The existence of God and the Supernatural
Psalms 19:1-4
Supernatural – Part 1
Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:20 ~ May 27, 2018
Introduction
Ben finished third in his class and had the highest SAT score for a student in Detroit in twenty years.
He dreamed of being a doctor but could only afford the application fee for one college. He paid the $10 and applied to Yale University. He was accepted and won a full scholarship. He thought he was hot stuff—until the end of the first semester.
He was failing chemistry, a prerequisite for pre-med studies. His final grade would depend on the final exam he wasn’t ready for. He’d dreamed of being a doctor but that evening he prayed God would tell him what HE wanted him to do.
After praying, he intended to study all night but fell asleep. He had a weird dream in which he saw a figure writing chemistry problems on the blackboard at the front of an auditorium.
When he went to take the test the next morning, he said it was like “The Twilight Zone.” He opened the test book and recognized the first problem as one of the ones he’d dreamed about. And the next, and the next, and the next, and he aced the exam and passed chemistry. He promised the Lord He would never have to do that for him again.
Ben Carson went on to become a doctor and at age 33 became the youngest director of pediatric neurosurgery in the country. He separated conjoined twins at birth and developed new methods of treating brain stem and spinal cord tumors.[1]
In Equatorial Africa, a woman far from the tools of modern medicine died during childbirth. She left a two-year-old daughter and a newborn in danger of dying in the chill of the night because there was no incubator, no electricity, and few supplies. A hot water bottle was used to keep the baby warm, but it burst.
Visiting missionary Dr. Helen Roseveare asked the orphans to pray for the baby. A ten-year-old named Ruth asked God to send a water bottle. She told God that it wouldn’t be any good tomorrow because the baby would be dead. They needed the bottle that afternoon. For good measure, Ruth also asked for a doll, so the two-year-old would know God loved her.
Dr. Roseveare later said, “I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, ‘Amen’? I just did not believe God could do this. Oh, yes…He can do everything. The Bible says so, but there are limits.”
A couple hours later, a package was delivered to the village. It contained clothing, bandages, and some food…and a hot water bottle. When Ruth saw it, she ran to the box and said that if God has sent the bottle He must have sent a doll too. And He did…there was a doll in the box.
It had all been shipped five months before by the doctor’s former Sunday school class in Ireland. The leader felt prompted by God to include a hot water bottle. A girl brought the doll.
That package was the only one to ever arrive in the village while the missionary doctor was there and it was delivered the same day Ruth prayed for it.[2]
Duane Miller pastored First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas. One Sunday morning he woke up with the flu. His throat felt like sandpaper and it was painful to speak. Eventually, the flu passed but his windpipe felt like it was on fire and his voice was reduced to a raspy whisper.
Basically, his voice was gone, and he ended up resigning from the church because he could no longer preach. He got a government research job but lost it when his inability to speak kept him from testifying in court. Insurance stopped covering treatments and his family faced thousands of dollars in medical bills.
He was seen by 63 doctors over the course of three years. His case was studied by a Swiss symposium of the world’s leading throat specialists. It was decided that the flu virus had destroyed the nerves of his vocal chords and there was a 0% chance for recovery.
His former Sunday school class at First Baptist Church in Houston asked him to come back and speak. He declined because of his condition. They insisted and provided a special mic to amplify his voice. They also agreed to overlook the harsh sound. He was asked to teach on Psalm 103.[3]
I’ve opened this message with the stories of three miracles, but I am not speaking about miracles per se. My goal is much broader. It includes miracles, but they are only a part.
This morning, we a starting a 5-part series titled, “Supernatural.” If you were to look up the word supernatural on dictionary dot com, you would find these definitions[4]:
- Beyond the natural; unexplained by natural law or phenomena; abnormal
- Characteristic of God or a deity
The supernatural is indeed beyond the natural, but for a follower of Christ, it is not abnormal, it is foundational. So much so that if you don’t remember anything else from this message, I want you to remember this:
Without the supernatural, Christianity doesn’t exist.
Let me say it again, without the supernatural, Christianity doesn’t exist.
Why is this so? Consider these facts.
- Without the supernatural, there is no virgin birth.
- Without the supernatural, there are no miracles.
- Without the supernatural, Jesus’ death is not an atoning death—it doesn’t pay the price for sin.
- Without the supernatural, there is no resurrection.
Christianity is rooted in…no, it is born from the supernatural. Our Scriptures begin with the words, “In the beginning, God…” Everything else flows from that. “In the beginning” is not when God began to exist; it is when time began and when the natural world we see all around us came into existence.
In Scripture, we learn of God, angels, Satan, and demons. We read of miracles and demonic oppression and possession. We read of spiritual warfare.
In the introduction to this message, we heard of a dream about very specific chemistry problems, a hot water bottle and a doll delivered to equatorial Africa, and a voice restored. They all seem to point to something supernatural.
