WEBVTT 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:09.580 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says 00:00:09.580 --> 00:00:14.539 to those who are under sin, so that every mouth 00:00:14.539 --> 00:00:17.100 may be silenced and all the world held accountable 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:22.160 to God. Romans 3 .19. That's our memory verse 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:24.239 for today. Did you recognize it? Oh, you did. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:26.760 You were saying it with me. And that's good. 00:00:26.839 --> 00:00:28.420 I'm going to give you an opportunity to do that 00:00:28.420 --> 00:00:31.620 audibly now. As we say together, our memory verse 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:33.640 for today is part of our worship. By the way, 00:00:33.659 --> 00:00:36.759 we're working our way through a card which is 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:39.420 available to all of you. We're on verse number 00:00:39.420 --> 00:00:42.399 three out of four next week of Romans 3 .20. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:45.740 And we will have another card available next 00:00:45.740 --> 00:00:49.359 week for the next section of verses that we're 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:52.079 memorizing together. If you'd like to get one 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:54.259 for Romans 3 .20, they're available in the back 00:00:54.259 --> 00:00:58.009 in the lobby area after the service. Let's say 00:00:58.009 --> 00:01:02.429 together, Romans 3, 19. Now we know that whatever 00:01:02.429 --> 00:01:06.409 the law says, it says to those who are under 00:01:06.409 --> 00:01:10.010 the law, so that every mouth may be silenced 00:01:10.010 --> 00:01:14.909 and all the world held accountable to God. That 00:01:14.909 --> 00:01:18.969 verse ties together perfectly with our text for 00:01:18.969 --> 00:01:22.810 today, which is in Romans chapter 1. I invite 00:01:22.810 --> 00:01:25.010 you to take your Bible and turn there with me. 00:01:25.739 --> 00:01:33.340 As we read verses 18 through 23 of Romans chapter 00:01:33.340 --> 00:01:45.719 1. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:50.640 against all the godlessness and wickedness of 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:54.379 men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:00.239 since what is known about God is plain to them, 00:02:00.379 --> 00:02:05.120 because God has made it plain to them. For since 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:09.000 the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, 00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:13.699 his eternal power and divine nature, have been 00:02:13.699 --> 00:02:17.379 clearly seen, being understood from what has 00:02:17.379 --> 00:02:22.379 been made, so that men are without excuse. For 00:02:22.379 --> 00:02:26.060 although they knew God, They neither glorified 00:02:26.060 --> 00:02:30.400 him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.879 thinking became futile and their foolish hearts 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:37.639 were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, 00:02:37.659 --> 00:02:42.159 they became fools and exchanged the glory of 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:46.460 the immortal God for images made to look like 00:02:46.460 --> 00:02:52.099 mortal men and birds and animals and reptiles. 00:02:53.960 --> 00:02:57.020 We come to verse 18. We are entering the first 00:02:57.020 --> 00:03:00.539 major section of the book of Romans, the first 00:03:00.539 --> 00:03:05.539 17 verses being an introduction. Verses 16 and 00:03:05.539 --> 00:03:10.919 17 represent the core theme of the book, the 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:14.159 righteousness of God, which is revealed in the 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:17.280 gospel for our salvation, those who believe, 00:03:17.379 --> 00:03:22.500 that is. Having written about the... Righteousness 00:03:22.500 --> 00:03:26.500 of God, he turns now to a companion truth and 00:03:26.500 --> 00:03:30.080 reveals God's wrath in condemning the world. 00:03:31.500 --> 00:03:34.879 God's righteousness is revealed, as he says, 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:42.280 in the gospel to them who believe. God's wrath 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:46.520 is revealed from heaven against those who reject 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:52.439 the light that God has given to them. I am particularly 00:03:52.439 --> 00:03:55.360 interested in that last clause in verse 20 that 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:01.479 says, so that men are without excuse. Now that 00:04:01.479 --> 00:04:04.139 is a novel thought in our age of excuses, isn't 00:04:04.139 --> 00:04:10.240 it? We live by excuses, or so it would seem. 00:04:12.020 --> 00:04:15.159 How many of us have ever said, well, I can't 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:19.639 help it. That's just the way I am. I don't have 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:24.120 time. I'm too busy to get involved in something 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:28.100 else. Let somebody else do it. I've already served 00:04:28.100 --> 00:04:34.040 my time. This way of thinking has even invaded 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:38.019 our legal system so that today our courts are 00:04:38.019 --> 00:04:41.639 backlogged. Men make excuses for their crimes, 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.800 one of the most often being not guilty by reason 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:49.550 of insanity. And that plea in itself is causing 00:04:49.550 --> 00:04:51.730 our whole society, it would seem, to go insane 00:04:51.730 --> 00:04:56.329 