Five Good Reasons To Believe God Exists

[Music] the Genesis for the series actually comes from a well-known passage found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah right in the opening chapter of the Book of Isaiah this is found in the Old Testament of the Bible Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18 God gives this fascinating invitation he says come now let us reason together now I want you to just think about that invitation for a moment first of all it's not david asscherick making that invitation it's not a pastor making that invitation it's it's not some human being or some professor making that invitation it's God himself saying hey come here have a seat pull up a chair to the table and let's have a conversation let's talk this over let's reason this through let's have a dialogue let's have a conversation and I love this idea that the god of Scripture is a God who not only tolerates inquiry he not only tolerates questions and dialogue he actually invites it and loves it come now now sit down sit down sit down sit down let's have a conversation let's discuss this let's reason together it was not only God's invitation anciently to Isaiah it is God's invitation to us today and every day come sit down at the table pull up a chair and let's think this through let's see if there are good reasons for believing in God for believing in the Bible for not being afraid of death whatever the various things that we're going to be talking about in this series let's see if they're not five good reasons in some cases I had to really shrink it down I had about 10 good reasons but I shrunk it down to five and it's gonna be a great series and I hope you are as enthusiastic to listen as I am to deliver the material and so the invitation for all of us is to come reason together and let's see if we can't make a case a rational case a defensible case a sequential case as to why we believe the things that we believe are or why I believe the things that I believe and hopefully by the end of the series if you don't already you will come to believe many of these things as well I guess the simple way to say this is if I could have heard this series at the age of twenty twenty one twenty five or maybe even thirty years old I think it would have been absolutely crucial transformational in my own journey in my own walk now looking back retrospectively I wish I would have had some of the answers that I'm going to try to provide for you in the course of this series now just one more word about this series insofar as it's possible and I realize that I'll be speaking and so it will be largely a monologue insofar as it's possible I want the spirit of these meetings to be conversational now I don't mean that you're having conversations with a person that you're sitting next to you're sitting next to you but just the idea that that I want you to be at least in your own mind if not verbally engaging with the ideas that I'm presenting right have a have a conversation with me not only conversational it's going to be hugely informational and we're gonna begin we're gonna launch off with what might seem like a really good place at least to me it seems like a really good place to start five good reasons to believe that God exists there are of course out in the world very intelligent people very educated people very erudite people who regard the idea of belief in God and invisible benevolent you know omnipotent deity as absurd they regard it as a fairy tale they regard it as medieval they regard it as entirely obsolete in this modern age I recognize that and this will not be a test of wits where I will show myself to be the intellectual superior of those who deny God and His existence there's no that's not going to happen because there are very intelligent people that absolutely unequivocally affirm the existence of God and their own personal experience with him and then there are on the other side of the table people who say the idea of God and of his existence is absurd and has been scientifically disproved right now what I am going to try to do is present to you information that I personally find very persuasive and again there will be a significant informational component right so a great place to start I suppose that we're going to be talking about the Bible and we're gonna be talking about Jesus and a lot of these kinds of things would be is there really any good reason to believe that God exists at all I mean David by your own admission he's largely invisible there are instances of of people in Scripture who claim to have seen God right there are even some people alive today who I suppose claim to have seen I've never seen a supernatural entity but people say they've seen angels or they've seen God in some way I don't disbelieve these people but but clearly this is the minority most people have not seen a supernatural being or seen God or any other such thing and so we freely admit that God is invisible he is not detectable in the normal ways that we detect the things around us like this stool or this podium or the people that are in front of me now so how how can we be sure or is there any good reason to believe that there is a God out there who is good and who is in fact described in this book which really is going to be the text book probably won't have you turn to it quite a lot because many of you don't have your Bibles with you though you do have your phone probably and a phone can function as a Bible but I'll be using many passages from the Bible like the one we just used a moment ago Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18 come let us reason together and so this book will be our textbook and is there any reason to believe that the God that is described in this book actually exists that he's out there is there reason I'm gonna give you tonight five good reasons to believe God exists and I'm gonna summarize those five good reasons in five single syllable words right so it's gonna be very easy to remember now not every meeting will have five single syllable words that summarize the the five reasons that we're giving that night but tonight it's really nice and easy and those words are time-life mind I love time life mind hot love we're gonna go through each one of these because each one of these words encapsulate SAN idea encapsulate so reason and capsule AIT's a kind of argument for the reason ability of believing in God's existence and is we're gonna discover in a couple meetings from now not just God's existence but we're gonna have a meeting titled five good reasons to believe that God is good not just that he exists but that he's good that's a different