh, yes there is almost certainly life out there because there's almost certainly an infinite number of Earth's out there and This is the fantasy of science fiction have you ever seen Star Trek? What was Star Trek all about? Boldly go where no man has gone before find other civilizations find other Earth's Star Wars and the galaxy far far away.
You ever notice everybody every planet is habitable in Star Wars you got The one that you never mind going to the Star Wars But the point is every planet has air water food.
It's a joke Even the Marvel movies Every planet is livable Let me tell you something.
That is not true.
That is not based in science That is based in bias and false advertising because that just isn't the way our universe is Our planet is absolutely unique Some people say earth is nothing special.
That is not true Only a person who is not being supported by the evidence But is being moved by bias would ever say something so foolish as the earth is nothing special Our planet is so improbable That it's impossible without a creator.
That's the first thing Second thing and these last two points are a little shorter Just let you know that was a long point But the second two points support the first point That's the second point is this Not only is our planet impossible without God but our planet is Habitable and it's not just habitable.
It's hospitable You say well, what do you mean by that? Well, I'll give you an example If you were dropped into a barren wasteland where there was nothing and you came upon a cave You might say wow, this cave is habitable it will keep the rain off of me It'll keep me shaded during the daytime.
It'll it'll give me a place to hide from predators.
This is a habitable cave but if you found in that barren area a house with walls and windows and doors and bedrooms fully furnished Stocked with a refrigerator of food and drink medicine cabinets filled with medicine gas for the stove electricity for the radio and the lights You would say this is not habitable This is hospitable now.
I want you to think about the earth the earth Produces food for us to eat it produces medicine for us to use It has within it the elements to support not only life, but the flourishing of life coal oil seeds and other nutrient-bearing plants Not only does earth support life But earth supports advanced life, which requires a lot more For that life to survive you always hear him talk about we found life on on Jupiter 2 and they'll say What did you find we found a spore? You never hear him say we found Fred and Ethel on the tennis court you understand the difference and They'll say the only difference between Fred and Ethel and the spore is time As evolution takes the spore and makes it into a person that's garbage time is not magical That's what evolution is time is magic Because it can create it can take nothing and make it something and it can take a little something and make it a big something It can take a stupid something and make it a smart something That's magic It's not science in his book.
Ross describes the earth as a place Designed like a building and I tell you what this was this was eye-opening for me Because and again as much as I disagree with dr.
Ross as I was as I was reading this part of the book I said this is genius because he does he said if you think about the earth You think about how a building is built they come out? Then they pour the concrete slab and they build the erect the walls and then they come in and they put in the insulation and Then they put in the HVAC system and then all of these things go together and it's ready for habitation, right? That's what we're gonna look at.
We look at Genesis 1 and we're gonna see all those creation days.
That's what God's doing He's laying the foundation and he's building up what's necessary He's putting together everything so that at the sixth day he can come out and say and here is man who's gonna be the one who is the Responsible one over all this he's made as the caretaker of this new world that I've created and it's created for him It's hospitable for him.
I Come up with three thoughts as I was writing this I said, you know, what's neat about the earth.
It's comfortable It's comforting and it's delightful It's comfortable.
What do you mean by that? Well, our climate is comfortable most people live near the equator where it's comfortable some crazy people live way up north But we in Florida know better All right, it's comfortable and most of the places where it's most comfortable is where most of the people are It's also comfortable with our atmosphere You know If you go way high up on a mountain The pressure changes and you feel weird you go way down in the sea pressure changes and it feels weird But right where you're supposed to be Feels perfect.
So not only is the climate perfect, but the Atmosphere is perfect and it's like God created an HVAC system right here an AC system to just keep us right where we need to be It's also comforting The earth Was created by God and it is beautiful man cannot paint a picture That's anywhere near the images God creates with the Sun in the sky at night and every night it's different and Beautiful And when the last hurricane came through and it had passed by That went outside and the sky was purple like a lavender It was like a lavender bedspread had been painted across the sky and it was beautiful It also produces soothing sounds you realize people pay money to buy little boxes to put next to their bed to give them the sounds of nature Nature itself is therapeutic Well, you always say I need to get away from it I need to get out and I need to listen to the water crashing against the the shore.
I need to hear the the the birds chirping Because there's a therapy in it It's comforting, but it's also and this is my favorite It's delightful food is delicious Now I know me saying that's a little ironic but listen food not only nourishes us But it gives us delight and you try to make artificial food.
It doesn't compare Strawberry sauce or strawberry flavoring doesn't taste like strawberries orange flavoring doesn't and banana is the worst And it doesn't taste anything like what God made And what God made is so wonderful and delightful.
I want to tell you a quick thing I don't want to go too far off to the right on this but my wife and I were talking about this Several years ago.
We took a cruise and we went down to the Bahamas and we were on a Key, which is like a small island that the the ship allows you to go out onto the island and and Sit there and listen to the water.
They had double hammocks and my wife and I got a chance to lay on a double hammock for the afternoon in the Sun was just blocked out enough by the palm trees where it wasn't beating down on us but we still felt the rays of the Sun on us and there was there was warmth and there was the fact that we were together that there was there was love and there was that feeling of togetherness and there was the sound of the wind and the ocean and Every once in a while now When we're having a stressful day.
