Turn tonight in your Bibles,
first of all, to Genesis chapter 1. I thought over the next so many Wednesday nights that
we might kind of go back and take up Theology 101. Theology means simply the study
of God. Just that. The study of God. And that means that true theology
is the study of what God says about God, not man. You see, most of what passes
in this world for theology is simply what man says about God. But true theology has to be what
God says about God. Therefore, the Bible is truly
the only real theology book. And it is amazing where God in
the Bible begins. Because the Bible begins with
the existence of God. Without explanation, without
introduction, it simply begins with the God that is. Look at that first verse. In
the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And there is no effort made on
the part of God here or anywhere else to prove his existence. Why do you suppose that is? Well,
first of all, he doesn't have to. But secondly, because the
proof of God actually preceded the Bible. And that proof, and
the one that God Himself makes mention of all throughout this
Word, that proof, first of all, is the creation itself. One of the reasons why men try
to deny creationism and replace it for something like evolution
is because if God created all things If He created us, that
means that we are responsible to Him. That means that we are
accountable to Him, which is exactly what the case is. Some people seem to wonder why
anybody would want to try to foster such notions as evolution
and deny creationism. But that is exactly the reason
this Bible view of creation makes every one of the created responsible
to God. Turn over to the first chapter
of the book of Romans. Romans chapter 1, and look down
in verse 18 at what the Apostle Paul says here. Romans 1 and
verse 18. For the wrath of God, that's
a strange notion in our day, but not in the only true book
of theology. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness." Here they are. They are not without
some truth. But it says, "...because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them, or manifest
to them, for God hath showed it unto them." Somebody says,
well, God hasn't showed me that He is. He hasn't showed me anything
about how He is, so why would His wrath be against me? Oh, but it says here that God
has showed it unto us. He says, because that, rather
it says, for the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen. That doesn't mean that they're
slightly seen. That doesn't say that they are
very much obscured. But this matter of God existing
and some revelation or declaration of how he is, he says, being
understood by the things that are made. These things are declared and
they are understood by the things that he has made things that
he has created, even his eternal power and Godhead. Now, how much truth, how much
light, how much about God is clearly seen in this creation
which he has created? Well, I'll tell you how much.
Enough, it says, so that they are without excuse. Everywhere in this world, every
place, whether or not the gospel ever reaches it, whether or not
they ever see a Bible, whether or not they ever hear anything
about Christ preached, Every person, every place is without
excuse because they are not without light. There is sufficient light
concerning God in this creation to declare His eternal power
and Godhead and leave all people without excuse. Turn back, if
you would, to John chapter 1. John chapter 1, and listen to
what it says. We were just talking about John
this past Sunday. John the Baptist. It says in
verse 3, All things were made by him, and without him was not
anything made that was made. talking about Him who is the
Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. Not for want of light. But so much is the darkness of
man that the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent
from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. You see that? There is a light,
a truth, a declaration of God that shines upon, that lights
up every person that comes into the world. And here it is all
around us in the creation and handiwork of God. Look over in
Psalm 19. This is an amazing, wonderful
psalm. Psalm 19. Listen to this. Psalm 19, verse 1. The heavens declare the glory
of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth
speech. Every day that passes, every
time the sun rises, is God saying something to me. And night unto
night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard. You see that? what God says of himself in creation
simply by the coming of day and night, day after day. He says there is no place so
far remote that this language is not heard. Their line is gone
out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the
world. In them hath he set a tabernacle
for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and
rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is
from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it,
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." That means that the sun, that's
who he's talking about here, the sun that rises, the sun that
shines in every place, no matter where it is on this earth, speaks
and declares that God is. And every person, every being
is left without excuse. In Isaiah 40, he says this, Lift
up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things,
that bringeth out their host by number. He calls them all
by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong
in power, not one failure. Every day that the stars hang
in the skies, the planets go and move on their course. Every
day that every particle of this creation is sustained and maintained
by God, it declares God. He is. He absolutely is. Jeremiah says, but the Lord is
the true God. He is the living God and an everlasting
King. At His wrath the earth shall
tremble and the nation shall not be able to abide His indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them,
the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they
shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the
world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by
his discretion. When he uttereth his voice, there
is a multitude of waters in the heavens. And He causes the vapors
to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightnings with
rain and brings forth the wind out of His treasures. And in every place He says, I'm
God. I absolutely am God. And you see, the truth is, idolatry, which is man's attempt
to exchange the true God for one of man's own making, it often
and always expresses itself in many ways, but you can always
count on this, and that is man's God is always self-made, and
they are always like himself, and they always glorify man. God bears witness to his existence
in the creation, and he does also in all the affairs of providence. The Apostle in Acts 14 says of
God that in times past suffered all nations to walk in their
own ways. Nevertheless, he left not himself
without witness. in that he did good, and he gave
us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with
