Life without Immanuel: Living in Spiritual Darkness
“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world 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 that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Romans 1:19-21
Introduction: Christmas is a wonderful time of year for the believer to celebrate the incredible truth of God becoming man. It is the time of year when we especially think of Immanuel (God with us). Christmas is a time of lights – and rightfully so, because our God is known as a God of light.
• 1 John 1:5 “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all”
• James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
We might say that when God is with us, we can walk in the light. But what happens when a man doesn’t choose to accept God’s gift? Not everyone does, you know. What happens when men choose to live without God?
Last week we considered the wrath of God in Romans 1:18. I said at the time that God’s wrath is the really bad news of the gospel which makes the good news of the gospel, really good news. God’s wrath is what happens when:
• Holiness meets sin.
• Purity meets moral corruption.
• Faithful covenant keeping meets spiritual rebellion.
• Men choose to live in wrong relationship with God (ungodliness) and men (unrighteousness).
• Men die and enter eternity without Christ.
The remainder of this chapter, Romans 1:19-32 is written to justify the wrath of God in 1:18 (that is, it explains why God’s wrath is right). I want you to notice that God’s wrath and man’s living apart from Immanuel are tied in together. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the results of living without Immanuel are the very sane reasons that justify God’s wrath. This morning we will be looking at the first result in choosing to live apart from Immanuel—which is also the first reason that justifies God’s wrath: When Man Chooses to Live Life Apart from (God) Immanuel – Man First Rejects God’s Self Revelation.
I. God’s Self Revelation (1:19-20) – Given to all men everywhere. This is not just given to the educated and just those from a Judeo-Christian background. This is revelation that God gives to all men and women everywhere.
A. Internal Revelation: – (19) “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them: for God hath shewed it unto them.”
1. Those people who have never once read the words from Gen 1:1 “In the beginning God created” have still heard the voice of conscience whispering in their ears “There is a God”
2. Those people who have never heard the name of God know intuitively there is a God.
3. Those people who have never heard of the Ten Commandments still have a conscience and they know intuitively that some things are right/wrong (different cultures may differ in guidelines…but absolute values are still in play—ie. stealing/lying/murder)
4. Illustration: As a little girl, Helen Keller could not see or hear. She could not speak. It was through the persistent efforts of Anne Sullivan that finally broke through the communication barrier with touch (and eventually even taught Helen to speak). When Anne Sullivan first tried to tell Helen about God, this deaf and blind girl response was to let Anne Sullivan know that Helen already was aware of God’s existence; she just didn’t know His name (Helen Keller, The Story of My Life [New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1905], pp. 368–74). How did Helen Keller know that? God Himself revealed it to her…and to every other person.
B. External Revelation: – (20) “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.”
1. Testimony of the Psalmist (19:1-3): “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” We are not talking about scriptures—the stars speak of God’s existence. The constellations communicate the simple message, “There is a God.”
2. Testimony of the Patriarch Job (12:7-9) “But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?”
3. Testimony is Convincing (20c) “They are without excuse.” It is true not everyone has heard of the Ten Commandments. Not everyone has heard of the God of Israel. Not everyone has heard the name of Jesus – But that is not the point in Romans 1. Paul’s argument is they know enough to know there is a God. They are without excuse (There will not be a single person who will have legal standing to argue innocence before the throne of God). God has left testimony all around us as to His existence.
4. This essentially is the argument of intelligent design – sometimes confused with creationism.
a. Biblical Creationism argues the God of the Bible has given us written record of the beginning of the cosmos. We believe this record and we also believe we can create a scientific model of origins that accounts for the data better than the evolutionary model.
b. Intelligent Design doesn’t take the Bible into account at all. It argues that on the basis of life’s harmonious complexity, order, and apparent design in the cosmos, there must be an intelligent designer. (If this were a class in philosophy it might be fun to go through some of the arguments – it’s not.)
5. Paul’s point is simple: you don’t have to be a philosopher/scientist and think deep thoughts. All you have to do is be alive and live in the real world to know that there is a God. That is true of the simplest savage. That is also true of the most sophisticated citizen of the 21st century.
a. The earth is 25,000 miles in circumference. It weighs 6 septillion, 588 sextillion tons. I hangs unsupported in space spinning 1,000 miles per hour around it axis with absolute precision and careening through space on its way around the sun at the speed of 1,000 miles per minute in an orbit 580 million miles long. In 365 days we’ll be exactly back here except our sun is also moving and our galaxy is moving and it is all done in harmony without missing a beat.
b. And if the big picture is exciting, the microscopic picture is equally tantalizing with its bio-chemical processes dancing in perfect order and design to make the body function.
