Seven Proofs of God #2

Designer—Life

Fred R. Coulter—August 4, 2012

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Let me just for the record—I know I've mentioned this before, but when you're testing something to find out how old it is, like a bone that you find in the ground, the longer that it has been there, there has been more of a transfer of minerals from the ground into the bone. Then the bone becomes older when it really isn't. The ultimate of that is a petrified tree. So, they test how this petrified tree is and it's 'millions of years old.' May or may not be.

There was a man who wanted to have them test out exactly how accurate that this testing procedure is. He got a slug out of his garden and he killed it. He took it down to the testing laboratory and they tested it. Guess how old it was by testing? 400 years and he just killed it!

Why would it test out 400 years old? Maybe it was eating some things out of the ground that made it appear to be that old! So, the moral of the story is, you can never know how old a fossil is. When they find them living so many thousands or millions of years ago, that's not so. That is something we need to keep in mind because what they need with evolution is billions and billions of years so that they can have everything come together.

Remember the cyclotron that I mentioned last time. Here is a report on what they have done with it. This has to do with the Higgs particle. What is the Higgs particle? The Higgs particle is named after a man named Higgs where in this cyclotron, this big one in Switzerland, that they finally have identified something that they didn't know before so they called it the Higgs particle.

This was sent to me from Radio Liberty. They send me some things. Here's what they say about the Higgs particle:

...everything we see could have emerged as a purposeless quantum burp in space or perhaps a quantum burp of space itself. Humans, with their remarkable tools and their remarkable brains, may have just taken a giant step toward replacing metaphysical speculation with empirically verifiable knowledge.

In other words, you have taken a great step forward to try and prove something as fact.

The Higgs particle is now arguably more relevant than God.

So here's what they say about it.

This is now the so-called 'God particle,' and it's driven by the ideological desire to destroy every concept of a Creator.
Did you watch any of the news on the Chick-fil-A backlash? Did you see the hatred? Bring up the Bible and almost in a demoniacal rage right on television.

On July 4 European scientists attached to the center for nuclear research [CERN] in Switzerland. They announced jubilantly and it all appears quite prematurely. The experiments of the Large Hadron Collider had finally yielded compelling evidence to confirm the existence of this elusive sub-atomic particle, which supposedly is responsible for the existence of mass in the universe. This would give comfort to the souls or to the approximate equivalent of atheists and other dogmatic non-believers by identifying a suitable impersonal element as the ground of all things that all be.

What they are saying here is, because it gets back to this, apparently the universe was created out of nothing, just as Christian theologians have long maintained, but that this act of self-creation out of nothing was actually carried out by nothing and nobody had a purposeful quantum burp in space or perhaps a quantum burp of space itself.

God is going to make fools of every one of them!

Let's come to Psalm 2. Let's see how God looks upon all these efforts of men, all their studies, everything they are doing. Let's see how God reacts. They want to cut off all connection with God, yet they depend on God. They have to breathe, they have to eat, they have to drink water and they depend on the law of gravity to hold them here.

Here's how God looks on things down on the earth, Psalm 2:1: "Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Christ…" (vs 1-2). That's more than just rebelling against God. That is in every avenue of man's endeavor.

One of the most rebellious aspects of man's way of doing things is the theory of evolution and rejecting God. Here's what they want to do, just like Aldus Huxley said, 'The reason that we created a purposeless universe is because we didn't want it to have any meaning. The reason that we did this was because we wanted to have sexual freedom above all against all the prejudices of religion.' That's why they have come up with this thing.

But here's what they want to do, v 3: "Let us break Their banks asunder and cast away Their cords from us." Let's get rid of God entirely so He has no control, He has no say so. We're going to create a world society that is strictly based upon men.' But there's one little caveat they forget—there's also Satan the devil. They are going to end up worshiping him.

So here's how God looks at it, v 4: "He who sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD scoffs at them. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and in His fury He terrifies them" (vs 4-5). That's going to happen when He returns.

Let's talk about the seven proofs of God, which are:

• Creator—creation demands a Creator
• Design—order demands a Designer
• Life—can only come life. It has never come from anything that is considered dead matter
• Sustainer—to make it all go
• Lawgiver—because there are laws that regulate everything in the universe, everything on the earth
• Fulfilled prophecy
• Answered prayer

Let's look at the Designer. Let's talk about our Maker who fashioned us; so we have design and fashion. In Genesis 2 we find the revelation of God, how He made Adam as well as Eve. We're made in the image of God, after His likeness.

