Romans 1: 18-25 No Excuse
Intro : On Wed. night we began our verse-by-verse
study of the book of Romans
A) We covered verses 1-17 in
which we saw Paul’s intro 1-7 / His prayer v.8-13 / & his passion v.14-17
B) This week as we come to v.
18-32 where we see Paul kind of shift gears a bit as he assumes the role of a
Prosecutor in a court room of moral law
1) On trial is humanity - /
What Paul does here is he shows that all humanity is guilty & doomed
because of sin !
C) In the section we just read
Paul outlines the guilt of the heathen / the person who flat out rejects God /
Ch. 2-3:8 Focus is on the Hypocrite & Hebrews
1) those who know what is right
( Paul uses the Hebrews as example of those who have been given the Law ) know
right / but No practice
D) Teach others that which they
don’t follow themselves !
1) And in Chapter 3:9-20 Paul’s
focus is on the Humanity at Large/ none righteous no not one / none who seeks
after God
So as we begin to break this down this week
in v. 18-32 we will see first of all that Paul says the Wrath of God is
revealed ….. ungodliness &…. Of men
A) We are going to take a close
look at what that means / the wrath of
God / what it is & what it is
not ! Very important thing we need to
understand
B) Been said That
God is the victim of a lot of BAD PR & MUCH OF IT COMES FROM HIS FRIENDS ! That
is a true statement
1) And part of that problem is
directly related to what happens when Christians fail to understand the Wrath
of God
C) Paul also gives some insight
into what happens to man when rejects or ignore God !
1) Those who believe in
evolution / teach that man is moving from bad to good ! That is not what the
Bible teaches nor what history reveals
D) Human history began with man
knowing God. Human history is not the story of a beast that worshiped idols,
and then evolved into a man worshipping God.
1) Human history is just the
opposite: man began knowing God, but turned
from the
truth and rejected God./ Began worshipping idols
E) Paul also reveals how this
rejection of God leads to a life of gross immorality & perversion / he
gives some interesting insights into Homosexuality
1) So that is what we will be
looking at on Wed night but this morning I want to focus on v. 18-25
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness,
19 because what may be known of God is manifest
in them, for God has shown it to them. 20
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21
because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor
were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts
were darkened.22 Professing to be wise,
they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible
God into an image made like corruptible man; and birds and four-footed animals
and creeping things. 24 Therefore God
also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor
their bodies among themselves,
25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie,
and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed
forever. Amen. Pray
Life is a
serious of Choices ! A serious of Decisions ! Everyday we make choices that
determine what we will do/ where go/ eat / wear !
A) Consider today you made a
choice to get out of bed / to put on the clothes you are wearing to get in your
car & drive to this building !
B) Your morning was a series of
choices & decisions !
1) Once you arrived here you
made a decision of where you were going to park / what door you would enter
through & where you would sit
C) You made a choice of whether
or not you would bring your bible / if you were going to join in in worship or
just sit there !
1) Life is indeed a serious of
choices / of decisions that we make day after day moment-by-moment !
D) But the biggest decision
that a person can ever make is the God that they will choose to worship / the
Deity they will choose to serve !
1) Now a god by definition is anything that is
worshipped or anything that holds your primary devotion !
E) You can really tell
what a persons god or gods are by their
lifestyle / what are they devoted to ! What is their
1) I suggest to you there are
even those who profess to be Christians who are devoted to other things above
their relationship w/ Christ !
F) Couples retreat - Amanda /
Daddy - Mommy ! / That is what some people do / they sit here
in Church & sing Jesus I love you
most of all
1) And then go out & run
right past Him in their pursuits of other pleasures
devoting
themselves to that which will never satisfy them !
Paul says the
person who rejects God or chooses something else to be devoted to besides God
is w/out excuse /
A) So This morning as we look at this section I want us to see 3 main things that Paul says here / 1st Why man is w/ out excuse !
B) 2nd if a man is
not worshipping the true God he is worshipping something else
1)The gods that are worshipped today
are very similar to the gods that were
worshipped in O.T. times !
C) 3rd Look at the breakdown or the Process given
to us by Paul of why People don’t worship the true & living God !
1st
of all Why men are w/out excuse V. 19,20 because what
may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
A) Been said that Creation is God’s first missionary !
