In this sermon, the speaker discusses the evidence for the existence of God. He begins by mentioning that the sermon transcript is available online for easy reference. The speaker then presents four reasons for believing in God's existence, all starting with the letter C. The first reason is the cosmos, referring to the universe and its complexity, which is supported by biblical passages. The second reason is the complexity of life, using the example of being stranded on an island to highlight the intricacy of creation. The speaker also shares his personal journey from atheism to becoming a pastor and emphasizes God's mercy in his life. Finally, he encourages listeners to be prepared to answer questions about their belief in God by understanding and sharing the evidence.

Why don't you open up with me in your Bibles this evening to Psalm chapter 14, verse 1. For those of you who don't know me, I've been on staff at Calvary Chapel Vista as a pastor for the last nine years, and am just amazed to not only know the Lord and to be saved from my sins, but to have the privilege of serving Him and standing before you tonight and teaching the Word of God. It's a great honor to be able to do that, especially considering my background. I had been raised in a Christian home as a child, but when we got into about seventh grade or so, my father walked away from the Lord, and me and my two younger brothers, you know, we went to church with mom for about the next year, you know, kicking and screaming as we get out the door every Sunday morning because dad was staying home and watching the San Diego Charger games or going surfing, and us three boys would have to go to church with my mom, and we eventually stopped going to church altogether. My mom even walked away from the Lord just a short time later, two or three years later. And the faith that I had as a child slowly eroded into agnosticism. I began to question everything that I had been taught as a child up until junior high. I began to question whether we could even believe that God existed. That was by about ninth or tenth grade. I was already beginning to wonder if the theory of evolution was possibly true, and maybe there isn't a God. And that became very attractive to me, because for the first time in my life, I began to be able to think that I might be able to justify living a sinful life, because if there is no God, there's no day of judgment. There's no having to give an account of your sins at the end of your life. And I thought, that sounds pretty good, actually. And so my agnosticism eroded into atheism. By my junior year in high school, I actually rejected belief in God. I began to question whether Christianity was true at all. I began to be exposed to the fact that there are lots of other religions out there, and I began to think, how in the world could we even, why would anybody believe that the Bible is actually true? What about the Book of Mormon? What about the Quran? What about some of these other books that claim to also be inspired? How can you know that Christianity is actually true? And so altogether, I abandoned the Christian faith, and I went on that path for seven years. Never stepping foot in a church, began drinking and getting involved in just the sinful things of this world, pursuing a life of fame and riches. As I got involved in rock bands, I wanted to be a rock star. Quickly found out how difficult that is to actually become rich and famous. But my life was going quite well, I thought, at least outwardly. I had a good job. I had a girlfriend. I knew where the parties were. I worked at a surf shop down in Carlsbad, a couple hours south of here. But I was very empty and miserable on the inside, as many of you have tasted of the world and seen, that it leaves you empty and wanting. And it was at that time in my life that God brought two or three different Christians into my life at the surf shop that I worked at, who actually were Christians and who began to question my background. What kind of spiritual beliefs do you have? And I don't really have any. Why not? I don't know. I used to go to church. I don't go to church anymore. I don't know if you can believe the Bible is true. Well, they began to actually provide answers and good reasons as to why I should actually reconsider that God exists, that there was actually good evidence that God exists, that there was actually good evidence that the Bible was true. And that was very interesting to me because all along in junior high, up until junior high, I had been raised, I had been going to church. I was taught what to believe, but I was never taught why I should actually believe that those things are true. That's a great danger that exists in the church today, that we would just continually tell people what to believe, our children or our congregations, and yet fail to equip them and show them that there are good reasons, good evidences out there that actually support those beliefs, that actually verify that these beliefs are worthy of believing, that they're actually based and grounded in the truth. Well, I began to, over the course of the next year or so, begin dialoguing with these Christian guys, and I began to research some of the different evidences that they were mentioning for God's existence and for the trustworthiness of the Bible, and my faith, praise the Lord, was slowly revived. And I came back to the Lord. And I went on staff at Calvary, or I actually started going to Calvary Chapel Vista, because a guy, a surfer guy by the name of Joey Baran went there, and I was a big surfer at the time. And I thought, you know what, maybe that church would be kind of accepting of me. I hear that, you know, there's surfers that go there. And so I went to Calvary Chapel Vista and gave my life back to the God who had waited for me for seven years to come to my senses. Eight years later, God actually called me into full-time pastoral ministry, and I went on staff at the church, and I've been working there for the last nine years. I am amazed that God would show mercy to a former atheist, and not only allow him to be a pastor, but allow him now to travel around the United States and teach congregations of his people on evidence for God's existence. And that's the topic we're going to take up this evening. I want to talk to you about evidence for the existence of God. I'm going to share with you some of the reasons why I believe that God actually exists. If somebody were to ask you, why do you believe in God, or what evidence do you have that he actually exists, would you be prepared to answer them? Unfortunately, many Christians are not. They know that God exists. They've seen him radically change their lives, and they have a great hunch that God really does exist. But we need to, as God's people, as his ambassadors, we need to be able to explain to a person why we actually believe that God exists. What evidence there is out there in support of his existence. Are there good reasons to believe that God exists? I believe there are. This evening, I want to share with you four reasons I believe God exists. Four reasons I believe God exists. Now, I'd encourage you to take notes this evening if you're prone to do so. But I also want to share with you my website, because you can actually log on to my website this week. It's alwaysbeready.com. www.alwaysbeready.com. And you can actually hit existence of God on the left-hand side of the screen and pull up basically an entire transcript of what I'm about to share with you this evening. That will make your note-taking efforts this evening slightly easier. You'll know that if you miss something, hey, I can go on the internet and print this whole thing out. That way we can cover a little bit more ground here this evening. www.alwaysbeready.com. 1 Peter 3, verse 15 tells us to always be ready. That's why we named the website Always Be Ready. We're to always be ready to give an answer or a defense. We're to always be ready to give reasons to people who ask us about the hope that we have. And so this evening, my prayer for you is that your faith would be strengthened. If you're here and you already believe that God exists, I