Here we have the details of how God made man. Genesis 2:7: "Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground... [We're all the dust of the earth. Every essential thing you need to make your body run comes out of the earth.] ...and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life... [That's when He gave the spirit of man.] ...and man became a living being."

We also see that God put into Adam a language so he could speak, so they could have communication. What we find with this then, God made Adam, then He made Eve. We're not going to go into the reasons for their rebellion or anything like that, but let's carry this forward and see from that time forward all human beings came into existence through procreation. This is why Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all human beings.

Let's come to the book of Job. This is quite an interesting book; it is a difficult book to understand. This is the same for all life that God has created because God made everything to reproduce after its kind. They've run all kinds of experiments to try and see if they can crossbreed or cross-geneticize even now and they have been successful in injecting genes from two mothers. Now there are human beings that have been born which have two mothers, one father.
I don't know if that's going to prove to be the ultimate split personality—who knows? That's what they are doing. I'll have to bring some more on transhumanism because they don't want God who says, 'Look, if you love Me and keep My commandments I'll give you eternal life.' No, God, we don't want that. We're going to figure it out ourselves. They can never get around this.

Job 32:8: "But there is a spirit in man... [there's a spiritual element to man called the spirit of man] ...and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding."

Job 33:4: "The Spirit of God has made me... [For life to be created in the womb it takes the Spirit of God, which means that the Spirit of God created within the genetic makeup and causing conception to occur, subsequently growth, subsequently birth. God is the One Who has done it.] ...and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."

Isn't that interesting. Stop and think about that. Every breath you breathe comes from God—right? The breath of the Almighty gives me life! The thing is, no one can improve upon God because God is eternal. God is Lifegiver; God is Lawgiver and all of the things that we talked about here. His creation is perfect. Even the creation of man in the flesh for the purpose that God has created us—even with our shortcomings—is perfect. Not unto eternal life, but unto physical life as long as we live.

So, Elihu is answering Job and he says to him—he's pretty powerful with Job—he says, v 5: "If you can, answer me; set yourself in order before me, stand up. Behold, I am according to your wish in God's stead; I also am formed out of the clay" (vs 5-6). Think about that! Stop and think about all the genes and chromosomes beginning with Adam and Eve. Every time there's a conception it is a repeat of what God put in Adam and Eve—correct? Yes, indeed! In a sense you're formed out of clay though the conception took place in your mother's body and you were subsequently born.

I find that really quite a profound thing when you think about it. That is how God is creating human life. They have never, never been able to really do better than God. They think they're going to. With this transhumanism they're going to want to do it. I'll bring some more things concerning transhumanism and the mark of the beast and inserting chips, and things like this because there's more information and more knowledge and more up-to-date technology coming down.

But here is how God does this. This is really important because God has given everyone free moral agency and we have to choose, whether we're going to go God's way or whether we're going to go the way of man.

This is something! You all have keys. Everything that God does is just like the law of gravity. Functions automatically the way that God designed it to work. So therefore, this Psalm is fantastic in understanding God's creation of human beings and how involved He is. All the genes and chromosomes working together is the handiwork of God as if He is there forming in the womb Himself. It goes clear back to Adam.

Psalm 139:1: "O LORD, You have searched me and have known me.... [God can do that anytime He wants to. He knows!] ...You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thoughts afar off" (vs 1-2). God is involved in everyone's life as we covered with Grace Upon Grace. The whole world is under law, all subject to God. God doesn't exterminate them because they reject Him. There is repentance; there is forgiveness; there is God able to bring them to the point of understanding about Him.

It's just like when Adam and Eve sinned. He told them virtually, 'In eating of the fruit, in dying you're going to die.' But they lived 800 years-plus. They eventually died and they had the law of sin and death in them because of their sin. But God could not carry out His plan if He would have brought death to them immediately right after eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God has a greater plan! God's plan can go forward even in spite of that!

