INVINCIBLE CHURCH 9-15-24

Invincible Church Sermon Notes
9/15/2024
God’s Revelation- Romans 1:19-23
God has revealed Himself to the world in two profound but different dynamics. One is His written Word, the Holy Bible, and the other is His "natural or special" revelation. "Natural or special" revelations are all of His actions and creation apart from the Bible.
First, we will look at what the Bible tells us about His "natural or special" revelation. God uses two specific means to display His "natural or special" revelation. One is nature, and the other is man. The Bible talks about God’s specific means of nature in:
Psalm 19:1 (NIV) - 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
In other words, we see the sun in the daytime, the stars at night, and everything else God has created in all of nature, and we can reasonably conclude that there is somebody who has power and intelligence and who has created or made possible all that we experience and see.
The other specific means God uses for "natural or special" revelation is through man. Look at:
Romans 1:19-23 (NIV) - 19 Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For 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, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
God’s revelation is plain to see because He made it obvious to us. God put something inside us that testifies to the fact that there is a Creator who should be glorified and obeyed. It’s hard to understand how some people, known as atheists, don’t believe in God.
It’s mind-boggling. It does not take a genius to realize there aren’t a bunch of "little kids" walking around naturally inclined to be atheists because God doesn’t put an atheistic philosophy inside us. That is why we don’t see kids struggling with an "atheistic mindset."
The most natural thing for a child to believe is that God made the world and us, and He loves and cares for us. It’s not until a kid "grows up" and gets educated, sophisticated, and brainwashed that he decides he’s going to pursue a false god, create his own god, or try to be god. The passage tells us that any effort like this is useless.
The English word is "futile," which means it is a useless thought process, a foolish waste of time. Eventually, this person's heart becomes dark. The reality is, we are surrounded by God’s revelation everywhere, both inside and outside. People can see the evidence of God in every bird, rock, tree, flower, star, and on and on—no excuses!
Everything we see reveals God’s glory, deity, sovereignty, power, and holiness. So, how in the world does somebody come to the conclusion that God doesn’t exist? The only answer is they have rejected the knowledge of God, and they’re worshiping themselves instead. An atheist is a person with a stubbornly narcissistic attitude and ego.
Another type of person having a futile “thought process” is an agnostic. An agnostic believes the existence of God is impossible to be known or proven. Agnosticism is just a more "naive" form of atheism!
All of this leads to the question: If a person accepts God’s "natural revelation" and believes God exists, can they be "saved from sin" through this belief and go to heaven? Like the person who says, “Well, I believe in God, and I worship Him when I’m at the beach or on the golf course.” Or the person who says, “I believe God created me, and I believe that He loves me, so He wouldn’t send a person He ‘created and loves’ to Hell.” Others say, “I’m working hard so that I’ll have more good deeds than bad deeds, and God will let me into heaven.” But, the Bible tells us that’s not how it works. The Bible says:
God created us and made us in His image, but neither sin nor sinners can exist in His presence. However, God loves us so much, He sent His Son Jesus to pay the price for our sin, which proves God’s grace, mercy, and love for us! So, the only way to be reconciled to God for eternity in heaven is to be in a "salvation relationship" with His Son Jesus.
This means a person can believe "God exists," acknowledge His creation, and even claim to believe in God, but if they never really come to understand Him as the one and only sovereign, holy, almighty God of the universe and everything in it through a "salvation relationship" with His Son Jesus, then they are not saved and won’t go to heaven. Period!
Jesus said in:
John 14:6 (NIV) - 6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The Bible also says in:
John 3:18 (NIV) - 18 “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
So, salvation from sin in order to spend "eternity in heaven" is more than the acceptance of God’s sovereignty through "natural or special" revelation. To further affirm this proclamation by Jesus, Peter looked at the religious Jewish leaders called "the Sanhedrin" and said in:
Acts 4:12 (NIV) - 12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
If "natural revelation" was all that people needed to get saved, then the instructions Jesus gave us to be doing until He comes back wouldn’t make sense! This means everybody is going to need to know more than the "natural or special" revelation of God for salvation, and we are supposed to be helping them understand that truth.
