Word of Salvation – Vol.29 No.04 – January 1984

 

How Can God Be Know?  [Rom.01:20-21]

 

Sermon by Rev. Stephen Voorwinde, v.d.m. on Belgic Conf. Art.2 & Romans 1:20,21

Scriptures: Psalm 19; Romans 1:16-25

Suggested Hymns: 51, 28 or 30, 286, 374 or Book of Worship Hymn 11

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

I wonder if you have ever tried to prove the existence of God.  Perhaps a workmate or a fellow-student or a neighbour has challenged you: “How do you know God exists?  You can’t see Him; you can’t touch Him; you can’t feel Him.  How can you prove to me that God exists?”

And so you rose to the challenge and in one way or another you tried to prove the existence of God.  I wonder if you’ve ever done that.  I certainly know I have.  There have been times when I’ve tried to come up with all kinds of arguments and reasons for the existence of God, and most of you have probably tried to do the same.  But do you know what the Bible says: “You don’t have to; you don’t have to try to prove the existence of God.”  Where in the Bible do you ever find a list of proofs for the existence of God?  Where do you find a set of logical arguments to the effect that God exists?  You find nothing of the kind.  In fact you find something entirely different.  In our text Paul is speaking about heathens, about the Gentiles, and in verse 20 he uses four very significant words: “although they knew God….!”

The Bible does not try to prove that God exists, but rather it makes the claim that Gentiles and heathens know that God exists; we don’t have to waste our time proving to them what they already know.  The Bible clearly states that they know God.  And how do they know God?  Verses 19 & 20 give a clear answer: “Because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.  Therefore they are without excuse…..!”

All that the unbeliever has to do is to look around him, at creation the mountains, the rivers and the stars – and he will know who God is.  He will see His eternal power and deity.  Wherever you look the creation speaks of its Creator.

Just over 5 years ago, on our way to Australia, Nancy and I took a car trip across the United States.  And one area that we really looked forward to seeing was California’s Redwood Forest just north of San Francisco.  A couple of days before we arrived there we met a lady who told us that driving through the Redwoods would be “a truly spiritual experience.”  We thought we would wait and see.  When we arrived at the Forest we learned that some of these trees were the oldest living things in the world – up to 5,000 years old.  Many of them were almost 100 metres tall and had trunks that were wide enough for an American family car to go through.  And as we drove mile upon mile through this forest of giants, it was indeed “a truly spiritual experience.”  And what we felt that day had already been beautifully expressed by Joseph B.  Strauss, the builder of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.  He put it in a poem simply called, “The Redwoods”:

“Here sown by the Creator’s hand,
In serried ranks, the Redwoods stand;
No other clime is honoured so,
No other lands their glory know.

 The greatest of Earth’s living forms,
Tall conquerors that laugh at storms;
Their challenge still unanswered rings,
Through fifty centuries of kings.

 The nations that with them were young,
Rich empires, with their forts far-flung,
Lie buried now – their splendour gone;
But these proud monarchs still live on.

 So shall they live, when ends our day,
When our crude citadels decay;
For brief the years allotted man,
But infinite perennial’s span.

This is their temple, vaulted high,
And here we pause with reverent eye,
With silent tongue and awe-struck soul;
For here we sense life’s proper goal.

 To be like these, straight, true and fine,
To make our world, like theirs, a shrine;
Sink down, oh, traveller, on your knees,
God stands before you in these trees.”

As Paul would say: “Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature… has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.”  Again the Belgic Confession puts it so beautifully when it answers the question: How is God made known to us?  “First, by the creation, preservation and government of the universe; which is before our eyes as a most elegant book, wherein all creatures, great and small, are as so many characters leading us to see clearly the invisible things of God….!” In other words, nature is an open book about God which is there for all to read.

All of creation speaks so eloquently about God; we can never match it with our most logical arguments or best proofs that He exists.  All of this is quite unnecessary.  We can safely assume that people know God exists, and the Bible urges us to make this bold assumption: “Although they knew God…!”  Don’t try to prove that God exists, just simply assume that people already know Him.

The world and the universe is God’s creative masterpiece.  Now if you look at a painting by Rembrandt or a piece of sculpture by Leonardo da Vinci, then you already know something about these artists.  Just by looking at their work you can tell that they were skilful, patient, sensitive people.  The masterpiece tells us a lot about the artist.  And so creation speaks volumes about God, the greatest artist and craftsman of them all.  As David said in Psalm 19:

“The heavens are telling the glory of God;
And the firmament proclaims His handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night declares knowledge.”

And the Bible tells us that everyone has got the message and no one has missed the point – they all know God.

John Calvin said that the knowledge of God is as it were “ingrained in our bones.”  To know God is part and parcel of being human.

When we are talking to unbelievers, when we’re doing evangelism, we don’t have to tell them that and we don’t have to argue about it, we can just assume it.

I was once listening to a veteran Presbyterian missionary speaking about his work in Korea.  One day when he was doing some open air preaching he was interrupted by a man who claimed that he didn’t believe in God.  So the missionary answered: “Now supposing God did exist, would He be eternal?”

“Yes”.

“Would He be all powerful?”  “I would say so.”

“Would He be everywhere?”

