"IN THE BEGINNING GOD"
I. THE FACT OF GOD ASSUMED.
A. No elaborate arguments given seeking to prove or establish His existence.
B. This is a natural and logical assumption.
1. Evidences of His existence all around us and overwhelming.
a. The design and order of the universe.
b. The cycles and perpetuation of life forms.
c. The human body.
2. Only a fool could deny the evidence.
a. "The fool hath said..."
C. Sometimes we find ourselves in the position of seeking to defend God.
1. The Bible never does this.
2. The day I must defend God, He's in trouble.
3. "Answer not a fool according to his folly..."
D. It is much easier to believe in God than to not believe.
1. If you eliminate God you must begin with something.
a. A mass.
b. Energy.
c. All design is fortuitous accidents.
d. All order is accidental circumstances.
2. Must explain how.
a. Something can come from nothing.
b. Order can come from chaos.
c. Why natural selection today creates a deterioration and mongrelization of a species, rather than a highly developed form.
d. Who wound the great clock of the universe & started it moving?
E. Where did God come from?
1. He is self-existent.
II. THE FACT OF GOD REVEALED.
A. This is the introduction of the book because the whole book is about God.
1. What is He like?
2. What does He want?
3. Why did He make me?
4. What is His plan & purpose for man?
5. These are the things this book is to answer.
B. God must reveal Himself if man is to get a true picture.
1. Men have created their own ideas of God.
a. Largely a projection of themselves.
b. Result is confusion.
1. conflicting ideas, which one to believe?
2. The Bible purports to be God's Word. God revealing Himself to man.
a. It is true or not true.
b. How can you intelligently decide without reading it through for yourself?
c. So many ignorant men today speaking without authority on a subject they know little or nothing about.
1. "The Bible says God created the earth 6,000 years ago." This only proves they haven't read the first verse.
III. WHAT THE BIBLE REVEALS ABOUT GOD.
A. That He created man with design & for a purpose.
1. Man designed with capacity for fellowship with God.
a. Man is incomplete & unfilled without God.
2. The purpose of man is love.
a. That he with a free heart might respond to God's love.
b. God wants you to love Him.
c. He wants this love to supercede all other loves.
d. He wants you to love Him for what He is.
e. He wants you to have perfect confidence & trust in His love.
B. This is the heart of the Bible's revelation of God.