Grace Bible Church of Rolling Meadows

The Great Revelation - part 2

Feb 1, 2024

Presented by Peter Philippi


If God is real, why is he so unpopular?



We are studying together the existence of God. And the question that we're asking is, if God is real, why is He so unpopular? In other words, why is it that so many people don't believe in God, especially after all of this evidence which God has given to us? The Bible assumes the existence of God. In Genesis, chapter one, verse one, it says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

There's fulfilled prophecy, hundreds and thousands of prophecies in the word of God which have been fulfilled to the letter exactly at the right time, events that have happened that were foretold by God, hundreds and thousands a year before that. And then God has provided man with great proof, conscience, a reality in the heart of man, in the conscious of man that God exists and creation which God spoke into existence. So how is it then that with such clear and universal evidence, people don't believe in God? That they don't believe that He is the author and originator of all creation, including themselves?

Something happened with man. And I use the word man generically here, including all humans. Something happened to man that has caused him to be convinced that there is no God. And the Bible tells us exactly what happened. If you look at the book of Psalms, chapter 14 and verse one.

Somebody has said that you can prove from the Bible that there is no God. And you could, and this is a clear incident where taking something out of context proves something that is not true. Psalm 14, verse one says, there is no God. So you can prove from the Bible that there is no God. But seen in context, verse one says, The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. That's a foolish statement, a foolish belief, to say that there is no God. What happened?

They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that does good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside. They're all together become filthy. There is none that does good. No, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge.

And so here's what happened. Man declares in his own foolishness that there is no God. But how did that happen? How is it that with all that evidence that man states that the same statement as we read in Psalm 14 is also in Psalm 53, where it says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God, and it's an inherent choice of corruption that has caused man to do that. Let's examine from the word of God how this happened.

We need to go back to the book of Romans. Go to the book of Romans and chapter one. It explains how man got to the place where he concludes that there is no God. So what happened? And by the way, as you see in the slide, Psalm 14, verse one, and Psalm 53, verse one. That whole passage is quoted in Romans chapter three, verses ten through twelve. In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul, God through the apostle Paul, is trying to show the utter, desperate, corrupt condition of man apart from God. And that's the way we come into this world. And we'll see that in Romans chapter one. Look at verses 19 and 20. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it unto them. That's conscience. God put in the heart of man an awareness of the existence of God. For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. So what do men do?

Look at verse 21, Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. That's one of the things that man did. But then go back to verse 18, just before the verses that we read. It says, for the wrath of God, the judgment of God is revealed from heaven. Against whom?

Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. What has man done in his unrighteousness and his ungodliness? Ungodliness is a negative attitude toward God. Unrighteousness is a negative attitude toward righteousness. Who?

God is the righteous God. How did man get to this place? What did man in his corruption and sinfulness, do? Verse 18. Who hold or suppressed the truth in unrighteousness?

So here we have the truth that God exists. Here we have the evidences that God exists. And man takes that truth, that evidence and suppresses it, pushes it down, pushes it out of his mind and rejects it. And that's how man becomes a fool who is able to say, there is no God. So that's what man does.

Man takes the truth of the existence of God, and the evidence is that God exists and man is guilty of pushing truth away, of burying it, of purposely rejecting it.

I just heard in the news a couple of weeks ago of a big trial against a criminal that for political reasons would be inconvenient to indict. So what did prosecutors do? Prosecutors suppressed key evidence to affect the trial. Their favorite evidence was suppressed in deceit and malice to avoid an indictment. They got away with it. But not so when you suppress God's truth.

And there are many tragic consequences to doing that. Again, Romans chapter one, verse 18. Who hold the truth in unrighteousness and the wrath of God is revealed against all of this corruption, men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. At the end of verse 20, God says that people that do that, it says in verse 20, so that they are without excuse, they are without a defense. When man stands before God and there's an appointment that every individual has to meet God, the Bible says that it is appointed on to man once to die, and after that the judgment. And once you come before God, the Bible makes exceedingly clear, you have no defense. You're guilty. You're guilty if you have rejected God's truth, if you have rejected God's word, if you have rejected God's son, you are without a defense, without excuse. So while prosecutors suppress evidence for political and malicious reasons, man suppresses God's truth. It says here in unrighteousness, choosing sin and selfish pursuits instead, and the result is God's righteous wrath poured out against them for all eternity.

And while man seeks to excuse his stance and his actions, God says that he is without excuse, literally without a defense, guilty before God, incurring his righteous anger and judgment.

Man's indictment of suppressing God's truth is elaborated further in Romans chapter one. It says that having suppressed the truth and unrighteousness and being without excuse, man's indictment is stated in verses 19 and 20, where man comes to the conclusion there is no God. And since then it says here that because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. So in suppression they did not acknowledge him as God, did not give God the honor rightfully due him, and were utterly ungrateful to him, and did not recognize him as the source of all, including their own existence. And man is in a tragic condition because of that.

There are yet more consequences to suppressing God's truth and man's lack of dependence on him. So that as we read in verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, they did not give God the credit, the glory, the honor that is due him because of who he is. He is God. He is a holy God, an all wise, all powerful God who is able to give existence to this universe by just speaking the word. And it says in verse 21, they glorified him not as God.

Why? What was the origin of that, because they refused to accept God's truth but suppressed it, they buried it. They reject God's truth and refuse to give him the honor that is due him. They glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful.

Those are the consequences of suppressing the truth of God. Not being grateful for everything that God has made and everything that God has provided for us, even our own very existence. Neither we're thankful. And in this condition, man is in utter spiritual darkness. So they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

So man comes up with all sorts of outrageous ideas about creation.

