External Awareness of God: His Creation (Part 3)

We are examining what it means to say that there exists an external awareness of God in the universe that He has created and currently sustains. His external awareness is written all over His creation. If His creation could speak it would scream out, "God made me!"

I have chosen to divide this portion of posts into three parts. We looked at part one yesterday: a pictorial clarification (see yesterday's post for the details). We want to continue our look at what I call the external awareness of God by means of Scriptural confirmation. This section serves as part two to our discussion (although it begins in post #3).

II. SCRIPTURAL CONFIRMATION

To begin this discussion we must return to our key text- Romans 1. Romans 1:20 says that God is known to man "through what has been made". Specifically, it says that "through what has been made" certain "invisible attributes" of God will be "clearly seen". What are those attributes? Well, verse 20 tells us- His 1) eternal power, and 2) divine nature.

Paul's point seems to be that through observation of God's physical creation one sees the power of God--God's power in being the originator and distributor of every good thing. Paul made this argument often. In fact, when he encountered pagans (those who did not recognize the God of Scripture as God) he always established this truth before mentioning the Gospel. That was not a slight on the Gospel. It is only logical to begin where people are- to not move to fast. This is a good reminder in our evangelism. It is foundational to establish that God is indeed real for the person who does not assume this.

In Acts 14:8 ff. we have an example of Paul doing this very thing. In Acts 14 Paul is addressing the same group of people he is primarily speaking about in Romans 1. In both texts He is speaking (about) to pagan Gentiles. He is speaking to those who have other "gods". These people do not worship, value, acknowledge, love, adore, serve the God of creation--the only true God.

I am not going to go thru the text in detail because you can read it on your own. Let me just point out some things that will be helpful to our discussion regarding an external awareness of God. It will be important for you to open your Bible at this point.

After Paul heals a man the people observing assume that Paul and Barnabas (who was accompanying him) were their gods in human flesh. They had come from the god world and inhabited them. They thought Paul was Hermes (the god of orators) because he was doing most of the public speaking as he preached. They thought Barnabas was Zeus (head of the Greek pantheon of gods). Verse 14 says that Paul and Barnabas tore their robes. This seems strange to us, but in this day and time tearing one's robe was a public gesture denoting a perceived blasphemy. By doing this Paul and Barnabas were suggesting that they were not gods, but humans. In fact, they establish that very point beginning in verse 15 as their protest switches from a public gesture to an informal sermonic denunciation of the worship of any supposed pagan deity.

What is the content of this informal sermon?

First, notice that Paul establishes that his God is the Creator of all...we "preach the Gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them."

Second, he tells them that in the past God allowed them to run head long into their sin because of their continual suppression of the truth that the God of the Gospel was real.... "In the generation gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways (vs. 16)" (Rom. 1:18-25).

Third, he tells them that though they rejected the God of the Gospel (suppressed the truth of God's existence) that they were still without excuse because God's existence was made evident to them...."and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness (vs. 17)".

How did God leave Himself without witness? The rain, which produced fruitful vegetation to sustain His creation that in turn led them to the opportunity to satisfy their hearts with food and gladness served as the witness. It proved the reality of God's existence- the God of the Gospel. This was grace demonstrated by God--it was a witness or testimony of God (without words or voice) that they ignored.

So what is the point? Not only does God's creation itself (the physical universe) give evidence in various ways of God's existence, but also the affects of His creation (the various pleasures experienced under the canopy of God's grace) serve as reminders, evidence, and a viable witness to the reality of God's existence.

The other day my daughter (four years old) informed me of a couple of things she would like for Christmas. I pointed out that her excitment was a little premature because Christmas is further away than she thinks, especially for a four year old. But I also pointed out to her that it was okay to "want" other things, but that it becomes wrong when those "things" are all we think about. Rather, we should be thankful and satisfied with what we have today. That is, we should not spend our days longing for what we do not have, but should rest in what God has provided for us in His grace thus far. I was trying to communicate to her the evils of materialism and lust. So I mentioned a couple of her current possessions and asked her simply, "What if you did not have those things?" to which she replied "Then I would be unthankful."

Obviously, she missed my point. Sadly, my daughter's response is the same response of many adults who reject, or deny the existence of God. They always want more, but they never stop to realize that for the most part life blesses us with much pleasure. Now there are pockets of the world where pleasure is not experienced at the level, say Americans, experience pleasure. There exist various reasons for this including poverty, famine, suppressive governments, etc. Nevertheless, even the worst life lived is an experience of God's grace in some fashion. And certainly for our culture this is true. As Americans we live extremely pleasurable lives. To deny so is to be "unthankful".