He's also going to prove to Satan the devil, before Satan the devil has his final judgment, that Satan cannot really do anything to change the plan of God, to turn back what God is doing, and that he will never, ever become God. The fact that he rebelled probably when God told him and the angels that they were going to serve mankind and that they would be raised from the level of existence as human beings to the very level of God as immortal beings, greater than the angels! There's a whole lot that's involved in all of this.

Verse 3: "You measure my going about and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways." This shows us the fantastic things that God has done to create the human body.

I don't know how many have been watching the Olympic Games, but we watch the Olympic Games. Dolores is interested in the Olympic Games. She doesn't particularly like gymnastics, but this year they were outstanding, absolutely outstanding. The one gal that won the best overall performance, just a little 4-foot something, she was spectacular. You watch that and you see that God has given the ability for someone like that to train themselves, to work at it, to have the gumption to do all of these things and to come out the top winner of all the gymnasts in the whole world.

Of course, the television interviewers come up with their microphone and stick it in the face and say, 'How does it feel to be named the top gymnast in the world?' You know what the girl answered? She said, 'I give all the glory to God.' She did! That doesn't mean she's converted. That means she just recognizes God; that she couldn't do these things without God. Was God pleased with that? Yes, indeed! I wonder if she got just a little extra help, inspiration from God? Who knows! But God also proved a point with it. Everything about what we do as human beings, God built into us.

Verse 4: "For there is not a word on my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, You know it altogether. You have enclosed me behind and in front, and laid Your hand upon me" (vs 4-5). Not literally, but He could. Everything about us depends on God.

This is the whole key in understanding about grace upon grace. The more we yield to God, the more we learn of God, the more we understand what He's doing, the closer we draw to Him, the more that we fulfill our purpose in being created. God is so great and generous in it that all of our sins and faults and everything that we have done, He is going to remove 'as far as the east is from the west.' Gone!

Verse 6: "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I go up into heaven... [which he didn't do, but we send astronauts up there now] ...You are there; if I make my bed in the grave, behold You are there" (vs 6-8). Because He's going to resurrect all the dead. Not that He is personally there, but He has the power to make it happen.

Verse 9: "If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the furthest parts of the sea..." [Go out clear to the middle of the Pacific Ocean and find yourself that ideal island right out there, guess who's there? Everything that God has created to sustain life is there. You sit there and watch the waves and you look at the fish and you watch the birds and you look at the trees.]

Verse 10: "Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me... [No one's going to see what I'm doing.] ...and the light around me shall be night.' Even the darkness does not hide from You…" (vs 10-12). What do these scientists think they're doing? This is the place they need to start right here. What they need to do is try and disprove any of this, which they cannot do.

"...as is the darkness, so is the light to You. For You have possessed my reins..." (vs 12-13). That's very interesting—isn't it? That is an analogy compared to what an animal is, where we're told, 'Don't be like a horse that needs a bridle.' God has designed our minds in such a way that at any minute that He wants to know what's going on up here, He knows.

Let's carry all of this forward. This is why God wants the washing of the water by the Word. So with that and in overcoming, God is going to show that He can overcome all evil everywhere and the evil that is even in your mind He can wipe away through the washing of the water of the Word. Just because we're born doesn't mean that God is through with His creating process. We're being created in Christ Jesus today. We'll learn a lot of parallels here with this.

Verse 13: "For You have possessed my reins; You have knit me together in my mother's womb."

•  Who made it happen? God did!
• By what means? By His Spirit!
• How did that happen? He put it into Adam and Eve and it's carried won to every human being since then!

 So, God is actively doing this. Knit me together. There's a way that the human being is created within the womb.

That's why in the series on ChurchatHome.org: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God, Why Were You Born? we have the pictures of the developing children. Let's also understand this: because God is so great, everything that human beings have done to destroy life in the womb God is going to overcome it! The reason I'm convinced that He is, is this. The only difference between us as full-grown adults and newly conceived life in the womb is growth.

When you are conceived you are who you are at that instant. Some people might say, 'That's going to really be a lot of people.' If we're going to share the universe with Jesus Christ and they estimate that there are 360-trillion galaxies out there, what is too many human beings? So in all of this, when we look at the smallest we also see the biggest.

