HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT GOD EXISTS?

INTRODUCTION

I guess another way of asking this question of ‘How do you know God exists?’ is "Why is there something rather than nothing?"

When I was 9 years old I used to lie on the grass at night in our back yard and stare up at the stars. I had this fascination with where ‘it’ all came from. I wasn’t raised in a Christian home, so I guess, at that young age, I was already searching for the meaning to the existence of life as we know it. So, as I stared at the stars I would wonder where it all came from, and where it all stopped. I would picture a huge cosmic wall after which there was nothing, but this made no logical sense to me. I would then think about where everything had come from. Did it just happen to come together by chance? or was there a force or celestial power who carefully designed the universe and life on earth.

These questions are questions people have been asking for years. Subsequently, we have the debates and differences of viewpoints between evolutionists and creationists.

So then, how do I know God exists?

1st lets look at the evolution debate.

EVOLUTION

The controversy over origins is not simply a philosophical question or a mind game. The truth about origins is crucial to the quest for peace, significance and belonging.

What do I mean by this?

If the truth about origins is that you are the end product of a mindless, mechanistic universe, which is the evolutionary world view, then the quest for peace is hopeless and a waste of effort. One of the philosophies that has come from evolutionary thinking today is that of materialism. But materialism is insufficient to meet the needs of the human heart. A philosophy that says we are material only and that all our needs are material doesn’t make sense in this world and it only leaves a void deep down in our hearts.

Let’s look at this a bit more closely.

Those who deny God on scientific grounds have to start with self-existent matter. In other words, they have to, at some point, come to agree that something has eternally been present in the universe. If they don’t start from this basis, then the question "Where did atoms and molecules come from?" could never be answered. On the basis of chance alone, there is far greater chance, scientifically, that God created the universe and everything in it then there is that everything happened to come together by chance which eventually evolved into life as we know it today.

Evolution leaves many questions unanswered, especially when it says that life occurred by random and without any design. The fact is, earth, if it was any closer or any further away from the sun, would not be able to sustain life. We look at the way the moon has effect on tides. There are the weather patterns that bring rain. There are trees and vegetation that gives us oxygen to breath. There is the earth’s atmosphere that protects us from over exposure from the sun’s radiation. Not to mention life itself - and evolution says all this happened by chance without purposeful design.

The implication is this. The person who believes in the process of evolution has more faith than I do. This is because the chance that everything happened to come together from a random and chaotic universe, to evolve into the life and order, is statistically impossible. It is in this way that I, therefore, believe in the probable - that God designed the existence of the universe and life, while the evolutionist believes in the impossible. It is in this way that they have more faith then me.

The point is this. Science can only prove matter. Something that does not consist of matter is outside of the scientific realm. Therefore, science on its own cannot, with its limitations, prove the Infinite God. What we are saying is that it is not matter that is infinite, but person-hood, personality.

 

PERSONALITY OF GOD

The Bible starts with a Personal God. So, What does this mean if God is personal?

DISTINCTIVES OF PERSONALITY -

God is all of these things, in fact, He past on all these characteristics, from Himself, to us.

Genesis 1:26,27 says:

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
 

WHAT EVIDENCE DO WE HAVE THAT GOD EXISTS?

The evidence we have is twofold:

      1. What is recorded
      2. Testimony from God Himself

1. What is recorded

The Bible has demonstrated itself to be far more than just a mere book. It is the actual Word of God spoken to us. It is how God has ensured that we have His recorded word that we can refer to and live by. The evidence of this fact is convincing to anybody who will honestly consider its claims.

There have been many people throughout history who have attempted to destroy the claims the Bible makes, but they have done this unsuccessfully. Martin Luther wrote:

"Mighty potentates have raged against this book and sought to destroy and uproot it - Alexander the Great and princes of Egypt and Babylon, the monarchs of Persia, of Greece, and of Rome, the Emperors Julius and Augustus - but they prevailed nothing.
They are gone while the Book remains, and it will remain forever and ever, perfect and entire, as it was declared at first. Who has thus helped it - who has protected it against such mighty forces? No one, but God Himself, who is master of all things."

In the contemporary era, the Bible has been under attack by evolutionists, communists, and humanists. Each group have tried to destroy the fabric and authenticity of the Bible, but they have been unsuccessful, simply because the Bible contains God’s truth and His truth shall always prevail.

Josh McDowell, as a highly intelligent university student had this attitude towards Christians. He said:

"…I thought most Christians were walking idiots….I used to wait for a Christian to speak up in the classroom so I could tear him or her up one side and down the other, and beat the insecure professor to the punch. I imagined that if a Christian had a brain cell, it would die of loneliness."

McDowell was then challenged to search what the Bible said and examine whether it was truth or deception. The basis of his research was to refute the basis of the Bible.

McDowell later wrote this:

"Finally, my mind came to the conclusion that Jesus Christ must be who He claimed to be (the claims recorded in the Bible). In fact, the background of my first two books was my setting out to refute Christianity. When I couldn’t, I ended up becoming a Christian. PI have now spent 13 years documenting why I believe that faith in Jesus Christ is intellectually feasible."

You see, the Bible stands for itself. People can try to refute it, but if they research the Bible and honestly then they cannot but find Truth that has come from God.

Of itself the Bible says these things:

Matthew 4:4

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Matthew 13: 23

23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

Luke 11:28

He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

John 5:24

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

Romans 10:17

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Ephes. 1:13

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

Ephes. 6:17

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Col. 3:16-17

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

1 Thes. 2:13

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

1 Peter 1:23

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

1 Peter 1:25

…but the word of the Lord stands forever."
And this is the word that was preached to you.

1 John 2:5

But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:

Rev. 20:4

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The Bible gives us sufficient reason to believe that it is the Word of the Living God, who does exist and who has revealed Himself to the world.

 

2. Personal testimony from God Himself

Another reason we know that God exists is that He has given His own testimony regarding Himself.

He appeared in human flesh. Jesus Christ was God Almighty who became man. The Bible says:

John 1:14

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory … full of grace and truth.

The Bible also states clearly that Jesus came to earth to reveal who god is and what He is all about.

John 1:18 says

No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

What I am saying is this. If anyone wants to know who God is, then they need not look any further than Jesus Christ Himself.

The incredible thing about all of this is that it was God who took the initiative to make Himself known to us. It was God who took the initiative to enable us to enter into a relationship with Him, even though we have expended a great deal of energy throughout history trying to push Him away.

You see, it is God who has reached down to Man, personally and intimately. You see, Jesus Christ paved the way for us. In coming back form the dead, He established Himself as having the credentials to be God, and it was this fact that demonstrated its to the unbelieving world.

What I am talking about is historical fact, not some mythological story. God has come to us in human flesh. He is the creator of the universe and us. He is personal. He has left behind documented evidence of not only His Being, but also His personal Word to us as individuals. Not only this, He has shown us how we can enter into a personal relationship with Himself.

 

CONCLUSION

So, can I know that God exists? Yes I can - and so can you.

I encourage you to look at the truth of God‘s word, the truth of His life, and the evidence of His creative power that is all around us.

God wants to be personally involved in your life. He has shown you the way to a relationship with Him, that is loving, which lasts for all eternity. You only need to submit to His authority and allowing Jesus Christ be both your Lord and Saviour.

 

By Scott Douglas, Burdekin Baptist Church, 27th March 1998