meeting and we'll get to that in the future so let's talk first of all about the idea that is encapsulated in this single syllable word what's the word everyone or it is time let's talk about this idea of time and so reason I'm very simple very succinct right I'm going to try to keep this as simple as is possible is the universe and time itself had a what's that word at the beginning the universe and time itself had a beginning that's why we use the word time to summarize we're going to talk about the nature of time give any time to talk about the nature of time right you have just a moment let's talk about the nature of time the universe and time itself had a beginning well first of all the Bible opens with this very idea that the Bible opens with this arresting idea that is absolutely transformational in in the human psyche and in all of human literature this idea that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth right the Bible opens with this idea that that the heavens and the earth aka the universe the cosmos that all of it had a beginning and I'm suggesting here and we're gonna we're gonna we're going to begin to marshal our evidence that it's not just things that are extended in space like planets and stars and Suns and and all of these sort of cosmic things that have a beginning time itself had a beginning along with the universe let's talk about that I'm gonna give you several quotations tonight from well-known world renowned respected scientist so I'm going to start by telling you about a man by the name of our know Alan Penzias now our know Alan Penzias is a theoretical physicist and astronomer and he is most famous for having discovered what's called cosmic microwave background radiation now if you're sitting here today and you don't know what cosmic microwave background radiation is that's okay but basically what Penzias discovered is this idea that that there was an evidentiary basis that there's some reason to believe that there was what sometimes called a Big Bang right that there was a beginning that term Big Bang was actually a term that was coined as a pejorative as a as a way of making the idea seem absurd and ridiculous but it caught on it's got a nice alliteration to it when the idea was presented that the universe had a beginning at some big explosive event that was called again mockingly and pejoratively the Big Bang most physicists said that's crazy that's absurd the universe has always been will always be the universe is eternal not only is that eternal it's it's infinite or at least as near as we can tell it's infinite and and yet there were some scientists in the 40s and 50s and 60s that began to say you know what we think in fact the universe is not eternal it's not infinite it's actually expanding well that raises all kinds of questions philosophical questions how can something that's already eternal and infinite be expanding the question would be raised into what is it expanding how can something that's already infinite and eternal grow into something else what exactly is it growing into and so when this idea began was begun to be put forth that the universe was finite in time that it had a definitive beginning many physicists regarded it as absurd and and absolutely unwarranted the belief was unwarranted by the evidence but Penzias discovered this cosmic microwave background radiation which in in short form is the residual energy left over from the cosmic beginning the primordial beginning now what's fascinating here and I don't expect you to instantly understand cosmology or or astrophysics but what I want you to hear is something that Penzias said in 1978 the year that he won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation this is what he said my argument is that the best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses the Psalms and the Bible as a whole in other words in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth Penzias says the scientific data that we have the Astrophysical that we have is what I would have expected if all I had was the books of Moses and the Psalms and basically the Old Testament now in 1978 the New York Times interviewed Penzias and did an article on his discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation part of that was a confession or a conversion of Sir Frederick oil now Hoyle was himself an astrophysicist and was the one who had actually coined the term Big Bang as a term of mockery and you know it was dismissive on the big bang and notice what the article says here New York Times March 12th 1978 sir Fred Hoyle the cosmologists who proposed a steady state universe a universe that always has been and is no changes no fluxes no expansion right was with neither beginning nor end was compelled by the observations of dr. Penzias to abandon his theory Penzias continues the thing I am most interested in now dr. Penzias said in an interview is whether the universe is open or closed what do what do you mean by that dr. Penzias whether the universe is open or closed if it is open that is expanding forever from a single great explosion of Genesis notice what he says here and the data seems to indicate that it is open this is precisely the universe that organized religion predicts now this is not Scripture this is not a pastor this is not a preacher this is a Nobel prize-winning physicist saying the best scientific data that we have is consistent with what we have in Scripture if all we had was Moses and the Psalms and the Old Testament this is what we would have expected a cosmic beginning an explosive beginning that causes time and the universe and time itself to proceed forth from that ultimate beginning now think about it this way if I ask you to count to 10 you could do that no problem right you guys a one two three four five six seven eight nine ten if I ask you to count to a hundred you could do that very readily if I ask you to count to a thousand you could do that if I ask you to count to 10,000 you could do that even if I asked you to count to a million you could count to a million if you had enough time to do it right in fact you could count to any finite number if you had enough time to do it right but if I ask you to count to infinity could you do that now you can't you can't count to infinity because when you accounted for ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and it seemed like you were just about ready to arrive there would be an infinity yet beyond right now think about that for just a moment notice what I put up here on the screen there could not have been an infinite number of days before today or we could have never arrived at today and just