Verse 14: "I will praise You, for I am awesomely and wonderfully made..." We're going to talk a little bit about the eye. That's one of the things that the evolutionists have a hard time explaining. Why are there so many different kinds of eyes? Why is the human eye the way it is with all the cells and everything that it can do, automatically? Like the law of gravity, operates the way God made it. God doesn't have to be there to do it.

Just like the law of gravity, you can't hear it, you can't see it, you can't feel it. You can feel the effects of it, especially if you fall down. It's like God, all of His laws work all the time. All the laws for our bodies are working right now while we're sitting here listening and I'm talking. Your heart is beating, you're breathing. If you've had too much to eat, it's hard keeping your eyes open, but I'll try and keep them open for you.

Isn't it something? God has given us consciousness! God has given His Spirit! When we come together on the Sabbath Day and His Spirit is here with us and His Spirit is in us, when we read the Word of God we understand it. That's an amazing thing—isn't it?

I was thinking about that man who raged, I couldn't get over it. I forget on which program it was, but he just raged. He said, 'You've used the Bible to enslave women! You have used the Bible to come against different races! You have used the Bible to disannul same-sex marriage!' Just in a rage. And I sat there—ooooh—that's why I was glad to see the turnout. There were two turnouts.

Mike Huckabee said, 'If these people are going to do this and deny us the expression of talking about God in the public, let's declare Wednesday Chick-fil-A day. Everybody go out and you go to Chick-fil-A and buy from them to support the owner who said on public television that he believes in God. Even though he's a Protestant and misled in some of the things that he does, he is well-intentioned and he closes his Chick-fil-A franchises every Sunday. Wonder what would happen if he came to know the Sabbath?

People became enraged. Then he said, 'I support traditional marriage—one man, one woman.' That made the whole homosexual community come unglued. They even announced in certain cities, 'Don't you dare come in here and try and put a franchise here.' I know in San Francisco, look at San Francisco, what a wondrous place of obedience to God, huh? Not so! Yes, to the god of this world, but not the God of heaven.

They had a turnout, showed the picture of it, long lines. They had a humongous day on sales. They don't even know how much. It was record plus record plus record. I saw that on television and I said to Dolores, 'You know, the only thing missing in these long lines, they should have sung two songs: Yes, Jesus Loves Me and Amazing Grace.'

The next day all the homosexuals were going to have kiss-in in front of Chick-fil-A. Of course, the press and media they've got to have coverage on this. They went down to the same Chick-fil-A one that had the most coverage on the news and here all of these ones from the media with their cameras and their microphones, were ready to interview. Guess how many showed up? Two women, with a little girl. I wonder how they got that. You could tell, one was playing the male part and one was playing the female part by the way they dressed. And that's all the turnout that they had. Case closed! That proves that there are more people out there than we know of who haven't abandoned God.

Now they may believe in Him in the way that they believe, but they haven't abandoned Him. That reminds me of what God told Elijah. He said, 'There are 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.' Elijah didn't know a single one of them, just like with all these people out there who believe in God in their own way. God can call them if they are willing to search out God. But nevertheless, He will recognize them. So, I'm happy to see that there was such a response and a turnout. So this is where every atheist needs to begin. Do you want this God to be your God or do you want your slime and mud?

Verse 14, the second part: "…Your works are marvelous and my soul knows it very well. My substance... [That's what it is when you are conceived. It's called substance, no form, just substance.] ...was not hidden from You when I was made in secret... [That is true—in secret. No one sees this going on. They have instruments today where they can see these things taking place; but nevertheless:] ...in secret and intricately formed in the lowest parts of the earth…. [That is a metaphor for being in the womb] …Your eyes did see my substance, yet being unformed..." (vs 14-16).

That why I believe that God is going to resurrect all the unfortunates who never were able to be born, regardless of the circumstances. As long as they were conceived, He can do it. They think they're so smart. They think they have so many things, because they can use numbers. They have the genome supposedly all mapped for human beings, but there's one thing that just threw them way off. The 23-chromosomes from father and mother a piece, that 46 for every human being, now the genes within those they have found that there can be with each gene 33,000 variations which can work. They haven't mapped anything. 'Oh, we got this. We know everything.' No! 33,000 variations!

