20240707 Romans 1:19-23 What’s Your Excuse?
The Book of Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Welcome to Vertical Church San Jose
42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.
Our vision is to be a multicultural church for all ages
Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone
Our desire is to make disciples of all nations, to full fill the Great commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment: to love God with all our heart soul, mind, and strength
Teaching the Bible verse by verse
Sharing our faith with a lost world
Praying with boldness
While God is sovereign over creation and over redemption, he has given the church the responsibility of preaching the gospel so the lost might hear the gospel and receive a new heart, a new soul, a new will, and the ability to believe by faith that Christ is their Savior
Loving God and showing the world that we are Christ’s disciples by loving one another
The authority of the Bible - Scripture alone is the written and complete revelation of God, written through holy men who were inspired, and superintended by the Holy Spirit
All true worship is vertical, it is directed to God, it is for the glory of God, and it is to be seen as an offering to God
Come join us in creating a church of families, young adults, and individuals who have come together to create a church of biblical teaching and biblical relationships.
Call to Worship - Psalm 145
Psalm 145 (LSB)
A Praise of David. 1 I will exalt You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. 3 Great is Yahweh, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall laud Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty deeds. 5 On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on the words of Your wondrous deeds, I will muse. 6 Men shall speak of the strength of Your fearsome acts, And I will recount Your greatness. 7 They shall pour forth the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.
8 Yahweh is gracious and compassionate; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. 9 Yahweh is good to all, And His compassions are over all His works. 10 All Your works, O Yahweh, shall give thanks to You, And Your holy ones shall bless You. 11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your might; 12 To make known to the sons of men His mighty deeds And the glory of the majesty of His kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures from generation to every generation. 14 Yahweh sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all wait on You, And You give them their food in due time. 16 You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. 17 Yahweh is righteous in all His ways And holy in all His works. 18 Yahweh is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. 19 He will work out the desire of those who fear Him; He will hear their cry for help and He will save them. 20 Yahweh keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy. 21 My mouth will speak the praise of Yahweh, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.
Scripture Reading - John 1:1-12
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. 6 There was a man having been sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to bear witness about the Light. 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to what was His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
Romans 1:19-23 What’s Your Excuse?
We share the gospel when we tell people who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.
In the Book of Romans the apostle Paul proclaims the glorious, prophesied, powerful, saving, and transforming Gospel in Romans 1. He then tells us why we need the Gospel: We are all under the wrath of God. And before he proclaims how the Gospel saves us he explains why we are under the wrath of God: the unsaved person doesn't just reject the Gospel, they suppress the truth of the Gospel. And this act of defiance means that at the judgment we will be found "without excuse." It's been said that before you can be saved you need to believe that you are lost. And it's also true that we will never truly appreciate our salvation until we truly appreciate the depth of our spiritual rebellion.
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 that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
(1) The suppression of truth
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
How is God’s wrath revealed? The wickedness of the world when compared to God’s holiness/godliness and God’s righteousness.
While men suppress the truth God has revealed the truth.
The word suppress - the constant compression of a giant spring, the preventing of a door from being opened
to prevent someone from doing something by restraining or hindering—‘to prevent, to hinder, to restrain, to keep from.
Romans Truth Suppressed
“to hinder,” “to stifle,” “to incarcerate,” “to put in detention,” “to obscure,” or “to repress.”
But the gospel is always pushing back
It is this sin of suppression that is called all unrighteousness and ungodliness - this is the unforgivable sin that Jesus spoke of
RC Sproul speaking to an atheists club
Romans Truth Suppressed
“I’m giving you arguments for the existence of God, but I feel like I’m carrying coals to Newcastle because I have to tell you that I do not have to prove to you that God exists, because I think you already know it. Your problem is not that you do not know that God exists; your problem is that you despise the God whom you know exists. Your problem is not intellectual; it is moral—you hate God.”
(2) Not an excuse: I didn’t know God existed
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
The latin word conspicuous - God is revealing himself every moment
Romans Visibility of the Invisible God
Every human being knows of God and clearly perceives God but rejects that knowledge. For that, every person is exposed to the wrath of God. The only possible way someone can be rescued from that wrath is through the Savior. Paul is setting the foundation for the urgency of the gospel.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
(3) Not an excuse: I didn’t know what God was like
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
His invisible attributes - his eternal power, divine nature - evident through His creation
(4) Not an excuse: I didn’t know what to do
21 For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.
did not glorify or give thanks
Romans Without Excuse
There is no excuse of ignorance before God, not when he himself has given us the information. A plea of ignorance is an empty plea and will have no effect.
(5) Not an excuse: I didn’t do anything wrong
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
What do we do with this knowledge of God? Instead of honor we dishonor, instead of thanking God we turn away and pursue false Gods
Idolatry is the sin of refusing to honor God as He is.
Romans Without Excuse
The most fundamental sin in our fallen, corrupt nature is the sin of idolatry, the sin of refusing to honor God as he is.
We exchange
Our only escape is the saving and transforming work of the Spirit who changes are hard hearts and our stubborn will
14 But a natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually examined.
The unregenerate person, the person who has not been re Genesis ed, that is recreated, cannot accept or understand, we can only suppress and resist and rebel
Al around us are the lost
Romans Without Excuse
nothing is more displeasing to them than to worship God. They do not want to hear about God. That knowledge is suppressed. It is pushed down, and they have no desire to have God in their minds.
Pray that the Holy Spirit would open their eyes, their hearts, and their minds to the truth of the Gospel
Now may the God for whom you wait, lift you up out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire and set your feet upon a rock, and may He place you in the shadow of His wings until the storms of destruction pass by. Amen.
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.