food and gladness. Not only does God bear witness
in the creation that he has made, but the fact that even in man's
blindness, Even in the face of man's denial of his very existence,
he sends the rain, and the crops, and the harvest, and he feeds,
and he sustains, and every drop of rain that falls, and every
grain of corn that's raised, every plant that springs up from
the earth, everything says, God, yes. But there's also another witness
of God. And that witness is the witness
in the conscience of man. Turn back over to Romans and turn to the second chapter
of Romans. Now, Paul is a Jew. And the Jews are that people
on the earth that have been given the law by God, had many prophets
sent to them, commanding them a great number of different things. But Paul says, whether you are
Jew or whether you are Gentiles, everyone in themselves is inexcusable. And that is His Word there in
verse 1. But look at what it says in verse
14. For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these having not the law or a law unto themselves, which show the
work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience, their conscience also bearing
witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing
one another. In other words, there is a witness in the conscience of every man,
whether or not as the Jews they received the external law of
God, or whether as the Gentiles they did not, receive it. But yet God has done a work in
our conscience so that try as we may, and that is exactly what
we do by nature, try as we may to seal out, to smother out,
to shut out that wit. It remains. so that our conscience, in the
face of all these moral things, if it is not seared as with a
hot iron, as the Bible says, either accuses us or excuses
us. In Job, he expressed it like
this. He said, but there is a spirit
in me. And the inspiration of the Almighty
giveth them understanding. But because the Lord Jesus Christ
has come, because the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, has come into this world, and carried out the
will and purpose of God, died the death of the cause, and now
has been raised up, God has given a clear, unmistakable
witness. Not only that he is, but that
he is the God with whom every one of us has to do. The apostle said it like this,
because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men. in that he hath raised him from
the dead. God is. And he is the God that will be
faced. And men will face him as the
righteous judge because he has already raised that righteous
judge from the dead, so that all men are without excuse. You see, the error is not so
much with regard to the existence of God. The error is not so much
of the understanding as it is the heart. You see, the man who denies the
existence of God has in a way tampered with his mind until
he's made it agree with his heart. Not the other way around. His mind is convinced there is
no God because his heart doesn't want to admit that there is a
God. I used to work with a man and
his whole life almost was like that. If there was something
That he didn't really want to be, or didn't really want to
happen. All day long, he would talk about how it wasn't going
to happen. Why it wouldn't happen. How it was impossible for it
to happen. That's the way men are with God. They don't want this God. And so the heart convinces the
mind of all these reasons, all these imagined logics. When the thing really is this,
just as the psalmist said, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. What that actually says is the
fool has said in his heart, no God for me, or no God. That's who God calls a fool. You see, but not only that, while
you have this type of so-called atheists who deny, supposedly,
that there even is a God. You have many, many, many more
practical atheists who say there is a God, but their
God is not God. You see, a belief in the mere
existence of God is not faith in God either. As a matter of fact, it may be
little more than what the devils themselves believe. James said,
Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe that. And they tremble. That's a practical atheism. Men may believe in a God, even
sincerely, and his God be a mere idol, a figment of man's imagination,
because he refuses to believe on God as he is. The writer of Hebrews says, But
without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that comes
to God must believe that he is. But not only that, and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him. You see, all people, all men
and women, are religious by nature. But they are idolaters by choice. And what men call free will is
nothing more than the natural will of men which is bound like
a chain to who and what they are, so that man's will will
never of itself choose the true God. Never. Ever. You see, rather than receive
even this light in nature and creation, Men will, by their
fallen natures, suppress that light and replace it with their
own ideas. Look back in Romans 1 again. Verse 21, where we left off. Because that when they knew God,
when they knew what this creation declares about the living God. They glorified Him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. professing themselves to be wife,
they became fools and changed or exchanged, as it is, the glory
of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible
man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves who changed or exchanged the
truth of God into a lie. and worshiped and served the
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Now, where does all the
unbelievable idolatry that clutters the halls of the history of man
everywhere in this earth Where did it come from? All the statues and all the unbelievable
creations of man, idols of man, described here by the Apostle
as creeping things and four-footed beasts and all these things,
men, lions with men's heads and eagles' claws. Where did that
come from? We say, well, the poor thing
didn't have any light. Absolutely not. Those things
are the mark and evidence of rejected light. Man does not like what God reveals
about himself. He is not thankful. He thinks
he's wise. And so rather than ask God for
more light, without confessing that unless
God revealed Himself, there's no way that such a creature as
we are could ever find Him out, He makes a God of His own. Sometimes
He casts Him out of metal. Sometimes He carves Him out of
wood. Sometimes He hews it out of stone. Sometimes it falls
out into these fashions, but most of the time it's right here. Where does an image begin? In
the imagination. Whether it ever makes it out
in stone or whatever, or whether it's just the message that a
preacher preaches, or that God that you've made since you were
a child who is nothing more than the figment of your imagination. He's still an idol, and he still
is not God. Turn over to Acts 17 a moment. Paul, when he came to Athens,
that great center of learning and philosophy and education
and knowledge and such as that, where all the writers were and
the people discussing theology and philosophy and all that.
