No Excuses

Romans 1:18-32.

In a world filled with distractions and endless justifications, it's easy to lose sight of our true purpose and relationship with God. Yet, as we delve into the powerful message of Romans 1:18-32, we're confronted with a stark reality: there are no excuses when it comes to acknowledging our Creator.

The apostle Paul, known for his direct approach, doesn't mince words when addressing the eternal consequences of rejecting God's truth.

His message serves as a wake-up call, urging us to examine our lives and identify anything that might be hindering our connection with the Divine.

With emphasis drawn to humanities pervasive ways of suppressing the Truth.

It never fails that when humanity throws off restraint, as we are want to do...

Idolatry and the breakdown of morals and ethics quickly follow.

Trading the Truth of God for the lies of the world never ends well for those trapped in the lie.

Paul’s clarity and focus should be a clarion call for all believers of all time to examine our own lives for anything that might hinder us in drawing closer to our Lord and Saviour.

It is only by living in God’s Truth. By Acknowledging and understanding the eternal finality of sin, Believers can live in authentic freedom,

Living lives that gives them the boldness and strength to leave behind the excuses for sin and run in the light of God’s transforming grace and mercy.

Everyone is now and will be in eternity, accountable to God.

There are no acceptable excuses to deflect that truth. Our circumstances, our poor choices, the bad influences of society or culture cannot make up for refusing to accept Gods grace and unmerited favor into our lives.

There is but one answer- Accepting Jesus’ redeeming work on the cross, is the only way to climb out of the human wreckage that is our lives without Him.

God has made it clear that to walk in right fellowship with Him, we must walk in the Light of His truth.

Accept the fact that we are nothing and can do nothing without Transformative grace of God actively working in us.

There is no other way… And...We are without excuses.

So lets begin with verses 18-20 and see how God has made His Revelation Clear.

1- Revelation Clarity Through Creation.

Romans 1:18–20 ESV

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

As the Apostle Paul clearly states- The full revelation of God is found in the Creation.

Since Creation is accomplished by Divine influence, there is no wiggle room for Humanity to claim otherwise.

We have no reason to try to explain away God. We only have excuses for rejecting God.

This also exposes our selfish desires to find ways to justify our ignoring God and His Truth.

When we truly recognize God in Creation, that alone should be enough to lead us to Christ...

Who, through His life and ministry on earth, has given us a simple and perfect example of God’s Character and Truth.

And God’s Character is still being put on display every day, with each rising sun, to every setting of the sun, with every breath we take and through the darkness of the night sky.

The depth of the stars of that night sky cry out and declare the Majesty of God.

So that’s how we can see the ‘unseeable” God-

Now lets examine how humanity has gotten it so wrong....

2- Idols and Illusions

Romans 1:21–23 ESV

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Possibly one of the saddest set of circumstances in all of Scripture.

Although knowing God (Not just knowing of Him, but actually knowing God)

In their wickedness, they did not Honor or Give Thanks to God

Because of misguided priorities, Mankind turn to his own thinking and their own creations.

In doing so, they only fooled themselves, becoming lost in a delusion of their own making, and darkening their souls.

It makes sense that, if the heart is darkened, then everything around it will be darkened as well.

Whatever we feel, think, speak or do will be effected negatively.

It a mind cannot reason properly, if emotions cannot be controlled properly,

if Proper joy cannot be found in the basics of life,

Then the human will is not in right accord with our Holy God and we exist outside of harmony with God.

And what a waste it all becomes:

Claiming to be wise, we are fooled

And foolishly we trade the Glory of a Perfect God for the graven image carved into the shape of Birds’ Animals, Reptiles and even mortal man.

Exalting anything and everything above God.

We see this in the Bible many times over:

Gen 11.4, The Tower of Babel

1 Kings 20:28. “... the Syrians have said, “The Lord is a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys,”

Isa 46: 6,7

Isaiah 46:7 ESV

They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.

And finally, Ps 106:20

Psalm 106:20 ESV

They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass.

In today’s world, we have Social Media, 24/7 news and information access, Recreational activities, and even church activities- All of which are not bad- when kept in their proper place in our lives, but...

When these same things become all consuming- Distracting us from the real issues of our lives and families- Then these simple things become idols in our lives.

Paul narrows it down for us. Mankind’s most base sin is: Idolatry

If we will neither Glorify God or or give Him due honor and respect...

We will fall victim to anything and everything the world uses to distract us.

When we compromise our ability to properly reason out a solution- Our souls become damaged and our will to resist temptation is broken down.

The need to worship is built into our souls- By God!

It is impossible for humanity to NOT worship something.

But when we, by choice decide to not worship the One who most deserves it...

We then compromise and settle for less.

Our focus shifts from the Primary purpose to secondary ones

We ignore the infinite and settle for the tangible and finite

We refuse to acknowledge the Creator of everything and settle for things created by the hands or imagination of the created

We become satisfied with our creation, all the while missing out on an infinite relationship with our Creator.

We miss the mark- Which is the very definition of sin- To miss the mark.

How does the concept of idolatry in this passage relate to our understanding of human nature and our relationship with God?

So lets look at the consequences of missing the mark.

3- The Consequence of Compromise

Romans 1:24–27 ESV

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

This is what happens when you trade known fact for salacious tales and distorted perspectives.