pray that you leave here more fully convinced that God exists, lest you ever be pulled astray, okay, or begin to doubt. I pray that tonight's study would sink deep down into your heart and mind, that your faith might be fortified against those doubts or those questions that we're all prone to be plagued with at times. Secondly, I pray that you would be equipped not only to have your faith strengthened, but my prayer is that you would leave here better equipped to share the kinds of things we're going to talk about tonight with unbelievers. Church is not, of course, just about getting together for some huddle, you know, or we all just pat each other on the back and, you know. No, God wants us to get involved in the game. He wants us interacting with unbelievers. He wants us to be able to take some of the things we're going to discuss tonight out to the street, out to our schools, out to our neighborhoods, into those conversations with unbelievers. And then thirdly, if you're here tonight and you yourself are an atheist, perhaps your girlfriend kind of insisted or, you know, was prodding you to come tonight, or maybe your mom or dad made you come tonight, and you consider yourself an atheist, or you don't know what you would believe about whether God exists, my prayer is that your skepticism regarding belief in God would be challenged. Not only challenged, but I, my prayer is that God's Holy Spirit would rip apart the walls of doubt that you have erected between you and him, because he loves you. He desires to have a relationship with you. And if you'll pay attention tonight and with an open mind, listen to things I'll share with you, I think you'll realize that your atheism is what needs to be doubted rather than your belief in God. Let's go ahead and pray. Lord God, we do this evening want to again ask for your blessing upon our study. God, as we take up this important topic, the existence of God, how we pray that your Holy Spirit would do a great work here in our hearts and minds. We pray for those who already know you, Lord, that their faith would be strengthened, that you would reassure them tonight. And Lord, not only that, but that you would better prepare them that they might leave here better equipped to be an ambassador with answers. Someone who's able to intelligently reason with skeptics and unbelievers and those who have rejected belief in you, God. And Lord, we also pray that you'd be at work in the hearts and minds of those here tonight who don't know you, as well as those who would be watching this on DVD or out on the internet. God, we pray that you would help them to carefully tune in and that, Lord, tonight would be the night of salvation for them. We pray, God, that you would illuminate their hearts and their minds, that you would help them to realize so clearly tonight that you do exist, that you are alive and well in heaven tonight, that you created the cosmos, you created them. You have a plan and a purpose for their life. If they'll acknowledge you, if they'll walk with you, do a great work in their lives, we do pray tonight. And we ask all these things in Jesus' holy and precious name. Amen. An elementary school teacher recently explained to her class of young children that she was an atheist and she asked her class if they were atheists too. Well, these young impressionable kids, not really knowing what atheism was, but wanting to be like their teacher, their hands went flying up into the air. There was, however, one exception, I'm told. It was a girl by the name of Lucy. She had decided to not go along with the crowd and so the teacher asked her why she decided to be different. And Lucy boldly said there in the classroom, well, because I am not an atheist. I'm not an atheist. I'm not. That's why I'm not raising my hand. Well, the teacher asked her, then what are you? What in the world are you? And she said, well, I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. Well, the teacher was, that perturbed her. You could sense the teacher's face growing slightly red. And so she asked Lucy why she was a Christian. Well, why are you a Christian? Well, Lucy said, I was brought up knowing and loving Jesus. My mom is a Christian. My dad is a Christian. And so I am a Christian. Clear enough, right? Well, the teacher angrily said, that's no reason. What if your mom was a moron and your dad was a moron? What would you be then? Lucy paused, thought about it and said, well, then I'd be an atheist. The Bible says that believing there is no God is absolutely foolish. And I don't say that with any condemnation or pride in my heart at all, because I used to be in that same camp. Well-meaning people can buy into atheism because there is a deceiver at work in the world today by the name of Satan, who's very crafty. And he's got a hold of the public school system in a great way. And he's able to mislead countless people to actually believe that there is no God. But God says to entertain beliefs that there is no God is absolutely foolish. If you're open there in your Bibles to Psalm chapter 14, notice verse 1. The psalmist writing here, words that were guided by the Holy Spirit. He says this, quote, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. What kind of a person is the person who says there is no God? In God's word, he says, you're a fool. The Bible teaches that the evidence for God's existence is so clear that all men and women will stand before God with no excuse for not having believed in his existence. In fact, the Bible doesn't really even seek to prove that God exists. It just comes out in the very first verse and assumes that you already believe. It says there in Genesis 1, verse 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It just comes straight out and says it. The evidence for God's existence is self-evident. It's clear enough in God's opinion for all to discern. This is mentioned in the first chapter of Romans in the New Testament. The apostle Paul, again, an author of the Bible who is writing words that were guided by the Holy Spirit, he says in verse 20 of Romans chapter 1, for since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen. Not obscure or difficult to discern, but no, God's power, his attributes, his nature have been clearly seen being understood how? Through what has been made so that they, those who have suppressed that truth, those who have run away from God, it says so that they are without excuse. God says in his word by examining that which has been made, all persons can come to an understanding, not only that God exists, but they can discern even his attributes, that he's loving, that he's merciful, that he's powerful, and these kinds of things. The first reason then that I believe that God exists is, if you're taking notes, number one, the cosmos. I'm going to give you four reasons I believe in God this evening. As I mentioned, all of them will start with the letter C, and that's intentional so that you can perhaps more easily remember these four different reasons. Number one, the cosmos. The word cosmos, of course, just speaks of the universe, all that has been made. This is mentioned again, not only in Romans chapter 1, but in Psalm chapter 19, verses 1 through 4. Listen to what the psalmist says. He says, the heavens tell of the glory of God. In verse 1, the skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day, they continue to speak. Night after night, they make him known. They speak without a sound or a word. Their voice is silent in the skies, yet their message has gone out to all the earth and their words to all the world. The very existence of the cosmos, the very existence of the stars, the galaxies, the moon, the sun, the planets, these things, without a word, without preaching, actually tell the world that God exists, that a creator must exist. The very existence of the universe itself, the cosmos testifies to the fact that God exists. Now, let's think about this for a minute. There are only three options for the existence of the universe. There are only three possible options to explain the very existence of the universe. Number one, some have proposed this, that it's just always been. The