Sermon Tone Analysis

MBC - 7~/18~/2004 - Pastor Doug Thompson

*/“Without Excuse”/*

Romans 1:18-21

 

Ø      ROM 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

Ø      ROM 1:19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

Ø      ROM 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

Ø      ROM 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Ø      ROM 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

Ø      ROM 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Ø      The renowned British atheist, Bertrand Russell, was once asked what he would do if he was wrong about his life-long belief that there was no God.

He said that if he ever came face-to-face with God he would say--“You didn’t give me enough evidence.”

Ø      On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, returned from being the first man in space.

He proudly proclaimed that “he didn’t see any God up there.”

Russell died in 1972, and Yuri Gagarin was killed when the jet he was testing crashed in 1968.

Hebrews 9:27 says that it is appointed for a man to die once and after this comes judgment, so both of these men had their opportunity to say these things to God’s face.

In my imagination, I picture God asking one of the cherubim surrounding His throne to turn to this passage in Romans and explain it to these men: “This is why God is sending you to hell: you knew the truth, but you covered it up!

That which is known about God was evident within you--God Himself made it evident to you.

Since the creation of the world--yes, it was created--His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature were clearly seen by you, and you understood what you saw.

/You are without excuse./

You knew there was a God, but you willfully refused to honor Him, worship Him, or give thanks to Him.

Instead, you substituted irrational, stupid theories for the truth, and your heart became dark and cold.

/You have no excuse for what you have done./

You are hereby consigned to the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

Two weeks ago we began to look at what it is that makes the gospel such good news for lost sinners, and what makes it so very urgent and necessary, and it’s this: God’s awful wrath is right now being revealed throughout creation and throughout history.

God isn’t simply waiting for the Day of Judgment to punish sinners, but He is mercifully giving unbelievers constant warnings that this day is coming so that they will repent and turn to Christ.

We saw 3 ways that God is continually revealing His wrath:

 

1.)

Through physical death.

Every funeral service is a reminder that the one sin of one man--Adam--cost the entire human race its life.

That’s how serious sin is to God.

 

2.)

Through suffering and futility: fires, famine, tornadoes, sickness, crime, wayward children, financial problems, marriage problems--The everyday pain and frustrations of life on this planet are constant revelations and reminders of God’s wrath against Adam’s sin.

3.)

Through the downward spiral of evil and wickedness.

Paul goes on to say that God punishes sin with more sin.

Three times in this passage it says that when people choose sin over God, He removes His restraints and let’s them have what they want: less God, more sin--until they self-destruct.

Ø      But there is a remedy and a rescue, and it’s the good news of the Gospel: that God sent His sinless Son to earth to die in place of everyone who will trust in Him as Lord and Savior.

And anyone who trusts in Jesus Christ will be saved from the wrath to come--and even though we aren’t spared from all the effects of God’s wrath in this life, for God’s children, all of these things work together for good to make us more like Jesus Christ--even death!

 

* But there is a question that I have been asked many times—you’ve probably been asked this same question: What about those who never hear this good news?

Will God send them to hell?

There are places in the world where kids don’t go to Vacation Bible School in the summer—where Allah is the name of their god, or Buddha, or where the state teaches that there is no god at all.

There are as many as 2 billion people living on this planet who have never heard of our Savior, Jesus.

If Jesus is the only Savior, and if salvation is only through faith in Him--what about these people?

Are they without excuse too?

If God is just, how can He punish them--and if He is so loving, why doesn’t He tell them?

The answer is in this passage: People who have never heard of Jesus or seen a Bible won’t be condemned for failing to believe in a Jesus they never heard about.

They will be condemned for rejecting a God whom they did know.

/They are not ignorant, they are not innocent.

They are without excuse.

/

 

*I.

They know the truth about God.*

 

Look at how many different ways Paul says it--

 

Ø      ROM 1:19 because that which is /known/ about God is /evident/ within them; for /God/ made it evident /to/ them.

Ø      ROM 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been /clearly seen/, being /understood/ through what has been made, /so that they are without excuse./

Paul is saying that all people have been given a huge billboard, known as Creation, which flashes a message 24 hours a day, 365 days a year: *"THERE IS A CREATOR!!"*

 

And he says that we all get the message:

 

Ø      Ron and I were talking about how difficult communication is.

It’s not just a matter of sending a message, that message has to be received.

And errors can occur in the sending and the receiving so that there is /mis/-communication.

But do you see here that God’s message in creation has been received!

It’s known, it’s evident—it’s even evident /subjectively/—within us, because God Himself has made it known.

It has been clearly seen and even /understood.

/ Message received!

So the excuse of ignorance is removed.

Theologians call this "general revelation."

It’s what God has revealed about Himself in creation, and it’s open to everyone.

/It isn’t the Gospel/, but no one can say, “I didn’t know there was a God!

If I had only known—you see, I just needed more evidence!”

God’s Word says, “No, they knew.”

Look at v.20: they know there is a God /“through what has been made.”/

That is one word in the Gk., “/poie_ma/.”

It’s the word from which we get our word, poem.

/The universe is God’s poem!/ Now have you ever, ever read a beautiful poem and said to yourself, “It’s incredible how these letters just came together on this page, in this book, by chance, and formed this poem!”

No.

You say, “Behind this poem, there must be a poet!”

And behind creation, there must be a Creator.

*/A.

They know it when they look at creation./*

It’s a poem that declares God’s /eternal power and divine nature/.

When you look at the power displayed in nature--in a 7.0 earthquake, in a Midwest tornado, in the Flood--you know that something is responsible for that power, and must be even greater in power--

 

Ø      Our sun burns up 4 million tons of matter each second, and gives off the equivalent of 500 quadrillion horsepower--each second.

It is 31 million degrees at the center.

And our sun is a relatively small star, and it is one among billions of other stars.

But God is greater.

Scripture says that He numbers the stars and calls them all by name, and one day He will snuff out every star the way you or I would blow out a birthday candle--or even 50 candles. .

.

Ø      Isaac Newton said, “This wonderful ordering of the sun, the planets, and the comets cannot but be the work of an intelligent, all-powerful being.”

Think about the wisdom and design that is displayed in nature.

It boggles the mind!

Think about the variety of creatures, and flowers, birds, and insects.

Man, with his most sophisticated technology can’t duplicate the sonar system of dolphins and whales, or the radar system of bats, or the navigational system of migrating birds, fish, and insects.

And think about the built-in self-repair system that exists in virtually every life form.

Cut off the arm on a starfish, it grows another.

When you cut your finger, it heals.

But when your computer crashes--it just sits there staring at you until you call tech support!

Ø      In 1996, Michael Behe, a biochemist, wrote a book that shook up the scientific world, it was called /Darwin's Black Box/.

Behe said that even a single tiny cell is "irreducibly complex," and therefore must be the product of intelligent design, not chance.

"Irreducible complexity" means that the immensely complex cell has a large number of parts that all work together in such a way that the absence of one part stops the entire function - which means that the functioning system of the cell could not be built up by small evolutionary steps in which the parts accumulated gradually.

!!!!  

/Translation:/ *Evolution is impossible.*

And then consider the wonder of reproduction and birth.

Can evolution explain this?

I have never heard an evolutionary explanation for male and female!

Ø      But Ps.104:24 explains it: “O Lord, how many are Thy works!

In wisdom Thou has made them all.