The phrase, “God gave them over...” is mentioned in verses 24, 26 and 28.

This highlights that the basic sin of man is Idolatry

The rest of the list are punishments of that sin.

It takes no imagination to see what Paul has in view here.

Sexual immorality, murder are listed in the same breath as greed, gossip, general disobedience, with no distinction noted.

All that Paul lists here go against the goodness and Will of God for His creation.

And it all comes down to a simple refusal to acknowledge, in rebellion, and Glorify God as the eternal Creator.

As one commentary puts it:

Romans: Unlocking the Scriptures for You Chapter Two: The Need for the Gospel (Romans 1:18–2:29)

The picture is ludicrous: finite creatures standing on our hind legs, looking at the wondrous intricacies of the universe and deciding to pretend that there is no Creator.

The sham gets even more tragic when we realize that we need something to worship; so we form objects or develop organizations or exalt heroes or write philosophies or engineer experiences to control us.

We declare our independence from the loving Creator to submit to something no greater than ourselves

And also:

Romans: Unlocking the Scriptures for You Chapter Two: The Need for the Gospel (Romans 1:18–2:29)

Each age, of course, has invented its own terminology for what J. B. Phillips called “deliberate atheism.” In the first two-thirds of the twentieth century, the term was science.

Both theists and atheists contributed to what was seen as a conflict of science and religion. We like to put such matters in these absolute terms. But what we actually had was conflict within and among some people who found security in scientism and others who found it in religiosity.

The religionists involved in the conflict never knew quite what to do with reports like the one still circulating in Princeton, New Jersey, of Albert Einstein standing in his backyard watching an eclipse of the moon with an expression of childlike awe on his face.

Scientism folks could hardly cope with believers who admitted that the medieval church had been wrong about Copernicus and Galileo and that we might even be misunderstanding our own Bible at some points.

And now in the 21st Century, we have our own “ism”

We have, once again drawn a line in the sand between Science and Religion-

A line that God never intended to exist.

But humanity, in its stubborn, self-determining willfully disregard for God,

Has simply rebranded the old lie-

Secular Humanism and Liberalism are now the words and deep thoughts of the day.

Having not changed very much at all in the last 2 millennia, how can we be surprised that God, once again is pouring out His wrath on those who have turned their backs on Him.

The sins and debauchery of verses 24-27 are nearly as old humanity itself.

The only thing that has changed since the time Apostle Paul wrote these words...

Is, thanks to modern technology, man can now indulge in that debauchery without ever leaving the confines of our own homes.

Internet access to sexual immorality is at an all time high around the world.

And outside of a password, there is no gate guard to hinder access to any of it.

With this access, comes the hideous crime of human trafficking to keep up with the demand for the satisfaction of our reprobate minds.

While all of this can become overwhelming and depressing, it only serves to highlight what a glorious and equally overwhelming outpouring God’s grace is represented by Christ sacrificial death, and Resurrection .

Humanity has done nothing but mock God down through the annals of time, and yet,

God has always had in the middle of the chaos and rebellion- The active plan of Salvation, through Jesus Christ.

God didnt send His Son to the to bring condemnation to the world (Although that’s exactly what we deserved)

God brought His Son into the world as the final sacrificial lamb for the remission of our sins.

To bring us back into right and proper fellowship with our Creator.

HOW DOES THAT NOT WARRENT OUR PRAISE AND ADORATION??

4- The Death Spiral to Depravity

Romans 1:28–32 ESV

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

There is nothing profitable in anything listed in these last four verses.

This is the ugly face of humanity, today.

Behind carefully constructed, yet wafer thin facades of Prosperity, Self-worth, political intrigue and rugged individualism....

Lies the unspoken truth of it all-

Not seeing fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to their own lustful minds and desires.

All the Corporate greed, Governmental corruption, destroyed lives, destroyed families, destroyed social structure and compromised covering of religious piety...

Are a direct result of Man rejecting God.

In light of this, how can we not see the need for God in our lives.

I encourage everyone listening to examine our lives,

If there are things in your life that are hindering your connection to God- Get rid of them now!

We have no promise for tomorrow-

Untold thousands of people across the world draw their last and final breath daily, without ever realizing it-

Only to be ushered into eternity without hope.

Dont let that be you.

The path forward is clear, though not always easy. We must choose to live in total alignment with God's will, rejecting the idols and distractions that vie for our attention. This means actively seeking God in creation, in His Word, and in our daily experiences.

It means cultivating a heart of gratitude, recognizing that every good gift comes from above. It means being willing to confront the uncomfortable truths about our own nature and our desperate need for a Savior.

As we embrace this calling, we'll find that the excuses we once clung to begin to fall away. In their place, we'll discover a deepening relationship with our Creator, a growing understanding of His character, and a life filled with purpose and meaning.

In conclusion, let us heed the words of Paul and recognize that we are truly "without excuse" when it comes to acknowledging God.

May we choose today to turn from our idols, embrace the grace offered through Christ, and live lives that reflect the glory of our Creator. For in doing so, we'll find the authentic freedom and transformative power that can only come from a life lived in harmony with the Divine.

We all need the transformative truth that is God’s love, grace and mercy in our lives.

It is the only way to escape the repeating bad habits of excuses and sin.

It is time to begin a life lived in total alignment with God’s Will.

We are without excuse.