think that through I don't know exactly how many days and we can divide time up into any kind of you know nomenclature that we want here we can say days we can say years we can say moments we can say seconds we can say hours we can say decades it doesn't matter we're just we're gonna use days cuz it's easy I don't know how many days there were before today I don't know how many days it is back to the Big Bang but the point is this it sure seems like it couldn't have been an infinite number of days because if there had been an infinite number of days or of minutes or of seconds or of moments before today how could we have ever gotten to today if an actual infinity cannot be traversed how could we have arrived at today if there was an infinite number of days before today and the answer is we very likely couldn't have there seems to be no mathematical way that we could have traversed an actual infinity to have arrived at today but lo and behold here we are and so what we have is a sequence right today is you know whatever the day is say let's say it's the 20th and then the day before that would be the 19th and then the 18th and then the 17th and if we just keep working back there always would have been a yesterday they're always one about yesterday until you got to the first ever day and we couldn't have had an infinite number of days before that first every day or we could have never gotten to this day it's really quite fascinating so not only is there really good scientific reason to think that the universe had a beginning there's really good philosophical mathematical reason to understand that the universe in fact had a beginning this man here is a mathematician himself he's a professor his name is David Berlinski one of my favorite secular writers and he wrote in a really great book called the devil's delusion these words he says the universe has not proceeded from everlasting to the everlasting the cosmological beginning all the way back to that thing that is regard we call the Big Bang he says the cosmological beginning may be obscure but it is finite in time what he means by obscures we're not quite sure even physicists and cosmologists and they don't know if they're describing a theoretical concept they don't know if they're describing an actual thing in which all of the mass of the universe was shrunk down to something that's you know fractionally the size of the head of a pin did this actually happen or is it just a theoretical construct and so what Berlinski is saying here is we don't know exactly what it was but what we do know is that there was some event some what he calls cosmological beginning he continues this is something that until the twentieth century was not known until people like Penzias and others began to make discoveries that corroborated the finitude of the universe it's a man this is something that was not known until the 20th century when it became known it astonished the community of physicists and everyone else people are like what what do you mean the universe had a beginning and then Berlinski concludes with this awesome line simple line amazing line he says the hypothesis of God's existence and the facts of contemporary cosmology are consistent there is a consistency there there is not a hostility there is there they do not stand in contradiction this ancient mosaic idea that in the beginning God created the heavens in the earth some 3,000 years later after Moses wrote those words is actually being held up and buttress and confirmed by the findings of scientists who need all kinds of computers and gadget ritu arrive at these conclusions Berlinski says you know what nobody knew but what we now know is that the facts of contemporary cosmology and the the idea of a beginning of the universe in terms of God or the Bible or religion says there's a consistency there not a contradiction this is Robert Jastrow he is a late scientist he's passed away I think in 2008 scientists at NASA also an astronomer and this is one of my favorite favorite favorite quotations to this effect and I think you'll really like this jestro says for the scientist who has lived his life by faith in the power of reason the story ends like a bad dream the scientist has scaled the mountains of ignorance and he is about to conquer the highest peak as he pulls himself over the final rock he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries just as we're about ready to come to a scientific awareness of the nature of the universe and the the origin of the universe he's like man there's already a bunch of people there and they're holding Bibles as a bunch of theologians on the top of that mountain and so the idea of time that the universe and time itself had a beginning is one very persuasive it's one piece of the puzzle it's not all of it but it's one piece of the puzzle that strongly suggests that the idea that there is a God is not a fairytale idea it's not a ridiculous idea it's not an idea that has no defense ability a reason ability in fact it's consistent in the words of Berlinski with the facts of contemporary cosmology let's go now to our second word from time we move to the word life life alright let's talk about the nature of life and here's reason number two life comes from life comes from life comes from life comes from life you get the idea living things come from living things right what am i favourite things we don't say this in America I'm from America as you know probably can detect by my accent one of my favorite things that you Australians say is you will say that's that somebody fell pregnant we don't say that in America we say you got pregnant right I got pregnant or whatever but but I loved it I said I remember the first time I heard it I was like you you fell pregnant what does falling have to do with this right unless it's falling on a bed right it's like I fell pregnant I fell over and I woke up and I would say no no no okay listen the idea of falling pregnant is something that we all do it just it's just so routine it's so obvious that it hardly requires stating babies come from moms right life comes from living things right babies don't come from storks and even if they did storks are also alive right so it's this idea that storks storks excuse me babies come from living things or living things come from living things I'm getting my analogies mixed up here so John chapter one we go from the first book of the New Testament Genesis chapter one two now one of the Gospels one of the one of the first four books of the New Testament come from the Old Testament to the New Testament in the first four books of the New Testament Matthew Mark Luke and John