in its legal system. We live in an age of excuses, 00:04:56.490 --> 00:05:01.310 and men and women get that honestly. Excuses 00:05:01.310 --> 00:05:04.970 began in the Garden of Eden, didn't they? God 00:05:04.970 --> 00:05:08.730 confronted Adam and Eve and the serpent after 00:05:08.730 --> 00:05:13.189 man had fallen into sin. God said to Adam, who 00:05:13.189 --> 00:05:16.879 told you that you were naked? How did you learn 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:22.579 this? And Adam immediately placed the blame for 00:05:22.579 --> 00:05:25.279 his transgression on his wife. He said, well, 00:05:25.300 --> 00:05:27.980 Lord, you know the woman you gave me? It's all 00:05:27.980 --> 00:05:31.480 her fault. So God turned to Eve and said, well, 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:35.199 Eve, what about this? And she said, well, it's 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:37.899 not me, it's the serpent. The serpent deceived 00:05:37.899 --> 00:05:42.240 me. So she pointed to the serpent, made an excuse. 00:05:43.310 --> 00:05:45.389 And so God turned to the serpent and spoke to 00:05:45.389 --> 00:05:47.029 the serpent, judged the serpent, and worked his 00:05:47.029 --> 00:05:51.610 way back up the line. Men and women have always 00:05:51.610 --> 00:05:56.170 made excuses, and we who are believers in Jesus 00:05:56.170 --> 00:05:59.490 Christ need to try to avoid that way of living. 00:06:00.250 --> 00:06:03.449 In other words, we need to be honest with ourselves 00:06:03.449 --> 00:06:07.509 and with others and tell the truth. Someone has 00:06:07.509 --> 00:06:10.910 said that an excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed 00:06:10.910 --> 00:06:16.620 with a lie. We need to avoid excuses, whether 00:06:16.620 --> 00:06:20.000 it be in our education or at work or in our church, 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:25.100 in our relationships with our families. I think 00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:27.160 it would be a noble thing on the part of every 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:33.480 one of us to seek to put away excuses. What it 00:06:33.480 --> 00:06:36.019 tells us in our text today is that no man has 00:06:36.019 --> 00:06:39.420 any excuse which he may offer to God for his 00:06:39.420 --> 00:06:46.029 sin. We may from time to time receive an overlooking 00:06:46.029 --> 00:06:51.110 of our blame from men, but we will never receive 00:06:51.110 --> 00:06:54.790 that from God. There are no excuses. All are 00:06:54.790 --> 00:06:59.550 responsible for their actions and are held accountable 00:06:59.550 --> 00:07:02.389 to God, as our memory verse for this morning 00:07:02.389 --> 00:07:07.009 said. Even those who have never heard the gospel 00:07:07.009 --> 00:07:09.490 message of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, 00:07:10.379 --> 00:07:14.360 are without excuse before God for their sin, 00:07:14.579 --> 00:07:18.639 and they're under God's condemnation. All men 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:23.800 are without excuse before a righteous God. And 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:26.279 there are two reasons why this is true. These 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:29.600 reasons are given in our text this morning. Reason 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:33.160 number one is they suppress the truth of God. 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:37.420 Reason number two, they reject the knowledge 00:07:37.420 --> 00:07:42.290 of God. All men are without excuse before God 00:07:42.290 --> 00:07:45.470 for these two reasons. Think with me about the 00:07:45.470 --> 00:07:48.589 reasons that we've talked about. Men are without 00:07:48.589 --> 00:07:51.649 excuse because first they suppress the truth 00:07:51.649 --> 00:07:55.550 of God. We'll notice that he says in verse 18, 00:07:55.850 --> 00:08:01.970 who suppress the truth by their wickedness. The 00:08:01.970 --> 00:08:04.189 first thing we need to define here is this word 00:08:04.189 --> 00:08:08.339 truth. What is meant by it? The truth here is 00:08:08.339 --> 00:08:12.240 broader than just the gospel message. It means 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:15.879 something much larger than that. Truth here means 00:08:15.879 --> 00:08:20.860 what is known about God. There is a universal 00:08:20.860 --> 00:08:26.060 revelation of God's existence. The fact of a 00:08:26.060 --> 00:08:29.879 supreme being who is worthy of worship and obedience 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:34.299 is known to all men, wherever they may live on 00:08:34.299 --> 00:08:40.179 the globe. all have available this truth that 00:08:40.179 --> 00:08:44.220 God is, that he is worthy of their adoration. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.980 You say, where do they get that knowledge? Well, 00:08:48.019 --> 00:08:50.000 he tells us where it is. It's from creation. 00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:54.460 He says in verse 20, or verse 19, God has made 00:08:54.460 --> 00:08:57.279 it plain to them, and in verse 20 he says, for 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:00.559 since the creation of the world, God's invisible 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:04.610 qualities have been clearly seen. So it's in 00:09:04.610 --> 00:09:07.690 the creation itself that God has revealed himself 00:09:07.690 --> 00:09:12.429 to all men to some extent. This is what we call 00:09:12.429 --> 00:09:17.309 natural revelation, revelation in nature. There 00:09:17.309 --> 00:09:20.909 is special revelation from God, which is the 00:09:20.909 --> 00:09:24.850 Bible. There's the personal revelation of God 00:09:24.850 --> 00:09:29.330 in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. But there is 00:09:29.330 --> 00:09:32.090 this natural revelation, which is available to 00:09:32.090 --> 00:09:35.600 all. And he tells us that in natural revelation, 00:09:35.700 --> 00:09:39.960 in the creation, the invisible is made visible. 