God's common grace is a mark of God's existence even in a world perverted and distorted by the Fall.

Beholding the Grace of God,

Andy

Internal Awareness of God

Today let's take a look at the first strand of evidence to support the notion that all men possess an awareness of God internally.

I. First Strand: Support by means of Scriptural explanation

First, Scripture tells us that this awareness is within every man without distinction (Rom. 1:19a, 21). In other words, it makes no difference whether you are a man or woman; intelligent or unintelligent; black or white. In Romans 1, Paul is answering the question, “Does every man deserve the wrath and judgment of God?” Paul begins by saying that even Gentile unbelievers/pagans deserve this wrath. And all men deserve His wrath because they are sinners. But stemming from this sin is the tendency to deny God, and His right over us. Paul affirms the notion that all men "know" God.

Paul is clear about the fact that this “basic knowledge” about God is “evident within them”. This is seen primarily in two ways: 1) his reasoning capacities to look at the evidence of God’s existence in creation and conclude that there is a Creator God, and 2) his ability to “basically” distinguish between right and wrong, although even this ability is perverted to a degree by sin and would be perverted in an ultimate way were it not for common grace (we will look at this under pt. 2- God’s Witness in the World).
Here is the point: just as God is competent enough to reveal Himself, man is competent enough to apprehend the reality of God in His creation! The “visible” creation forces us to conclude the reality of the “invisible” as responsible for it. The reality of God’s existence is engraved on their hearts, as Calvin liked to say.

If I affirm that there is a piano sitting in our church auditorium ("sanctuary" if your Southern Baptist), that is factual. I can assume that somebody put it there though I do not know who that person is, and therefore they are invisible to me. But that does not change the fact that the piano was put there by a real person. It is only logical and rational to think so. And just because I might deny that a person put it there does not somehow cause the person who put it there to not exist, or to prove the irrational nature of such a claim that that person does exist.

The fact that all men know God (vs. 21) affirms this internal witness of God in the conscience of man. So the evidence is in creation (outside of us), but the ability to see that evidence for God’s existence and conclude that it is legitimate is within us. Our conscience, therefore, makes us aware of the validity of the evidence that we observe.

Calvin says, “Besides, if all men are born and live to the end that they may know God” but “who do not direct every thought and action in their lives to this goal degenerate from the law of their creation”. In other words, the awareness of God is so strongly persuasive to man that it is actually a violation of creation's law to suppress it. God created us with a built-in awareness of our Maker. It is part of what makes us human. To deny this, or fail to recognize it, is equivalent to breaking the first law.

Second, this awareness of God within is "evident" (Rom. 1:19a), "clearly seen" (Rom. 1:20), and "understandable" (Rom. 1:20). In other words, God not only gave us the proof that He exists, but He gave us the eyes to see this proof. So though this knowledge of God within all men is basic, simple, and limited; it is at the same time evident, clear, and understandable.

I am color bind. Shortly after my wife and I got married I went to the eye doctor. The doctor pulled out a crazy little book with circles on each page. In the middle of these psychedelic circles were blotches of different colors running together. Now, they tell me that there are visible numbers inside those circles, however I have yet to see them. Now that does not mean that they are not there. I am color blind and its simple: if one can't see the numbers, then that is affirmation that one is color blind. I didn't see the numbers (never have), therefore I am color blind.

When we say that God has made this base, simple, limited awareness of His existence evident, clear, and understandable within all men, we are saying that He not only gave us the "color blind book", but also that He gave us the eyes to see the numbers in the circles. (More will be said about this illustration-and the concept it sets forth- in later posts.)

Third, this awareness of God within is suppressed, or denied/ignored (Rom. 1:18, 25). “Suppress” literally means “to restrain” in the original Greek. It means to refuse to believe what one knows to be true, namely that there is a God. That knowledge is stifled, held down, restrained. To suppress the truth that God exists, which dwells in every man’s heart, is to shut God up in your heart. That is, it is to deny that His existence is self-evident on His creation. It is not to give Him the glory due Him; that His creation is His and He is worthy to be recognized for it. It is to tell God to “shut up” and “stay up” in heaven. Furthermore, it is a willful suppression as indicated by Paul- “exchanging the truth of God for a lie” (vs. 25). It is a willful exchanging of the truth of God's existence for a lie that He does not exist. This exchange, of course, includes the obvious attitude that follows, namely that man does not have to be subservient to this "false Maker".

Scripture has something to say for the person who suppresses this inner awareness of God. Psalm 14:1 is one place. It says, "The fool has said in his heart that there is no God" (cf. Ps. 53:1). That does not seem like a nice thing to say. But once you understand Romans 1 it makes sense, and thus becomes a fair and accurate statement.