we find ourself in the Gospel of John and we find these words which are absolutely reminiscent they echo what we were just reading moments ago in Genesis chapter 1 in the beginning God created the heavens in the earth notice this John chapter 1 verses 1 and 3 in the beginning was the word the Greek word here is the word log-off's we'll come back to that in just a second in the beginning was the word and through him just fascinating attributing personality to a word in the beginning was the word the logos and all things were made by him the word is a hymn the word is that he the word is a person now that word Lagos is an important word it's it's the it's the same it's the route that we get words like biology from so biology is two words BIOS which is life and logos the word about life or geology geo which is earth and lavas which is the word so geology is the word about the earth anthropology the word about meant the study of mankind paleontology the word about fossils right and so so the words Lagos is fascinating because here in John chapter 1 it says in the beginning was the word and the word wasn't an it the word was a he and to him the word was a person a living person life comes from life the man on the screen that you see there is a man by the name of Anthony Lu Anthony flu was arguably the world's foremost academic atheist until 2007 he died not many years after that in 2010 but he was a published and vociferous and absolutely adamant academic atheist taught at many of the most premier universities in England right Anthony flu and a fascinating thing happened it was a scandal that took place in the philosophical community of England in 2005 and six and seven when flu actually changed his mind he came out he said you know what I've been looking at the evidence I've been reconsidering my former position and I mentioned a moment ago that academics don't like to change their perspective when they've stated something and they put it in writing and it's been peer reviewed and they're on record they only very reluctantly yield to the evidence like all of us by the way academics are no different from from us in that regard right we if we've really put our foot down we don't like to back off we don't like to be wrong it's not easy to say I was wrong and it's really not easy to say if you've dedicated your academic life and career to the promulgation of the idea in part that there is no God most of flu studies were in the philosophy of religion and he regarded the belief in the existence of God is a kind of absurdity and he packed published academic papers about it he was kind of the Richard Dawkins of his day if you know who Richard Dawkins is Dawkins is one of the four most popular atheists of the day and yet in 2007 this book was published there is a God how the world's most notorious atheist changed his mind which raises the question how do you get an intellectual academic committed atheist to change his mind from a position that he has held for decades to a new position well let's ask him you can read the book the book is fascinating by the way but let me just give you part of what's in the book Flu said this what I think the DNA right DNA the deoxyribonucleic acid molecule he says what I think the DNA material has done is shown that watch this now that intelligence must have been involved in getting all these extraordinary diverse elements together the enormous complexity by which the results were achieved looked to me like the work of what's that word intelligence it's fascinating he says something about DNA now I'm sure that you know I don't know how long ago it was that you were in a class where you had to study DNA and the nucleotides and an RNA and and all of this I don't know how long ago that was for you but you almost certainly remember that that the thing that most of us recall about DNA is that it's kind of this like spiral staircase right it's like a spiral staircase with these nucleotide stairs that go across between two strands the fascinating thing about DNA though is not its chassis it's not its structure what what made DNA so amazing and what flu is saying here is it wasn't the double helix structure that caused me to reconsider my perspective it was that that structure contained a code contained to what where did I say everyone that structure contained a code there was a language in there there was there was data in there there was there was information in there now watch this Francis Crick who was one of the code discoverers of the DNA molecule right with James Watson in like 1962 one of the CODIS covers of the DNA molecule notice what he himself said I mean after this discovery was found because because people knew right people knew well before 1962 that I say all you're a chip off the old block you look just like your mother you look just like your father oh you you look just like your granddad as a baby people understood what's called heritability they knew that you could look like your mama you could look like your daddy you could look like your granddad but the mechanism of heritability was not known everybody knew information was being passed on but how is that information being passed on and where does the information come from right and the discovery of DNA was hey this is the chassis this is the black box that holds the code holds the language and so notice what Crick says Crick who again was one of the co discovers he received the Nobel Prize in 1962 for this discovery notice what he says an honest man or woman armed with all of the knowledge available to us could only state that in some sense the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a what's that word it's a miracle he's like an honest person looking at the data that we now have would have to say it looks basically miraculous he continues so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going to get what going to get life going to get this whole thing babies coming from mothers to get that whole process going right in its you know very early early unicellular state but you just fast-forward you fast-forward the tape and we say well where do babies come from babies come from moms okay true enough and it's something that is so obvious that it scarcely needs stating but the point is is that where did this get started where to dn8 what did the information come from what are the data come from and Crick's like look straight up and honest guy who by the way himself was a was an atheist not a believer not a follower of God not somebody that you know was a a Bible believer of any stripe he later would actually propose a fascinating theory that came to be called directed panspermia