universe has just always existed, and something that has always existed obviously doesn't need a creator, because it's just always been. Some scientists have actually said that that's a possibility. A second option for the existence of the universe is this, that it created itself. It didn't need a creator, but it created itself. It doesn't need a God, it just brought itself into existence. Or there is one other option, a third option, and that is this. The universe was created by something or someone outside of itself, i.e. God. Okay, so those are the three options to explain the very existence of the universe. The first option, that the universe has always been, or in other words that it's eternal, has been utterly rejected by the scientific community. Why is that? Why has option number one been ruled out? Well, the scientific evidence against an eternal universe has absolutely demolished this theory. So if you're taking notes, cross off number one there on the list. Numerous evidences from the field of astronomy, such as the background radiation echo, the second law of thermodynamics, as well as the motion of the galaxies, now overwhelmingly point to the fact that the universe actually began to exist a finite time ago in an event when all the physical space, time, matter, and energy in the universe came into being. Now, we don't have time this evening to discuss all of these different evidences, the motion of the galaxies, and the background radiation echo, and these things, but the consensus amongst even atheistic astronomers, the majority of astronomers or scientists out there in the world today, believe this, the universe began to exist. The universe began to exist. Even Stephen Hawking, the very popular and immensely respected agnostic astronomer from Cambridge University, agrees. He says, quote, almost everyone believes that the universe and time itself had a beginning. Almost everyone, he says, believes that the universe and time itself had a beginning. That's interesting. That's what the Bible says. Genesis chapter one, verse one says, in the beginning, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The Bible makes it very clear that the universe actually had a beginning, exactly like the scientific community has discovered more than 3,000 years after Moses penned those words. Perhaps they should have read their Bible. Now, because the universe had a beginning, that rules out option number one, that the universe has always been. Guys, that leaves us with only two other options to explain the existence of the universe. Number two, it created itself, or number three, it was created by someone or something outside of itself. Now, let's consider option number two. Option number two, that the universe created itself is almost laughable because it is philosophically impossible that anything could actually create itself. The skeptic says, well, why? Why is that so absurd? Well, if it's not so evident to you, we might note that, of course, before the universe existed, it would not have been around to have created itself. Does that make sense? Obviously, a non-existent universe could not have done anything, right? It didn't exist. We all know that nothing cannot do anything. Would you agree with me? Can nothing do something? No. What is nothing? How do you define nothing? Break it in half, right? Nothing is no thing, all right? Nothing cannot see, it can't smell, it can't act, it can't think, let alone create something, right? Even David Hume, one of the most zealous skeptics of Christianity ever, agreed that nothing cannot do something. In 1754, writing to a friend, he said this, he said, quote, I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that anything might arise without a cause. Or in other words, he's saying, I never asserted something so absurd as that something could come from nothing. Nothing cannot produce something. The impossibility of something creating itself, the impossibility of this, is in harmony with a basic law of physics called the law of conservation. If you've ever had a physics class, you'll recall this. This law of conservation states this, from nothing comes nothing. It took scientists a long time to figure that out. They finally got it down on paper. Hey, you know what? From nothing comes nothing. This is an irrefutable law of physics. You know why? Well, there's never been a single observed instance in the history of mankind in which this law has been violated, okay? This law is written in stone. It's never been violated. From nothing comes nothing. So, there's three options for the existence of the universe. Number one, it has always been. Number two, it created itself. Or number three, it was created by something or someone outside of itself. Option one and two can be thrown out on scientific and philosophical grounds. That leaves us with one option, option number three, that someone or something outside of the universe, i.e. God, created the universe. That, to me, is the only reasonable option. Now, let's imagine that I'm holding up a painting here this evening. Let me ask you a question in light of that. When you see a painting, there's a painting, I'm holding it up. What proof do you need to establish the fact that a painter exists? The answer is nothing besides the painting itself. Nothing besides the painting itself. The painting itself is absolute proof that there was a painter. You do not need to see the painter to believe that he or she exists. The painting is all the evidence that you need. The painting would not be there if the painter did not exist. And so it is with the universe. The existence of the universe itself proves absolutely that there is a creator. Now, I've shared that kind of simple reasoning and logic with people, with atheists and skeptics and agnostics on planes when I've traveled. And just, you know, in different opportunities that God has given me, along with that, you know, simple painting analogy. I always like to share that as well. And you know what I find atheists commonly saying when I lay out that whole idea of, you know, there's only three options for the existence of the universe. And then I walk them through option one. I tell them how that's been ruled out by the scientific community. I talk to them about option number two, how that's philosophically absurd and impossible that the universe created itself. And then I talk to them about option three, how that's the only reasonable option. Then I share that painting analogy. You know what they commonly say after that? First off, their jaw is usually dropped about two inches. They're very intense looking into me. And this is what they say. They say, typically, I never thought about it that way. I've never thought about it that way. No one's ever shared it with me in that manner. And you see the lights come on. Do they become a Christian? Do I say the sinner's prayer with them? No. But you know what? Walls start to crumble. And we're helping by sharing good reasoning, sharing the truth very logically and in a very simple fashion. We're helping to remove obstacles that have kept these people back from faith in God. So I encourage you to go back over this material, get it off my website if you need to, so that you can actually take it out into the street and watch God use you next time you have a conversation with an atheist. I believe that it takes far more faith to be an atheist than to believe in God. Atheists believe that everything that exists, the entire universe, came from nothing and by nothing. Guys, that takes a lot of faith. I don't have that kind of faith. I can't believe that, that the universe just sprang into existence from nothing and by nothing. That's absurd. All right, so evidence number one for the existence of God. The first reason I believe God exists is the cosmos. Number two, if you're taking notes, is the complexity of life. The complexity of life. Imagine that you have been shipwrecked on an island somewhere in the South Pacific. You and your wife were on a nice vacation. You thought you would head down to Tahiti, avoid the plains. You went on this nice trip on a boat headed down to Tahiti. Well, about halfway there, a