Why People Deny God

Why People Deny God

July 12, 2006

Pastor Matt Black

Midweek Service

Luke 12:13-21

Discipleship: What are the Ten Commandments of God’s moral law?

(Quote them.)

Introduction: Open your Bible tonight to Luke 12. We come this evening to a passage of Scripture that reveals the foundational motives of those who deny God. We are going to ask ourselves the question tonight why there are some people that deny the existence of God. The title of tonight’s message is “Why People Deny God”.

[Read Luke 12:13-21]

And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. 14 And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? 15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Synopsis: Here we have the story of a man who was concerned more about what this world has to offer. He cared about the money he might receive in an inheritance on this earth. That was his motive for living at that time. He was not thinking about God or eternal life. He probably did not call himself an atheist, but he was a practical atheist. Remember what Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Most atheists do not say that they are atheists outwardly, but they say it in their heart. That’s what the Scripture says, ““The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Many people don’t say it outwardly, but inwardly they operate as if there is no God. Spurgeon said that everyone who sins has atheism in his heart.

So here you have this man in our text consumed with his money. Verse 21 tells us that because the basic pleasure of this man’s life was making his life better, and gaining things for himself, though he may have been rich in an earthly context, he was “not rich toward God” (verse 21).

Jesus gave this man a clear warning. He said in verse 15 of our text that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” This refutes the bedrock conviction of the atheist. The atheist lives for this life. He believes that this life is all there is, and that is it.

I. The Manifestations of the Atheist. There are two types of atheists. There are those who deny God outrightly, and those who deny Him by the way they live. You have the absolute atheist and the practical atheist. Both are idolaters.

First, there is the Absolute atheist. This person is an idolater because he puts himself in the seat of God. He doesn’t like what he calls the concept of God, so he basically annihilates Him. There was a movement in the 60s that said that “God is dead”. What they meant was that God is no longer relevant. They’ve created a fake God who is irrelevant and put Him in the Bible and declared Him dead. So this is the absolute atheist. He proudly says he knows there is no God. Some atheists are more honest. Thomas Nagel, a devout atheist said this:

I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and, naturally, I hope that I'm right in my belief. It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that.

--Thomas Nagel

Nagel really gets to the point. No one can truly deny the existence of God.

Then, there is the Practical atheist.

Ninety-six per cent (96%) of Americans reportedly believe in God. Yet I believe there are far more that deny God with their lives, and I want to explore the reasons why. Most people simply do not think about God. Some of these people call themselves atheists. But all of them think that “a man’s life does indeed consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses.” Every person with this life’s philosophy denies God. Covetousness and materialism are but symptoms of atheism. If you cannot say “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21), then you are most certainly a practical atheist and denying God.

Why is it important to confront atheism in your life, and in the lives of all people—both confessing atheists and non-confessing atheists? Listen to the words of Matthew 10:32-33, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” Dear friend, are you a believer? Confess Christ before all! Be unashamed! Why? Those who deny Christ will be denied by Christ!

Those who deny God on this earth will be denied by God on Judgment Day!

II. The Marks of the Atheist

First listen to the Lord’s words in verse 15. He says, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

Mark #1: Covetousness. Jesus tells us to “beware of covetousness”.

Mark #2: Self-happiness. Jesus tells us of the man whose philosophy was to “eat drink and be merry.” This man says to himself in verse 19 “I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”

Mark #3: Godlessness. Jesus summarizes it in verse 21, “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God”. He that thinks only of this life and himself is not rich toward God. He’s in spiritual poverty. He is without God. That is what atheist means “a” means “without” and “theos” means “God”. An atheist is a God-less person, someone without God. What does that mean? An atheist has rejected God’s rightful dominion, and declared mutiny against God in favour of self-dominion.

Let us look deeper into our text, and into what leads people into a denial of God. Why do people deny God? What is the motive of the atheist?

III. The Motives of the Atheism

License. By denying God, people are able to have their way with seemingly no consequences. His philosophy is found in verse 19, “take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry”. Atheism is simply a cloak for selfish and licentious living. If there is no God, then no one is accountable, and you can “take thine ease.” Most atheists speak peace to themselves when there is no peace (Jeremiah 8:11). They are lying to themselves about God’s existence so that that might serve their true god: themselves. Men don’t want God to exist because they want to continue in their dark deeds. They love sin! “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19). Job said that man is the filthiest thing on the planet because he “drinketh iniquity like water” (Job 15:16). Natural man loves sin like a we love a cold cup of water on a hot day! He craves sin more than God, so he denies God’s existence.