directed panspermia now that sounds really fancy it sounds really kind of almost persuasive when you say it that way directed well directed means that it was purposeful that it was that it was done with intentionality directed panspermia root words sperm from the word seed and basically it's the idea I know it's gonna sound crazy but the idea is is that the DNA molecule was placed on space ships by aliens long ways away a long time ago and they launched these spaceships out just into the universe and luckily for us one of those spaceships with the DNA molecule landed on our planet I'm telling you and if you have to actually admire the intellectual honesty here because they if you were walking through the woods and you saw an iPhone right if you saw a knife you would immediately into it even if you were back in you know the 1800s the 1900s you would look at he would say this is the work of intelligence this that you would you would understand that you were looking at something that that contains information and that required intelligence to make right and so when when flew and when Crick and when other molecular biologists and scientists saw DNA they scratched their head and they said some intelligent source created this now flu said I think it's a designer I think it's some sort of a deity some sort of a God Crick said I think it's some sort of alien intelligence but the point is I mean there could be no greater alien intelligence than God himself right God is alien to the world of course he became one of us we'll talk about that later but the idea that it was some extraterrestrial which just means not from this earth intelligence is actually totally consistent with what scripture says when it says in the beginning was the word and through him all things were made there was an intelligent source a super intelligent source not from this planet that caused DNA to come here and to replicate I agree I agree now the fascinating thing is that flu and Crick talked about conditions the conditions being just right for the promulgation of DNA and the biological realm that the problem is is it's not just about conditions it's about information it's about what word every one information is crucial and listen to me very carefully here the only known source of information is intelligence information comes from intelligent sources right go back to the iPhone or to a computer we just mentioned this a moment ago and iPhone is has really made up of two parts it has its chassis or it sits outside the screen and the metal and the silicon that's that's what it's made of right but an iPhone without computer programming without without an operating system is basically useless without a computer without an operating system is essentially useless in fact there's actually a term for this in the computer programming world and it's GI geo and you ever heard that term before GI geo it stands for garbage in garbage and what it means is if you're a garbage programmer and you put garbage programs or garbage apps and then you you you write a bad program with bad code and you you put it into the chassis whether it's an iPad or an iPhone or a computer you're not going to get a really great usable interface out if you have bad programming in you'll have bad user experience on the way out because we understand that in order to get information out of that chassis you have to have an intelligent source that put it in and when Crick and Watson discovered DNA they're like men there's language there there's information there take for example the word cow now you and I english-speaking people English reading people we look up at that and and that transaction happened so quickly in your mind you go from seeing a series of symbols in this case three symbols in in sequence you go from seeing that you instantaneously get the picture in your head it happens in nanoseconds right in fact it happened so naturally so easily and so seamlessly that it's not even possible for you to look at that word and not read it once you have the ability to read you can't not read right it's very difficult to read now if I put this word up you probably you can read it you can sound it out but you don't know probably what that word is well that is the same word that we just had a moment ago but in Indonesian right so you have the word cow and that that see that oh that W are symbols that point to an actual beast an animal that lives in you know the the pasture and and Moo's right but but of course that were there soppy the Indonesian word that's not that's not a cow itself it's a symbol but you and I understand that we have put information we have put data into those symbols you were told as a little boy that's a cow cows go Moo you were told to the little girl that's a horse horses whinny that's a dog dogs bark that's a cat cats me up you all that that symbol and then you later learned ku and duh and AH and good you learned these sounds and now you just so easily so seamlessly transition from symbols to realities just it's easy breezy right but in information has been put into those symbols for example for some of you probably for many of you in this room these symbols make sense you would look at that and you would say yeah I know what that is that's a treble clef that's an eighth note and that's an A right but some of you who can't read music you would you would you know you know that it means something you can tell it was put there with intentionality and with purpose but you don't know because you don't read the code you don't read the data what Creek and what Watson discovered was was like this it was like the words appear like the word Kell or how about this one not just music but this right now this means something it might not mean something to anyone in this room can anyone in here read this this is the Chinese character for the word life life John chapter 1 verse 4 says in him was life now watch this several references here John chapter 14 verse 6 Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life Jesus speaking to a woman named Martha just before the resurrection of her brother Lazarus said I am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me though he may die yet he shall live I am the life I contained the life the Lovaas the word the data the information the code Anthony flew said man there's there's there's data in DNA and he changed his mind after decades of committed intellectual academic atheism he said somebody has put a fly in the ointment somebody has put some data into this thing we found a biological iPhone with an operating system that works really really well it didn't just happen said flu in fact