huge storm hits. Your ship is wrecked and blown to pieces, okay? And you find yourself on what appears to be perhaps a deserted island somewhere in the South Pacific. Now, as you walk around the island with one of the other survivors, you begin to wonder if there might be any intelligent life there on the island that may be able to help you get home. Now, as you're walking along the shore, you spot something lying there in the sand. Upon closer examination, you discover what appears to be an arrowhead. You pick this thing up and you're like, that's very interesting. Now, question for you is, you hold this thing that appears to be an arrowhead in your hand. After this discovery, what do you think the chances are that human life might exist on the island? Pretty good? Might not be the kind of life you want to run into, right? It could be a band of headhunters, but you would begin to seriously think, I think that this arrowhead gives evidence of design. There must be some sort of life here on this island that, you know, designed this thing. We would think the chances are pretty good. Now, much to your surprise though, as you're pondering this arrowhead and thinking there's probably life there on the island, much to your surprise, the other person who survived the shipwreck with you suggests that, well, perhaps over billions of years, the wind and the waves and the rising and falling of the tides, and it just happened to form a rock that looks like an arrowhead. Now, you look at this person and go, I don't know, man. All right. So, you agree to be teachable even though you find that hard to believe. You agree to remain open-minded and continue searching on the island. Now, another mile down the beach, you discover what appears to be a canoe anchored up there on the shoreline. Now, I imagine you'd be convinced that some sort of intelligent life must exist on the island. But just in time to dampen your enthusiasm about possibly getting off this island, your new friend and fellow shipwreck survivor suggests that, well, perhaps millions of years of storms and waves just, you know, shaped a pile of driftwood into what appears to be a well-designed canoe-shaped boat. Finding that statement even harder to believe than the comments on the arrowhead, you agree to continue searching. Well, you walk about 100 yards down the beach, and you encounter what appears to be writing in the sand. And there, the letters spell out the simple phrase, miss you. Miss you. M-I-S-S space Y-O-U. You look over at your evolutionist friend only to hear them say, well, let's not get too excited. Perhaps the wind and the waves just formed that sequence of letters. Now, question for you. What would you say to this person that thinks that simple things like arrowheads, canoes, and letters in the sand may have evolved? What would you say to them? A, you know, you're probably right. Please forgive me for believing that intelligent life might exist on this island and, you know, brought these things about. Or would you say, B, what have you been smoking? I'm sure that most of us here would conclude that the arrowhead, the canoe, and the message in the sand were surely designed by some intelligent life form. Why is that? Because design is not hard to recognize. Design is not hard to recognize. Everywhere we look on planet Earth, we find amazingly complex life forms that are thousands of times more complex than arrowheads or canoes. This amazing complexity that permeates all of life is another reason why I believe that an intelligent creator must exist. Now, let's consider for a moment some examples of complex life forms. First, let's consider the human body. The human body has an amazingly complex nervous system, an amazingly complex cardiovascular system, it has an amazing reproductive capability, an incredibly complex skeletal system, an incredibly complex muscle system, an incredibly complex digestive system, and an amazing ability to heal itself and to fight off diseases. I find it difficult to believe that the human body could have come into existence by some mindless process apart from an incredibly intelligent designer even given millions of years. The late agnostic astronomer, he's not an agnostic anymore, he died a few years ago, he believes in God now, I'm sure, but Carl Sagan, this well-known astronomer, he conceded that the brain alone, the human brain alone, is a, quote, machine more wonderful than any devised by humans and that it holds enough information to, quote, fill some 20 million volumes. Your brain can store enough information. If you've ever been to the Library of Congress back east, they have about 20 million books in their massive library. According to Carl Sagan, the amount of information in those books can actually fit inside the human brain. That's the kind of storage capacity that exists right there in the human brain. Is it possible, is it possible this, quote, machine more wonderful than any devised by humans came into being from nothing and by nothing and then evolved via some, you know, mindless random series of accidents, as evolutionists believe? I have a hard time believing that that is the case. I don't have enough faith to believe that. You could leave the barren side of a mountain exposed to millions of years of wind, rain, the forces of nature, chance, and, you know, millions of years of time, and you would never get a Mount Rushmore, let alone a living, breathing human being. Why is that? It takes intelligence. It takes intelligent intervention to create something as simple as Mount Rushmore. Four stone faces with no brains. They can't talk, they can't smell, they can't hear. And we look at Mount Rushmore and go, whoa, someone designed those. We believe that it would take great intelligence to create a robot that operates like a human, and we believe that it would take even greater intelligence to create a real human being. No one alive today, that I know of anyways, would believe that the faces of Mount Rushmore came about by millions of years of erosion and wind, rain, and, you know, undirected random acts. And yet, atheists believe that real life human beings with 206 bones, 640 muscles, and hearts that beat over a hundred thousand times a day are the product of a mindless random series of accidents. I believe that this is the height of foolishness. We can look at Mount Rushmore and say, no way could that evolve. We look at a real human being and say, that did evolve. That's foolishness. That's why God says in Psalm 14.1, it is the fool who has said in his heart, there is no God. Now, not only is the body as a whole incredibly complex, the individual parts making up the body are highly complex. Consider the human eye with me for a minute. Of course, the eye is a ball with a lens on one side, a light-sensitive retina made up of rods and cones inside the other. The lens itself has a sturdy protective covering called a cornea and sits over an iris designed to protect the eye from excessive light. The eye contains this fantastic watery substance that is replaced every four hours. Tear glands continuously flush the outside clean. An eyelid sweeps secretions over the cornea to keep it moist. Eyelashes protect it from dust and extraordinarily fine-tuned muscles surround the eye for precision motility and shape the eye for the function of focus. The eye is far more complex and advanced than the world's greatest autofocus camera that took researchers and developers numerous years and millions of dollars to design and create. In light of that, my question for you is this. Did this amazing piece of machinery, the human eye, did it come together by some mindless process and random series of accidents? Atheists actually are able to muster up the faith to say yes to that question. I do not have enough faith to be an atheist. Even one of the most well-known Darwinists of all time had difficulties, believe him, that the eye came into being by blind forces. Who am I talking about? Perhaps you've heard of his name. His name is Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin himself found it hard to accept the notion that the eye could be the product of evolution. In fact, he even