Gods Case Against Ungodliness And Wickedness In Men Pt 2 2-27-2022

WALK WORTHY GOD'S CASE AGAINST UNGODLINESS AND WICKEDNESS IN MEN Pt.2 Sunday February 27, 2022 Scripture Reference: Romans 1:18-20 (NLT) Intro. A. Let's begin by looking at the verses we started to explore last week. "But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God." Romans 1:18-20 (NLT) 1. We noted last week that in these verses Paul is making a very significant change in his words to the church at Rome. He had been telling them how to be made righteous in God's sight and now he is telling them what makes us unrighteous or ungodly. I don't know if you picked up on this, frankly I didn't see this until I was preparing this message. Let me ask you a question and this is not rhetorical. How are we made righteous in God's sight? One word, FAITH! There is only one way to be made right with God and one way to stay righteous. As Paul said in V.17, "This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." Romans 1:17 (NLT) One word, one way to be made righteous, but look at all the ways we prove our unrighteousness. Paul tells us in one verse with one word how to be made right with God, but he spends 15 verses showing us all the ways we prove we are not right with God. 2. Last week we talked about the fact that sinful man is subject to the wrath or anger of God. We noted two things in V.18. It is because we are ungodly and wicked, and we suppress the truth of God. Now we will look at more of God case against sinful men. I. SINFUL MAN REJECTS THE TRUTH INSIDE THEMSELVES. Look at Paul's words again. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. First: A. They Reject Their Conscience. 1. All of us have both a moral and philosophical knowledge of God. What this means is that we can know God is real through something within us that we would call our conscience or a "gut feeling". We can also know God is real through methods of study such as asking questions, critical thinking, and rational arguments. We will be looking at the philosophical side of this in a minute, but first let's talk about this moral conscience all of us have. 2. This moral knowledge of God is seen in the fact that all of us have a sense within us of right and wrong. Where did that come from? Well, you might say, "I got it from my parents. They taught me right from wrong." OK, but who taught them and then who taught them and on it goes. The fact is as a parent I can say absolutely nothing to my children about what is right and wrong, and they will still develop a moral conscience, because it is something that comes from God. Also, the very reasoning that right and wrong exist it an argument for the existence of God. In fact, Paul stated this argument very clearing in chapter two. Here is what he said, "They demonstrate that God's law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right." Romans 2:15 (NLT) The problem here though that Paul is addressing, and we looked at this last week, but these people and by the way you have many of these people in your life. We call them your Oikos. They choose to suppress this truth. I See this suppression of the truth all the time. As you know I officiate a lot of funerals and I see this suppressing of the truth in every funeral I officiate. I see people squirming around, getting up to go to the bathroom or just trying to get their attention diverted to something else. It is actually quite sad thing to witness because they are ignoring or rejecting the truth they desperately need. They choose to not accept this truth they know within themselves. It is this very suppression of the truth that is within them that leads to the terrible things people do that Paul will be addressing in the coming verses. Trans. Now as we just saw sinful man reject the truth that inside them, but it doesn't end there. Paul also shows us that: II. SINFUL MAN REJECTS THE TRUTH OUTSIDE THEMSELVES. Let's look at V.20. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God." 1. I think we all understand that there is a lot we cannot know about God. He is infinite and we are not, but just as there is much, we cannot know there is also much we can know. God has created us with an enormous mental capacity. We can through this philosophical knowledge, we can reason and grasp that God does indeed exist. In fact, He has given us enough knowledge to lead us to him. Notice that in V.19 it says, They know the truth about God. This clearly shows us that we can have a cognitive knowledge of God. That means we can think, reason, learn and understand that God truly exists. 2. Now I need to add one important truth here. I have been saying that we have this moral and philosophical knowledge of God, but the truth is no one can know God of their own initiative. Now I am not contradicting all that I have been saying. What I am telling you is that our ability to know God whether that is morally, or through our reasoning and understanding is all because God made it so and I will add that He made it so because He wants us to know Him, love Him and service Him. Then Paul begins to show us how we can know God. A. We Can Know God Through Creation. 1. Look again at what Paul said, For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made This is the obvious place to begin even though there are those who reject this, choosing instead to believe that we are all just the result of some happenstance or some Big Bang out there in the cosmos. I think the best argument against these evolutionary theories is simply, "How was something created from nothing", but I know I am too simplistic. Let me use this example I took from another author. Consider the possibility of forming DNA by accident. To do so would be like throwing scrambled letters on the floor and having them write the blueprints for the space station, in a language that did not previously exist. The fact is the very universe itself shouts God to us. We all know people who do not know God in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and yet how often do we hear them use the words, "God's creation"? I have a photo in my office that my older brother Howard took of the Yosemite Valley. He was not a follower of Christ then and yet he wrote a little note about the beauty created by God. (Here is what it says) I love how one man stated this. "In creation man is confronted by "not-man". That is, he is surrounded by objects he did not create." 2. Then Paul shows us other ways God is known. He tells us we can know God; they can clearly see his invisible qualities. Now here is the question. How can I know something that is invisible, better yet, how can something invisible be clearly seen? Well Paul doesn't leave us hanging he explains. Here is what he says, his eternal power and divine nature. Let's explore those two things. a) We can know God through His eternal power. It seems that Paul is still thinking here of creation and the power of God in creating the universe. In fact, the word "power' that is used here is the same word he used back in V.16 when he talked about the power of God at work in our lives. It is where we get our word dynamite. We can see the power of God in creation through numerous things. We can see it in the celestial bodies, stars, planets, and galaxies. Things in this universe so vast they defy our imaginations. We see the power of God in the variety and beauty of creation. I obviously love the ocean and I find the oceans of the world shout God is Real! The incredible variety and beauty of fish and mammals and then there are the reefs. It all proclaims that God is real. We need to look at how the Bible expresses this. Here are some passages. "It is the LORD who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The LORD is his name!" Amos 5:8 (NLT) The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. 