No Excuses – Part 1
Romans 1:18-23
Series – Summer in Rome
Introduction
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We are returning to our Summer in Rome series today. We are going through the letter to the Romans and we began 2 weeks ago and learned the Gospel is the Power of God for Salvation and for living righteously.
The Gospel is very good news. This is why we who have believed the gospel and received Jesus Christ as our Savior, never outgrow the gospel. We have got to stay focused on it so we can live in the power of the gospel and seize the opportunities to share it with other people as the Lord leads and directs.
It is good news and it is the power of God to rescue us from God’s righteous wrath that is being, and ultimately will be, poured out on the godlessness and wickedness of those who refuse to receive the way God provides for our salvation and living.
This morning we are going to be reading Romans 1:18-23
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We are going to read about the wrath of God that is being revealed and learn that there are no excuses for us not to turn to the Lord to receive His mercy and forgiveness. Not even the excuse that “I never heard about Jesus” will be available as we shall see.
Let’s read Romans 1:18-23.
Romans 1:18-23
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Pray
We don’t often like to think about God’s wrath. We prefer to think about how loving God is or how compassionate.
But I think it is important for us to understand that His wrath is also an act of compassion and justice.
Let me give you an example.
Twin Towers - Osama bin Laden
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Ten years ago, we suffered one of the worst attacks on American soil. Nearly 3000 people were killed in an act of evil and wickedness perpetrated by a terrorist organization that was led by Osama bin Laden.
Two weeks ago, our military was finally able to catch up with Osama, the leader of that terrorist organization.
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Now what if we caught up with Osama bin Laden and cornered him and we said, listen, what you organized and orchestrated and carried out against our country and all the families who lost loved ones was wicked and evil. Don’t do that again. And then we left, would you be ok with that?
No. There would be no compassion for the families in seeking justice for this act of wickedness. We would think that the lack of justice would be wicked, which I would agree. There was no remorse from bin Laden, no repentance from his acts. And while the Scriptures tells us that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11), nor should we, the Scripture also confirms that justice brings joy to the righteous and terror to those who do evil (Proverbs 21:15).
The wrath of the U.S. being poured out on evil to execute justice is not a bad thing and it can be an act of compassion toward those who have been impacted by this evil.
Apply
In a similar way, when God looks down on all the evil and the causes of evil in this world, he does become angry and his wrath being poured out is an act of compassion toward all of those who have been affected by this evil and His wrath is justice toward those who follow the path of evil.
Notice that in Romans 1:18, we are told what God’s wrath is being revealed against.
First, it says that
God’s wrath is against Godlessness
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Godlessness is living without concern for God
This does not mean you are an atheist. It could be, but this just means that you live and act as if He did not exist.
When we live as if there is no God, doing whatever we want, evil abounds.
Secondly, we are told that
God’s wrath is against Wickedness
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Wickedness is living without concern for Man
This means that we live without caring how our words or actions will harm other people. We care only about ourselves and how things affect us.
So God’s wrath is against living without concern for Himself or others which is what ultimately has caused so much evil and devastation in the world.
It is interesting to note that living without concern for God and man is exactly the opposite of what Jesus said are the 2 Greatest commands.
He said in Matthew 22:37-40 to
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"’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)
Everything hangs on that. If we were to Love God and Love people, everything else would fall into place.
However, when we live godlessly and wickedly, in total disregard for God and others, everything falls apart in our world and evil dominates.
Of course God is angry at that because it is not what He designed it to be, but with choices comes consequences.
From the very beginning, there has been choice. Adam and Eve had a choice.
People today have a choice.
It is their choices that lead to this godlessness and wickedness.
What are the choices that people make that leads to this?
First, we see that
People choose to reject the truth of God’s Revelation
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Romans 1:19-21
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
God has revealed Himself to mankind.
How has he revealed himself?
God reveals Himself in Creation
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20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made
How does Creation reveal God?
Well, in creation, we find
Evidence of a Designer
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Listen to what the Psalmist writes.
Psalm 19:1-2
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
Macro level – The Universe
The Created world declares that there is a God who has designed our amazing universe. As we have explored our little corner, we have found some amazing things.