credits of flu he was a true evidential esteemeth somebody that said I will follow the conclusion wherever the evidence leads a lot of people are not evidential Astaire idealists and they are not just idealist they're they're they're so committed to their ideology that they don't care what the evidence says they'll remain committed to their ideology so credits of flu who even after decades of of professional and academic commitment to atheism said you know what I was wrong the evidence now strongly suggests that there is data there there is information there the Bible says that information came from God himself from the word from the law goes in the beginning was the word through him all things were made and so not only did the universe and time itself had a beginning but life had a beginning and that beginning was alive because God is eternally existent he is eternally alive so living things come from living things come from living things come from living things now the word mind this is probably my personal favorite of all the five reasons I'm going to give you tonight reason number three the best explanation of minds is a mind capital M mind the mind of God now let's just talk here briefly about what the brain is because we know that the brain and the mind are are interconnected in such a wonderful and mysterious way no one denies that the mind and the brain are integrally interrelated and interconnected they are not they don't appear to be simultaneous but they are related and so let's just talk briefly about the complexity of the brain the human brain is made up of approximately 100 to 200 billion neurons every one of those neurons has an average of seven thousand connections neuronal or dendritic connections that means that there are then more potential neuronal pathways and connections than there are electrons in the universe I'm going to say that again there are more potential pathways in your brain than there are electrons in the universe we're told the number of electrons in the universe astrophysicist tell us that there are approximately 10 to the 80 first power that's a 10 with 81 zeros behind it that's the number of electrons in the universe the number of potential connections in the average human brain is 10 to the 120 fifth power which is number that is magnificently larger exponentially larger than 10 to the 81 it's astonishing in fact the human brain is by far the most complex thing that we know of in the universe nothing else even comes close the human brain is just astronomically literally astronomically complex but it's not just that the brain is complex it's that the brain in some weird wonderful wooly way gives rise to what we call the mind and the mind is your identity it's your personhood it's your character it's your desires it's your volition it's your who you perceive yourself to be you don't perceive yourself to be a brain located in your skull you perceive yourself to be a person with dreams and hopes and fears and ambitions and all of that Einstein famously said regarding the nature of the universe and of the human minds ability to apprehend the universe nature he famously said look the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible he had several quotes to this effect here's another one the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility the fact that it is comprehensible is notices where it shows up here again it's a miracle no no no no no what is Einstein mean that the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is its comprehensibility it's this it's not just that the universe is amazing it's not just the DNA whether we go macro and we look at the Astrophysical side or we go micro and we look at the DNA side it's not just that the external world is amazing and fine-tuned and wonderful and symmetrical and awesome it's not just that what Einstein is saying it's not just that the world is amazing it's that we know it's amazing well how do we know it's amazing because we have an organ in our bodies that is sufficiently complex to apprehend that the universe is amazing think of it this way if the highest form of evolved life on earth was an earthworm the universe would still be as amazing as it is Earth would still be as amazing as it is sunsets would still be as beautiful as they are waterfalls would still be as awesome as they are and DNA would still contain all of the language that we just talked about a moment ago and earthworms would be none the wiser right even if you are more advanced and we'll talk about this evolutionary idea in a few nights even if you were as advanced to say a horse which is considerably more advanced not biologically and neurologically than an earthworm but horses are not aware of the tremendous glory and beauty that we see no offense to horse lovers out there by the way see what Einstein is saying here is it's not just that the universe is amazing it's that we know it's amazing which means we must have the tools to apprehend the universe and its amazingness and its fundamental nature the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is its comprehensibility and Einstein wasn't the only theoretical physicist to note this this man here dr. Eugene Wigner who won the Nobel Prize who's the theoretical physicist who I believe won a Nobel Prize as well he in some some time in the 1960s in physics notice what he said in a very popular essay titled on the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics Vigna writes the enormous usefulness of mathematics is something bordering on the mysterious there is no rational explanation for it the nature of math and the fact that the language that we formulate captures the laws of physics and allows us to build iPhones build bridges put people on the moon and to build Internet you know international telecommunications networks he's saying math is telling us something about the world our ability to apprehend linguistically math and physics he's like man it's a it's it's a mystery there is no rational explanation for but look at what he says here next the miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve he's making einstein's point it's not just that the universe is amazing it's that we know it's amazing that we have the tools the the intellectual tools the physical tools the mathematical tools to assess the universe around us he says men it absolutely a miracle not just that we have a brain but that we have a mind dr. Owen Gingerich who is himself also and he's not an astrophysicist he's an astronomer he was senior astronomer emeritus at Harvard University also at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory but the guy he wrote