"...and in Your book all my members were written..." (v 16). What is the book? The book is the genes and chromosomes written right there. It's not a book like you open up like this to read. It's what God has put on the genes and chromosomes. It's inscribed to there.
"...which in continuance were fashioned... [The Spirit of God has made me and the hand of God has formed me.] ...when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!.... [How can you add all of this up? How great is the sum of them.] ...If I should count them, they are more than the sand... [Have you ever tried counting grains of sand? No!] ...when I awake, I am still with You" (vs 16-18).

Notice what he says concerning those who are wicked and reject God, because every atheist, every evolutionist would hate and deny Psa. 139 and the other Scriptures that I have mentioned. They don't want to acknowledge that there has to be a Designer who is going to form it according to the way that He has made it, regardless of what it is. This is why God has made so many different things in so many different ways.

They cannot explain a duckbilled platypus. How can that evolve? It's got the bill of a duck, it has a stinger like a stingray. It's got a tail like a beaver, a coat like a rat, and all the other things. And it's marsupial so it has a pouch that it carries its young in. How does that happen? 'The reason it has a pouch was because its ancestor really didn't want conception the way that it was happening, so it said,  Here's a pouch.' Didn't happen that way!

Verse 19: "Surely You will slay the wicked, O God... [God's going to do that] ...therefore you bloody men, depart from me, for they speak against You wickedly and Your enemies take Your name in vain" (vs 19-20).

Everything came from nothing. We'll read a couple of other quotes. One of the evolutionists says that nothing is something. If nothing is something, then that means there has to be God, but it can't be God. They go all the way back to the big bang and even the evolutionists are saying, 'That's almost like it is in Genesis. BANG! all of a sudden it was there.' Oh, oh, they're in trouble.

Verse 21: "O LORD, do I not hate those who hate You? And am I not grieved with those who rise up against You? I hate them with a perfect hatred... [That is, hating what they stand for.] ...I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts, and see if any wicked way is in me; and lead me in the way everlasting" (vs 21-24).

That comes right full circle back to what God is doing in creating us for becoming spirit beings.

(go to the next track)

Now you see how Creator, Designer, to form, to make, to create all come together. Let's look at some other things that tell us more about God, tell us more about what He's doing.

Proverbs 26:10: "The great God who formed all things... [They all had to have a design. God formed it. Here proves that He is involved in everybody's life through His laws, and so forth.] ...both rewards the fool and rewards transgressors"—for their behavior. God gives to every man according to his works and God is not a respecter of persons.

The way you answer all these things is just what we're doing. You go through the Bible. That's why you have to prove that God's Word is true. There are a lot of things about God we don't understand.

Isaiah 57:15: "For thus says the high and lofty One Who inhabits eternity..." God is on a level of existence that is above our full understanding because we are limited. We're human beings made in the image of God, not God. He inhabits eternity! Let's look at the level of existence.

• God is at the highest level and He's inviting us up to that level.
• Next are the angels that God created.
• Next are human beings.
• Then all the other animals going down the line.

God inhabits eternity!

"…'I dwell in the high and holy place, even with the one who is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones" (v 15). That's how all the scientists can find God. Repent!

God has given so many things that you cannot calculate, you cannot figure out and He's done it deliberately. Dolores and I watch these fantastic things that have been done about the earth. They go way down thousands and thousands of feet and they get down there and they think nothing can live down there. They were taking the pictures to supposedly show that nothing was down there and then there was a flounder-type fish down at about 5,000 feet in the sand. All of a sudden while the camera was going, it swims away.

They can come down deeper into the ocean. Much of the ocean is paved with asphalt, the bottom of the ocean, because it oozes out of the ground. Of course, the ocean is above it. Here's all this asphalt. Guess what? There are sea creatures and sea plants growing on that, living off that. It's everywhere you go. They go to the highest part of the mountains and they dig out the rocks and guess what they find? Fossils! Evidence of God's creation everywhere, and yet, they deny God!

This is why God says this, Isaiah 46:5: "To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be alike?" How are you going to do that? It isn't going to happen.