conceded that the intricacies of the eye gave him, quote, cold shutters, end quote. In his famous book, The Origin of Species, which launched really the theory of evolution upon the world in 1859, even in that book, Charles Darwin said this. He said, quote, To suppose that the eye, with all of its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been been formed by natural selection seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree. Now, he went on to say that he did believe that that's how the eye did come into existence, but he admits he had a very difficult time believing his own theory was actually true upon dissection of a human eye. Now, not only does the body as a whole and the eye point to an intelligent designer, so does something as small as a living cell inside any living organism, whether it be a plant or your human body. A cell is considered to be the smallest unit of matter alive, the smallest unit of matter alive, and measures less than a thousandth of an inch in diameter. With the naked human eye, you can't even see a cell. You have to get out a microscope in order to behold the cell. It's that small. Now, in Charles Darwin's day, cells appeared to be little unsophisticated globs of jello, little mysterious parts of life that no one could see into, little globs of protoplasm, and a little glob of jello is basically what they thought a cell was in Darwin's day. But, now that we have the ability to peer into the cell with electron microscopes, we see that life down at the cellular level is immeasurably more complex than Darwin ever dreamed. Speaking about the cell, Dr. Walter Bradley, who's a respected scientist and author of the book, The Mystery of Life's Origin, says this. Listen to how he describes the cell. He says, quote, a one cell organism is more complicated than anything we've been able to recreate through supercomputers, end quote. Let's read that again. He says, a one cell organism measuring less than a thousandth of an inch wide, something you can't even see without the help of a microscope, he says, that little organism is more complicated than anything we've been able to recreate through supercomputers. According to the Nobel Prize winner, Linus Pauling, widely regarded as the greatest chemist of the 20th century, he said this about the cell. He said, just one living cell in the human body is more complex than New York City. Read it again. Just one living cell in the human body is more complex than New York City. Now, I don't know if you have been to New York City, but it is one complex place. Would you agree if you have been there? I mean, this place has 8 million residents. It's the largest and probably most complex city in all of the United States. Imagine, looking at this photo here for a moment, how complex New York City is. Hundreds of skyscrapers, thousands of offices, thousands of taxis driving around, subways underground, hundreds of cars speeding and zooming this way, bridges over rivers. It is a complex place. Now, imagine packing all of that complexity into a single living cell inside your body. And that is just the beginning. Your body is comprised of thousands of different kinds of cells, totaling more than 100 trillion in number. The average human body is made up of more than 100 trillion cells, and your body makes millions of new cells every second, and they all work together. They communicate with one another. They bump into each other in the middle of your vein. They say, oh, hello. And they go around each other. They fight each other if bad cells begin to mutate. It's an amazing evidence of design. I recently was able to purchase an iPod Nano. Perhaps some of you have one of these little gadgets. The world marvels at this modern invention. Why is that? Why are people so fascinated with these little things? Well, because of the large amount of information that it can hold. This little iPod Nano that I have, the four gigabyte model, can hold approximately 1,000 songs in that little thing that you see there in that photograph of the hand. Guys, it has taken mankind thousands of years to figure out how to design something like this. But the storage capacity of this amazing piece of technology doesn't even compare with the information storage capacity of the DNA inside living cells. You think the iPod is a marvel of technology. It does not even compare to what's going on in every cell of your body. The amount of information that can be stored in a single pinhead volume of DNA found in cells is the equivalent of a pile of books 500 times as tall as the distance from the earth to the moon. Imagine stacking up a pile of books straight up through the ceiling all the way to the moon. Do that 500 times. And that amount of information in all of those books can fit in and does fit in a pinhead's worth of DNA inside the cells in your body. And DNA does not just contain some simple random information, some unorganized information, something incoherent, some, you know, undiscernible sequence of letters. DNA contains a staggering amount of detailed complex information and instructions that tell that cell how to function. Bill Gates, you're familiar with him. He's the founder of Microsoft. Upon the recent discoveries of the complexity of DNA, he was interviewed and he was asked about what his thoughts were about the complexity of DNA. Listen to what this man said. He said, DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software we've ever created. Now, I'm sure many of you have used Microsoft software. Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, all of these. It took people years to develop that kind of software. Bill Gates says DNA, it's kind of like what we do. We program information to make your computer work. But he says the little DNA in every little cell in your body, he says it's far, far more advanced than any software we've ever created. I ask you this question then. Where did this staggering amount of complex information in a cell's DNA that's far more advanced than any software Microsoft ever created, where did it come from? Where did DNA come from, all of this organized information? Well, perhaps we should ask Anthony Flu. Anthony Flu, who's that, you say? Well, let me tell you this about him first. Up until 2004, two years ago, up until 2004, Anthony Flu was widely considered the world's most influential atheistic philosopher, author, and debater on the face of the planet. In fact, I have CDs and tapes of him debating Christian authors, Christian philosophers on secular university campuses on this very existence that we're talking about this evening. Does God exist? What evidence is there? And this man would passionately argue that God does not exist. For years, he's been the hero of the atheistic community because of his willingness to stand up and take on the intellectual battles regarding this whole topic as to whether or not God exists. So he was considered the leading atheistic philosopher alive. An amazing thing happens. In December of 2004, news came out that Anthony Flu had abandoned his atheism and now believed that God must exist. I almost fell out of my chair in my office at Calvary Chapel Vista when I saw the news, when I walked into my office one morning. I would commonly just check the news as I begin the day. One of the headline stories, Anthony Flu, leading atheistic philosopher concludes God's real. I went, this has got to be a typo. What's wrong with this? What changed Anthony Flu's minds? Listen to this quote. He was interviewed. This is what he said. He said, quote, my whole life has been guided by the principle of Plato's Socrates. Follow the evidence wherever it leads. That's a good principle. Follow the evidence wherever he leads. He's admitted that I just want to be an atheist if there's good evidence for atheism or I want to believe in God. If there's good evidence to believe in God, that's my philosophy, he says. I just want to follow the evidence wherever it leads. Then he says, it now seems to me that the findings of more than 50 years of DNA research have provided materials for a new and enormously powerful argument to design. What I think the DNA material has done is show that intelligence must have been involved. What convinced this atheist to abandon atheism? The complexity of DNA inside a single living cell in your body. That to him was compelling evidence. There must be a creator. Organized information does not just get into a cell by itself, especially in the volume that we have discovered actually exists. Forget the iPod. That's small stuff to what's packed into that little cell there in your body. Anthony Flew is not alone in abandoning atheism and naturalistic explanations for the complexity of life. Perhaps you caught the story just a few months ago on February 21st, 2006. The headline read this, quote, 500 doctoral scientists skeptical of Darwin. 