The grandeur of heaven alone has spoken to every tongue, every culture, society
throughout history
1) The Psalmist declared Psalm
19:1-3 The heavens declare the glory of
God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.2
Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals
knowledge.3 There is no speech nor
language Where their voice is not heard.
B) Creation all around
testifies to us of the reality of God !
C) During the French revolution
a soldier boasted to a peasant we are going to pull down all that reminds
you of God !
1) Peasant replied You will have to pull down the stars then!
D) Abe Lincoln was once quoted
as saying I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down at man
on the earth & be an Atheist - seeing man
1) But I can not
conceive how a man can look up into the heavens & declare there is no God !
E) The greatest and most
insightful scientists of history/ men
like Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and Faraday
1) have always seen creation as
the evidence of an intelligent Creator. It was Isaac Newton who observed, "This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could
only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful
Being." Creation = Creator /
F) And Thomas Edison once
wrote, "No one can study chemistry
and see the wonderful way certain elements combine with the nicety of the most delicate
machine ever invented and not conclude that there is a Great Engineer who is running this universe. " Design
or Designer
So what does
Creation reveal to us about God besides the fact that he exist ?
A) Paul says that through
creation his invisible attributes / His eternal Power & Godhead or His
deity are clearly seen !
B) Creation definitely reveals
to us that God is Powerful & Vast / David declared that 2 Kings 8 Behold, heaven and earth cannot contain Him
C) Consider the vastness of our
universe for a moment ! Think about our Sun / As big as it looks it is actually
much larger than we could imagine
1) if the sun were hollow it
could contain 1,300,000 earths / huge !
D) Although it is about
ninety-three million miles away, you can feel its warmth on your face. What’s
interesting is
1) The light that illuminates
our days takes about eight minutes to reach us from the sun, traveling at a
speed of 186,000 miles per second.
What if the
sun were closer? On Venus the next-closest
planet to the sun,. The surface temperature of Venus averages about 875
degrees. A) What if the sun were further
away? On Mars, the furthest planet
from the
sun,
the mercury dips to about minus 200.
1)
The folks in Minnesota ought to count their blessings C) Did you know that the
moon, too, is obviously positioned very strategically for our sakes? / If it were just a little bit closer
(relatively speaking),
1) Miami would be under water
for twelve hours each day due to the moon's increased gravitational pull on the
Atlantic Ocean.
D) And when the tide came in,
it would rush like a tidal wave./ So the
heavens declare the glory of God / a Order / a Design
E) Another Marvel of creation is the Human body itself A) The human body is made up
of a hundred trillion amazingly complex cells.
B) Each cell is comprised of an
organized grouping of molecules, which are in highly structured and complex.
Every cell in your body has a specific function
C). Let's consider the cells in your eyes for a
moment. How is it possible that you
can
read the words in your Bible ! It
requires millions of miracles.D) Inside your eyeball there are about 107million
cells. About seven million of
those
cells are called cones, which you use to see in daylight.
1) They are color-sensitive,
and you can distinguish a thousand different shades of color.
E) The other one hundred
million are called rods, which you use to see in dim light. They aren't
color-sensitive,
1) which is why things tend
to look black and white at night. As
light enters the eye, the lens refracts an upside-down image upon the cones and
rods.
A) These images are then
translated into little electronic messages that travel along some 500,000
neurons & nerve paths to take their information to the brain.
B) The computer inside your
head then assembles millions of simultaneous bits of data & merges them
together creating one three-dimensional picture.
1) Then your brain flips the
image over so that everything is right side up, and somehow sight is
accomplished!
D) That is just one of many
examples of how intricately we have been put together
Job
wrote in Ch. 9 :4-10 God is wise in heart and
mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?5 He removes the mountains, and they do not
know When He overturns them in His anger;6
He shakes the earth out of its place, And its pillars tremble;7 He commands the sun, and it does not rise;
He seals off the stars;8 He alone
spreads out the heavens, And treads on the waves of the sea;9 He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
And the chambers of the south;10 He
does great things past finding out, Yes, wonders without number. NO EXCUSE
So we see that
Denial Of God is really Denial of truth ! David wrote in Psa.14 that the fool has said in His heart there is
no God !
A) But Paul says even his
foolishness is not an excuse ! But Creation clearly reveals to us the existence
& the Power of God !