Let's come here to Isaiah 45:9, here's what God says to all of us: "Woe to him who fights with the One Who formed him... [that's what they're doing] ...a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth!.… [that's how God looks at it like a bunch of broken pottery] ...Shall the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' Or your work, 'He has no hands'? Woe to him who says to his father, 'What are you begetting?' Or to the woman, 'What are you laboring over?' Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and the One Who formed him, 'Ask Me of things that are to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands. I have made the earth and created man upon it' I with My hands have stretched out the heavens; and all their host have I commanded" (vs 9-12).

That's something! God commands and it is! That's why you need to understand why the Word of God is true, why the Word of God is judging us, why God has all of these things. Yes, He has made it.
A little more from the book, Nothing Created Everything:

pg 28—It is scientifically impossible for nothing to create everything….

Now follow along and listen to this.

…If nothing created everything, then the "nothing" isn't nothing. It is something, because it had the amazing ability to create everything.

Here is an atheist talking back, sending an email to Ray Comfort. He says:

pg 29—I am angry with you Ray. STOP, STOP, STOP saying that an atheist is someone who believe something came out of nothing. I am an atheist and this is what I believe. Matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed however they can change from one form to another….

I want you to notice how close they get to the Truth but can't handle it.

…This is known as the first law of thermodynamics.…

Oops! Stop. Who made the law? Where did it come from? That's like having a whole volume with blank pages and you put it up on the shelf and you say, 'Book, book, on the shelf. Create us now all the laws you desire.' You come back the next morning, it's all printed out. Never happen!

I remember talking to a man who was interested in a project that required some money to be loaned when I was a loan broker, and so forth. I was reading the book, Joseph Newman's Energy Machine. That's quite a book. He knows you can get energy out of the earth for nothing if you do it in a certain way, and the energy is perpetual.

I was reading this book and one of the men who was there for the meeting, he was a scientist from up there out of Stanford. He was saying there's no such thing as perpetual energy. I looked at him and I said, 'Perpetual energy, perpetual motion.' Everything that is wound up will wind down and gradually stop. I said, 'That's not true.' I said there is perpetual motion. I said you're standing on it. It's called the earth. He didn't take that too kindly because he couldn't refute it. I said, 'It's always turning.' I said, 'If it runs a little low on energy, guess what the sun does? Sends off a big blast of electromagnetic energy and recharges the earth so it keeps going.' The law of thermodynamics!

…Therefore it is natural to believe that matter or energy has always existed in one form….

Notice how close he's getting.

This is why we get upset when you tell us that we believe something came out of nothing. Because there has never been nothing; matter or energy has always existed.

How did it get there? Can't answer that! This is Comfort writing:

pg 30—Here Now is a big mystery. He doesn't know how the universe got here, but he somehow knows that the Creator wasn't a "who." How does he know that? Does he have some inside information. I would like to hear it. How does he know that a 'who' wasn't involved in creation? Even Richard Dawkins... [one of the most famous atheists in the world] ...knows better. He's a little more careful with his wording, with his "Why There Almost Certainly is no God."

Leaves a little room. 'Lord, don't kill me just because You're there.'

"…If you say that there was no first cause (a Creator), then you are stuck with the unscientific and thoughtless belief that nothing created everything. So, what is it that you believe? Is it that something created everything? Then you are not an atheist because you believe in a Creator. Or do you believe that nothing created it? There is no in-between.
God says He created and formed everything.

pg 31—"Assuming the universe came from nothing, it is empty to begin with...Only by the constant action of an agent outside the universe, such as God, could a state of nothingness be maintained….

You're getting into all of these philosophical arguments, so what you're finding out is all of these big swelled heads of all of these men who think they know everything, have all of these reasons to try and explain why they believe what they believe.

"The fact that we have something is just what we would expect if there is no God"—Victor J. Stenger, atheist, professor of physics, University of Hawaii. Author of God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist.

Won't he be surprised at the resurrection? That's going to be a lovely thing to see and do—isn't it? All of them resurrected. Then God is going to say, 'Let's have a little discussion about creation.' Yes, Lord, what do you want me to learn?

pg 32-33—…Note the difference between saying that the world was created from nothing and saying that the universe was created by nothing….

that's a vast difference
…In this modern view the rabbit comes out of the hat with no rabbit, a hat, or even a magician. The modern view is far more miraculous that the biblical world view. It suggests that nothing created something. More than that, it holds that nothing created everything—quite a feat indeed! Now surely there aren't serious people who are running around in this scientific age claiming that the universe was created by nothing, are there? Yes, scores of them. To be sure, they don't say it quite the way I have said it and they would probably be annoyed with me for stating their views in such a manner. They'd undoubtedly protest that I have given a distorted caricature of their sophisticated position. OK. True—they don't say that the universe was created by nothing; they say that the universe was created by chance….

