God IS

[0:00] Let's pray. Lord, we just thank you for this time.

[0:13] For the little ones here today too, Lord. They too want to be with you, with us. Lord, we pray that you bless them, help them.

[0:24] Lord, still them, still them we pray. Lord, we might just bless them, that we might bless each one that is here, Lord. That Holy Spirit would minister to use this vessel.

[0:37] Use your word to minister, Lord, we pray. Speak, Lord, speak in that still quiet voice, that still small voice. Speak to each one that is under the hearing of this message, that you might be glorified in each life we pray.

[0:51] In Jesus' name. Amen. Hebrews 11 verse 6, it says, But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

[1:08] He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. God is.

[1:20] God is. God is. How can we find truth and faith in a world full of doubt and unbelief? How can we know God? Somebody even asked, how do we know that there is a God? How do we even know that there is a God?

[1:33] The same question could be posed about my wife. How can I prove to you that my wife loves me? I cannot prove to you that my wife loves me, but I can give you the evidence of 31 years of hard labour, of marriage.

[1:49] And all the things that she has said and done to give you the proof of her love. That it is true, she does love me. You know, she's got an amazing love to put up with me.

[2:01] And it's the same with God, isn't it? We look at the evidence and we can see that God is. God is. There's an evidence here, that all around about us, the evidence is amazing, it's compelling, that God is.

[2:17] God is. God is evident. God is real. God has revealed himself in his word. The message, the faith, the God of the Bible is reasonable.

[2:28] He says unto us in Isaiah 1, Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

[2:40] Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. You can know. You can know him. He says, come now, let us reason together.

[2:50] A person with genuine reason can acknowledge the God of the Bible. The message of the Bible is that we can know the truth, and the truth shall set us free.

[3:02] That is the message that God has given to us. As we heard earlier, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

[3:14] The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. How can we know that there is a God?

[3:27] That's an important question. And God has given us clear evidence, clear enough for the open mind and heart to see. The great French mathematical genius, Blaise Pascal, who came to know Christ at the age of 31, put it this way.

[3:43] He said, willing to appear openly to those who seek him with all their heart, and to be hidden from those who flee from him with all their heart. God so regulates the knowledge of himself, that he has given indications of himself, which are visible to those who seek him, and not to those who do not seek him.

[4:05] There is enough light for those to see, who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition. In other words, there's evidence enough for those who have eyes to see.

[4:19] Evidence enough. One of those evidences, one of those witnesses, those signposts, and I've covered it in recent times, but it's worth saying again, is the witness of creation.

[4:31] The witness of creation. Reason points us to the need to have a first cause. A first cause. In other words, the world cannot, could not have made itself.

[4:44] It could not have made itself. It stands to reason. It's logical to know that the world could not have made itself. It had to have a first cause. And the Bible names the first cause.

[4:56] In the beginning. God. In the beginning. Creation bears witness to a creator. The giver of life and breath.

[5:08] The sustainer. The creator of laws. The providence of divine design. The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim his works.

[5:20] Jeremiah 10 verse 12. It says, He hath made the earth by his power. He hath established the world by his wisdom and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.

[5:32] We are here by design. By design. There is so much about the universe that we could consider. And our world in particular that tells us.

[5:43] It shouts design. Design. Creation. Creation. Everything around about. The astronomer Dr. Hugh Ross cited 26 different characteristics that the universe has that enables it to sustain life.

[6:01] 26. 26. There's 33 characteristics about the galaxy that we're in. Our solar system and planet earth so finely tuned to allow life on earth to exist.

[6:14] Now, mothers here today. Mothers do well to make that meat and potatoes and vegetables in just that right combination to serve up for our dinner.

[6:28] They're just a few things. And mothers and others are very good at cooking and making those wonderful creations that we can savour and taste and eat and that nourish us.

[6:42] Just a few ingredients. We're talking about 59 different aspects. All in perfect balance, in harmony. The earth, the world, the universe hanging together in that perfect balance so that we can live in it.

[6:55] Design. Creation. It's perfectly designed. The earth is perfectly designed for life. It's just right. It's not that cereal, you know. It's just right.

[7:06] It's just right. Everything is just so finely tuned. Just right. It's just the right size for the atmosphere. The right corresponding of gravity.

