Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe, Does God Exist? This is not a mere philosophical question. But a question which impacts how we view our world. This question determines how we live our lives. This question determines how we will spend our eternity.
Because if there is a God, to reject Him is surely the gravest and most costly of all mistakes. Welcome to The Verdict, the Bible teaching ministry of Pastor John Monroe. Have you ever considered that what you believe defines how you live? Today on the verdict, we're considering the implications of the all-important question, does God exist? The answer to this question defines not only your theology, but your goals, your priorities, and your entire perspective.
Now, let's join Pastor John Monroe with today's message. What is life about? What is the purpose of life? Does your life in particular have any meaning? Last time we began a new series on God and asked the question, does God exist?
Today, we continue to look at that important question and its implications. Last time we thought of the question of origins. Where did everything come from? creation certainly appears to be designed. Who is the designer?
Today, we're thinking of morality and purpose. If there is no God, how do we decide what is right and wrong? Is there such a thing as evil if there is not a good God? What is evil and what's the point of life? Listen now as we deal with these questions of morality and meaning in the context of the existence of God.
I want to consider five relevant questions. as we ask this question. Does God exist. First of all, the question of origins. What is this question?
looking at our universe. Looking at the planet Earth, we ask. Where did all of this come from? What's the biblical explanation? The consistent testimony of Scripture, as we're going to read, is that God.
is the creator of all things. Before the beginning of the universe, there was A God, an eternal God, who was, who is, and who ever shall be. Who in the beginning? Created. everything out.
of nothing. The question of origins. Points. to God. Here is the second question the question of design.
What's the question of design? How do we state that question? With whether we look up at the stars, Or whether you look down at a rose, doesn't everything that we see in the universe? show evidence of design. What's the biblical explanation?
Psalm nineteen, verse one, the heavens are telling of the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands. You see the sky, you see the mountains, you see the ocean. declares the glory of God. We look at a flower. And there we see the handiwork of God.
designs By God. This tiny planet that we live on, called Earth, is designed by God in such a way that it is suited for life. For human life and for animal life and for the life of plants and so on. What's the secular explanation? Evolution.
Evolution explains that the whole universe, with its amazing design, came into existence by a combination of chance events. and impersonal natural laws. Jean-Paul Satre, the famous French existentialist who's so influential, says that the world is not the product of intelligence. It meets our gaze as with a crumpled piece of paper. What is man?
but a little puddle of water who is freedom. is death. Is that what you think? The question of design restated. Is it feasible that the design of our universe is the result of chance?
Is that feasible? Is that probable? What do you think? doesn't Our universe's complexity, its beauty, its awesomeness. Its meticulous design point to a great designer.
and the fingerprints of a powerful designer all over Creation. You really look at these beautiful bouquets of flowers. and say, well, these are the improbable product of cosmic accidents. Quite an accident, isn't it, to produce something.
So beautiful. And so magnificent. No, I'm suggesting to you this morning that the question of design points to the great designer God. First question. Question of origin, second question, a question of design, the third question, a question of morality.
What is the question here? Don't human beings throughout the world all have an innate sense of right and wrong? I've lived in different countries, lived in different people, met hundreds, if not thousands, of people in my life. Wherever I travel, wherever I go, I always meet people who believe in right and wrong. who say that isn't fair, that's not right, that's wrong.
Murder is wrong. It's wrong for a man to cheat on his wife. It's wrong to steal. It's wrong to abuse children. It's right to help people.
It's right to be truthful. It's right to pursue justice. It's right to treat people with respect. C. S.
Lewis in Mere Christianity writes, Think of a country. where people were admired for running away in battle. Or where a man felt proud of double-crossing all the people who had been kindest to him. You might as well try to imagine a country where two and two made five. And so we ask, why is it right?
to keep our promises Rather than to break them. Why is it wrong to deceive people? Why is it wrong to be manipulative of people? I mean, where does this sense of right and wrong, this sense of fairness, the sense of justice, where does it come from? If God does not exist, How did we make this jump from mere molecules to morality.
