Romans 1:18-21: Part Two, “Reject God’s Truth, Receive God’s Wrath.”

Bible Text: Romans 1:18-21 | Preacher: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Romans

Last week we spent most of our time emphasizing how God is justified in bringing His wrath against all those who suppress the truth of God’s revelation.

God’s judgement is against Jew and Gentile alike, but I have to say, Israel is even more guilty, because not only did they have God’s natural revelation through creation, but they also had God’s special revelation in His holy Scripture, given through the prophets.

Paul says (vv. 18-21) that knowledge of God has been made evident to all men externally by creation; but God has also given internal evidence (2:14-15).

Helen Keller, born in 1880, was a normal baby until about 18 months of age, when she contracted scarlet fever, leaving her blind, deaf and mute. Her family hired Ann Sullivan to be her teacher and care giver, through whom Helen learned how to communicate via touch, and eventually she learned to talk.

When Ann Sullivan first tried to tell Helen about God, the girl responded that she already knew about Him, but she did not know His name (The Story of My Life [New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1905], pp. 368-74).

Do you remember how God used Paul to introduce Himself to the pagan philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens (Acts 17:23-28)? Clearly, God controls the boundaries of all nations and all peoples, desiring that they seek Him, for God “is not far off from anyone.”

John 1:9 tells us that Jesus Christ, the true light of God has come into the world to give light to everyone. How we respond to the light of God is the issue.

Romans 1:19-20 tells us God’s general revelation of Himself can be clearly seen, we just need open our eyes and ears to that around us. Long before telescopes and microscopes God displayed Himself through nature.

Psalm 19:1-4, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work

of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display

knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their

voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.”

Robert Jastrow, an astrophysicist and the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute

for Space Studies, once said:

“Now we see how the astronomical evidence supports the biblical view of the

origin of the world… The essential elements in the astronomical and biblical

accounts of Genesis are the same. Consider the enormousness of the problem:

Science has proved that the universe exploded into being at a certain moment. It

asks what cause produced this effect? Who or what put the matter and energy into

the Universe? And science cannot answer these questions…”

“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story

ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to

conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a

band of theologians who have been there for centuries” (God and the Astronomers

[New York: Norton, 1978], pp. 14, 114, 116).

Giant telescopes are able to view stars and galaxies billions of light years away – light travels at 186,000 miles per second, so, a light year, in distance, is 5.88 trillion

miles. How big is the universe? Only God knows.

Let me amaze you with some numbers that are closer to home: The earth is 25,000 miles in circumference, weighs 13 septillion pounds (13 with 24 zeros), and it just hangs in space, spinning at 1000 miles per hour, moving around the sun at 1000 miles per minute, in an orbit that is 580 million miles long. Think about that?

How can anyone possibly think that such mass, speed, and power can be so intricately and harmoniously held together. A Master Designer, Creator, and Sustainer is the only plausible answer to what we see!
Job 12:7-12, ”But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food? Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?”

There is a preponderance of evidence of God displayed in creation (general revelation), His once completed and delivered Word (special revelation), and the internal witness of our conscience, making us guilty of rejecting Him, even so, God mercifully and graciously reached out, sending His own Son to save us.
Ezekiel 33:11, “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!’”
Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
1Timothy 2:3-4, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
2Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Remember the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8) who wanted to know about God but didn’t understand? God sent Philip to him to explain Isaiah 53, about Christ, so that he could hear and believe, and then he was baptized.

And there was Cornelius a Gentile centurion in the Roman army (Acts 10) who was, “a devout man, who feared God, along with his whole household,” God sent Peter to preach to them, they believed and were saved, all of them were “baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”

In Romans 1:21 Paul says, although mankind is conscious of God’s existence, they wouldn’t glorify Him.

At the very least, it is God who alone is to be glorified, to receive praise and honor; and yet, the majority of the billions of people who have lived on this planet (which was made especially for them) have turned away from the gracious and merciful Creator, Savior and Sustainer.

Psalm 29:2, “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
1Corinthians 10:31, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

Revelation 4:11, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

Man in his arrogance doesn’t thank God for all he has received (life, food, water); the majority of mankind doesn’t honor or glorify Him, this leads them to foolish thinking and their hearts become more and more darkened, leading to spiritual depravity.
Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
2Peter 1:2-4, “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

The godless philosophies of the world ultimately lead to moral corruption and spiritual darkness – suppressing the knowledge of God exhibited in His creation, rejecting His Word, and not recognizing His glory, leaves a person utterly guilty, without excuse, deserving of God’s wrath.

John 3:16-20, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”

John 14:15-17, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever– the Spirit of truth. … You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” 26, “the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

John 15:26, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” John 16:7-9, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me.” 13, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”

Ephesians 4:17-24, “I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as [unbelievers], in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

God is so merciful, He didn’t have to send His Son into the world to reveal Himself, (Romans 1:18-21) God displayed Himself plainly in creation; God put His law in our hearts (Romans 2:14-15) and we rejected it (Romans 3:10-12, 23; 6:23), and yet God came to earth, put on flesh, lived among us, took our punishment (Romans 5:8), freeing us from sin’s penalty (Romans 8:1) if we will trust in Him (Romans 10:9-10).

God is so gracious, those who come to Him by faith in Christ Jesus, are sent by Him into the world (Matthew 28:19-20) to share the message of forgiveness and eternal life through God’s One and Only Son.
Romans 10:13, ”Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Christians are in this world to serve God, our main purpose is to bear the image of Christ, as witnesses of God’s indescribable gift – forgiveness for sins on earth, eternal life in heaven with God – all of this made effectual through Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, so that all might be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth; for God doesn’t want anyone to die in sin, but for everyone to repent that they might be saved.
1Peter 3:15-16, ”But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”
1Peter 2:12, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

God’s Blessings, Pastor Mike <‘))))><