[7:18] That layer of the atmosphere is thin, but it's not too thin. It's a layer that protects us. Those gases protect us and allow us to breathe. When an astronaut, John Glenn, went out and returned from space, one of the things that struck him was how thin and fragile the atmosphere is.

[7:37] It's only 50 miles above the earth. It's just that little band that's just right. Just right. If our planet was smaller, just a touch, it couldn't support an atmosphere like our Mercury.

[7:50] If it were larger like Jupiter, the atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, which is poison for us. Earth is the only planet that we know of that can contain an atmosphere that can support human, animal and plant life.

[8:07] God chose us himself through his creation. Acts 14, 17, it says in part, He left not himself without witness. He left not himself without witness.

[8:21] He gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And that fellow that rode his goat here this morning and got wet, we can thank God.

[8:32] He's given us rain from heaven, amen? You know you got wet this morning, brother. It was a blessing because we need that rain. Rain from heaven is censored. He's a fruitful seasons.

[8:43] He's sending it. He's filling our hearts with food and gladness. Imagine living on a planet without rain. That would have been something, wouldn't it? The Earth is placed just right, just right, just the right distance from the Sun and from the other planets in the solar system.

[9:00] If we were closer to the Sun, we'd burn up. If we were further away, we'd freeze. And because Earth's orbit is circular and it's slightly elliptical, so it's not quite a perfect round shape, it's slightly elliptical.

[9:15] And this gives us that quite narrow range of temperatures, which is important to life. The speed of the Earth's rotation is set just right on its axis, completing one turn every 24 hours, so that the Sun warms the planet evenly.

[9:30] Compare our world to the Moon, where the incredible variations on the Moon mean that it lacks sufficient atmosphere or water to retain or deflect the Sun's energy.

[9:41] And speaking of the Moon, it's important that there's only one Moon, not two or three or none. It's just the right size and distance from us, so that we have the ocean's currents, we have the water not keeping it from coming stagnant.

[9:58] So water is so critical and vital, such an important part of this just right, just right world. You know, if you believe in evolution, it's all fluke and happenstance.

[10:08] It's all by chance. But water itself is another sign, another witness, that we're in just the right setting for life. The Earth is made of water, largely plants and animals and human beings are made mostly of water.

[10:25] There's an abundance of water in liquid state on the Earth. It makes Earth unique. And water, there's things about water that we should think about and consider. Water has surface tension.

[10:38] Surface tension, this means that water can move upward against gravity to bring liquid to the highest parts of the tallest plants. To bring those nutrients to the top of the tallest plants.

[10:50] Everything in the world would freeze, freezes from the bottom up, but water freezes from the top down. Now this is an important issue as well.

[11:03] Water freezes from the top down. Everything else contracts when it freezes, but water expands. So this means that in winter, when there's ponds and rivers and lakes, they can freeze at the surface, but it allows the fish and the other marine creatures to live down below.

[11:22] If that wasn't the case, you know, they wouldn't live. We live on a just right, the settings are just calibrated, just right. As if it's, and as we know it is, set by a mastermind, who set those settings just right in this universe.

[11:39] The fact is, it's been set by the Creator God, our loving God, the witness of creation. A second witness is the witness of mankind. Our human bodies themselves bear witness to God.

[11:54] The wonder of our bodies point to a Creator. Now some of us are more wonderful than others, but it says Psalm 139, I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

[12:08] Marvellous, and thy are thy works. And that my soul knoweth wrong well. Who said amen there? I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Amen? Oh, yes I know I am.

[12:20] And you are too, we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. Some of us are more fearful than wonderful, but we are all made by God. There's a creation, there's the fingerprints of the Creator all around us.

[12:32] The idea of a God is written on our hearts. It's, we're made in His image. Genesis 1, 26 through 27. There's that sense that, that we are made as the stamp of God on human lives.

[12:47] And certain values can be found in all human cultures. The belief that some things are right and some things are wrong. For example, it's pretty much a universal thing that murdering your own people is wrong.

[13:02] That lying and cheating is wrong. And stealing and such things. Where did this universal sense of right and wrong come from? Is it something that just evolved as we came from apes?

[13:16] Where there's nothing really except space, time and matter? Or did this moral sense of right and wrong come from God? There is a moral sense of right and wrong.