To deny God’s existence is foolish. It is foolish because it is the height of pride. Denying God’s existence assumes that one has the ability to storm the gates of Heaven, walk into God's throne room and drag Him from His throne, throw Him into the basement of heaven and lock the door as if He is an easy victim to take advantage of. Denying God either by words, or by life, or by both is to presume that one is autonomous from the very One who made him. And it is to add to this self-deceived autonomy a self-appointed authority that shuts God up with such unmitigated assaults (mental and physical) that one actually conceives the preposterous thought that he secures impunity from the punishment of this “basement God”, who is not really locked up, but who, the perverse mind has actually been deceived to think is. A fatness has enveloped his heart (Calvin frequently uses this phrase) so he refuses to love the God who created Him, but instead hates Him and His laws. And this fatness of the heart leads to blindness of the eyes so that he thinks there is no God- denying the proof of God which he sees all around him.

Fourth, notice what God does to those who suppress the truth of God's existence and His correspondent worthiness to be worshiped and adored- His glory to be recognized. This awareness-if suppressed-leads to God’s temporal judgment, which leads and points to His eternal judgment (Rom. 1:24, 26, and 28).

The phrase “God gave them over” is used in vss. 24, 26, and 28. The Greek word used in Romans 1 literally means “hand over”, “give”, “deliver”, or “give up”. It was used to refer to the handing over a prisoner for his sentence.

Here is the picture being painted in Romans 1: man restrains one thing, and removes restraint for another thing. In other words, man pursues sin with unrestrained aggression, but at the same time he suppresses ("restrains") the truth of God’s existence engraved on his heart. And while all of this is going on in his heart, mind, and soul, God also removes His restraint (common grace) on this man. He lets go of this man; gives man over. He lets the sin that he is pursuing to actually work as judgment against him. The temporal built-in consequences for sin will manifest themselves in the lives of those who commit sin as they suppress the reality of the God they know to be there. Sin, therefore, is responsible for crafting its own punishment. Sin itself becomes the punishment because only by the committing of certain acts of sin can consequences be conceived and blossom into real, full-fledged temporal pain (physical, emotional, spiritual). And this is the punishment God gives them over too.

Fifth (and finally) note with me the conclusion Paul gives to such an awful mess. He says that this internal awareness of God serves to condemn men when they ignore it. Very simply, he says that it makes them "without excuse" (Rom. 1:25). Calvin says, “To prevent anyone from taking refuge in the pretense of ignorance, God Himself has implanted in all men a certain understanding of His divine majesty”.

What all these Scriptures reveal to us is that God is not pleased with unbelief. To deny the inner knowledge of God is to commit a heinous sin. Spurgeon once said, “Every other crime touches God’s territory, but unbelief aims a blow at His divinity, impeaches His veracity, denies His goodness, blasphemes His attributes, maligns His character; therefore, God, of all things, hates first and chiefly, unbelief, wherever it is”. That was well said by the Prince of Preachers.

Those who deny His existence are anything but innocent. They are culpable and condemned. To deny God’s existence because you want what you consider ample proof of His existence is to blaspheme God because it is to tell God, “Your evidence is not good enough for me. I demand more.” It is not an innocent heart, but a recalcitrant heart who loves sin.

To be“without excuse” suggests that we are left without a valid defense for our unbelief when we deny the “seed of religion” placed within us by God. Unbelief is unacceptable to God.

Next time we will look at the second strand of evidence to support the notion that all men possess an inner awareness of God.

Thankful for the Spirit's Enlightening Work on the Hearts of His Elect,

Andy

Finally....Answering the Question Proposed

We can finally answer the question proposed several weeks ago. Just to bring you up to speed, we are answering several basic questions regarding Christian theology. We are on question two, which is "How can we know God?" The first question answered was simply, "Why is it important to study theology?"

Let me give to you the outline that I crafted for the next few weeks. This will help you follow my line of thought a little easier. I apologize for not having PowerPoint on Sunday for those of you who take detailed notes. I will be a good boy this coming week and have it for you. Here is the outline that I explained Sunday. (Note: On Sunday we only dealt with the first sub point of point I. That is why pt. I, A is more extensive than the rest of the outline.)

How do we know God?

I. The Witness of God's Work (A discussion regarding general revelation)

A. Awareness of God Internally (conscience)
1. Support by means of Scriptural explanation
2. Support by means of experiential observation
3. Support by means of practical illustration

B. Awareness of God Externally (creation)

II. The Witness of God's World (A discussion regarding general revelation)

III. The Witness of God's Word (A discussion regarding special revelation)