00:09:40.460 --> 00:09:44.100 It seems to be a contradiction, doesn't it? But 00:09:44.100 --> 00:09:47.779 he says that the invisible qualities of God are 00:09:47.779 --> 00:09:51.159 manifested sufficiently to men to make them responsible 00:09:51.159 --> 00:09:55.960 to God. And specifically, he says, that God's 00:09:55.960 --> 00:10:01.600 eternal power and his divine nature are seen. 00:10:02.350 --> 00:10:04.750 In other words, in the creation of the world, 00:10:04.870 --> 00:10:12.389 men may see that God is powerful. As they examine 00:10:12.389 --> 00:10:15.970 the heavens or examine the world or themselves 00:10:15.970 --> 00:10:19.850 and the miracles of their own bodies, men must 00:10:19.850 --> 00:10:23.950 know that someone with great power has created 00:10:23.950 --> 00:10:29.440 them. Now today, of course, evolution. is the 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:32.139 excuse that men give for not believing this. 00:10:32.539 --> 00:10:35.220 We'll talk more about that excuse in a moment. 00:10:36.700 --> 00:10:39.019 But men are held accountable for the knowledge 00:10:39.019 --> 00:10:41.759 of God because of the power of God that is to 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:46.139 be seen all around us. That power is available 00:10:46.139 --> 00:10:48.620 as we look at the stars or as we look at a tree 00:10:48.620 --> 00:10:54.220 or as we see the results of the wind. And then 00:10:54.220 --> 00:10:58.000 God's divine nature is also... evidenced in the 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.179 creation. That is that there is someone who is 00:11:01.179 --> 00:11:05.539 bigger than us who has put this all together 00:11:05.539 --> 00:11:08.659 and holds it together. Men may know that just 00:11:08.659 --> 00:11:13.360 by observation. Regarding this, E .F. Harrison 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:17.940 has said concerning natural revelation that it's 00:11:17.940 --> 00:11:22.159 sufficient to make man responsible but not by 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:25.139 itself sufficient to accomplish his salvation. 00:11:26.730 --> 00:11:29.250 The point is, though, at this point in Romans, 00:11:29.450 --> 00:11:32.250 that all men are responsible to God because they 00:11:32.250 --> 00:11:35.850 have this much truth about God. He says this 00:11:35.850 --> 00:11:39.570 knowledge is plain to all men in verse 19. In 00:11:39.570 --> 00:11:43.129 other words, it is plain to his inner moral sense. 00:11:44.870 --> 00:11:49.350 He can tell that there is a God if he will, and 00:11:49.350 --> 00:11:53.960 that's the critical point, if he will. The Apostle 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:56.240 Paul says something similar to this in a sermon 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:00.960 he gave to some pagans in Athens, recorded for 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:06.399 us in Acts chapter 17. Paul always began where 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:10.139 his listeners were and led them to what he wanted 00:12:10.139 --> 00:12:14.399 them to know. With the Athenians, he began with 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:18.399 their idolatry. He spoke to them about this idol 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:21.320 that he had seen, dedicated to the unknown God. 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:26.279 They were so fearful of leaving out a God in 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:28.639 their mythology that they dedicated an idol to 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:30.740 the unknown God just to cover all their bases. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:33.940 So Paul picks up that theme and he says, now 00:12:33.940 --> 00:12:36.879 this unknown God I want to declare to you. And 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:42.379 part of his sermon says, verse 26, from one man 00:12:42.379 --> 00:12:47.159 he made every nation of men that they should 00:12:47.159 --> 00:12:50.350 inhabit the whole earth. and he determined the 00:12:50.350 --> 00:12:53.570 times set for them and the exact places where 00:12:53.570 --> 00:12:59.129 they should live. Verse 27, God did this so that 00:12:59.129 --> 00:13:03.710 men would seek him. In other words, God has worked 00:13:03.710 --> 00:13:06.970 in history. God has worked in the creation so 00:13:06.970 --> 00:13:09.450 that men would seek him and perhaps reach out 00:13:09.450 --> 00:13:12.429 for him and find him. And then he says, though 00:13:12.429 --> 00:13:15.929 he is not far from each one of us. What does 00:13:15.929 --> 00:13:18.370 he mean by that? Well, he means that around every 00:13:18.370 --> 00:13:21.909 one of us is the knowledge of God, the truth 00:13:21.909 --> 00:13:28.509 of God, the awareness of God's existence. And 00:13:28.509 --> 00:13:30.649 so the point that Paul is making in Romans is 00:13:30.649 --> 00:13:34.970 this, that man, reasoning from the law of cause 00:13:34.970 --> 00:13:41.169 and effect alone, should know and can know that 00:13:41.169 --> 00:13:44.879 there is a great cause to the universe. It is 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:49.700 plainly evident to all men. This knowledge of 00:13:49.700 --> 00:13:52.240 God is not a personal knowledge of God because 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:56.220 that can only come through Jesus Christ. But 00:13:56.220 --> 00:13:58.820 it is a knowledge nonetheless of God's majesty 00:13:58.820 --> 00:14:05.360 and his glory. This knowledge of God is available 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:07.820 to people even though they may not be able to 00:14:07.820 --> 00:14:12.120 see the creation. All of us have heard the name 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:16.009 Helen Keller. one of the most remarkable Americans 00:14:16.009 --> 00:14:21.990 who's ever lived. Helen Keller was sightless, 00:14:22.090 --> 00:14:31.370 deaf, and mute. And yet there was a friend who 00:14:31.370 --> 00:14:35.610 helped her to begin communicating with the world. 