And that is what is being taught in our schools, theories, untruths about where this universe originated from, how it came into existence, outrageous ideas about creation. Instead of accepting the truth of God and what he said and what he's done, and in rejecting and suppressing and pushing away the truth of God and his word, man becomes vain, empty imaginations. And man has been able to come up with all kinds of crazy ideas about where we came from and about where we're going and about what's going on in this world. How did that happen?

Man suppressed God's truth, rejected God's truth, and because of that, became vain in their imaginations. And here we have the word that we read in Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. And their foolish heart was darkened. And so man is in spiritual darkness today because of the fact that man rejects, suppresses God's truth. You see how we have a choice?

We have a choice as to whether to accept or reject God's truth. God doesn't impose that truth on any of us. God does not force any of us to believe. However, the consequences of those choices are predetermined. It happens without our choosing those consequences.

And when man suppresses, rejects God's truth and chooses sin and unrighteousness instead, we become vain in our imaginations. And the light, God, goes out so that we are in spiritual darkness. That's an awful place to be. Imagine yourself in a room that is completely dark with no light. Imagine yourself in a location where it's 100% dark. You don't know where you're going. You don't know what you're doing. You don't know what's there. You don't know what's real. Only the light reveals that.

And man today is in spiritual darkness because man has rejected and suppressed God's truth.

And then we have a clear statement as to how Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 came about where the foolish man declares, there is no God. Verse 22 says, professing themselves to be wise, they became complete fools. And what did they do? Man began to worship. You see, man refused to acknowledge God.

Man refused to worship God. Man refuses to give God the honor due to him. That's what it means to glorify God. And in doing so, man replaces the glory of God and the greatness of God and creates all kinds of images to worship and to serve. And that's what we read here, verse 22.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And as fools, having suppressed God's truth, they changed the glory of the uncorruptible God, the God in whom there is no flaw, in whom there is no sin, no corruption, the uncorruptible God, the one who is not capable of seeing and being around corruption, change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image. Images. So man begins to create, generate together all kinds of images that man worships, worshipping endless images of human origin, change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. So man makes images of human beings, male or female, and they worship and serve those images, giving those images which are corruptible, which are dead, giving those images credit for powerful images and powerful things that they can do.

And they're absolutely lifeless, inanimate objects that man, in his corruption and in his foolishness, worships. What an awful condition to be in. And so man starts with God's great creation. And here we don't have man's evolution. We have man's devolution as he worships man.

And then he goes down from there, makes images of corruptible man. And then he says, well, that's not enough, I think. I will make images of birds and I will worship birds. And then man goes lower than that. And man creates images of four footed beasts and worships that and gives credit to those images for doing supernatural things which they're not able to do.

And then starting with man, birds, four footed beasts, and now the lowest of the low and creeping things, insects. Man worships insects. Man worships his own creation, things of his own making. And he does that because he has rejected, suppressed God's infinite and glorious and great truth. And that's the condition of man.

And we see that all through scripture. We see evidences of that in the history of the nation of Israel. God did some great things for them. God delivered the nation of Israel from 400 years of bondage and slavery and miraculously delivered them from the egyptian bondage. And man saw all kinds of supernatural things that God did to protect them and to provide for them here.

They're leaving Egypt. They come to the Red Sea. The Egyptians are chasing them to kill them on the one end. On the other end, there's the sea. If they go into the sea, they'll drown. If they stay there, they will be killed by the Egyptians. And God, miraculously by his outstretched arm, parts the Red Sea. That's a real event, parts the Red Sea. And it's interesting because when you are by the beach and there's low tide, when the tide goes back, the sand is still wet and squishy from the water, having been there. Not so when God does it, when he parts the sea.

The Bible says that they walked across on dry ground and they saw all kinds of things that God did. And then once they're away from there and they're out in the wilderness, they get impatient with God. They get impatient with Moses, the man whom God used to lead them out of there. And what did they decide to do? They said, bring us all of your gold jewelry, all of the gold that you have, and they melt all of that gold and shape it into an animal, into a calf.

And then they begin to worship that and give credit to that dead, inanimate object for delivering them from Egypt rather than giving credit to God. What are they doing? They suppressed God's truth and all that God did for them. And with them, they suppress it all. They reject it all.

And they do exactly what Romans one tells us, that they make images. They begin to worship human creations of four footed beasts. And we see through the history of man, all of the horrible idolatry that man is involved in, that man has engaged in and giving credit to those human figures, giving credit to those birds, the images of birds and four footed beasts and creeping things, giving them credit for the things that only God has done for them, giving them life and provision and directing them through life.

And so here's why God is so unpopular. God is real, but he's unpopular because man chooses not to believe in God. Man chooses to reject the truth of God. Man chooses not to glorify and honor God for who he is. Man chooses not to be grateful to God for all he's done.

And the consequence of that is that man is in spiritual darkness. Man is in a condition that is desperate and destitute spiritually. And only the provision that God has made for man, not just in creation and in conscience. But the provision that God has made for man in and through his son because his son is God. His son is the one who left heaven, came down to earth to do for us that which we could not do for ourselves.

And that is to rescue us and deliver us from spiritual darkness. To rescue us and deliver us from a foolish heart and wrong doctrines, wrong beliefs. And he went to the cross as God and died there, gave his life for us, died in our place, paid the price for our foolishness, for our corruption, for our sin. So that having died on that cross and having made payment for our sins, we could live, we could experience and have life in Jesus Christ. Because he's a savior who is not dead or inanimate.

He's a savior who rose again from the dead the third day and offers salvation to you and to me. Free. Free because it was fully paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. You can be set free from believing all kinds of nonsense that man has generated and believe the truth of God's word, what he has done for us, who he is and what he has created. The Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

Trust in him alone and exclusively for your salvation and you will come out of darkness into the light. You will come out of spiritual death and be given eternal life.