C. The Content of God’s Self Revelation (20) – “…the invisible things of him…even his eternal power and Godhead: so that they are without excuse” Several truths (invisible attributes):
1. Orderliness to the world – God of precision and detail
2. Harmony in the parts of the world – God of design and plan
3. Immense complexity in the world – God of intelligence beyond our ability to comprehend
4. We are beings who interact with world – God who hears, sees, feels, smells, and tastes.
5. We are beings with intellect, emotions, and a will – God certainly must have those as well.
6. We are beings with a moral sense of right/wrong – God must have placed those within us
7. To put all of the cosmos together and make it work – incredible power beyond imagination.
8. The only being possible who could do all this – must be God…AGAIN – GOD HAS NOT LEFT HIMSELF WITHOUT A WITNESS! THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE!
II. Man’s Rejection of God’s Revelation (1:21) The issue is not whether God has given sufficient revelation—He has! This issue is what has man done with it?
A. Knowing God – Man Dishonors God
1. Psalm 29:1-2 “Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”
2. Revelation 4:11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
3. We applaud ourselves (standing ovations…awards…trophies…titles) for puny trivial accomplishments. God made the world – and it is a yawn. We’ll tip our hat and try to fit God into our life if it doesn’t inconvenience us too much.
4. To dishonor is to ignore – refuse to hear or obey – reject His interests for my own – Remember—not speaking of Scripture but of inner testimony of conscience…truth of cosmos.
B. Knowing God – Man Is Ungrateful to God – it was ingratitude and distrust at work in the Garden of Eden. It is ingratitude:
1. refuses to worship and praise
2. refuses to obey
3. After God pronounces it “good”…not all that good…grumble and complain with our lot in life.
4. Unhappy with our circumstances…gifts…opportunities…position…pleasures…provisions.
5. Rejects the leading & teaching of the Lord.
C. Illustration: Donald Grey Barnhouse once asked this question: “Will God give man brains to see these things and will man then fail to exercise his will toward that God? The sorrowful answer is that both of these things are true. God will give a man brains to smelt iron and make a hammer head and nails. God will grow a tree and give man strength to cut it down and brains to fashion a hammer handle from its wood. And when man has the hammer and the nails, God will put out His hand and let man drive nails through it and place Him on a cross in the supreme demonstration that men are without excuse.” (Romans, vol. 1 [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953], p. 245)
D. Result of Turning from the Light of God’s Revelation: Men Choose to Live in Darkness (21) “but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
1. Psalm 14:1 “The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.”
2. John 1:9-11 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”
3. John 3:19 “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
4. Is it belief in evolution that causes a man to reject belief in God—or is it refusal to believe in God that pushes a man into the arms of evolution? When a man turns his back of truth he must turn to error. To turn away from light is to turn toward darkness. Someone has said, “Pity the poor atheist who sees a beautiful sunrise and has no one to thank.”
5. Illustration: Adrian Rogers tells of a man who owns a trucking company in the south. His company administers a lie detector test to prospective employees. One of the questions ask, “DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD’. He says that even when a man claims to be an atheist and answers that question with a “NO” the machine says he is lying.
III. How Should We Respond to the Truth of Man’s Rejection God’s Revelation? Answer: The Same Way God Did—We Give Them Another Chance by Sending More Light
A. Christmas Is A Celebration of God Sending Light – Christmas Star Matthew 2:2…9-10
B. Jesus chose to minister to a place of spiritual darkness – Galilee It was recorded of this Galilean ministry: “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:16-17)
C. As Jesus Ministered to Others with Light—the Church has Also Been Called to Minister the Light of God
1. When Henry Martyn landed in India he wrote these words in his journal, “Here I am in the midst of heathen midnight and savage oppression. Now, my dear Lord, let me burn out for Thee.”
2. Robert Arthington was not a missionary, but he helped countless others go. He lived in the 1800s—by frugal living he managed to give over $500,000 to the work of foreign missions. He testified, “Gladly would I make the floor my bed, a box my chair, and another box my table, rather than that men should perish for want of the knowledge of Christ.”
Conclusion: No one understood the consequences of the wrath of God more than God. God hates sin with a perfect hatred—but He also loves sinners with a perfect love. What a wonderful time of year we are in. When you go to Christmas parties with coworkers, family and friends – there will be someone there who will say something or do something that will clearly identify them as outside the family of God. They may be mean-spirited, spiteful, or totally selfish. They may be rude or obnoxious. Christ died for that person. Pity them for the gospel sake. Pray for them. Speak to them as the Holy Spirit leads and gives boldness. Know one thing—they are without excuse. They have turned from the light to darkness. God would have us to bring them back into the kingdom—let your light shine this Christmas for Christ.