Look at what it says in verse 23 that Paul But back to verse 22. Then Paul
stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, You men of Athens,
I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious. That means too religious. For I pass by and beheld your
devotion. And I found an altar with this
inscription, to the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly
worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth,
dwells not in temples made with hands." He can build it as high and as
big and as ornate and everything else, and God still will not
be in it. Neither is worship with men's
hands As though he needed anything. Uh-oh. There went a whole lot of gods
in our day. Because the gods of our day need
everything. They need you. They need your
time, your talents. They need your money. No. He will not be worshipped as
a god as if he needed anything. seeing he gives to all life and
breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations
of men were to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined
the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation,
that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after
him, and find him Though he be not far from every one of us,
for in him we live and move and have our being. As certain also
of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. For as much then as we are the
offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is
like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance
God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." There is enough light in nature,
in this creation, in the workings of providence,
and in the conscience of men to declare to such a degree the
existence of God so as to leave us all without excuse. But there is no saving light
there. There is no saving light in the
things that are made. There is no saving light in our
conscience. You see, if we, in our spiritual
death and blindness and natural enmity of mind to God as He is,
if we're ever to receive saving light, Not just that God is here, but
that He is to us a Savior and a God of grace. There must be
a revelation of gospel light. And that must be accomplished
in us by the Spirit of God taking the written Word of God. That's exactly what Paul says.
He wrote to the Corinthians and he says, But as it is written,
I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him, but God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. And he has given to his
people his Spirit, that they might know the things that are
freely given unto them in Christ. Peter expressed it like this.
Now here's a man who was one of those that were up in the
mount with Christ, the mount of transfiguration, and they
saw the Lord Jesus Christ transfigured there on that mount. So much
so that he appeared glorious to them. writing in his epistle and recounting
that very event, saying we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Follow that immediately with
this. He said, but we have also a more
sure word of prophecy. Better than seeing Christ in
person? because many saw him and died
in their sins. Better than seeing him transfigured
on that mountain? Absolutely. We have a more sure
word of prophecy, whereunto you do well that you take heed, as
unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn,
and the day star ariseth in your hearts." Rather than looking for a vision,
rather than trying to talk with somebody who saw the Lord Jesus
Christ, he said, it is better that you Look into this sure
word of prophecy, for that only saving light in
the midst of this darkness until the day star. What's the day
star? That's the sun. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is described many times in Scripture by that, expressly
that, called the sun of righteousness. He said, look into this world
until God makes that light shine in your darkness And that day star arises in your
heart. Christ revealed. And the glory
of God revealed in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, how does the sun come up? I don't know about you. My whole
life I've watched the sun come up because I've always been an
early riser. And I've never just seen it.
pop up and be noonday bright. Have you? How does the sun change? The sun comes up gradually. The light permeates the darkness
and it seems like it chases it away, doesn't it? And that's the admonition here
of Scripture. You stay with this Word. You trust only this Book. You study this word, you listen
to this gospel, God will give you light. Oh, we'd like to have it all at one time, wouldn't
we? No, he said, until the day star
rises in your heart. And to show you that he's talking
about this, the next thing he says is, knowing this first,
That no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. In other words, we study all
of the Scripture. That every verse in Scripture
is interpreted in the light of the whole. God is. And yet He must be His own revealer. He must show us His grace. He
must show us what we are. And He does it in the light of
who He is. And He is as He is in the Bible. And He's always been that way. And He's always going to be that
way. That's why we don't need a new
slant on this book. Because God is always the same. Man's always the same. Sin's
always the same. And the one way God saves sinners
is always the same. His grace is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And may we know Him more than
just simply as He is in creation. May we know Him as how He is
in salvation and grace. A just God and a Savior through
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father, tonight we give You
thanks and we praise You for Your goodness to us. Lord, we wish to know not only
that You are, but how You are in Jesus Christ. How You are
in grace and mercy and salvation. How You are in Your Word. Because to know you is eternal
life. And we pray that we might know.
And that we might believe on you to the saving of our souls. Glorify yourself. Reveal yourself
to us and in us. By your Spirit and through your
Gospel. We give you thanks and honor
and glory. and play in class nine. Amen.