00:14:36.230 --> 00:14:39.250 And at a particular point, this friend explained 00:14:39.250 --> 00:14:42.940 to her about God. in the very simple language 00:14:42.940 --> 00:14:47.179 that she devised on Helen Keller's hand, being 00:14:47.179 --> 00:14:51.100 able to spell out the words. And after she had 00:14:51.100 --> 00:14:54.379 explained God to Helen Keller, Miss Keller made 00:14:54.379 --> 00:15:00.059 this statement, I always knew he existed, but 00:15:00.059 --> 00:15:04.539 I didn't know what to call him. Isn't that an 00:15:04.539 --> 00:15:07.000 interesting statement from one who was blind, 00:15:07.299 --> 00:15:10.240 deaf, and mute, who could not even see the creation? 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:14.299 but who nonetheless had an inner moral sense 00:15:14.299 --> 00:15:19.960 of the existence of the Creator. Now the fact 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:22.059 that we want to see in this first paragraph, 00:15:22.279 --> 00:15:27.960 verses 18 through 20, is that men suppress this 00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:30.820 knowledge of God, this reality, this truth about 00:15:30.820 --> 00:15:36.179 God. Men cannot destroy it. Men cannot alter 00:15:36.179 --> 00:15:41.399 it. But they can suppress it. That word suppress, 00:15:41.620 --> 00:15:44.919 as it is in the NIV in verse 18, means to hold 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:50.220 down. It means to repress something. It's the 00:15:50.220 --> 00:15:53.460 same word exactly that's used in 2 Thessalonians 00:15:53.460 --> 00:15:56.000 chapter 2 when it talks about the one who now 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:00.860 restrains sin, waiting for the Antichrist to 00:16:00.860 --> 00:16:03.919 be revealed. They're speaking about the present 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:07.220 ministry of the Holy Spirit restraining the spirit 00:16:07.220 --> 00:16:10.850 of lawlessness in the world. holding it back, 00:16:10.970 --> 00:16:14.730 pushing it down, so that Satan cannot accomplish 00:16:14.730 --> 00:16:18.750 all he would like to right now. That very same 00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:23.750 verb is used here. Wicked men suppress, they 00:16:23.750 --> 00:16:27.649 hold back, they push down this truth about God, 00:16:27.750 --> 00:16:32.350 this very basic truth of God's existence. He 00:16:32.350 --> 00:16:35.649 says they do this by their wickedness. That seems 00:16:35.649 --> 00:16:38.690 to indicate their motivation. In other words, 00:16:39.850 --> 00:16:43.870 They don't want to repent or to acknowledge God 00:16:43.870 --> 00:16:46.049 because that would make them accountable for 00:16:46.049 --> 00:16:50.750 their moral sin. Therefore, they refuse to acknowledge 00:16:50.750 --> 00:16:56.289 that God exists. They suppress the truth about 00:16:56.289 --> 00:17:02.789 God. We see this most relevantly in the battle 00:17:02.789 --> 00:17:08.490 today between the forces of evolution and creationism. 00:17:09.099 --> 00:17:15.180 in our country. One would think that in a free 00:17:15.180 --> 00:17:18.259 land where we are open -minded to everything, 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:22.140 that the concept of creation would be allowed 00:17:22.140 --> 00:17:26.099 in the schools. And yet it's not. It's fought 00:17:26.099 --> 00:17:30.180 bitterly by the forces of evolution and atheism. 00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:34.460 Why is that? Is that because of the separation 00:17:34.460 --> 00:17:38.279 of church and state? I would say to you that 00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:40.359 that is a banner that's been draped across many 00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:44.299 a sin. The separation of church and state has 00:17:44.299 --> 00:17:48.359 been misconstrued out of every shape that it 00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:50.240 was intended by the writers of our Constitution. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:58.519 It is used today as an excuse to suppress the 00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:05.740 truth about God. Linsky, the Lutheran commentator. 00:18:06.349 --> 00:18:11.309 in his book on Romans, has this interesting paragraph. 00:18:12.849 --> 00:18:16.210 Here Paul explains in one little clause, that 00:18:16.210 --> 00:18:19.789 is, by their wickedness, how despite the constant 00:18:19.789 --> 00:18:22.710 revelation of God's wrath, men go on in their 00:18:22.710 --> 00:18:26.230 wickedness. Whenever the truth starts to exert 00:18:26.230 --> 00:18:29.609 itself and makes them feel uneasy in their moral 00:18:29.609 --> 00:18:34.269 nature, they hold it down, suppress it. Some 00:18:34.269 --> 00:18:38.309 drown its voice by rushing on into their immoralities. 00:18:38.930 --> 00:18:42.049 Others strangle the disturbing voice by argument 00:18:42.049 --> 00:18:46.650 and by denial. Take the subject of hell. Again 00:18:46.650 --> 00:18:49.430 and again we meet violent, passionate denials 00:18:49.430 --> 00:18:52.470 of its existence. But if a man is convinced that 00:18:52.470 --> 00:18:55.230 there is no hell, he ought merely to smile in 00:18:55.230 --> 00:18:57.269 a superior way when the subject is mentioned. 00:18:58.089 --> 00:19:01.650 Take God's wrath. Why these assaults against 00:19:01.650 --> 00:19:05.130 it? or the existence of God, if no God exists. 00:19:06.009 --> 00:19:09.450 These denials and these arguments are not altruistic. 