“Yes, I think so.”

So here was a man who said he didn’t believe in God and yet he knew who God was.

I once had a friend who had been with the Navigators in Canada and this group did a lot of evangelistic work.  And one day this chap came across an older man who said he didn’t think the Bible was God’s Word.  So my friend said: “Well, for the purpose of our discussion let’s assume that the Bible is God’s Word..!”  And as the discussion progressed the man became more and more interested in what the Bible had to say.

Back in 1972, I had the opportunity to visit the city of Moscow for just one day.  Of course, it was a very interesting experience.  On our bus tour around the city our Russian guide told us which of the old churches were still active and which were museums.  And then when we came to Moscow University there was a small church adjacent to the campus.  And to my surprise the tour guide said: “This is an active church and a lot of students go there, especially before exam time.”

So here was the very centre of communist, atheist learning in the Soviet Union and yet before exams, students went to chapel.  Paul would say: “They knew God.”

Whatever a man may say and however loudly he may protest, deep down in his heart he knows God and he needs God.  Have you ever heard of any group of people or tribe that has no worship and no religion?  I haven’t.  What Paul wrote in Romans 1 is so very true: “They knew God… For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.”  You don’t have to prove to people what they already know.

When I was a teenager I had a friend who called himself an atheist and we often had long discussions.  At the age of 18 he had to undergo an operation, and a few days before that operation he said to me:

“Steve, I don’t want you to get any wrong ideas, I’m not a believer, but I would like you to pray for me.  He said he was an atheist, and yet he needed God and he knew God.  But this of course brings us to the obvious question: “If everybody knows God, if it’s all so plain to them, then why aren’t all people believers?  Why doesn’t everybody go to church?  What’s the problem?”  Well, our text tells us what went wrong.  As we read on in verse 20: “For although they knew God they did not honour Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened.”

So that’s the problem: They knew God but they didn’t honour Him as God.
Verse 18: “By their wickedness they suppress the truth.”
(They hold it down deliberately.)
Verse 23: “They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images.”
Verse 25: “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie
and worshipped and served the creature.”

All of this was the result when sin entered the world.  Sin has warped and twisted and perverted man’s knowledge of God.  When sin came in, two things happened:
(i) God’s creation was marred.
(ii) Man’s vision was blurred.

When Adam was in the garden he was like a man with perfect 20-20 vision looking at a masterpiece by Rembrandt or Michelangelo.  The masterpiece is without a flaw and as the viewer admires it and as he examines it he comes to appreciate and know its maker.  That was Adam – the world was an unspoiled work of art and through it he could enjoy a true understanding of God.

But things are different now.  A tragedy has occurred.  The masterpiece has been damaged, the sculpture by Michelangelo has been mutilated, the painting by Rembrandt has been defaced.  And at the same time the viewer’s vision became blurry and dim.  He can no longer appreciate the work of art for what it was meant to be; and now he can only get to know the artist in a very vague way.

And so it is with fallen man.  God’s creation is no longer what it was supposed to be – now there are thorns and thistles and earthquakes and natural disasters.  The masterpiece has been spoiled, and at the same time man’s vision is dimmed.  He is almost blind and he cannot appreciate the beauty that still is there.  And so his knowledge of the Creator has become vague and warped and misleading.

But in spite of the tragedy that has occurred, God, the great Creator-Artist, still wants to be known.  God’s work of art has been spoiled and man’s vision has dimmed, so God does two things:

(i) He writes an autobiography.
You may know a little about Rembrandt through his painting, but you will know a lot more about him through a book about his life.  And so it is with God.  The creation may tell us about His power and His glory and His eternity, but only in the Bible do we discover His holiness, His compassion and His mercy.  And so we read in the Belgic Confession that, “God makes Himself more clearly and fully known to us by His holy and divine Word.”  Through nature we know God in general terms, whereas in the Bible we come to know Him in a very special way.

The Bible is God’s autobiography and it is a love story from beginning to end.  It comes to a climax at the cross where He gave us His Son and at the resurrection where the new creation is begun.  When Jesus rose from the dead it was the beginning of a new creation, the guarantee of a new heaven and a new earth that would never be spoiled or marred or damaged, and where our knowledge of God will be perfect.

(ii)  But even though we have this beautiful autobiography we still have a problem – we can’t read it because of our poor vision.  Through sin our spiritual eyes have become darkened.  Sin is like a veil covering our eyes and we can’t read.  But now listen to what the Bible says, “But when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed, now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2Cor.3:16,17).

So what a wonderful promise this is.  When we come to the Lord then the Holy Spirit restores our spiritual eyesight and we have the freedom to see things the way they are.  The Holy Spirit has opened our eyes and now we see:

We can read God’s autobiography which is the Bible.

We can appreciate His masterpiece which is creation.

And now we know God, not in some vague, unreliable way, but as our Creator and our Redeemer.

Have you come to the Lord?  Has the Holy Spirit opened your eyes?  Then you can see creation for what it really is:

“This is my Father’s world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres….

 This is my Father’s world;
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King, let the heavens ring!
God reigns: let the earth be glad.”

The God and Creator of all – I know Him and He’s my Father.  Hallelujah!

Amen