There are several other motives of atheism that are not mentioned in our text. They are…

Bitterness. Many will deny God because they have been hurt by life’s circumstances. This bitterness is a kin to self-righteousness. Bitterness in any person comes because a person esteems himself greater than he ought to. An atheist esteems himself a better judge than God. He thinks himself to be more wise than God, more just than God, more loving than God. The truth is, bitterness is the same thing as pride. Bitterness comes from self-love and self-worship. It is self-idolatry. A bitter person will say, “Well, if I were God, I would never do things this way.” And so that person dethrones God in his or her life and “believes” Him out of existence. Yet, it is not that easy. A bitter person’s declaration that God doesn’t exist doesn’t cease God from existing.

C.S. Lewis made a very good point. He said:

Atheists express their rage against God although in their view He does not exist. --C. S. Lewis

Application to believers: Even as believers, we can act like atheists with bitterness. Is their bitterness in your soul tonight? Listen to Hebrews 12:15. The Word of God tells us that we should be “looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” Is there a root of bitterness in you tonight? Bitterness denies God his sovereignty. It says, this shouldn’t have happened or that shouldn’t have happened.

Self-Rule

We hear very often, “Well, it’s not right for me, but it’s not right for him. I can’t judge.” Or, “How can you tell me what’s right for me? You are not me!” In other words, “I say what is right and wrong!”

Isaiah says, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

This is the root of all the most heinous deeds on earth. Do you understand that is against the law to read your Bible in a public school? The government says it is wrong for a person to pray in a public school. It’s wrong to post God’s Word in a court room! But wicked, filthy sodomites are defended by our politicians, and will soon be protected by our laws!

I say with Isaiah again, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)!!

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way

Reject your way! Take the false god of self off the throne! Jesus said in Matthew 10:38, “He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”

IV. The Minority of Atheists.

Atheists are in the minority.

A. Their location.

There are only atheists on earth. There are none in heaven. All the angels worship God with their cries, “Holy, Holy, Holy” and there are no devils who deny God. In fact the Bible tells us that “the devils believe and tremble” (James 2:19).

B. Their numeration.

I believe there will be more believers in heaven than lost people in hell. I believe God is a gracious and merciful God. We only need to look to John’s description of those in heaven to see the number of those who fear the Lord.

Revelation 7:9-10, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

C. Their conversion.

There will be no atheists in eternity. There won’t even BE a minority of atheists in eternity. The atheist will not exist! Look at Philippians 2:10-12.

There’s coming a day Paul says that, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and every tongue … confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

V. The Mire of the Atheist.

The atheist has a problem. There are things that the atheists cannot explain…

Right and wrong—the conscience. The atheist cannot explain morality. If you do not believe in a God, then there are no absolutes. If there are no absolutes, then logic and common sense dies. The sum of one plus does not have to equal two. Truth has been displaced and there is nothing to replace it, and so you have what we call “post-modernism”. Each person defines morality in their own terms, because in reality, if God doesn’t exist, I am my own God. Atheism and humanism are identical twins!

The irreducible complexity of creation.

For the atheist, time plus chance will accomplish everything you see in front of your eyes. Go and test it. Wait a million years in front of the ocean, and you will never see an ocean wave write “John loves Mary” on the sand.

A wave cannot cause that! Information means you have intelligence. The DNA of every living thing proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is a Creator!

Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”

The idea that the universe was formed by chance is illogical and scientifically impossible. It is not unusual to hear people suggest that time plus chance will accomplish the evolution of simple organisms into more complex entities. There is a logical error in such statements. There is no such thing as chance. That is, chance is not an entity which causes things to happen. Chance does not exist. It is something people use to speak of the possibility of an event.

Conclusion: We must confront atheism in the lost as well as in ourselves. Remember Charles Spurgeon said, “Atheism is the root of all sin”. Two questions:

1. Are you ready to give the Gospel to every creature? Could you preach the Gospel to someone who said your message was irrelevant to them, because they didn’t believe in God? If you couldn’t do that, you need to grow in that area.

2. Second question: are their areas in your life where you act like an atheist? Is there an area of sin in your life? Are you denying Christ before men by not witnessing? Dear friend, examine your life.

Psalm 139:23, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Video with Q&A Closing Hymn: 79 The Lord is Good