I Walk over to her.
She'll walk over to me and we'll hug each other and we'll just say think about the hammock Because it's really the closest to heaven I think we've ever come to in our marriage and in our life and so we kind of go back to that mentally But that was God's good creation That was God's delightful creation Only a fool Could say there's no God and that leads me to my last point and by the way One last thing on that.
This is the fallen world too We can the fallen world is comforting comfortable and delightful imagine what it was before the fall and imagine what it's going to be like when Jesus splits the sky and he brings the new heaven And the new earth we can't even imagine what that's going to be like So much better than the hammock so much better than anything third and finally our planet makes atheism not just ridiculous but inexcusable our planet is God's testimony to his own creative genius and the universe around it is declaring his magnificent presence and those who deny God and Deny who he is are Not doing so because of the evidence They're doing so in spite of the evidence I want to read to you and by the way, we see that in Romans 1 we've already read it But I want to read to you two quotes if I might This is from a book and by the way, don't ever forget We have a little book carousel out in the narthex.
All those books are for sale and we don't ask much we basically sell them to you for what we buy them for and This was a book that was sitting as I walked out of my office.
I saw this book Does atheism make sense? And so I took it home and read it as part of preparing for this week And I want to read to you just just two quick quotes the American theoretical physicist makio kaku One of the world's most respected scientists says Quote to me it is clear that we exist in a plan which is governed by rules that were created shaped by a universe and a Universal intelligence and not by chance He also claims that the very purpose of physics is quote to find an equation Which allows us to unify all forms of nature or forces of nature and allows us to read the mind of God Science it was once said and this is not in the book But I should be saying this science was once it was once stated science The purpose of science is to think God's thoughts after him Not to do away with God, but to simply understand better the way God has done what he has done And that's what this man is saying But I want to read another Nobel Prize winning American physicist and radio astronomer Arno Penzias Says this astronomy leads us to a unique event a universe that was created out of nothing and Delicately balanced to provide exactly the right conditions required to support life in the absence of an absurdly improbable accident the observations of modern science seem to suggest an underlying one might say supernatural plan Accepting a prestigious award for his work.
He added quote the creation of the universe is supported by all the observable data Astronomy has produced so far End quote the creation of the universe is supported by all of the observable data Don't you let anyone tell you that the Bible and God are unscientific It's absolute nonsense Men don't deny God exists because of the evidence Men deny God exists Because they love their sin The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth Romans 1 verse 18 Atheism is stupid now.
I didn't say atheists are stupid, but atheism The belief that all of this Did not have a design is Repugnant to the basics of logical thought a few years ago.
I Was on a canoe trip.
I was canoeing down the Suwannee River and while there I looked out on the shore of the Suwannee River and there was White sand and It went up Sort of a hard crest and there was plants and things Seated among the plants and right where the white sand met the crest was a park bench The metal had become rusted over because of the The elements the wood had begun to crack and to split because it had obviously been there for a long time But I remember and it was covered with sand and there were some plants that were growing up through the cracks and I remember looking At it and this was probably 12 13 years ago.
I remember looking at it and I remember saying to myself That was put there by a person with a purpose no one would see that park bench and Think that that Simply happened by erosion Or some type of wind or rain or some other type of natural process No, the existence of the bench Was proof enough That a person with a purpose had put it there Beloved we live in a world that's so much more complicated than a park bench the person who put it here is God The purpose he put it here was to glorify himself and the fool is the one who says that such a thing Is not true.
We know by nature God created us and because we know God created us.
We are also responsible to him So as I draw now to a close, I want you to consider this The one who created you The one who sustains you and The one who still sits on high Has called you to repent of your sins and trust in his son He has not given other options for your salvation But he has provided only one and that is his son Jesus Christ the Bible says our sins Cause us to fall short of the glory of God But God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son That every person who believes on him Will not perish But will have eternal life the God who created the world Loved us so much that his son Was given on the cross To pay for our sins and he did it willingly and act 17 Paul is speaking to the Athenian Philosophers and he says the God who created the world has now called all men everywhere to repent Have you repented of your sin? Have you trusted in Christ? Do you know that one day you will face? He who made you because ultimately You're responsible to him Let us pray Father I thank you for your word.
I Thank you for the truth of the word.
I thank you most of all Lord that when we think about Christ and We think about the fact that he saved us We can know that All of the joys that we have in this world all the blessings that we have in this world are just but a taste of What we're going to have in the new heavens and the new earth And Lord this morning, I pray that we have been challenged I Pray that any person who's come this morning who may have had doubts coming in about the existence of God May may it be Lord that those doubts have been challenged.
May it be that those doubts have been quenched And Lord God, maybe someone came in this morning and they don't know where they stand with Christ may it be today That they're willing By the power of the Holy Spirit of God who makes us willing By giving us a new heart Lord.
May they be willing to turn from their sins and trust in Jesus Christ But there is no name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved Except the name of Jesus Christ and it's in his name.