Faith in Jesus Christ is necessary, and that’s why God didn’t stop with natural revelation. He also gave us special revelation, which are the actions that reveal "important things" we need to know about Him. In other words, God has some "specific things" to say, and special revelation says those "things."
It tells us about His mercy, grace, forgiveness for sinners, and all about the sacrifice of His Son Jesus. It tells us about salvation! It tells us about the church, the second coming of Jesus, the millennial kingdom, and eternity in the new heaven and new earth!
God determined that it wasn’t enough to just have a "broad" natural revelation. God wanted specifics! God has something to say, and God doesn’t mumble! God doesn’t speak in broad generalities! God’s revelation is very “precise and perfect!”
There are also many ways God reveals Himself in special revelation through man. We’re going to quickly look at:
8 Modes of God’s Special Revelation
1] Theophany
Theophany means a visible appearance of God in some kind of form. There are times when God appears to people in a form that’s tangible to human senses. God is invisible to us, but He can choose to appear to people in a form they recognize!
• God and two angels visited Abraham in Genesis 18. Abraham said, “Hello, come be guests in my house!” He told his wife Sarah, “Get in the kitchen and make some sandwiches!” They visited with God and the two angels in their home—God was appearing in a theophany.
• In Exodus 3, God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush and gave him specific instructions.
• In Genesis 31, Jacob thought he was wrestling with an angel, but it was really God. That’s a theophany.
Some Bible scholars call a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus a “Christophany,” but these examples aren’t 100% indisputable. Every theophany where God takes on human form could potentially be a foretelling of the incarnation of Jesus, leading up to:
God’s greatest theophany, which was His appearance as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Bible is clear that God did reveal Himself several different times in different “tangible and visible” forms. So, God uses theophany to reveal specific things about Himself.
2] Inspiration
Now, God didn’t have to appear Himself every time He wanted to communicate specific messages! He could just speak, and He had some “vessels” that He inspired and used to speak His words. They’re called prophets. When God wants a message “audibly and verbally” communicated, He can and will speak through the mouth of a prophet.
The prophet would start by saying, “The Lord God says,” then God would take control of his mind and mouth to speak specific messages for God. Sometimes in the Bible, it’s hard to tell whether it’s God talking or the prophet and that’s the "big idea." God inspires and uses men to communicate supernatural and spiritual messages about Himself.
3] Casting Lots
Sometimes God got His message across by casting lots. In Jonah 1, God had an assignment that He wanted to happen in a certain way, and He wanted Jonah to do it. The Israelites cast lots to determine who should go, and “the lot” fell on Jonah.
God made sure Jonah got the short straw, which led to one of the most incredible stories in the Bible when Jonah was swallowed by the whale. God wanted to be sure that it happened that way, so He got a specific thing accomplished through “the casting of lots.”
God allowed the Israelites to cast lots to determine His will for a given situation. God even gave instructions about casting lots! In Leviticus 16 and Numbers 26:55-56, the Bible shows us that sometimes, God aligned His will by allowing the "casting of lots."
4] Dreams
In Genesis 28, 37, 40, and 41, the significance of dreams is emphasized. Joseph was probably used by God in the area of dreams more than anybody else. The Bible shows us that God uses dreams to communicate His will. A very common way for God to communicate.
5] Visions
One of the best examples is found in Ezekiel 1. If you’ve ever read it, God gives Ezekiel a vision unlike any other! It may seem hard to figure out, but God has a specific purpose for it.
Another prophet who God dealt with in visions was Daniel. Daniel was usually a secondary figure in visions, meaning God would give the visions to somebody else and use Daniel to interpret them. God communicates through “dreams and visions.”
6] Audible Speaking
There were other times in the Bible when God Himself spoke. There are many examples that start with the phrase, “And God said.” We see it from Genesis 11-18 when God spoke to Abram (later called Abraham).
In the New Testament, Paul was on his way to Damascus, and God suddenly “flat-out” spoke to him. God’s voice thundered out of heaven—it must have been both incredible and terrifying! God sent His voice across the sky and communicated verbally.
7] Face to Face
In the Old Testament, God sometimes communicated “face to face.” But this doesn’t literally mean God’s physical face—it means God came down and had direct, tangible communication with a prophet. They essentially stood "nose to nose" and talked.