00:19:10.029 --> 00:19:12.809 They are the efforts of the ungodly to suppress 00:19:12.809 --> 00:19:17.970 the disquieting truth in the interest of their 00:19:17.970 --> 00:19:22.269 own ungodliness. They face an inescapable alternative 00:19:22.269 --> 00:19:26.890 in their moral nature, an either -or, either 00:19:26.890 --> 00:19:30.730 to yield to the truth and to give up ungodliness 00:19:30.730 --> 00:19:35.539 and unrighteousness, or to hold firmly to these 00:19:35.539 --> 00:19:39.539 two and then of necessity to squelch the truth. 00:19:40.339 --> 00:19:44.799 How accurately Linsky has put it. Why are men 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:49.279 without excuse before God? Because they suppress 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:53.980 the truth about God. There's a second reason 00:19:53.980 --> 00:19:56.140 that flows right out of this found in verses 00:19:56.140 --> 00:20:00.299 21 to 23. Men not only suppress the truth about 00:20:00.299 --> 00:20:04.579 God, but they reject the knowledge of God. And 00:20:04.579 --> 00:20:07.259 what we have recorded here and through the rest 00:20:07.259 --> 00:20:14.359 of this chapter is but a record of man, of civilization 00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:20.180 prior to the flood of Noah. And yet what is recorded 00:20:20.180 --> 00:20:23.519 here is also the record of every civilization 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:30.059 in the history of the world. They begin with 00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:33.759 the knowledge of God, verse 21. What knowledge 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:35.700 is this? The knowledge we've been talking about. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:39.359 The general knowledge that God exists and that 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:44.500 he is worthy of worship and obedience. The knowledge 00:20:44.500 --> 00:20:48.539 of God's wrath, which we'll talk about in concluding 00:20:48.539 --> 00:20:52.000 our message this morning. He says, although they 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.319 knew God, and then he begins to list the steps 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.119 away from God. which every society has followed. 00:21:01.579 --> 00:21:06.119 Sin is evidenced in these steps that we see listed 00:21:06.119 --> 00:21:10.220 for us in verses 21 through 23. They knew God. 00:21:10.339 --> 00:21:14.640 That was their original position. Now the steps 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:21.079 away. Number one, they did not glorify God. Although 00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:23.740 they had an awareness of God's existence, they 00:21:23.740 --> 00:21:26.500 did not acknowledge God or give him worship. 00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:30.559 They did not glorify God. They did not set him 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:34.740 apart and give him obedience. So that led to 00:21:34.740 --> 00:21:37.839 step number two. They did not give thanks to 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:41.799 God. They didn't acknowledge him, so why should 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:45.200 they give him thanks? And yet they're held accountable 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:49.480 for that. They did not give thanks even for life, 00:21:49.539 --> 00:21:54.579 besides food and shelter. They abused God's gifts. 00:21:55.210 --> 00:21:59.329 and God's resources in the world, not recognizing 00:21:59.329 --> 00:22:03.690 God's ownership and man's stewardship. Step number 00:22:03.690 --> 00:22:09.970 three, their thinking became futile. Out of their 00:22:09.970 --> 00:22:15.130 ungrateful hearts came a reasoning process that 00:22:15.130 --> 00:22:18.789 was empty and vain. I believe that this is the 00:22:18.789 --> 00:22:24.700 origin of mythology. and all man -made religions. 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:30.180 When man turns away from the truth of God, he 00:22:30.180 --> 00:22:35.500 turns to a religion of his own creation. He invents 00:22:35.500 --> 00:22:39.619 another religion. His thinking is futile. It 00:22:39.619 --> 00:22:43.299 is without result. It is unsuccessful. But nonetheless, 00:22:43.460 --> 00:22:46.700 he creates for himself another religious system 00:22:46.700 --> 00:22:50.420 by which his religious nature may find some kind. 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:55.279 of fulfillment, hopefully. Men reason about God, 00:22:55.380 --> 00:22:58.259 but their rationalizations lead nowhere. They 00:22:58.259 --> 00:23:01.140 are utterly senseless, he says. Their thinking 00:23:01.140 --> 00:23:06.059 became futile. Out of that, step number four. 00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:12.799 Their foolish hearts were darkened. The heart 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:18.380 is the seat of the understanding. In the biblical 00:23:18.380 --> 00:23:22.299 sense, it is where we get our capacity to feel 00:23:22.299 --> 00:23:28.480 or to choose or to understand or to grasp something 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:32.640 intellectually. He says regarding the heart of 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:35.279 man who turns from God that his heart is foolish. 00:23:35.740 --> 00:23:40.400 The word means it is stupid. It is undiscerning. 00:23:40.779 --> 00:23:45.819 It is unintelligent. He says the foolish heart 00:23:45.819 --> 00:23:51.430 was darkened. That may indicate God's judgment, 00:23:51.549 --> 00:23:56.450 or it may indicate the simple fact that the darkening 00:23:56.450 --> 00:24:00.589 of man's intellect is the natural overflow of 00:24:00.589 --> 00:24:04.769 his turning from God. The natural man claims 00:24:04.769 --> 00:24:08.410 to be very scientific and open to all truth, 00:24:08.710 --> 00:24:13.509 and yet he looks down upon the Christian for 00:24:13.509 --> 00:24:19.250 simply believing God. Once again, Linsky has 00:24:19.250 --> 00:24:23.309 an interesting statement regarding this. It has 00:24:23.309 --> 00:24:25.890 always been the boast of the ungodly and the 00:24:25.890 --> 00:24:30.930 unrighteous that they are wise, scientific in 00:24:30.930 --> 00:24:34.950 their thinking, use their reason, and so forth. 