[13:29] Of guilt in every man. When we've violated a moral rule, even atheists, everyone, makes claims about right and wrong. We make judgments. We decide.

[13:41] Atheism provides no logical basis for morality and ethics. If we just, you know, just happen to have come about, it doesn't make sense.

[13:54] Atheism doesn't make sense. Because all human beings start out with an awareness of right and wrong. Of fairness, of justice.

[14:04] Why? Because we are made in the image of God. He's impressed his stamp upon each of us here today. Even though this morality sometimes is marred.

[14:15] And as people, some people are evil. And different people have conflicting notions of right and wrong. Yet in every one of us there is some sense of it.

[14:26] It's another signpost that God is. Another signpost pointing us to the existence of God. These signposts are all around us pointing to himself.

[14:39] Telling us we are without excuse to deny him. God is. Everyone has a moral law. Our conscience bears witness to a law within us.

[14:53] As Romans 2, 14 through 15. We have a law within us, a conscience. What does that point to? A law giver. A law giver. It is the fool who says, there is no God.

[15:07] Psalm 14, verse 1. There's so many clues that we are just denying in our ignorance. Many clues about God and his qualities that we can see even in human nature.

[15:21] That sense of awareness. That sense of making choices. Of considering facts and coming to reason and opinion. We are all made of different elements.

[15:36] Our brains are made of protein. Now some of us have got more protein than others. But protein does not think. It's not about the protein. It's not about the protein.

[15:49] Proteins do not decide. Evolution theory says man is just a collection of molecules. But molecules cannot make decisions. We have a mind.

[16:01] A mind. A mind that makes decisions. No evolutionary mechanism can explain the origin of the mind. Because evolutionary theory only deals with molecules.

[16:15] Molecules. You're just a lump of minerals and molecules and atoms and such like. But no. You are something much, much more. Someone has created you.

[16:26] He's created you and he's created your mind. Someone. Someone. And that someone is God. God is. Man's mind exercises free will to make choices.

[16:36] It's another evidence that the personal God exists. Everyone has a natural intuition. A religious tendency. It's a natural tendency. Though it can be mistaken and polluted.

[16:47] It can be mistaken and polluted. As it was in Athens in Acts 17. All over the world. And over time. Humans have a sense of spirituality. It's something that's intrinsic.

[16:57] We have to worship something. All cultures have these stories about God. A natural tendency to believe in God is in children from the early days.

[17:09] It all makes sense if God made us and has programmed us to seek him. It all makes sense when we know God is.

[17:19] God is. And for those who are true followers of the Lord. What an influence for good they have been on planet earth. You see through history. What an influence for good.

[17:30] True biblical Christianity has been. The greatest influence for good that the world has seen. Yet another witness to the creator. Everyone has an innate desire for purpose.

[17:43] Yet evolutionists would have us believe we're just a bunch of molecules. Created by purposeless events. Taking place over long periods of times. God is.

[17:54] God is purposeful. God is purposeful. And he has made us. Us with a purpose. He's made you and me with a purpose. With an inbuilt desire. For purpose. For reason.

[18:05] For life. To find out what the purposes are. That he has for us. I was at a secular course of life. And a psychologist was saying. What is your life purpose?

[18:17] And he was saying this to this group of secular students. Of whom I was one. And he was saying that. Psychologists have found. That people who do not have a life purpose.

[18:30] Are in a state of depression and such like. Having a life purpose is critical. It's important. Even the world says that. You're made for more than some earthly, worldly purpose.

[18:42] More than some purpose of making money. Or making a name for yourself. Or such things. You are made with a purpose. To see God. To find him.

[18:53] To know him. To know that God is. The far-fetched theory of evolution. Is flawed. flawed, fatally flawed. Research are finding that clear signs are that all mankind has descended from fully human ancestors. From just a few who lived only a few thousand years ago. It corroborates what the Word of God says in Genesis. There's a oneness in the human race, no matter the colour, pigmentations of our skin. We're all essentially the same.

[19:26] We're all essentially that human kind, created by God as one race a few thousand years ago. So there's the witness of humanity. Thirdly, there's the witness of the Bible. The witness of the Bible. The Bible claims to be a revelation from the invisible God.