500 doctoral scientists. That means that these scientists, they're not just, you know, an uneducated group of scientists. These men actually have PhDs in their fields, which means they've gone to school for a lot of years, typically eight or more years. These atheists are, or I'm sorry, these former skeptics of God. Many of them are now jumping off of Charles Darwin ship and joining a new camp of scientists that are calling themselves believers in intelligent design. Here's what they say. They're actually signing a statement. Okay. Affirming this. Here's what they say. Quote, we are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. We're skeptical. We're skeptical of this whole thought that just random mutations and natural selection could create the complexity of life that we see. Then they go on to say careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged. We're skeptical of Darwinism is what they said. You can view this list, this growing list of scientists who are abandoning Darwinism at this website, www.descentfromdarwin.org. This growing list of scientists that are skeptical of Darwinism, which is actually now grown to more than 600, includes scientists from such prestigious institutions as Yale university, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Cambridge university, the Smithsonian institution, or you name the university. This is not some lightweight group of pseudoscientists. And the reason why I think this is important to mention is because especially if you're a young person here headed off to the university, the teachers and many of our liberal universities in the United States today will make you feel like an idiot if you are a creationist. And say things about you that will make you feel like, gosh, you know, I feel like such a part of such a minority group of people. And they basically make you feel like you're part of a non-thinking group of people. If you actually buy into the fact that there's a God, well, you know what? Print out that list at that website, www.descentfromdarwin.org and hand that to your professor and say, you know what? I'm actually just joining the camp with all of these other guys from Cambridge, Princeton, Yale, UC Berkeley, UCLA. These scientists who believe in an intelligent designer of the universe are joining ranks with some of the most brilliant scientists to have ever have lived. Many people don't realize this, but famous, well-known, incredibly intelligent scientists like Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, Galileo, Blaise Pascal, all of these men believed in God's existence. If arrowheads, canoes, and simple messages in the sand point to an intelligent designer, even more we are justified in believing that the complexity in living organisms points to an intelligent designer. If an arrowhead must have an intelligent designer, how much more so would the human body, or the eye, or the cell even? All right, let's move on. Number one, why do I believe that God exists? The cosmos. Number two, the complexity of life. If you're taking notes, number three, I believe that God exists because of the canon of scripture. The canon of scripture. Now, the word canon is a term that simply means standard, and so when you hear of a pastor or some theologians speak about the canon of scripture, they're simply referring to the standard collection of 66 divinely inspired books that God determined should make up the Bible. I believe these 66 books that make up the Bible give us good reason to believe that God actually exists. The Bible is a book unlike any other book. Of course, as I just mentioned, it's a compilation of 66 different documents or books written by more than 40 different authors over a period of 1,500 plus years on three different continents and in three different languages. Over and over, the authors of the Bible claim to be writing words that they said were, that they were inspired to write by God himself, and of course, the Bible reveals to us very plainly that God exists, reveals to us what he is like and what his will is for our lives. Now, the skeptic raises a credible question at this point and says, well, that's great, Charlie. Interesting facts about the Bible, but this doesn't necessarily mean that the Bible is true, and I would say you're right. I would agree with you on that, but the Bible doesn't just make these claims. It demonstrates itself unlike any other ancient religious writing to be divinely inspired and historically reliable. How so? Number one, with hundreds of fulfilled prophecies. There are 26 other books out there today competing with the Bible. Books like the Quran, the Book of Mormon, the Hindu Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, and so on. None of these other books, none of them contain any fulfilled prophecies, and yet the authors of the Bible over and over again stated very clearly that certain events would come to pass hundreds and even thousands of years after they lived and wrote those words. In fact, 27 percent of the Bible is prophetical in nature. More than one out of every four verses in the Bible spoke of an event that was yet future at the time that it was written, and over and over again we see that their words have been fulfilled throughout history. Now, we don't have a lot of time to get into that, but so, number one, we have fulfilled prophecy which validates the claims of the Bible. Number two, we have its amazing harmony. I don't know about you, but the Bible should, I believe that the Bible should be full of chaos and confusion. When I think of gathering together 40 different authors who live on three different planets, or three different planets, who live on three different continents, who speak three different languages, and I ask them to address life's most complex questions, if I were to pull together all their answers and try to harmonize them into one book, we would have a lot of problems. But the authors of the Bible, many of them didn't even know each other. They were spread out on different continents. They were writing over a period of 1,500 plus years. You pull together their writings and we're able to compile them into one coherent book that is internally harmonious, that answers life's most difficult to answer questions with perfect consistency from Genesis to Revelation. That, to me, is the second reason why I believe that the Bible is divinely inspired. Thirdly, we have the Bible's amazing scientific accuracy and foresight. Without exception, every ancient religious writing, like the Qur'an or maybe even the Book of Mormon more recently, contain certain unscientific statements about the universe and the world. For instance, in the Qur'an, chapter 18, verse 86, it says that the sun sinks down into a muddy spring. But this man, Muhammad taught this. You can get away with a statement like that in the 7th century when Muhammad, his writings were compiled. He said that a man traveled so far in his travels, he actually found the place that the sun descends down into the planet. He says he found it setting into a muddy spring. Now, the Bible steers clear of these kinds of unscientific statements, but not only that, it makes known amazing facts about the universe that we live in hundreds of years before scientists actually discern that these things were true. For example, in Job, chapter 26, Job says there, I believe it's in verse 7, that God looks down upon the earth and that he actually suspends the earth on nothing. The earth is