We're all a big accident. If you had a delete switch… Yes, I got up this morning and lo and behold my computer was on and the book that I'm going to write about, Grace Upon Grace, was already finished. I walked into the room and the computer said, 'Fred, you're book is finished.'

…But chance is no thing. It has no weight, no measurements, no power. It is merely a word we use to describe mathematical possibilities….

Here's what we learned. All logic is not truth, but all truth is logical.

…It can do nothing. It can do nothing because it is nothing. To say that the universe was created by chance is to say that it came from nothing. That is intellectual madness.

That's why God calls them fools. Let's learn a little bit more about God's creation here.

Psalm 94:7: "Yet, they say... [the detractors against God] ...'The LORD shall not see, nor shall the God of Jacob regard it.' Understand, you brutish ones among the people and you fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? He who chastens the nations, shall He not correct? He who teaches man knowledge, shall not He know?" (vs 7-10).

Here is God's answer to all of what we've just covered here in their assertions that God does not exist, v 11: "The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity." Isn't that true? Yes, indeed! Vain reasonings of men.

That covers everything with Creator/Designer. There are many more things that we can add to it. I'll leave it to you.
Life:

This is true: life can only come from life! And as far as what God has created, it can only engender life the way that God has created it to be engendered whether it is human beings or whether it is any part of His creation.

Some of it, when you look at the animal world, is so fantastic that it's amazing. Watch sometime when they talk about herrings or sardines, I forget which. They all come together in a great mass. It's a huge, huge thing that takes place. Of course, all the other fish that are there to get their part of it and the dolphins and the whales, everything, but there are so many millions. What happens? All the females lay their eggs right in the water, trillions of them! All the males squirt out their sperm in the water and it becomes a great white cloud. They showed it from a helicopter looking down on the ocean. Here's the ocean and here's this great white cloud of trillions of eggs that have been fertilized. In a few days you have little fish.

That is truly amazing! Then you look at birds. They lay eggs—one, two, three. Look at all the other creatures. It's truly something! Look at how ants reproduce. They have a queen who keeps laying eggs. They keep feeding her and she's on the fat program. She keeps getting bigger and bigger and obese and the eggs keep coming out and they keep feeding her. Then they have—we can nickname them Dagwood males. They come along and they fertilize the eggs and then they put it in a special place for them. Here the ants are created that way.

• Look at what God does with bees.
• Look at what God does with insects.
• Look at what God does with caterpillars to butterflies.

Many things God shows the power of His creation that way. He gives life to everything. That's why He commanded the seas to bring forth, the land to bring forth, human beings to bring forth.

John 5—here is what man lacks. This is why life can only come from God and eternal life is only going to be given by God. After He healed the man who had been infirmed for 38 years, He told him to pick up his sleeping bag and carry it. The Pharisees found out he was doing it and castigated him. They said, 'Who told you to do this?' He said, 'I don't know, but the One Who healed me said pick it up and carry it.' So they got all mad at Christ.

John 5:16: "And for this cause, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him... [Is that not the same attitude as the atheists? Get rid of God! Yes!] ...because He had done these things on a Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I work'" (vs 16-17).

What kind of work is the Father doing? That brings us Life and Sustainer very close. What work is going on that God created still functioning? The earth is turning. Does the earth take a Sabbath Day rest? Come the Sabbath, the earth stops in space. No! God keeps it going! Same way with the universe. He's working! But the greatest work that God is doing is the work He's doing in us! He says: "…'My Father is working until now, and I work.'"

What was the work that Jesus just did on the Sabbath day? He healed the man who had been sick for 38 years. Was that not a work? Yes, it was!