For life to exist as we know it, there is only a narrow band that our solar system can be located within our galaxy.
We have also found that for life to exist, the parent star of a solar system must be larger than average and very steady in the output of energy.
A Solar system with his type of star, must have a large Jupiter like planet with a nearly circular orbit to vacuum up most asteroids. If it were an elliptical orbit, it would disrupt any small earthlike planet and make life impossible.
A planet in this solar system must be in a narrow band of distance from the parent star so that liquid water can form.
This planet that must be in this precise distance in a solar system with a larger than average star and another large planet, and must also have a large moon, otherwise the planet’s axis will wobble and it’s climate would be unstable and unsuitable for life.
Info Accessed 4/17/2009 at http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/news/expandnews.cfm?id=352
These are just a few of the numerous fine details that when searched for in space, seem to be quite rare. These details must all exist simultaneously with very little room for adjustment for life to be present.
This evidence indicates design instead of just something random and supports the evidence for an intelligent Designer in the creation process.
Micro level – The human body
Not only at the macro level do we see design, but also at the micro level.
For our lives to exist, there are so many intricacies and irreducible complexities, that it becomes unfathomable for us to think that the human species formed randomly and then evolved from something basic and not living to something more complex and better over time.
The second law of thermodynamics indicates that without some active force of energy, things do not get better, but deteriorate over time.
We are expected to believe that from nothing, something as amazing as our universe and human life formed just by chance?
It is beyond imagination, and yet people continue to reject a God who has revealed his existence through design.
Not only does creation show evidence of a designer, but there is also
Evidence of a Beginner
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Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
That the universe has a beginning is not in question. Evolutionists and Creationists both agree there was a beginning.
Evolutionists cannot explain the beginning, but reject the notion that it could have been God.
The start with the presupposition that it is not God, so they search for another way, even though science would say that if there is a beginning, there must have been something to cause it, a beginner if you will.
Instead of believing the evidence for a God who began the universe, they reject God’s revelation of himself in creation.
They say there must be some other explanation, because they do not want to believe in a holy God who will judge the actions of His creation.
So God has revealed Himself in Creation.
But also,
He reveals Himself in our Conscience
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The Lord has written on our hearts a knowledge of Himself and His moral truth.
Romans 1:28 says that “they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God…”
They had this knowledge and reject it.
Listen to Romans 2:14-15
14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness…
There are certain things that God has written upon everyone’s heart. Now these things can ultimately become distorted and perverted in people’s rejection of God and their pursuit of sin, but there are still traces of it that are prevalent in every society on earth.
No matter where you go, we find that killing someone for no reason is wrong and will bring consequences.
Lying without reason is considered wrong by everyone. (stealing, dishonoring parents..)
God has revealed himself to man plainly and yet there are people who choose to reject Him and say there really is no God “their thinking becomes futile and their foolish hearts [are] darkened” (Romans 1:21)
Or sometimes, people will not completely reject the idea of a god, but instead
People choose to Replace the true God with false gods
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Romans 1:22-23 – 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. NIV
They may recognize that there is a god, but they refuse to believe in a Holy, Personal God who will judge sin and mankind and so they make up their own gods, who will not judge people, who accepts all that a person does and will think just like them.
We may create god’s that look different from us, birds or animals, but they think like us.
If we think something is ok, then the god we create will think it is ok.
We basically give ourselves license to do whatever we please with no consequences.
The reality is, is that we will all stand before a Holy God and there will be no excuses for not believing in Him because He has made the knowledge that there is a God plain to all people.
Ok, so here is the question that everyone will always ask.
What about the person who never hears about Jesus?
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Do they have an excuse?
What if a person is living in the middle of the jungles of Africa? Isn’t the excuse that he never had the opportunity to receive Christ a good excuse as to why he didn’t trust Christ?
To us human folk, that seems like a good excuse, except for the fact that it totally removes the sovereignty and control of God from the situation.
Let’s walk through this a moment because I think this is important for us to understand this and be able to help others understand it so they can hear the gospel and believe and experience salvation and life.
Let’s suppose there is a man who is in Africa.