The biblical explanation? The biblical explanation is that because there are moral laws There must be a moral lawgiver, namely God, who made us in His image. And someone says, well, You know, there are people who don't have the Bible, they don't have the law of God, there are people out there who never heard the gospel. What about them? Paul deals with this wonderfully in the opening chapters of Romans.
In Romans chapter 1, he tells us that creation itself. Is evidence of the existence of God, the power and the eternality that is there, is known in creation. But also he says Even those who do not have God's written law Have God's law written on their hearts. Let's read that, it's so important. The book of Romans chapter two.
Paul is arguing in the opening chapters, Romans 1, 2 and 3. He's going to argue that everyone, whether you're religious or irreligious, whether you're a very moral person or whether you're a pagan, everyone is guilty before God. And this is what he says. In this context, in Romans chapter 2. Verse fourteen.
He says, when Gentiles, non-Jews, who do not have the law The law was given to the Jewish nation, the Ten Commandments, the Mosaic law. There are people Paul recognizes who didn't have the law. When Gentiles who don't have the law do instinctively the things of the law, These, having the law, are a law to themselves. You say, explain that, Paul. Verse fifteen.
In that, they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience. bearing witness and their thoughts alternatively to Accusing or else defending them on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. Jesus. Isn't that interesting? That God has made us, according to Scripture, God has made each one of us with a conscience.
We have his law stamped on our heart. It is true that law is not so specific as his written law. But wherever we live. Even in the remotest jungle or tribe People who have never heard of Christianity, never heard of the Bible, never heard of the Creator God, they also have the law of God stamped on their hearts. This is our conscience.
God has given us this innate sense of what is right and wrong. And when we go against that inner law, what do we experience? You know. Guilt? Shame?
Anxiety. We're going against. The law written on her heart.
Now what's the secular explanation regarding the question of morality?
Well, those who deny God's existence explain that our sense of morality is often purely personal, purely subjective, or it comes from our culture. That's just the way that you've been raised here in the United States. We have a certain code, a certain culture. A certain way of upbringing the accepted code of the society in which we live. But is that correct?
when the culture of Nazi Germany made killing Jews Acceptable, did that mean it was then a good thing to do? No, it was still wrong. Even if the culture says it's acceptable, people knew in their hearts that it was the wrong thing to do. The question of morality restated. When people say they don't believe in God because of all of the evil in the world, aren't they implicitly accepting that there must be some objective moral law?
And if there is a moral law, which I'm arguing there is, Isn't that evidence for a moral law giver? And this sense of morality, this internal sense of morality, comes from a God who made us in His image. the question of morality. I'm suggesting points. to the existence of God.
The question of origins, the question of design, the question of morality, now the question of meaning. You say, What's the question here? What's the point of life? Is there any purpose in life? Is your life meaningful?
Or is it meaningless? What do you think of your life? Is there any purpose to it? Any meaning? Or is it meaning less?
Listen to This philosopher, Billy Crystal. Famous philosopher. In this movie, where he visits his school, son's school.
Some of you have seen the movie. He tells about his. The fathers are invited to school to tell about their work. And Billy Crystal gets his turn. To talk to the kids, and he lets loose in a deadpan monologue to the bewildered youngsters in the class.
Here is Billy Crystal in full flight. Says to these kids, value this time in your life, kids. Because this is a time in your life when you still have your choices. It goes by fast. When you're a teenager you think you can do anything, and you do.
Your twenties are a blur. Third days, you raise your family, you make a little money, and you think to yourself, what happened to my twenties? Forties. You grow a little pot belly. You grow another chin.
The music starts to get too loud. One of your old girlfriends from high school becomes a grandmother. In the fifties, you have minor surgery. You'll call it a procedure, but it's surgery. Six days you'll have a major surgery.