00:24:35.630 --> 00:24:38.109 They look down on the believer for his faith 00:24:38.109 --> 00:24:43.130 in God and in Christ. Silly is Paul's verdict, 00:24:43.230 --> 00:24:47.170 just plain silly. Any heart and all reasonings 00:24:47.170 --> 00:24:50.369 that because of the love of unrighteousness refused 00:24:50.369 --> 00:24:53.069 to bow to what all creation proclaims concerning 00:24:53.069 --> 00:24:58.109 God are silly. And that's what Paul says. He 00:24:58.109 --> 00:25:02.190 says that out of their foolish hearts that were 00:25:02.190 --> 00:25:06.710 darkened came silliness. That's step number five. 00:25:06.809 --> 00:25:11.509 They became fools. The word here literally is 00:25:11.509 --> 00:25:15.779 morons. Because of the way that we use that term 00:25:15.779 --> 00:25:18.480 today, we understand what is meant. It refers 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:24.140 to one who is dull, one who does not have sufficient 00:25:24.140 --> 00:25:28.920 capacity. Now this is the record of our civilization, 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:33.319 folks, as well as the civilization before the 00:25:33.319 --> 00:25:37.619 flood. They became fools, it says. They alleged 00:25:37.619 --> 00:25:40.839 themselves to be wise, in other words, to be 00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:46.460 intelligent. They claim to have a cultivated 00:25:46.460 --> 00:25:54.240 learning. And yet they are fools. Recently I 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:58.660 heard a conversation on the radio with the son 00:25:58.660 --> 00:26:03.740 of Madeline Murray O 'Hare. One of her sons, 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:07.319 I believe his name is William. Can anyone help 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:13.200 me with that? It is William. Has become a Christian. 00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:18.460 in recent years that has rather deterred the 00:26:18.460 --> 00:26:20.480 communication between himself and his mother 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:25.160 for obvious reasons. He is going around the country 00:26:25.160 --> 00:26:28.380 now speaking about the atheistic movement of 00:26:28.380 --> 00:26:33.700 his mother as well as talking about her. Everything 00:26:33.700 --> 00:26:35.859 that he says is in the context of his praying 00:26:35.859 --> 00:26:41.180 for her to be saved. One of the statements that 00:26:41.180 --> 00:26:43.640 he made in the conversation that arrested my 00:26:43.640 --> 00:26:48.880 attention was that atheists believe themselves 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:53.240 to be mentally superior, to be far above the 00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:57.900 average person in our society. They believe themselves 00:26:57.900 --> 00:27:01.859 to have greater capacity intellectually, and 00:27:01.859 --> 00:27:03.680 that's why they have arrived at the superior 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:08.220 conclusion that there is no God. In other words, 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:12.359 the real basis for their belief that there is 00:27:12.359 --> 00:27:19.960 no God is an arrogant intellectualism. But I 00:27:19.960 --> 00:27:23.059 would say that it goes deeper than that. Because 00:27:23.059 --> 00:27:26.460 this refusal to believe in God, it says here, 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:30.640 is based upon the fact that man does not want 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:35.230 to give up his sin, his wickedness. When you 00:27:35.230 --> 00:27:39.809 find a man who refuses to believe in God, if 00:27:39.809 --> 00:27:41.710 you do a little probing, you will find that the 00:27:41.710 --> 00:27:45.970 root of that is probably a moral sin, that he 00:27:45.970 --> 00:27:50.650 refuses either to acknowledge, certainly that 00:27:50.650 --> 00:27:55.309 he does not want to repent of. Well, step number 00:27:55.309 --> 00:27:57.849 five is that they became fools, and finally, 00:27:57.869 --> 00:28:02.630 step number six, in man's steps away from God, 00:28:03.069 --> 00:28:07.490 They exchanged God's glory for idols. He says 00:28:07.490 --> 00:28:09.609 they exchanged the glory of the immortal God 00:28:09.609 --> 00:28:13.150 for images made to look like mortal man. Notice 00:28:13.150 --> 00:28:16.029 the contrast there, the immortality of God, the 00:28:16.029 --> 00:28:22.730 mortality of man. Today in our society, we of 00:28:22.730 --> 00:28:25.089 course are much too sophisticated to worship 00:28:25.089 --> 00:28:30.130 images for the most part. So we have been given 00:28:30.130 --> 00:28:33.420 to the most subtle, and the most dangerous kind 00:28:33.420 --> 00:28:37.420 of idolatry of all, and that is the idolatry 00:28:37.420 --> 00:28:43.480 of oneself. One does not need a temple for this. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:47.539 One simply worships himself and the decisions 00:28:47.539 --> 00:28:52.680 that he makes in life. I would submit to you 00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:57.680 that that is the root of abortion. It is the 00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:01.730 worship of oneself. and caring only for oneself. 00:29:04.109 --> 00:29:10.049 That is the root of segregation and racism. It 00:29:10.049 --> 00:29:14.529 is arrogance and the worship of oneself. It is 00:29:14.529 --> 00:29:18.430 the root of atheism, the worship of oneself. 