an amazing book called God's God's universe is amazing these are very intelligent people right so again this isn't a it's not an intellectual standoff who is the smarter person and what do they believe it's simply the idea that there are very good reasons to believe that there is in fact a God invisible though he be look at what Gingrich says I am personally persuaded that a super intelligent creator exists beyond and within the cosmos and that the rich context of Congeniality shown by our universe permitting and encouraging the existence of self conscious life that's the key it's a part of the creator's design and purpose he said it's not just that the universe is amazing it's that it's that this is the kind of universe that gives rise to life that then becomes aware that this is an amazing universe Einstein says that's amazing vintner says it's a gift that we neither understand nor deserve and Gingrich goes that one step further and he says like Antony fluted when he looked at the biological realm when he looked at DNA Gingrich looks at the Stars and says you know what I think it is I think it's a super intelligent creator again senior professor emeritus at Harvard and of the Astro astronomical observatory at the Smithsonian not a stupid person somebody who says I think I think it's God I think God's out there I think God wired the universe both in the macro and in the Micro for us to find his fingerprints and his footprints if we would but look for them it's not just that the universe is astonishing beautiful and unlikely it's that we know it's astonishing beautiful and highly unlikely the psalmist tapped into this long before the Hubble telescope was invented long before we knew the things that Vigna and Einstein and Gingrich knew the psalmist wrote in Psalm 8 verses 3 & 4 when I consider when I think when I catch it 8 when I reflect when I ruminate when I think about what what is it that you're thinking about mr. psalmist when I consider your heavens the starry skies the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have set in place all I can think is what is mankind that you are mindful of him and human beings that you care for them absolutely amazing that the universe is just beautiful its vast its exceedingly unlikely and yet here we are aware that the universe is vast and beautiful and exceedingly unlikely our fourth reason to believe that there is a god is odd and odd is very much like the word should it implies there's a moral wait there's a moral thrust there's a you ought to you ought not and so reason number four there are actual universal Ott's and ought not or shoulds and should not you should do this and you should not do this Fyodor Dostoyevsky in his well-known famous novel regarded by many as the greatest novel ever written The Brothers Karamazov said in that novel if God does not exist everything is permitted if there is no God if there is no transcendent anchor for morality then you can do whatever you want and who is to suggest otherwise who's to tell you that you're wrong and yet here comes Scripture and scripture says very plainly and very powerfully that the invitation to holiness has a reason the invitation to righteousness has a reason the invitation to selflessness has a reason and what is that reason Leviticus chapter 11 verse 45 God says therefore be holy why because I am holy there is the moral impetus there is the moral gravitas also in Leviticus 11 love your neighbor as yourself because I said so I made you that way I created you that way there's a moral imperative here to put it very simply there's a way you ought to act and there's a way you ought not to act Jesus was questioned about this what is the Great Commandment and he himself said in Matthew chapter 22 love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind this is the first and greatest commandment the second he said is very similar to it love your neighbor as yourself all the law and the prophets all the scripture hang on these two ideas that there are us and there are ought nots you ought to behave like this and you ought not to behave like this in fact scripture goes even a little further than behave scripture says you ought to think like this and you ought not to think like this there's moral parameters and boundaries even within our own private mental life scripture says so CS Lewis in his book Mere Christianity this was a book that was absolutely transformative in my intellectual journey my journey to becoming a follower of Jesus reading this book of my early 20s and getting to chapter 3 where Lewis describes the idea of a moral law of a should of a nought and he says this the first thing to get clear about Christian morality is that in this department Christ did not come to teach any brand new morality so that's the first thing you got to get in your mind Jesus didn't come to teach some new concept or some brand new idea no no no no the golden rule of the new desk New Testament do as you would be done by do unto others as you would have them do to yourself notice what he says is a summing up of what everyone at bottom had always known to be right what Lewis is saying here and an obscure if time allowed I could show you that scripture says everyone has an intuitive internal incorrigible sense in which we know there is a way we ought to behave in a way we ought not to behave and when we behave in ways that we are not we are racked quite without somebody telling us that we've done wrong we are racked with shame and guilt and a sense of our having violated the world around us or the person around as we know it we don't have to be told he says Lewis says everybody at bottom knows but there is of course a crucial difference between what actually is in the world and what ought to be we all know this not many days ago what was the man's name Brenton Tarrant a 28-year old man that was born not far from here in Grafton decided to walk in to two mosques in Christchurch and shoot people many many many people killing 50 individuals I think all of us in this room and I strongly suspect that 99.999% of us outside of this room would say something like this we would be very comfortable with this moral standard we would say he ought not to have done that he should not have done that there is of course that that clip there that maybe you have seen where just as as Brenton is walking up to the mosque he is greeted and he's greeted with the word brother welcome brother the last word that that man spoke before he was gunned down was brother and and to add insult to injury to twist the knife to throw salt and lemon juice into the wound not only did he do this horrific terrible morally