just floating in space, suspended on nothing. How in the world did Job know that? It wasn't until 1650, more than 2,500 years after Job penned those words, that scientists actually discovered that the earth hangs on nothing. You know what ancient Hindu religious writing said about the earth? That the earth actually sat on the back of an elephant who stood upon the back of a turtle who swims through this endless cosmic sea. The Greeks weren't much better. They thought that the god Atlas actually carried the earth on his back. Job, long before them, actually says, no, no, no, you're all wrong. God suspends the earth on nothing. How did Job know that? We believe he got inside information. Second Peter, chapter 1, verse 21, says that holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. The God who knows all there is to know about the universe that he created, about the earth that he created, he superintended. He came alongside these authors to make sure that what he wanted written was actually written. In addition to these evidences, we have more than 25,000 archaeological discoveries as well that confirm numerous events, persons and places and customs and cities and nations mentioned in the Bible. Thousands of archaeological discoveries. I've seen some of these in different museums around the world. Discoveries that verify that persons like Jesus actually lived. Archaeological discoveries that verify that Pontius Pilate actually lived, that King David lived, and so on. We have an hour-long DVD on this very topic. The DVD is called Amazing Evidence for the Trustworthiness of the Bible. We brought some of those along with us tonight. If you're interested in picking up a copy, you can stop by the Fellowship Hall. Let's move on. We have a fourth reason to believe in God, and that is this, and this will be our final one that we have time for this evening. The fourth reason I believe that God exists is Christ. Not only do we have the cosmos, the complexity of life, the canon of Scripture, we have the testimony of the person of Jesus Christ. Many who doubt the existence of God, including myself in years past, have reassured themselves with the thought that if God wanted us to believe in Him, He would appear to us. How many atheists do you know have probably thought that? If God really wanted us to believe in His existence, He'd appear to us. Well, according to the Bible, that is what God has already done. That is what God has already done. The Bible tells us that 2,000 years ago, God left heaven and came to this planet as a human baby to grow up and live a life, testifying of His existence. We're told in the Scriptures, in Isaiah 9, verse 6, in John 20, verse 28, and elsewhere, that Jesus was God in human flesh. This is something that is made very clear in the Bible, that Jesus Himself was God in human form. And Jesus did not just claim to be God. Anybody can do that. I could claim to be God this evening. Jesus proved that He was God by doing things that only God can do. It's one thing to say you're God. It's another thing to prove it and to convince others that that is the case. So what did Jesus do? He went around opening the eyes of those who were blind. He caused the lame to walk. He raised the dead. He walked on water. He lived a sinless life, something that even Buddha and Muhammad admitted in their teachings that they themselves were unable to do. Jesus also, of course, rose from the grave three days after He was put to death, and He ascended into heaven visibly right before His disciples' eyes, just to cite a few of His miracles. These are just a few of the miracles that the disciples recorded for us in the New Testament that help substantiate His claims to deity. Now the skeptic says, well, hold on a second here, Charlie. There isn't even very good evidence that Jesus ever lived. Before we start talking about, you know, what evidence do you have that Jesus actually ever even lived? Well, that Jesus actually lived is an undeniable historical fact that some atheists, you know, I guess have not heard. But Jesus is actually referenced. He's referenced to in 43. This is a good number to jot down if you're taking notes. Jesus is referred to in 43 sources outside of the Bible within 150 years of His life. In fact, He's even written about in the writings of Flavius Josephus. Who is Flavius Josephus? He was a first century Roman historian who was a contemporary with the disciples. He actually lived at the same time the disciples did. And he was paid by the Roman government to write an account or a history of the Jewish people so the Roman government could figure out more about these people whom they were subjugating. And he, in his writings, actually tells us numerous things about Jesus. Jesus is not only mentioned by Josephus. He's actually mentioned by the Jews in their writings, in their teachings that also come to us from the first and second century. Their writings known as the Talmud. Okay, these are just two of these 43 different sources. Now let me give to you a quick example of one of these extra biblical references to Jesus's life. Flavius Josephus. Listen to this quote. This is straight out of his book or writings known as the Antiquities, chapter 18. Listen to what he says. And I think you'll marvel at this knowing especially this is not a quote from the Bible. This is a quote about Jesus outside of the Bible. He says this. At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus and his conduct was good and he was known to be virtuous and many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die and those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them after his crucifixion and that he was alive. End quote. Not only does Josephus mention that Jesus lived but that he was known to be a good and virtuous person, that he attracted countless disciples from amongst the nations, that he was put to death. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He died but that his disciples went around afterwards saying that he, Jesus, had appeared to them after his crucifixion that he was alive. That's just one paragraph from Josephus' writings. So the skeptic says, well okay, we'll give you that. Maybe Jesus did exist but that doesn't mean that what the disciples said about Jesus was actually true. Just because he existed and the disciples write about him in the testament, that doesn't mean that what they said was actually true. Well, in response to that I would say that I find it very difficult to believe that these men were lying. I find it difficult, very hard, to believe that these men were lying. Think back to the times you have lied. Perhaps you coming home with that report card in the fourth grade where you got lots of whatever they used to call it back then. I don't think they called them F's. You got N's or whatever that means. No good, whatever. In third grade, I got straight N's. If you got straight N's in third grade, there's hope for you, all right? But those are the kind of report cards that you wanted to lie about, right? They paperclip it to your shirt and they say, take this home to your mommy and daddy and show this to them. Well, I would walk home just like this person on the picture. My mom would ask, hey, the report cards come out today? Weren't they supposed to come out those weeks? Oh, I don't know. You know, I haven't seen it. Why do you lie? People lie to get out of trouble. Would you agree? You lie to get out of trouble. But the things that the disciples said about Jesus got them in trouble. And to get them out of trouble, it actually got them into lots of trouble, more trouble than you yourself have probably ever been in. Historians such as Josephus, such as Eusebius and others, record for us that Jesus's disciples went to their graves, one by one, suffering and dying painful deaths for their ongoing belief and preaching that Jesus was Lord and that he was risen from the dead. We are told in extra biblical writings that Matthew, the author of the Gospel of Matthew, was put to death with a halberd, similar to an axe today, in the country of Ethiopia in northern Africa for preaching the Gospel. We're told that Mark, the author of the