B) If there is someone
behind all this that is around us My
life needs to be in subjection to Him!
So first of
all we see that there is no excuse for man
to reject God !
A) But the 2nd thing
that we want to see is that when men fail to worship the true & living God
they end up worshipping something else
B) And the gods that are being
worshipped today in our 20th century culture have a striking
resemblance to the gods who were being worshipped in O.T. times
1) Note Paul says in v. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible
God into an image made like corruptible man; and birds and four-footed animals
and creeping things.
C) Now most people today don’t
have little shrines set up in their backyards where they offer up sacrifices to
some statue
D) But when you consider that a
god can be that which consumes your time / Your energy & your affections /
1) easy to conclude many gods
that are being worshipped today !
E) And those gods bear a
striking resemblance to the gods that were worshipped in O.T. times !
There were 4
main territories in Israel in O.T. times & each of those territories had
many gods they worshipped
A) But each territory also had one or two main gods or specific deities
that they were into !
B) Take for instance
Mesopotamia which was the area that included Babylon & Syria / two major
empires in O.T. times
1) In Mesopotamia the 2 main
gods worshipped were Istar & Nebo
C) Istar was the god of the
earth / the god of nature ! And there
are still those today who worship Istar / worship nature !
D) Pantheism the worship of nature is a rapidly growing
religion in the U.S.
today
!
D) I came across an article
this week that was advocating this whole idea /It was titled LET
EARTH SPEAK.
1) Whole essay about how you
could “Scientifically” learn how to create moments that let Earth touch you and
teach you peace.
E) How you can become one w/ a
rock or a potted plant just incase you lived in the city & couldn’t get out
into the country!
1) Ridiculous how could people
be into this ! But they are ! No doubt !
Worship of Istar all over again !
The other
main god they worshipped in Mesopotamia
was Nebo - Nebo was the god of education , culture , & the mind !
A) The god of the human
intellect / that idea that says I will base my theories of man life death on my
own understanding ! / Not the bible archaic & old fashioned
B) Nebo is worshipped in mass
today in our culture in Business & colleges Universities across our country
/ as well as w/ those who run our Govt.
Move further
south from Mesopotamia to Egypt / find 2 main gods Osiris & Nim / gods of
sexuality !
A) There they would gather in
the temples & engage in sex w/ temple prostitutes /idea was the more sex
you had the more blessed you were !
B) In fact the term you walk
like an Egyptian / meant you probably had a V.D.
C) Today same gods are
prevalent / Playboy , penthouse, pornography
Go even
further to the South down into Canaan / Canaan gods are gods we are the most
familiar w/ because we see constantly through out O.T.
A) gods of Baal / Molech /
& Gad - these were the gods of prosperity
B) The people in those region
had a very bizarre understanding / they felt that if they sacrificed their 1st
born to these gods they would be blessed financially
1) Molech had a hollow belly in
which a fire was made / fire grow hot
and the arms of Molech would be blazing / glowing from heat / place kids
C) But we see the same thing
today w/ parents who sacrifice their kids while they work 80 hrs a week to buy
that nice house or / new car / boat
1) people slave like crazy
seeking to put away enough money to send their kids away to college / but they
don’t even know their kids
The 4th
territory was Greece & Rome they
worshipped the gods Zeus , Hermes & Diana - familiar w/ because we
studied in High school
A) These were primarily the gods of sport & activity & these gods
are definitely still being worshipped today
B) In fact at the Olympics last
year in Atlanta , during the opening ceremonies they called upon the gods of
Ancient Greece to bring the spirit of sport to Atlanta
C) It is crazy what some people
will do for “their team “ / they
paint their face their team colors / and take off their shirt in 30 degree
weather
1) They are considered a loyal
fan
D) Or they will spend vacation
time travel across the country & spend 1,000 dollars to go to the Superbowl
- great fan
1) But a person who believes in
Jesus goes to church a few times a week & takes their vacation time to go
on a missions trip is a fanatic
E) Pt is The gods worshipped in
the O.T. times are still being
worshipped today
Now if you are
hear today & you haven’t chosen to worship the god of the Bible / not
serving Jesus Christ /
A) Know this you are serving
one of the gods I have just referred to / god of sex / god of the intellect /
god of Business & prosperity / god of sports & activity
B) What has your time / where
is your devotion / what is your passion / that is a good indication as to what
your god is !