God’s voice didn’t always thunder from the sky. Sometimes He came down in a tangible form for a direct conversation. This type of communication was to reveal specific things about Himself to a prophet.
8] Miracles
When God performed miracles, it specifically demonstrated to mankind that He was involved. There was no doubt that God was “active and present.” God also used miracles to affirm and confirm the preaching of Scripture.
The prophet Elijah would show up and announce what God said, and people would ask, “How do we know what you’re saying is true?” Elijah would then raise someone from the dead, and people had to at least think, “Maybe this guy’s right!”
Peter stands up and preaches the gospel, then he heals everyone who’s sick. That made a lot of people take note and say, “This guy must really be from God!” God sometimes accompanied His word with signs, so men would know it was truly His word.
Jesus, Paul, Peter, and others would preach, and God would attest to the truth of the gospel through signs, wonders, and miracles. The result of God’s creation, actions, and speaking is His natural and special revelation. Paul says in:
2 Corinthians 12:12 (NIV):
12 "I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders, and miracles."
This leads many people to ask, “Then why do we need the Bible?” Because it is the second profound dynamic that God chose to reveal Himself to us. The Bible is the recording of the acts and communications of God that He deemed necessary to include in His written revelation to mankind.
The Bible is a product of God, and it carries His authority. It didn’t originate with man, but God used man to write it. The writing of Scripture was directed by the Holy Spirit. God wanted us to have a tangible record of the main part of His revelation—this is why He put it in writing. And that’s the Bible.
Some people ask, “Is everything that God ever said and did in the Bible?” No, some of His revelation didn’t get included. What does this mean to true followers of Jesus? Since we believe and acknowledge that the Bible is the primary source of all knowledge we need about God. Therefore, we should study it in detail and adhere to its principles so we can testify to its truth.
We’re going to take a few minutes to reinforce our understanding of God’s written revelation to us through His word, the Holy Bible, because it’s very important for true followers of Jesus to have 100% confidence in the accuracy, believability, and credibility of the Bible as God’s revelation, not just the book of Revelation, but His complete revelation to the church, which is the body of Christ and made up of all true followers of Jesus.
The written revelation of God is important because passing on oral communication gets really disjointed from person to person. God knew that oral communication was very risky, so He wanted His “perfectly accurate” truth in writing. Jesus said in:
Matthew 5:18 (NIV):
18 "For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."
He said, “God wrote it this way, and it’ll never be changed!” So, the original word of God that we have here is the record of God’s revelation, and He wanted it written down because a book groups all the messages together. Look at:
Exodus 17:14 (NIV):
14 "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.'"
God wanted to give us the advantage, blessing, honor, privilege, and responsibility of having all His messages. Paul said in:
1 Corinthians 10:11 (NIV):
11 "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come."
God also wants His revelation written because it is durable, mobile, and far-reaching! Here we are, halfway around the world from Israel, where God’s truth was dictated, and we’ve got it right here in our hands—and even on our phones! The Bible transcends the prophets' “life and times.”
Nehemiah 8:1 (NIV):
1 "All the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra, the teacher of the Law, to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel."
Those Scriptures that they gathered and read over 3,000 years ago are part of the same Scripture we are holding and reading today. The “meaning and message” hasn’t changed one bit—and it never will! Amazing—only God could do that!
The last thing we’ll look at today is very important: the reason God wanted His message written down is because a written message makes everybody responsible. It just does! It’s written, and He’s promised to give everybody access to the truth it reveals about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and salvation from sin before He returns. Listen to the words of Jesus in:
2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV):
16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness."
We can trust God’s word in every circumstance. God gave His word to us in written form because it’s critical that His revelation is preserved. External experiences and stimulus can’t take the place of God’s written truth.
People gathering together for a “light and music show,” looking for or hoping to find a “feeling or emotion” to help them understand a relationship with Jesus is just substituting a quasi-spiritual experience for the truth of the word of God.
The greatest thing for helping anybody understand a true salvation relationship with Jesus is to understand Scripture. It’s not about a special feeling because our feelings will lie to us. But God cannot and will not lie, so His word—the Holy Bible—is critical for us to understand His revelation to us.