insensible demonic act he live-streamed it so that others could see this is the world we live in and yet I imagine that all of you would be very comfortable saying and I imagine the vast majority of people in the world to be very comfortable saying he should not have done that that wasn't just a preferential issue like super salad pizza or pasta pizza or pasta blue or green no no that was wrong he ought not to have done that and Lewis says we all know that there's a way that things are there's a way that things that there's a way that the thing is and then there's the way that it ought to be what is is that 50 people were left dead in that mosque shot down by a white a right-wing radical but that that's what is but that's not what should have been there's a naught there should there's a moral imperative I love the way that Lewis puts this also a mere Christianity the moral law tells us the tune we have to play our instincts are merely the keys there is a tune that we should be playing and God's moral tune is really simple he set us to love the Lord you gotta throw your heart mind and soul and the second is very similar it's a very similar tune it's to love your neighbor as yourself which brings us to our fifth and final reason to believe that God exists not just time not just life not just mine not just aught but love let's just bend a moment thinking about the nature of love reason number five God's love can be known personally and it can be known certainly I want to say that again God's love can be known personally and God's love can be known certainly first John chapter four verse eight contains three of the most important words in all of literature in all of language whoever does not love does not know God because God is love God is love we're going to talk about that in one of our next sessions five good reasons to believe that God is good we'll get into that but this three word phrase here that God is something about the very the very the very essence the very fiber the very fabric the very makeup of God whatever that means is love not merely just that he's loving which would be an adjective describing a behavior but that he is love and noun describing his essential essence Psalm 34 verse 8 says o taste and see that the Lord is good it could have just as easily said o taste and see that the gelato is amazing hey you go to the gelato store the gelatin mo right you go there you go to the ice cream store and you look through the glass and you think man that one looks really good and that one looks really good and that one looks really good and you get your tasting spoons right and you you taste it up right you have the experience and then this is key this is key this is key after you have eaten the what's your favorite whatever your favorite flavors after you've eaten the chocolate mint whatever it might be then you know that it's good I one time had wasabi gelato and after I had it I knew I'm glad you like that Emmanuel after I have the wasabi gelato I knew it was not good it sounded bad and it was bad but the but the others sounded good and they were good John chapter 14 verse 23 jesus answered and said to him if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and we will make our home with him just listen to that we will come into your life we will come into your heart we will come into your family we will come into your home and we will live with you in such a way that you will know where there will be guests in your house and guests in your heart will be guests in your family the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans said you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear you receive the spirit of adoption there is a spirit that was given to you and that that spirit says Abba Father it says dad when God sends his spirit into your life it says you're my son you're my daughter the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God when God sends his spirit into your life the Spirit says to you and through you that God is your father and he loves you he wants a place not only in your home he wants a place in your heart and I want to tell you here today God's existence is not just something that the molecular biologist and the theoretical physicists of the world can come to know by looking at the fingerprints and footprints of God in the external world you can come to know God's amazing love even if you never graduated from high school because you can know God's love experientially you can know God's love personally and you can know God's love certainly I want to tell you here tonight you are dearly loved and you are a child of God and you can know it not merely believe it I believed when I was looking through the glass that those ice cream flavors were tasty but when I tasted them I now knew I had first-hand experience all personal evidence and you can know by asking God into your life and when God comes into your life he does this amazing transformative thing he does it as a gentleman because he only comes when asked he only comes when invited but you can know the love of God and we'll talk more about this and we look at five good reasons to believe that God is good time-life mind ought love are five good reasons to believe that God exists and the invitation that I give to you is to just as the psalmist said taste and see that the Lord he is good taste and see that God is good you can know experientially personally and certainly that you are God's daughter that you are God's Son and he is your father these are five good reasons to believe that God exists let's pray together father in heaven tonight we have spent just a little time surveying some of the evidences for your goodness your existence and your amazing power and love father I pray that this has piqued the interest of the listeners not only here but those that are watching and they will say you know what that's something I want to look into and not just look into it intellectually not just look into it from an evidentiary standpoint from a reasoning standpoint father I pray that they would look into it by inviting you into their heart father there are good reasons to believe you exist your fingerprints and your footprints are all over father this is going to be a great series we pray that our minds would be attentive and sharp that you'll be with me as I present and with all of the listeners as they listen in as you give the invitation to come let us reason together this is our prayer in Jesus name let everyone say amen [Music] you

Channel: Kingscliff Church

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Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 16 2020