There is a certain interest in the supernatural in our culture—things such as ghosts and paranormal activity and even the occult. For many, there seem to be an innate sense of the supernatural—a world beyond us yet connected to us.
There are others, however, who classify any belief in the supernatural as myth. Some dismiss it as a harmful tool used to control the uneducated and misinformed. Others see it as useful and maybe even necessary for people to make sense of and find hope for their lives in this world.
Followers of Christ cannot subscribe to this tenet. I’ve already noted that without the supernatural Christianity doesn’t exist. Paul made this point in this first letter to the church in Corinth, Greece. He wrote that “if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot,” (1 Corinthians 15:17-19, The Message).
If the supernatural doesn’t exist, then you and I are fooling ourselves and ignoring reality. If the supernatural doesn’t exist, then we probably live in a dog-eat-dog world where we need to look out for our own interests. If the supernatural doesn’t exist, then evolutionary theory is as good as any—and perhaps better than most—because it sure seems that this world operates on the principle of the survival of the fittest.
But…if the supernatural exists, we’d do well to pay attention.
Let’s consider four of God’s characteristics which point to the existence of the supernatural—that which exists beyond natural law and phenomena. We’ll consider that (1) God is eternal (2) God is omniscient (3) God is omnipresent, and (4) God is omnipotent.
First, God is eternal—He has no beginning and no end. Try to wrap your mind around that! Everything we know about has a beginning and ending. And yet Scripture makes it clear that God is eternal. We cannot explain that naturally and it points us toward the supernatural.
Second, God is omniscient—He is all-knowing. Scripture asserts that God doesn’t just possess all factual knowledge, but He also knows our thoughts and motives and He knows outcomes before events begin to happen. There are incredibly intelligent people in the world. There are folks with photographic memories and folks who can recall details from virtually every day of their lives, but no person or group of people possess all possible knowledge. To do so would point us toward the supernatural as it does with God.
Third, God is omni-present—He is everywhere. He is not bound by time or space. We’ve all known people who seemed to be everywhere—every time we turn around, they are there. (Today, they’re often called stalkers!) We know no one possesses that ability and yet David hinted at this is characteristic of God when he wrote in Psalm 139, “Where can I go from your Spirit?” The answer to the rhetorical message is “nowhere” because God is everywhere.
Fourth, God is omnipotent—He is all-powerful. There is a well-worn maxim that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Sadly, its truth has been on display in our world in different times and places. And yet that maxim does not apply to God. He is all-powerful and yet always wields that power exactly how it should be used and when it should be used. There have been, and are, many powerful people—some who even proclaimed themselves to be a god—but none has ever truly been all-powerful. If God is all-powerful, then it points us toward the existence of the supernatural.
Now, some might say that I am engaging in confirmation bias—selecting evidence to support what I already believe…and they would be right. But let me say that I am not selecting such evidence because I’m afraid of contradictory evidence. Quite the contrary. I have yet to hear or read any evidence that has caused me to question my belief in the supernatural God of the Bible. Through all my years of study and research, I’ve read many critiques and attacks on Christianity. I’ve come across other theories and haven’t found them to be persuasive.
Having said all that, you need to know that I cannot think for you nor can I decide for you. The best I can do is present evidence for you to consider and leave the rest up to you.
Speaking of evidence, let’s back up from God’s characteristics and ask, “Does God exist?” Sounds like an odd question to ask in a church, right? But I don’t want to assume that everyone here this morning believes exactly what I believe. That makes it an important question to ask and we’re going to answer it by watching three short videos. Each one lays out an argument in support of God’s existence. They are (1) the cosmological argument, (2) the moral argument, and (3) the ontological argument. The videos are from Dr. William Lane Craig who is the foremost Christian apologist in the world today.
(Videos are from Reasonable Faith - www.reasonablefaith.org)
Psalm 19:1-4 (NIV)
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens, God has pitched a tent for the sun.
Romans 1:20 (NIV) …since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…
I believe in the supernatural and I believe that without the supernatural, Christianity doesn’t exist.
What do you believe about the supernatural? What are you supposed to do with this information today?
I’ve prepared some homework questions for you to thoughtfully and deeply work through this week. I’d like you to write answers in your journal and talk about them with someone else.
- If God exists, then…
- If God is eternal, then…
- If God is all-knowing, then…
- If God is present everywhere, then…
- If God is all-powerful, then…
- If these facts are true, what hope do they give me?
- If these facts are true, what is troublesome about them?
[1] Lee Strobel, The Case for Miracles, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), pp. 15-16.
[2] Lee Strobel, The Case for Miracles, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), pp. 16-17.
[3] Lee Strobel, The Case for Miracles, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), pp. 18-19.
[4] Supernatural. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/supernatural (accessed: May 23, 2018).
Series Information
There is a realm that exists beyond our five senses and we ignore it at our own peril.