In closing
this morning the 3rd thing we want to see is the Process of why men
don’t worship the true & living God & end up in idolatry
A) Begins in v. 18 Paul says they
suppress the truth in unrighteousness
B) That word suppress is an
interesting word it refers to a helmsman stirring a boat against the current !
1) The current wants to take
the boat in a particular direction but the helmsman is determined to go the
opposite way
C) So he holds the rudder in
such a way that he might go his own way
instead of the way of the current
1) God says this is my way -
righteousness / and he reveals how we who are sinners can be made righteous /
believe in the gospel !
D) The message of Jesus Christ
/ power of God unto salvation all who
believe / v.17 for in it the righteousness of God is revealed
1) Believe in the message of
the gospel / put your faith & trust in Christ alone & you will be made
Just / made righteous !
E) That is the direction that
God desires that man would go but men suppress the truth / they turn their
lives away from God - why? Paul tells us
1) because of their
unrighteousness !
F) Like what John said in John
1 men hate the light because their deeds are evil !
because
the light exposes their evil deeds / turn off the light
1) And men suppress the truth
& refuse to give their life to the Lord because they know they will have to
turn away from their sin /
So they choose
their god ! I know god says I am to go in
this direction but I am going to do my own thing !
The 2nd
thing that Paul mentions is in v.21 because,
although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but
became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became
fools,
A) Notice there is a knowledge of God that is unmistakable / evident
through creation / they knew God - He is real but they didn’t glorify Him as
God !
B) This means that they didn’t
give Him His rightful place upon the throne of their lives but instead became
self sufficient / self reliant / self dependant
C) Nor were they thankful -
They didn’t show God gratitude or worship !
1) In other words they were
ungrateful & ignored God & as a result they became futile in their
thinking
D) Which means their clever
ideas, procedures & programs / fall apart & come to nothing / and
their foolish hearts were darkened
E) Next phrase is classic Professing to be wise -( or cultured
& learned ) they becomes fools -
1) Word used here for fools is
moraino from which we get our English word moron / Professing to be wise they
become Morons
F) And they start worshipping
images philosophies / sports teams / nature / or themselves !
When a person
ignores God & comes up w/ excuses as to why he is not going to worship God
/ the next step is to justify replacing him w/ other gods
A) Note v.26 God gave them up
or over to vile passions / see the Bible tells us that God will not always
strive w/ man
B) Knocks on your heart but the
longer you ignore him / come a day where He says you want to do your own thing - fine go for it ! Cease striving w/
you
1) Suddenly the knocking stops
! Conviction goes away & those people begin to plunge deeper & deeper
into sin & immorality wickedness
Now perhaps
you are thinking well I am a Christian & This message really doesn’t apply
to my life Really
not true
A) See this same step by step
process can take place in our lives when the word of God is being taught or when we are reading our Bibles
B) We have to make a
choice/ remember life is a series of
Choices / decisions / Decision to apply to my life or reject / Listen to truth
or suppress it
1) Choice to be doers of the
Word or to ignore it & make up excuses as to why we shouldn’t or can’t obey
it
C) Are we going to let God have
His rightful place upon the throne of our lives or are we going to lean to our
own understanding
1)
See even when we know the Lord we are constantly faced w/ similar choices as
the H.S. speaks to our hearts
D) Plus even as Christians we can still find ourselves allowing things
to come into our
lives that will take us away from the word & will not build us up but tear
us down !
Perhaps you
are here today & you realize that you have been ignoring that knocking upon
your Heart /( Rev. 3:20 ) knocking is
getting fainter !
A) Not as convicted about the
sin that you are in as you once were / knocking is growing fainter / remember
God will not knock forever
B) I encourage you to stop your
running & turn to the true & living God today / Give your heart over to
Him / Let Him be the Lord of your life !
Perhaps you
are here today & you are a professed Christian but you realize that your
life is not where it should be w/ the Lord
A) Because you have allowed something or
someone else to assume that role as your #1 passion & devotion !
B) Get God back on the throne
today ! re-affirm your commitment to
Him / Give Him the glory & thanks that He deserves !
1)
Give Him that #1 place in your life today !