[19:44] 2 Timothy 3 verse 16. It's by inspiration. God has breathed it into life. His Word holds the keys for life. Its predictions are proven true. The Word of God. Search the Scriptures.

[19:59] Search the Scriptures. Take them and get your teeth into them. The Scriptures have scientific accuracy. We read Job saying in 26 verse 7. He hangeth the earth upon nothing. He hangeth the earth upon nothing. It doesn't make sense to man. It doesn't make sense to man. It doesn't make sense through history. And yet, modern astronomy and space travel say, yes, he does hang the earth upon nothing. How did Job know this? Because the Holy Spirit told him. Job was told by God. That God hangs the earth upon nothing. The scientists of Isaiah's day didn't know about the topography of the earth. Yet, Isaiah said in 14 verse 22, he sitteth upon the circle of the earth. God sits upon that globe, that sphere. The earth is round. It is a circle. The scientists of Isaiah's day did not know that. As much as we know, many over time thought that the earth is round.

[20:54] The earth was flat and such things. But the Bible tells us the truth, even of such scientific facts. Leviticus 17, 11, it says that the life of the flesh is in the blood. For centuries doctors drained the blood thinking that would bring healing, yet it brought death. The Bible was in advance of scientific knowledge of its time. The Bible tells us of astronomy. In Job 9 verse 9, it tells us of the earth. The Bible tells us of the earth. The Bible tells us of various constellations. The Bible has historical accuracy. Archaeologists are still digging up, confirming signs. Despite the fact that it was written over a period of 1600 years, 40 different authors, 13 different countries, and the Bible tells us of knowledge of knowledge of its time. The Bible tells us of knowledge of its time. The Bible tells us of knowledge of its time. The Bible tells us of astronomy. In Job 9 verse 9, it tells us of various constellations. The Bible has historical accuracy.

[21:44] Archaeologists are still digging up, confirming signs. Despite the fact that it was written over a period of everything, it holds together as a unified book. There's an incredible unity. It's internally consistent. And the Bible is the only book in the world that has accurate prophecy. Accurate prophecy. There's over 300 prophecies concerning our Lord Jesus that are in the Old Testament. Fulfilled now in Christ.

[22:12] Proverbs 17, 22. We read that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Psychologists are reading this now and they're saying, yeah, a good life happens when we've got that happiness. The people overflowing out of their offices, stressed out people, need to turn to the answer. It's here. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. You know, if you need some medicine, go to the medicine cupboard right here. The Word of God.

[22:41] The Word of God. Hope the answer for us. The Bible works. Why? Because God is. God is. Someone has said, there's so much in here. It's so majestically deep that scholars could swim and never touch the bottom. Yet so wonderfully shallow that a little child can come and take a drink. Amen.

[23:02] Friends, the Word of God. It's holy. It's precious. It's assured. It's confirmed. It's reliable. Know it. Believe it. Hold it. It's true. The witness of the Bible.

[23:14] And the fourth witness is the witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ultimate evidence of God. That Christ has revealed God to us in human form. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 6.

[23:27] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

[23:37] The face of Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. The most astounding thing that God did was to pass through that veil between heaven and earth and dwell amongst us as a man.

[23:51] The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. God made visible in Christ. Colossians 1 verse 15 it says, By God desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde not only is the Him the Creator, He's the sustainer.

[24:36] You know, I'm glad that God never takes a day off. By Him all things consist. He holds your body together as much as you feel like it's falling apart sometimes.

[24:48] He holds all things together. Amen? By Him all things consist. Glory to God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. And we behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

[25:05] And it says in the other John, chapter 1, 1 John, chapter 1, it says, That which is from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon, and our hands are handled of the Word of life.

[25:20] Talking about Christ. Christ became that tangible, evident God. More than just some moral teacher, God manifests in the flesh.

[25:31] He says to us, If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. John 14, verse 9, He says, I and the Father are one. John 10, verse 13, The Lord Jesus is God with skin on.

[25:45] He was that one so loving and kind to come and back up His words with the miracle of His life and of the wonder of His dying for man in our place.

[25:58] And then rising to life again. Only God Himself could make such a promise and fulfil it. The literal bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[26:10] That final, greatest proof. He conquered death. He broke the bars and chains and took captivity captive. And He has raised to life again.

