Nature is an excellent teacher. Through looking closely at nature mankind has learned a great many truths about the world we live in and the forces which control it. For example, we have learned the physical laws of gravity, inertia, and force. We have learned objects want to travel toward the center of our earth, that a moving object wants to stay moving, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
By looking at nature we can also learn certain things about God. God himself tells us in his Word what we can learn about him from nature, and what the purpose of that knowledge is. In this lesson we will discover what we can learn about God from the world we live in, and how we should use that knowledge when we have learned it.
(A) Heb. 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of all things.
1. When we look at a block of houses, our common sense tells us that those houses were all built by builders. Those houses did not grow up out of the ground by themselves. Likewise, when we look at this world our common sense should tell us that it did not come into existence by itself either. Someone must have made it. That someone is God, the Maker of heaven and earth.
(A) Ps. 19:1 The heavens recount the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
1. The sun, moon, stars, and planets declare that God has made them.
(AB) Ro.1:19,20 What may be known about God is plain to them (meaning the ungodly who hold down the truth; the unbelievers of the world), for God made it plain to them. For from the creation of the world his invisible qualities have been clearly seen, being understood by the things that have been made, not only his eternal power but also his divine nature, so that they are without excuse.
1. God has made even his invisible qualities known to the people of the world. He has made them known by what he has made.
2. According to this verse God’s invisible qualities have been made plain, not to us believers, but to the unbelievers of the world. Therefore, no one has an excuse for not knowing there is a God.(C) Ps.14:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
1. God says the one who does not know that he exists is a fool. He is foolish because he has not looked at nature and used his common sense to understand there is a God. This describes the 2atheist, who says there is no God.
2. The 3agnostic is also a fool, for he says he does not know if there is a God or not. He, too, has failed to look at nature and use his common sense to know there is a God.(D) Ro.2:15 . . . they (the Gentiles who are not God’s people) demonstrate the demands of the law written in their hearts, their 4conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or excusing them. . .
1. All the people of the world, not just Christians, have God’s law written in their hearts. On the basis of his law written in their hearts their conscience condemns or pardons their thoughts, words, and actions in feelings of guilt or innocence. Their conscience tells them when they have disobeyed God, to whom they must answer for their wrong doings.
2. The conscience, then, tells people that there is a God to whom they must answer.
The Truth Is: A. All men can know there is a God by looking at nature.
B. No one has an excuse for not knowing there is a God.
C. The person who says there is no God is a fool because he has not used his common sense to learn from nature there is a God.
D. The conscience also tells people there is a God, whom they have obeyed or disobeyed.
(A, B, C) Ro.1:20 For from the creation of the world his invisible qualities have been clearly seen, being understood by the things that have been made, not only his eternal power but also his divine nature, so that they are without excuse.
(D) Pro.3:19 The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding he set up the heavens.
(E) Acts 14:17 And yet he has not left himself without witness by doing good, by giving you rain from heaven and crops at the proper times, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.
- God shows that he is good and kind by giving us the rain and the crops that give us food.
(F) Ps. 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned, and have done what is evil in your eyes, so that you are justified when you speak, and you are blameless when you judge.
- Our conscience knows that God is a fair judge who judges sins rightly.
The Truth Is: Nature and our conscience show that God is:
A. Eternal
B. Powerful
C. Divine
D. Wise
E. Kind
F. A fair and right judge
(A) Acts 17:26,27 . . . and he made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their prescribed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation, that they should 6seek God, if perhaps they might grope after him and find him, although he is not far from each one of us.
(A) Isa.55:6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.
The Truth Is: A. We should use the natural knowledge of God to seek him out during our life while the Lord is merciful and offers us salvation.
(A) Ps.96:5 All the gods of the peoples are 7idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
1. Throughout history the nations have worshipped idols, who are non-existent, false gods, instead of worshipping the Lord. Examples of this are the many gods of the Egyptians, and the pantheon of the Greeks and the Romans. As Romans 1:23 states, people exchanged the glory of God for images in the likeness of sinful man, and of birds, animals, and reptiles.
2. They worship idols because they did not know the Lord, the true God, who is the Creator of the heavens and earth.(A) Acts 14:11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices in the Lycaonian language, saying, “The gods, having become like men, have come down to us.”
1. After Paul had healed a man who had been lame from birth and had never walked, the people of Lystra thought he and Barnabas were gods.
2. This example shows that people do not know the Lord is God, but believe in false gods.(B,C) Eph.2:12 . . . remember that at that time you (the Gentiles, unbelievers) were separate from Christ, alienated from citizenship in Israel, estranged from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
1. People who know only the natural knowledge of God that we learned above are separate from Christ. They are excluded from God’s people. They are strangers to God’s covenant, which promises to save the sinners of the world. They know nothing about God’s plan for saving them through Christ.
2. Such people are then without any hope for salvation and without God. From their conscience they know only that they have sinned against God and that he will punish them.(A,B) Acts 16:29,30 And after asking for lights, he (the jailer) rushed in, and trembling he fell down before Paul and Silas. And after he brought them outside, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
1. In answer to Paul’s and Silas’ praying and singing praise to God, God caused an earthquake, which opened the prison. Feeling the presence and power of God, the jailer was terrified and asked to know how he could be saved. His knowledge of God from nature did not tell him how to be saved.
2. People’s awareness of their sin, such as the jailer’s, cause them to fear God and his punishment. This is so, for neither their conscience nor nature tell them how they can be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.(C) 1 Cor.2:9 No eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has it entered the mind of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love him.
1. No person has come to know from his conscience or nature the glories of eternal life in heaven that God has prepared for his Christian people, who trust in Christ and love him for his gift of salvation.
The Truth Is: Nature does not tell us all that we need to know for our salvation. For nature:
A. Does not tell us who the true God of heaven and earth is.
B. Leads us to fell afraid and without hope because we know God will punish us for our sins.
C. Does not tell us the way to be saved.
(A) 2 Tim.3:15 And that from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
1. The Scriptures (God’s Word, the Bible) teach us the wisdom for salvation, which is to believe in Jesus Christ.
(B) Jn.17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your Word is truth.
The Truth Is: There is another source of knowledge from which we can learn about God and the way to eternal salvation. It is:
A. The Scriptures, the Word of God.
B. For God’s Word is the truth.
(A) Acts 16:31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, . . .”
(A) Jn.3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The Truth Is: A. God’s Word teaches us that the way to eternal salvation and to escape everlasting punishment in hell is to believe in Jesus Christ, whom God gave as the atoning sacrifice for us all.