00:29:19.769 --> 00:29:22.849 That is the kind of worship that our society 00:29:22.849 --> 00:29:27.109 today is given to. It is engrossed in the most 00:29:27.109 --> 00:29:32.109 perverse and wicked. kind of idolatry. We have 00:29:32.109 --> 00:29:36.309 not images of stone made to look like man or 00:29:36.309 --> 00:29:40.910 birds or four -footed animals or snakes. We have 00:29:40.910 --> 00:29:46.230 an invisible idol that men worship, and that 00:29:46.230 --> 00:29:52.490 idol is each man himself. Now because man rejects 00:29:52.490 --> 00:29:56.859 the knowledge of God, And because he holds down 00:29:56.859 --> 00:29:59.619 the truth about God that is plainly evident to 00:29:59.619 --> 00:30:04.019 anyone who will look, he is without excuse before 00:30:04.019 --> 00:30:08.900 God. He is under the just condemnation of God. 00:30:09.160 --> 00:30:12.380 And I want you to notice that this does not say 00:30:12.380 --> 00:30:16.579 that they will be under the judgment of God or 00:30:16.579 --> 00:30:19.759 that God's wrath is going to be revealed. It 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:23.910 says that God's wrath is being revealed. now 00:30:23.910 --> 00:30:28.089 from heaven, against this sort of thinking and 00:30:28.089 --> 00:30:31.029 people who are engrossed in it. This ties together 00:30:31.029 --> 00:30:34.769 with what Jesus said in John 3 .16. Whoever rejects 00:30:34.769 --> 00:30:38.750 the Son will not see life, but God's wrath remains 00:30:38.750 --> 00:30:44.210 on him. We usually think of God's wrath as the 00:30:44.210 --> 00:30:48.390 last judgment, but the Bible depicts God's wrath 00:30:48.390 --> 00:30:51.519 as starting long before that. For God's wrath 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:56.039 is faced in this life. It culminates at the last 00:30:56.039 --> 00:31:01.019 judgment. God's wrath may be defined as his indignation 00:31:01.019 --> 00:31:08.160 with evil. God's wrath is not fictitious. It 00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:11.880 is not simply a figure of speech. It is, as one 00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:16.119 commentator said, a terrible reality. The constant, 00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:23.390 unchanging reaction of God's holiness. Now because 00:31:23.390 --> 00:31:26.890 we define wrath in terms of men, we often think 00:31:26.890 --> 00:31:30.730 of God's wrath as like a volcano that erupts. 00:31:31.250 --> 00:31:33.549 It sort of builds up pressure and then all of 00:31:33.549 --> 00:31:36.730 a sudden fire comes out of heaven and licks up 00:31:36.730 --> 00:31:40.430 the guilty as it did at Sodom and Gomorrah. But 00:31:40.430 --> 00:31:44.369 that is not God's wrath as the Bible pictures 00:31:44.369 --> 00:31:49.440 it. Sometimes God's wrath does. overflow that 00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:53.700 way. But his wrath, as revealed in the Bible, 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:58.240 is an unceasing reaction to sin. It is his stern, 00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:04.019 constant opposition to sin. It is a settled, 00:32:04.099 --> 00:32:07.579 abiding attitude regarding evil, not a sudden 00:32:07.579 --> 00:32:12.119 outburst, but a lasting response to wickedness. 00:32:15.309 --> 00:32:18.210 God is both a loving God as well as a just God. 00:32:19.549 --> 00:32:23.349 God could not love righteousness if he did not 00:32:23.349 --> 00:32:28.509 hate evil. Everdeth Harrison said, The unfolding 00:32:28.509 --> 00:32:31.990 of history involves a disclosure of the wrath 00:32:31.990 --> 00:32:35.910 of God against sin, seen in the terrible corruption 00:32:35.910 --> 00:32:40.190 and perversion of human life. Now listen to me 00:32:40.190 --> 00:32:44.059 a moment. What is said in this chapter is that 00:32:44.059 --> 00:32:49.440 God's wrath is being revealed. That does not 00:32:49.440 --> 00:32:51.980 necessarily mean that God wipes people off the 00:32:51.980 --> 00:32:57.059 face of the earth every time he's angry. As a 00:32:57.059 --> 00:32:59.119 matter of fact, this chapter will go on to say 00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:03.420 that God's wrath is revealed by his allowing 00:33:03.420 --> 00:33:09.950 man's perversion to take its own course. Three 00:33:09.950 --> 00:33:12.470 times, as we will see in our text next week, 00:33:12.529 --> 00:33:19.349 it says, God gave them up. That is the revelation 00:33:19.349 --> 00:33:26.869 of God's wrath. Instead of restraining the degeneration 00:33:26.869 --> 00:33:31.529 of sin, God simply allows that degeneration to 00:33:31.529 --> 00:33:34.609 take its own perverted course. And we will see 00:33:34.609 --> 00:33:37.779 next week where that leads. And notice that it 00:33:37.779 --> 00:33:40.180 says in verse 18 that the wrath of God is being 00:33:40.180 --> 00:33:44.900 revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness 00:33:44.900 --> 00:33:49.400 and wickedness of men. Two thoughts there, the 00:33:49.400 --> 00:33:53.920 ungodliness and the wickedness of men. They are 00:33:53.920 --> 00:33:57.200 similar but not the same. Ungodliness refers 00:33:57.200 --> 00:34:03.019 to a lack of reverence for God. And the real 00:34:03.019 --> 00:34:06.900 thought is not carelessness. But it is rebellion, 00:34:07.059 --> 00:34:16.099 a rebellious irreverence toward the Lord. Wickedness 00:34:16.099 --> 00:34:19.400 has to do with a violation of what is right. 