The music is still loud, but it doesn't matter because you can't hear it anyhow. Seventies You and the wife retired to Fort Lauderdale. You start eating dinner at two in the afternoon. You have lunch around ten AM Breakfast the night before. You spend most of your time wandering around malls looking for the ultimate soft yogurt.
And muttering, how come the kids don't call? How come the kids don't call? The eighth You'll have a major stroke. And you end up babbling with some nurse who your wife can't stand, but whom you keep calling mamma. And then he says, Any questions?
A light-hearted look at a very serious question. Yes, life goes quickly. As you know, the older y we get, the quicker life goes. And we starved. If we're smart and we look back, And we say, Well, what was all that about?
Is there any meaning to my life? I ask you that question personally. How would you answer it? Is your life meaningful or meaningless? If you say that your life has meaning What is its meaning?
What are you living for? What's the point of life? Just to get up to go to work? Make some money, come home. Get up the next day, and so on, in a seemingly endless cycle of life.
Greg Easterbruck, contributing editor. For the Atlantic Monthly, also writing for The New Yorker, The New Republic, and The New York Times writes. The modern soul aches. The appointment calendars of psychiatrists and therapists are overbooked. The abundance of the post war era has brought a striking increase in standards of living, but no increase in the percentage of people who describe themselves as happy or content.
He goes on to say that the most likely root cause is a decline in the conviction that life carries Meaning. Interesting. If there is no God, What gives meaning? and purpose to life. The biblical explanation.
Just as houses are designed and built for a purpose Just as cars are designed and built for a purpose, Just as computers are built and designed for a purpose, so God has made us for a purpose. Our Creator has made us to have meaning And our purpose is to know the God who made us, is to live for this God, is to love him and to serve him and to glorify him.
So our Lord Jesus, God incarnate, when he was on earth, said, I've come. Not just to give your life. He said, I've come to give you life. abundantly. No, the non-Christian would laugh at that and think that Christians are a pretty miserable Bunch, and I've known a lot of Christians who are pretty miserable, bunch, but that's another story.
That's not why Christ came. Christ came to give us abundant life. He is the author of life. He is the origin of life. He's the one who gives us meaning.
He made us. Not just so that we would live our own useless lives, that's like a manufacturer making a car. and the car just standing in the lot. For ten years, no, God made us for a purpose. And our Lord Jesus said in a prayer to his father in John chapter 17, verse 3.
This is life eternal. that they may know you, the only true God. and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Did you get her? What's life about?
It's knowing God. It's knowing Jesus Christ, whom God has sent to reveal Himself as the image of the invisible God. Therefore, knowing God and worshiping God are essential for meaning and self-fulfillment. We are made not just physical beings, but we're made moral beings and spiritual beings to correspond and to be in harmony with our Creator. And to establish that harmony, God in His love sends His Son.
Jesus Christ. My dear friend, God. has major And God has made you for a purpose to have meaning. And when we understand that God made us for a purpose, that gives meaning and hope to our lives. Was the secular explanation?
On the subject of meaning, Jessica Matthews, head of the Carnegie Endowment in Washington DC, declared that men and women should accept that, quote, human life is a cosmic accident with no purpose. How sad. If we are just a blind product of matter plus time plus chance, Obviously, our life would be meaningless. If our origin is a matter of chance, And if our destiny is nothingness, Where is the meaning? These words Or on a French gravestone, here lies a man who went out of the world without knowing why he came into it.
How tragic. to go out of the world without knowing why. you came into it. Those who deny God's existence believe that we came from nothing and we go to nothing. And if that's the case, I would say by anyone's definition, life in between.
Is meaningless. The question of meaning restated if we are the result of some cosmic accident, in what meaningful sense can life have meaning? But isn't there something within you this morning which shouts out that you are significant, that you as an individual are significant, that your life must have meaning? And it is true that God has created you for a purpose. And that human beings are not some cosmic garbage, but we are men and women and young people and boys and girls made in the image of God.