Verse 18: "So then, on account of this saying, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, not only because He had loosed the Sabbath..." The King James says broke the Sabbath. I tell you those law-abolisher people get big time on this and say, 'He abolished the law.' No! He loosed the Sabbath and that regulation: don't carry your sleeping roll on the Sabbath. That was derived from the argument by the rabbis trying to figure out for their traditional way of thinking for Judaism, what constitutes a burden. Is this a burden? No! Pick up the table—that's a burden. Sleeping bag? I see, Alice, your purse is a burden according to Judaism. This is what they wanted to kill Him for. Also, they wanted to kill Him because of this, not only had He loosed the Sabbath:

"...but also because He had called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God" (v 18). Think on that! When you have children and they grow up, are they equal with you? Yes! In some cases more than equal. Yes, indeed!

Here is about the plan of God, v 19: "Therefore, Jesus answered and said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, the Son has no power to do anything of Himself...'" He came in the flesh. He always had to choose God's way. He knew that everything He had in the flesh was dependent totally upon God. Cannot do anything of Himself. This is interesting in the Greek from this point of view. The Greek word there is 'ek.' That means to do work from within His own thoughts and within His own human power. 'Out from within Me I can do nothing.'

"...but only what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, these things the Son also does in the same manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing…." (vs 19-20).

Now let's project this forward, because the creation of God is not just the universe and the earth and everything that is on it, all the physical things that we can see. What God is doing, He's recreating Himself through us to first put into us the character we need to be able to live forever. That's what He's doing first. He's going to show us everything that He's going to do. That's going to be real exciting at the resurrection—isn't it?

We've got to know, what are we going to do with this spirit body? When a baby is born, what's the first thing it does? Cry! What are we going to do when we're resurrected? 'Hello, who are you?' I'm your angel. 'Oh, it's the resurrection.' Yes, we're going up there to the Sea of Glass. 'Oh, good, what are we going to do up there.' You will be told everything you need to know. That'll be interesting—won't it?

I am convinced in my own mind, I think God is going let the world see the resurrection taking place. That'll be a powerful witness—won't it? They will be convinced. I've got to give a sermon on UFOs and aliens.

Verse 20: "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing. And He will show Him greater works than these, so that you may be filled with wonder.... [then He explains what that is]: ...For even as the Father raises the dead and gives life, in the same way also, the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son so that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father Who sent Him" (vs 20-23). Then He makes some really astounding statements here.

Verse 24: "Truly, truly I say to you, the one who hears My Word, and believes Him Who sent Me, has everlasting life and does not come into judgment; for he has passed from death into life…. [that's why you are under grace] …Truly, truly I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live" (vs 24-25).

Imagine what these Pharisees were thinking. Wonder what that would be like to be like an angel up about 30-feet in the air and they couldn't see him and see what's going on and here are all these Pharisees with their phylacteries, their hats, their robes, their beards and their beady steely-killing eyes looking at him and He says to them:

Verse 25: "Truly, truly I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live…. [Who does He think He is?] …For even as the Father has life in Himself…" (vs 25-26). Inherent, eternal, perpetual life! That's what's required to uphold the whole universe. All the power, all the creativity, all of these things—eternal life. Remember where we started that God inhabits eternity!

"…so also has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. And has also given Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of man. Do not wonder at this... [He didn't give much to think about it—did He?] ...for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth: those who practiced good unto a resurrection of life, and those who have practiced evil unto a resurrection of judgment'" (vs 26-29).

That's something! All of this, we go from the physical creation to the spiritual creation that God is doing. That's why there are so many parables about crops. You plant a seed and it grows and it develops and you harvest the crop. So likewise, when the resurrection takes place, that's like harvesting the crop all at once.

The only way that's going to happen is if there is a God and His Word is Truth and we have His Spirit and we know what is right and we live God's way. So there has to be life!

Scriptural References:

• Psalm 2:1-5
• Genesis 2:7
• Job 32:8
• Job 33:4-6
• Psalm 139:1-24
• Proverbs 26:10
• Isaiah 57:15
• Isaiah 46:5
• Isaiah 45:9-12
• Psalm 94:7-11
• John 5:16-29

Also referenced:

Sermon Series:

• Grace Upon Grace
• From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? (churchathome.org)

Books:

• Nothing Created Everything by Ray Comfort
• The Energy Machine by Joseph Newman

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 8-12-12
Formatted: bo—8/13/12

Copyright 2012—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.