00:34:21.420 --> 00:34:24.360 It involves injustice toward our fellow man. 00:34:25.300 --> 00:34:27.659 And so what we have really in these two words 00:34:27.659 --> 00:34:32.860 is a summary of the Ten Commandments. The Ten 00:34:32.860 --> 00:34:35.000 Commandments are divided really into two groups, 00:34:35.059 --> 00:34:39.480 aren't they? The first four deal with man's relationship 00:34:39.480 --> 00:34:45.559 to whom? Right, to God. The last six deal with 00:34:45.559 --> 00:34:49.440 man's relationship to man. The first four are 00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:54.719 vertical. The last six are horizontal. And that's 00:34:54.719 --> 00:34:57.039 the direction of these two words. Ungodliness 00:34:57.039 --> 00:35:00.980 is a word that is vertical. It is man's irreverence, 00:35:00.980 --> 00:35:05.400 his rebellion to God. The word wickedness refers 00:35:05.400 --> 00:35:09.099 to man's injustice toward his fellow man when 00:35:09.099 --> 00:35:11.659 he violates the rights of his fellow man and 00:35:11.659 --> 00:35:16.400 sins against him. It says that God's wrath is 00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:21.920 revealed against all of this, A -L -L. There 00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:26.449 is not a sin that has been committed. since the 00:35:26.449 --> 00:35:29.449 Garden of Eden that will not in some way be dealt 00:35:29.449 --> 00:35:40.869 with by God. Not one lie, not one adultery, not 00:35:40.869 --> 00:35:47.989 one thievery, not one sin that has ever occurred 00:35:47.989 --> 00:35:51.190 on the face of the earth will escape the scrutiny 00:35:51.190 --> 00:35:57.780 of God. How blessed it is to know that one's 00:35:57.780 --> 00:36:02.320 sins have been forgiven. And that God poured 00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:07.179 out his wrath upon his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:36:07.500 --> 00:36:12.760 so that we might escape the wrath of God. If 00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:19.260 we reject the work of Jesus Christ for us, the 00:36:19.260 --> 00:36:22.280 only alternative is for us to experience personally 00:36:22.280 --> 00:36:28.329 the wrath of God. And there is no escape. And 00:36:28.329 --> 00:36:32.969 there is no excuse. Have you given your heart 00:36:32.969 --> 00:36:36.469 to Jesus Christ? Or does the wrath of God now 00:36:36.469 --> 00:36:42.550 abide on you? God's wrath will be a constant 00:36:42.550 --> 00:36:45.889 opposition to you in life. And though you may 00:36:45.889 --> 00:36:52.329 enjoy a success here or there, God's wrath will 00:36:52.329 --> 00:36:55.289 be against you. and ultimately will carry you 00:36:55.289 --> 00:36:58.309 away to the place you deserve to be, in hell, 00:36:58.469 --> 00:37:03.369 separated from God for all of eternity. You say, 00:37:03.389 --> 00:37:06.190 but I'm not really that kind of a person. I'm 00:37:06.190 --> 00:37:08.090 not that bad. I'm better than the other guy. 00:37:10.250 --> 00:37:15.309 All men are without excuse before God. Every 00:37:15.309 --> 00:37:17.610 one of us will give account of himself to God, 00:37:17.750 --> 00:37:22.349 not for the other guy, but for ourselves. And 00:37:22.349 --> 00:37:26.690 if there's one sin in our lives, we stand condemned 00:37:26.690 --> 00:37:31.090 before a holy God. That's why it is so wonderful 00:37:31.090 --> 00:37:34.570 to know that when we trust the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:37:34.630 --> 00:37:37.670 that all of our sins, past, present, and future, 00:37:37.809 --> 00:37:41.610 are under the blood of Christ. And God's righteousness 00:37:41.610 --> 00:37:45.670 is given to us. Because from that point on, God 00:37:45.670 --> 00:37:50.570 only sees us as in Christ, as in... His righteousness 00:37:50.570 --> 00:37:54.449 and righteous in him. Our sin is never held to 00:37:54.449 --> 00:37:59.769 our account after that. We are justified, declared 00:37:59.769 --> 00:38:03.130 righteous in the sight of God. That is a wonderful 00:38:03.130 --> 00:38:06.050 thing. If you've never experienced that, you 00:38:06.050 --> 00:38:09.989 need to do it today. I hope you will. Remember 00:38:09.989 --> 00:38:12.269 that if God does not have his right place in 00:38:12.269 --> 00:38:14.829 your life, that something else will take his 00:38:14.829 --> 00:38:19.780 place. That process, that principle is true of 00:38:19.780 --> 00:38:22.679 the Christian as well. If he is not Lord of our 00:38:22.679 --> 00:38:25.019 lives, then something or someone will take his 00:38:25.019 --> 00:38:30.400 place. Does that happen in your life, Christian? 00:38:32.099 --> 00:38:37.400 Are you glorifying God and thanking God as you 00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:45.769 ought to? Let's pray. Lord, as we... Examine 00:38:45.769 --> 00:38:51.889 these verses, all of us. Step back a bit. For 00:38:51.889 --> 00:38:53.929 it is a fearful thing to consider your wrath. 00:38:55.849 --> 00:39:02.230 Not just in hell, but in this life as well. Your 00:39:02.230 --> 00:39:04.469 wrath is being revealed all around us, even in 00:39:04.469 --> 00:39:10.610 the course of history. Those of us who have trusted 00:39:10.610 --> 00:39:15.570 your Son, who have believed, Thank you today 00:39:15.570 --> 00:39:19.150 for the fact that we have been given Christ's 00:39:19.150 --> 00:39:23.030 righteousness so that we stand before you perfect. 00:39:25.829 --> 00:39:31.730 Thank you for your forgiveness of our sins. Some 00:39:31.730 --> 00:39:33.789 of us, Father, may need to come today and confess 00:39:33.789 --> 00:39:39.369 that there are other idols in our lives, other 00:39:39.369 --> 00:39:43.639 gods that have usurped the place. a preeminence 00:39:43.639 --> 00:39:48.179 that rightly belongs to you. I pray if that be 00:39:48.179 --> 00:39:50.300 the case in any brother or sister here today, 00:39:50.440 --> 00:39:56.920 that all the excuses will be put away, that there 00:39:56.920 --> 00:39:58.940 will be a genuine repentance in turning to you. 00:40:03.539 --> 00:40:05.679 I particularly pray for any friend who's here 00:40:05.679 --> 00:40:09.500 who's never trusted the Lord Jesus and who is 00:40:09.500 --> 00:40:13.550 under your wrath. They may flee to you in faith 00:40:13.550 --> 00:40:24.670 today and be saved. In Jesus' name, amen. The 00:40:24.670 --> 00:40:27.710 gospel is the power of God unto the salvation 00:40:27.710 --> 00:40:32.469 of everyone who believes. We're going to close 00:40:32.469 --> 00:40:37.489 today by singing. Number 298.