And this whole question of meaning. At least to me. And I would suggest that you points unmistakably. to our Creator God, who made you. and who made me for a purpose.
and whose plans and purposes for our lives. Does God exist? human reason cannot conclusively prove the existence of God. But these four questions suggest Good reasons for believing that God does exist. Pascal, the French mathematician and philosopher, said, There is enough light for those whose only desire is to see.
Is your desire to see? Have you come here seeking God, believing that if there is a God, That God would reveal Himself to you? Here it is, the question of origins. Do you really believe that everything came from nothing? Or could it be that God is the Creator who in the beginning created the heavens and the earth.
The question of design Doesn't the incredible design of the universe point to a designer of awesome intelligence rather than to our universe being the product? of random chance. The question of morality. Hasn't God written in our hearts a sense of right and wrong? The question of meaning What gives your life meaning?
Blind chance. Or a personal God who knows you. Who made you for a purpose? Four important questions: origin, design, morality and meaning. But I conclude with another question, a very important question.
The question of faith. The writer of Hebrews In Hebrews 11, verse 3, he puts it this way: he says, We understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. To get that by faith. A question of faith. God doesn't want you just to give an intellectual Assent to the fact of his existence to say, well, on the balance of probabilities, it may be that there is a God, but in a sense, so what?
No. Yes, I want you. to ascribe to the belief in a God But I want you to do more than that. I want you to place your personal faith your personal trust in this God. who not only is great, who not only is powerful, but who is a God of infinite love and has revealed himself to us because although we have the law of God written in our hearts, without exception, all of us have broken that law, sin and despair.
And frustration and heartache has come into our lives and into the whole human race without exception. And God, seeing our plight, Seeing our dilemma, Has done something that we could never do ourselves. He has provided a Savior. He's provided a deliverer in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who said that He had come. from heaven to this tiny little planet.
Out of love. and you'd come to seek and to save And to redeem and to forgive sins and to give us eternal life so that our lives, which are broken and shattered, Yes, the image of God is still there, but it's like a mirror that is shattered. And now God miraculously, as we receive his Son, that that image is restored, that we become more and more like Jesus Christ and so fulfill the reason why God made us in the first place. Do you personally believe in God? Second question.
Have you personally Place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and Lord. I leave you with this question of faith. The Bible says, and without faith it's impossible to please God. For those who come to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Do you believe in God?
Are you sincerely and diligently seeking Him? today. Believe not only that God exists. but receive his Son as your Saviour and Lord. Believe not just in the existence of God, but believe in the promises of God, that the one who receives His Son has life.
will not come into condemnation, but will live forever. And then And the miracle of the grace of God in our lives. to love and to serve this great God. Who in the beginning created the heavens and the earth? And Who knows you?
and who loves you. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God.
To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World. Through this special resource John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity. Get your copy today by visiting our website at the verdict. org. While you're there, consider making an investment in this Bible teaching ministry.
Whether it's $5, $50, or more, your gift today helps cover the cost of sharing these gospel messages to listeners around the world. And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to The Verdict Podcast, featuring John's weekly podcast exclusive called Avizandam. It's available wherever you get your podcasts, or simply go to our website. Again, that's theverdict.org. The verdict is a ministry of Calvary Church in South Charlotte.
We're located on the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road. If you've been looking for a church home or a community to help you grow in your walk with Christ, We invite you to join us for our Sunday services. For more details about Calvary and our service times, visit theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Does God exist? If there is no God, where did everything come from? If there is no God, how do you determine what is right and wrong? Why do we seem to have a sense of fairness and justice?
And if there is no God What's the point of everything? I believe that there is a God, a God who created you, who loves you. and to send Jesus Christ, His Son, to rescue you. Don't forget to join me next time as we think of the subject of creation and evolution. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict.
I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