2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. 3 They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. 4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun. 5 It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding. It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race. 6 The sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end. Nothing can hide from its heat." Psalms 19:1-6 (NLT) "O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. 2 You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. 3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers- the moon and the stars you set in place- 4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them," Psalms 8:1-4 (NLT) Remember, this power is Eternal. We are temporary beings, our lives, as the Bible tells us are like grass or flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, but our God is eternal and while our power fades with time His never does. Paul shows us one more way God makes Himself known. b) We can know Him by His Divine Nature. The thought here is that we can know God by His attributes. They are many but let me just name a few. Power, Goodness, Kindness, Wisdom, Love, Holiness, and Perfection. While you and I cannot see with physical eyes the Divine Attributes of God we see them in what they produce, even in those who do not know God except through their minds. This universe in which we live does not move along in the orderly fashion that is does by some unknown power. It moves by a Divine power, the power of God. 1) Now I think I need to say here in these words of Paul that he is by no means trying to make a case for God's existence. What he IS telling us though is that we are morally accountable, and that God's anger or wrath is justified because we are unrighteous, and we are by choice violating God's standards. You might have noticed that Paul does not make a case in his words for Satan or demonic action here. This is not a place where we can say, "Well the Devil made me do it." His focus is on US and how we have allowed ourselves to be deceived. OK let's conclude today by looking at these last words of V.20. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. B. We Are All Without Excuse. 1. Folks let's just be completely honest with ourselves and admit that we are a people full of excuses. We can find an excuse for just about anything and everything. I use this a lot; it was something I learned in a management class way back before I had accepted my call to preach. The teacher told us, "You many have a reason, but you have no excuse." Yes, we have reasons most of the things we do, but when it comes to those things we say or do that are wrong. We may have a reason. It might be because we were stressed out, maybe we didn't get all the facts. Whatever the case we might have a reason for why we said or did the wrong thing, but we have no excuse. People have reasons for not believing in or putting their trust in God. It could be something as simple as, "I don't want to", but on the day of judgement when we stand before God there will be no excuse. Friends it is, or at least should be a frightening reality. I said in the message last week that we need to thank God for His mercy shown towards us in revealing His wrath to us NOW. I heard a preacher say one time, and it oh so true. "I want to stand before the judgment bar of God now while I can still do something about it." 2. Now I have to say this because the word of God declares it, but it is not an easy truth to hear. We have been talking about those who are ungodly and wicked and so we can understand and accept that such people will be under the wrath of God, but what about the so called "religious" people? Actually, we will see in much greater detail how Paul addresses this when we enter chapter two, but let's remind ourselves of the words of Jesus on this subject. "Not everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, 'Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.' 23 But I will reply, 'I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws.' Matthew 7:21-23 (NLT) What we are seeing here is that whether we are talking about people who reject God by their ungodliness, or they reject Him by trying to act religious, but are not. All these people will stand before God without an excuse and will sadly be pronounced guilty by a Just and Righteous God. It is our conscience rejection of this self-disclosed God that leave us guilty and under His wrath. Conclusion A. What we are clearly being told in these verses is that we are all responsible because the means for us to know God and respond to Him has been made available to us. God does not judge us for our ignorance and for what He has not communicated to us, but the plain truth is that all we need to know about God that would lead us to a decision to follow Him is available to every person, so every person is without an excuse for not knowing Him, loving Him and serving Him. Here is how one commentator put this. "And there is no fact more melancholy in our history, and no one thing that more proves the stupidity of men, than this sad forgetfulness of Him that made the heavens, even amid all the wonders and glories that have come fresh from the hand of God, and that everywhere speak his praise." Albert Barnes 1. I want to close with this one last scripture passage from the prophet Isaiah. "Do not tremble; do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago? You are my witnesses-is there any other God? No! There is no other Rock-not one!" 9 How foolish are those who manufacture idols. These prized objects are really worthless. The people who worship idols don't know this, so they are all put to shame. 10 Who but a fool would make his own god- an idol that cannot help him one bit? 11 All who worship idols will be disgraced along with all these craftsmen-mere humans- who claim they can make a god. They may all stand together, but they will stand in terror and shame...Such stupidity and ignorance! Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see. Their minds are shut, and they cannot think. 19 The person who made the idol never stops to reflect, "Why, it's just a block of wood! I burned half of it for heat and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat. How can the rest of it be a god? Should I bow down to worship a piece of wood?" 20 The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes. He trusts something that can't help him at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, "Is this idol that I'm holding in my hand a lie?" Isaiah 44:8-11, 18-20 (NLT) 2. What we have looked at today and last week and what we will continue to look at in the next verses is the pathway to depravity and it is important to note that this pathway begins with us not God. God has made Himself know, but will we choose to know HIM? 2