[26:23] And He has the keys of hell and of death. He is the one to which we must come. We must believe that He is. He is. God exists.

[26:34] He has spoken. He has made a just right universe. He stamped His initials on it. He stamped the clues of the maker on His creation.

[26:45] On the image of a moral God. He has stamped His image. On the design of our bodies, of our world, of the universe. The signposts are pointing.

[26:57] He is. He is. He is all around you. Can you not see it? Or has the devil blinded your mind to not believe?

[27:10] The evidence is all around us. Compelling, compelling evidence. The unity of the Bible, its prophecies fulfilled. It shows the mind of God behind creation.

[27:21] The Lord Jesus Himself stepping down into human skin to show us who God is. To make open the way to heaven. If we'll but examine the evidence, there can be no doubt that God exists.

[27:35] God is. Every building has a builder. Everything made has a maker. There is a creator.

[27:45] It's self-evident. That's why the Bible says, the fool has said, in his heart, there is no God. I don't say that arrogantly.

[27:55] I say that as it is. I say that sadly. I say that grieving. For those who do not believe. What a sad, sad, sorry state you are in.

[28:06] To say in your heart, there is no God. God is. The professing atheist denies common sense. The common sense given to him by God. The logic, the reason, the reasoning, it all demands the answer.

[28:20] God is. God is. Based on pure reasoning, we can deduce that God exists. When someone honestly seeks after God, then God Himself will provide the clear answer.

[28:32] Isaiah 55, verse 6, seek ye the Lord, while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Jeremiah 29, verse 13, and ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

[28:52] I pray that everyone under the sound of this message will earnestly seek God. As much as we know our sinful inclination is not to seek Him. But yet God shocks us into that reality that we are not alone.

[29:07] We are not alone. We've been made by a maker. Let's make it personal now. God's eternal existence is something that you can know, that we can know by personal experience.

[29:23] You can know that God is. You can know personally that God is. In John 1, verse 12, it says, But as many as received Him, so then gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

[29:44] Born of God. Born of God. What a miracle. It can happen still today, people. God is. God is. We've seen, without faith, it is impossible to please God.

[29:58] But he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. He says, Come now, let us reason together.

[30:11] In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us. We beheld His glory, the glorious of the only begotten, of the Father, full of grace and truth.

[30:27] But as many as received Him, so then gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. We've seen the witnesses, the witnesses, four witnesses at least, we could cite today.

[30:40] Creation is a witness. It's evident, it's self-evident, that that which is creation had a creator. The witness of creation, the witness of mankind, even the most unworthy specimen of a man, of a woman, still is a sign that God is.

[31:00] The wonder of their physical body, of their life, of their mind. The Bible is the third witness. The integrity and unity and power of this book.

[31:12] And fourthly, the Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate evidence. God become man. The word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. Friends, I urge you today, I urge you one and all believers here today, take heart.

[31:27] There's many evidences, many witnesses, you can cite as compelling evidence that God is to those who have disbelieved. And to those that disbelieve here today, I urge you, he that cometh to God must believe that he is.

[31:43] It's the starting point. You must realise that he is and that you are without him, that you can come to know him, that you can realise a reward.

[31:54] Lord, he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Let us pray. Dear Lord, we love and praise you. Dear Lord, we love and thank you for your grace.

[32:08] Grace and truth came when you planted your feet on this planet, when you came in human flesh, when you loved and died and rose again, when you shed pure blood for our sin, when your body was covered and filled with our own sin when it was nailed on that cross.

[32:30] Lord, we love you and thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying on the cross for our sins, for rising from the dead, for being our evident God, that tangible God that we can hold and love and follow and believe.

[32:45] We thank you for your word. We thank you for the sideposts of creation, of mankind, of the wonder of it all, that we are just a tiny speck in this amazing universe that you have created and yet you love us so much that we can personally know you.

[33:03] We can personally know you. We pray for anyone here and hearing this that they would likewise come to that awesome realisation. God is.

[33:14] God is. We love you, Lord, and thank you for that wonderful joy that we can come to even know you. Even in some small measure in our human concept, yet, Lord, there's so much deep and beyond our comprehension, yet, Lord, just that simple childlike trust that you are, that is what we need today.

[33:36] Help us, Lord, to love you more. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.