Do you believe God? Please notice I’m not asking if you believe in God. According to a Barna Survey in 2011, 86% of Americans say they believe in God. (That number has probably dropped since 2011). No, I’m asking you if you believe God.
It’s one thing to say that you believe in God, but do you really believe Him? According to the most recent Barna survey that I could find, 9% of Americans say that they have a biblical worldview. (This percentage has probably also decreased since 2009). So what is a biblical worldview? A biblical worldview is a worldview that is based on the Bible. It is based on God’s Holy Word. It’s a worldview that believes in the great God of Heaven and earth.
So maybe you say that you believe in God and you believe in the Bible, just not all of it (like Rob Bell). If you don’t believe all of the Bible, then you are calling God a liar. You really don’t believe God.
Do you believe in evolution? If you believe in macro-evolution, if you believe that we morphed out of some primordial ooze or some dot billions of years ago, then you don’t believe God. You are calling God a liar. Genesis 1:1 says: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. In the beginning GOD! It all begins with God. If you believe that you and I are some kind of cosmic accidents that just happened or evolved over billions of years, then you do not believe God.
If you are out here tonight and you believe that there’s nothing wrong with abortion, then you do not believe God. Proverbs 6:16-19 states: These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Abortion is murder. If you believe in abortion, then you are opposed to God; you do not believe God.
Maybe you think that same sex marriages are ok. If so, then you do not believe God. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished (Proverbs 16:5). Before you even look at the sexual immorality of homosexuality, most gays and gay supporters sin because of gay pride. The LGBT community proudly promotes gay pride. They have gay pride parades all around the country. Just the pride part is sinful to God. A proud heart is an abomination to the Lord -Proverbs 16:5.
Not only is homosexuality contrary to nature, it is sexually immoral and it is an abomination to God. Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination (Leviticus 18:22). If you support same sex marriage or homosexual relations in any way, then you do not believe God.
If you claim that you believe God and you are committing adultery or having any sexual relations outside of biblical marriage or your out here getting drunk or if you are a thief, then you are calling God a liar. You really don’t believe God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says: Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Maybe you look at pornography. If you watch pornography or pornographic movies –even the R rated ones like 50 Shades of Grey, then you do not believe God. Jesus said Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matthew 5:27-28). So even if you think pornography is a victimless crime, you are wrong. You are sinning against God and you are calling Him a liar. Jesus said that just lusting after someone was the same as committing adultery with that person in your heart.
God sees and judges even your thought life. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil (Ecclesiastes 12:14). You think that the things you do in secret are hidden from everyone else. You think no one knows about it. But God knows. He is all powerful, all knowing and ever present. He knows all and He sees all, even your thought life. How embarrassed would you be if your family and friends knew your thoughts? If you die in your sins, they will know them, each and every one of them on Judgment Day.
Maybe you are out here tonight and you think, well I’m working my way to Heaven. I try to treat everyone the way that I want to be treated. I follow the golden rule. God will accept me, because I’m basically a good person. I do more good than bad. If this describes you, then you don’t believe God. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits (Proverbs 16:2). Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts Proverbs 21:2). The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it (Jeremiah 17:9)?
None of us are good by God’s perfect standard. We are all sinners. Our hearts are desperately wicked. There is nothing that you or I can do on our own to get back right with God. Salvation is of the Lord. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9).
If you say that you believe in God, yet you don’t believe the Bible, all of the Bible, then you really don’t believe God. The Bible is God’s Holy Word. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:21). All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). David said The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue (2 Samuel 23:2).
Why is it so important to believe the Bible? Because it was written by men who were inspired by God through the Holy Spirit to write it. There’s no other book like it. It is the only book that contains prophecy after prophecy that has been fulfilled. It was written over 1,500 years by approximately 40 authors on three continents and from Genesis to Revelation, it points us to Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Bible is God’s message for mankind. God tells us that it began with Him; He is the beginning and the end. It tells us about the great three in one: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Bible reveals our sin nature. It points us to our rebellion against God and the only way to get back in a right relationship with Him. There’s only one way and that’s through Jesus Christ.
We’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. An unregenerated heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). None of us are righteous, no not one. Each and every one of us has rebelled against God. We actually deserve eternal damnation by the great Creator God. We’ve all sinned; all of us.
That’s the most amazing part, in spite of our rebellion; God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to bear the punishment for guilty sinners like you and me. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). You do not have to continue walking down the broad road to destruction. You can be saved today. You can surrender your life to Jesus and start walking on the narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14).
Jesus shed His own precious blood for guilty sinners like us. Jesus bore the wrath of God over sinful man while He was beaten and then hung on the cross. Jesus suffered and died to pay a sin debt that He didn’t owe. He rose from the grave and He sits at the right hand of God the Father.
You can live today, you can live forevermore if you repent and put your faith in Jesus. You can choose life tonight. You can be saved. God is calling out to you tonight to be saved. He’s offering eternal life, if you will believe on His Son. If you believe that Jesus bled and died for your sins, if you turn away from your sins and turn to Jesus.
In Ezekiel 18:30-32 God tells the Israelites, why won’t you turn and live? The all powerful God, the Righteous One, our Holy God cried out to the Israelites, why won’t you turn and live. God is crying out to you tonight to turn and live. Won’t you surrender your life to Jesus? Won’t you truly believe God? Do you believe God tonight? If you really believe Him, then you will acknowledge that you are sinner and that you need to be saved. You will admit that you can’t save yourself. You will cry out for God to save you through Jesus Christ our Lord. Won’t you really believe God tonight and come to Jesus? Please, believe God before it’s too late. Repent and believe the Gospel.
(This message was lifted up in downtown Springfield, MO on February 20, 2015)
86% of Americans believe in God 2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/06/belief-in-god-poll_n_872059.html
Barna research survey reveals 9% of American’s have a biblical worldview
https://www.barna.org/barna-update/21-transformation/252-barna-survey-examines-changes-in-worldview-among-christians-over-the-past-13-years#.VOJ-6fnF86w