We know that God has revealed himself through Creation and the man’s conscience and he can choose to accept the reality of a Holy and Personal God or reject and/or replace that.
Let’s say the man accepts that there is a holy and personal God who is the creator and judge of the universe. Is he saved?
No. Scripture teaches us that it is through Jesus that a person comes to salvation.
Jesus says in
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John 14:6 that “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.
Peter says in
Acts 4:12 - Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." NIV
Then how is this man without excuse if this is all that God reveals to Him?
Because it is not all that God will reveal to him, if He is faithful with what God does reveal to him.
This is where we need to know and understand God’s heart as we also recognize the truth of His word.
Scripture tells us in 1 Timothy 2:4 that
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God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
And we know, as Romans 5:8 tells us that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
So God’s desire is to see people saved and He has sacrificed incredibly to see people have the opportunity to be saved.
Now we need to ask a question?
Is God not able to make sure that someone who is faithful with the most general of all revelation that shows his existence, to make sure that that person is able to hear and be faithful with more information about God and His plan of salvation?
He absolutely is.
He is not in heaven fretting about how He is going to be able to reveal to a faithful person a knowledge of who Jesus is and what He did to provide salvation.
He is in complete control.
We see a great example of this in Acts 8:26-40.
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Turn in your Bibles there so we can read it together
Acts 8:26-40
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road — the desert road — that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.
31 "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:
"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth."
34 The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?" 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
NIV
Here we see a good example of God’s sovereignty and ability to make sure that people will have no excuses.
Here is a man actually from Africa who had been faithful in recognizing there is a God and He is seeking to worship Him in truth and in spirit. As he has been faithful he has learned that the true God is the God who has worked through the Jewish people. So, as he is faithful to worship Him, God is faithful to reveal more to Him.
God sends an angel to Philip and the angel tells him to head in a direction. He doesn’t tell him anything more at that point. Philip is obedient and then “coincidentally” comes upon this chariot with the Ethiopian. The angel tells him to go over to it.
He hears the Ethiopian reading from Isaiah. So here you have an Ethiopian who has been faithful and seeking to worship the true God, comes to Jerusalem because He truly is seeking to worship in truth, and is now on his way home and reading more about what God has left for men to know him.
But He doesn’t understand what He is reading. Bummer, I guess the guy is doomed to eternity. No. God is faithful and in complete control.
Philip is there to take what He is reading and from that very passage to tell him about Jesus.
Apply
No matter where you are, in the middle of Africa, in the rice paddies in Asia, in the suburbs of Chicago, God is not powerless. He can and will make sure that those who are faithful with what He has revealed will receive more to be faithful with.
Now if someone is not faithful with this most general of all revelation, then there is no point to reveal more to them.
A person will never believe that Jesus is the Christ, that He is God in the flesh and that He died and rose again, if they cannot even believe that there is one true and holy God who is creator of all things and will judge sin and godlessness and wickedness in this world.
So will there be people that die without ever hearing the name of Jesus? Yes. But they will stand before God with no excuses because they will have failed to be faithful with even the little that God made plain to them about Himself.
Conclusion
What are you relying on for when you meet God? Do you have excuses as to why you have not received Christ?
But I was a good person?
But I really did not know?
But I was just waiting for the right time?
If you are hoping for some excuse or escape clause that allows you into heaven, there is none.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:2 that “now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” It is only through the grace of God that is received by faith in Him and the way He has provided through His Son, Jesus Christ, that a person will be saved.
The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.
Do you believe?
Have you received Jesus as Savior?
And if you have, Have you shared this good news, this gospel, with others who need salvation?
This good news is the only hope for everyone. There are no excuses.
If you have been relying on anything other than Jesus Christ for your salvation, don’t delay in receiving the gift of salvation by receiving Jesus today.
If you have never done that, then receive Him now by confessing your belief to the Father.
Pray.
When we have truly received Christ as Savior, there is nothing better than to worship Him with all of who we are.
We are going to close worshiping the God who is worthy and who has revealed Himself in creation and made a way for everyone to receive the gift of salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.
Let’s worship him together this morning.
The Stand