Gospel of Mark, that he was put to death in the city of Alexandria in northern Egypt after having been cruelly dragged to death through the streets of that city. We're told that Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke, was put to death as he was hung upon an olive tree in the ancient land of Greece. We're told that James was beheaded in the city of Jerusalem for his testimony regarding Jesus of Nazareth. We're told that Philip was hung up against a pillar in the city of Hierapolis and then stoned to death. We're told that Bartholomew was flayed alive upside down. To be flayed alive means to have very shallow incisions made upon your body and then to have your skin pulled off of you while you're still alive. We're told that Jude was shot to death with arrows. We're told that Andrew, one of the twelve, Peter's brother in fact, was bound to a cross, an x-shaped crucifixion device. He was bound to this cross with ropes and left there to die from exposure and dehydration. We're told that Barnabas was stoned to death. We're told that Paul, the apostle, after a variety of floggings, tortures, and persecutions, was finally beheaded in the city of Rome after Nero ordered his death. We're told that Thomas was run through the body with a lance and then burned to death in southeast India. Once again, laying down his life as the preaching the gospel. Peter was crucified in the city of Rome upside down according to church tradition. Difficult words to listen to, I realize. My question for you though this evening is this, were these men lying? Were these men lying? I find it hard to believe that men willing to die these kinds of slow painful deaths were making up a story about Jesus. People may be willing to die for something that they think is true, like kamikaze pilots of the former century or Muslim terrorists, but nobody willingly dies for something that they know is a lie and Jesus' disciples were at a unique place in history. They lived in and around Jerusalem during the first century where Jesus was publicly put to death on a cross and buried in the tomb. They realized as they sailed off to different parts of the world whether they had seen Jesus alive from the grave or not. I find it difficult to believe that these men sailed off to different regions of the world all preaching that they had seen Jesus alive if it was just a lie. Nobody willingly dies for something they know is not true. Muslims today are willing, some of them, to walk into crowded supermarkets in Israel and with a strap of explosives around their waist and blow themselves up. Why? Because they think Islam is true. They think that Muhammad was a prophet of God and they think that God is well pleased with those murderous acts. But if these Muslims knew that Muhammad was a false prophet, that he performed no miracles, and that the Quran is a spurious, uninspired writing, they would not be doing that. No one dies for something they know is not true. They die for something that they think is true, but never for a lie. Jesus' disciples, they sealed their testimonies with their own blood, claiming all the way to the end, all the way to their deaths, that the long-awaited Savior of the world had lived among them, that he had become a sacrifice for sin, and that he had risen from the dead. That to me is another compelling evidence that these men were telling the truth about Jesus. Would you agree? Have you had questions or doubts about whether or not God exists? Even Christians struggle with this sometimes, and that's okay. We're dealing with a world that is in many ways trying to rip apart our faith and take us down. But you can rest assured this evening that he does, that God does exist. We have the testimony number one of the cosmos. We have number two, the testimony of the complexity of life. Number three, we have the testimony of the canon of scripture. Sixty-six divinely inspired books that testify of the fact that God exists. And number four, we have the testimony of God himself in person, in the person of Jesus Christ. What does this mean to you practically? It means this, you are not an accident. You are not an accident. You're not some product of some blind evolutionary process. You are one of God's creations. God formed you in your mother's womb. He has a purpose and a plan for your life. He loves you. He's there for you, and he wants to have a personal relationship with you. That's why he created you. Acts chapter 17 verse 27 says that he is not far from each one of us. God is actually a prayer away. If you're willing to call upon the name of the Lord, God will allow himself to be found in a very personal way in your life. The bible promises us that. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 says he is a rewarder of those who seek him. He is a rewarder of those who seek him. You know what he'll reward you with if you're willing to seek him? He'll reward you with himself. He'll allow himself to be found by you, and you'll have the greatest friend you've ever known. He's a rewarder of those who seek him. Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 12 says this, and we'll close in prayer. God speaking in the book of Jeremiah in verse 12, he said pray to me and I will listen to you. How clear of a promise is that? He says pray to me and I will listen to you and you will seek me and notice this, you will find me when you search for me with all your heart. If you desire to know in a very personal way the true and the living God who created the cosmos, who created your body, who has a plan and a purpose for your life, if you'll seek him in a genuine way and call out to him even right now as we close in prayer, God will begin to make himself real to you. He'll come into your life, he'll forgive you of your sins, he'll give you the free gift of eternal life, he'll fill your heart with joy and hope, and he'll begin to use you, and it's a great joy to be used by the Lord. I'm experiencing that joy right now as I speak to you. Let's pray. Lord we do thank you for all of these evidences that we believe in many ways are just very compelling. Compelling evidences, compelling truths Lord that prove to us beyond the shadow of a doubt that you do exist and we're so thankful tonight God that we can love you not only with all of our hearts and our soul and our strength but God with all of our mind. It's refreshing and a blessing to be reminded tonight that our faith, our belief is actually grounded in verifiable facts. Lord we're so happy and blessed to know you. We pray Lord that you would make us to be bold ambassadors for you in these days in which we live. We pray that you would orchestrate circumstances in our workplace, in our workplace, in our schools, in our own families Lord where we might share some of these kinds of things with people who have questions or doubts. Lord we pray right now for any person who would be here tonight who would be listening to this on a cd or a dvd. God if they don't know you we pray that right now God you would help them to turn from their sins and to call upon your name Lord that you might come into their life and begin a fresh work offering them the forgiveness of all their sins, the gift of eternal life and so on. As we remain in an attitude of prayer if that's you and you desire to get right if you will with your creator you can do that. God said he's not far from each one of us. He'll reward you if you'll seek him out and you can just call upon the name of the Lord right now. There in the privacy of your home or your car wherever you're listening you can say something like this. God will hear your prayer. You can say dear God I realize, I acknowledge that you exist and in many ways I have sinned against you. I want to turn from my sinful way of living and I ask that you'd forgive me for my sins. I pray that you would come into my life and that you would be my Lord, that you would be my king, that you would be my God. I believe that you died on the cross and rose again from the grave to pay for these sinful things I've done. Thank you so much. Help me to follow you from this day forward and forever. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.