Without Excuse - Romans 1:18-20

0:58Romans 1, verse 18. 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. Pray with me once more. Father, as we come to this text and we study about your wrath, we study about the way that you've revealed yourself to all men.

1:56I pray, Lord, that you would give us humble hearts that are eager to find what we can find in this text. Hearts that are eager to understand what you're communicating to us in these verses. We do pray again for the Babers. We pray that as they are coming back soon, that you would give them safe travels. We miss them. We miss Pastor Tom, and we pray that you would bring them back to us safely. But this morning, as we study your word, we pray that you'd give us clarity and the ability to understand what you're saying in your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

2:46Well, you can see right away that the topic of this passage is the wrath of God. That's what he says. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven. And this is actually going to be Paul's topic for a long time. Time. If you have read the book of Romans, then you know that the wrath of God revealed against men because of their sin is his topic for almost the entire first three chapters of Romans. And so right here, he is introducing this topic, and he's going to talk about it for a long time. And the question is, why does he go here first? He's just announced the gospel. He's just announced that he is going to preach the gospel in Rome and he's introducing the gospel to these Romans. But why does he jump to wrath first? Why does he say the wrath of God first? Well, we get a little hint from the very first word. Look at the first word in verse 18. It's for. It's because.

3:50Right? So this is connecting it to the sentence before. He's just said that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. He said that in it the righteousness of God is revealed and that it's accepted by faith. This is the good news, right? This is the gospel. And then he says, because the wrath of God is revealed against all men. So it's as if Paul anticipates the question, okay, why do I need this good news? Why is this good news for me? And he gets right to the point and says, because the wrath of God is coming. It's been revealed from heaven.

4:30No one can ask God for forgiveness of his sins if he doesn't first understand that he has sinned, right? No one can ask for salvation from God's judgment without first acknowledging that they deserve God's judgment. And so before Paul can finish the good news, he needs to tell the bad news that the wrath of God has been revealed from heaven. So what is the wrath of God? Listen to this. King David in Psalm 7 says, God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation or anger every day.

5:10If a man does not repent, God will wet his sword. He has bent and readied his bow. He has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. So God, as the righteous judge, when we sin, he is rightly angered. Psalm 7 continues, Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head and on his own skull. His violence descends. So in this Psalm, the psalmist is pointing primarily to that the wrath of God already standing. Starts in this life by events that cause the wicked men's deeds to fall back on their own heads. But elsewhere, the psalmist will also say, this is King David, he says in another Psalm, that God will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. So there's this future day, this future battle where the wrath of God will be seen. And of course, we all remember the terrifying eternal fire where his wrath will be carried out for all eternity. Listen to this. This is Revelation 14. We hear an angelic announcement that says this: If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will also drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. So he's describing that eternal fire, that lake of fire, and says that it's going to be forever. Day after day, the smoke will go up. But Jesus himself says, while he was still on earth, that when he comes back, it is him. It is Jesus himself, the Son of Man, who is going to say to some, Who are unexpecting of this, he's going to say, depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And a few verses later, he'll call it eternal punishment, forever punishment, because of their sin.

7:49God's wrath is what we all deserve. And if you come, if you refuse to come to God now, if you refuse and refuse and refuse, then you will certainly experience this eternal punishment. If a man does not repent, God will wet his sword. And whatever you think this wrath will be like, I can guarantee you it's worse, right? Whatever you're imagining, I can guarantee you that the wrath of God is worse than what you're thinking. So don't buy into the lie that God is so loving that he would never carry out his wrath on anybody. That's not true. That is a lie.

8:33God is loving. He is forgiving. He forgives all those who come to him. But he stores up wrath for those who won't. Listen to this. This is Jesus again in John 3, verse 18. Whoever believes in him, that's the son, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned. Condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world.

9:11And the people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. They didn't want to be exposed. They didn't want to come to the light. And so, even though God is offering this full pardon, people won't come to him because they hate the light and they love the darkness. And therefore, God's wrath is upon them. And that's all of us, by the way. Before we became believers. Well, in our text today, God will say, yes, God will say, but Paul will say that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. That's what he says next in verse 18. So the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. What does he mean by this? He seems to be saying that we already see the wrath of God. It's already started.

10:05No, we don't see that eternal fire yet, right? You can't go, you can't fly to Israel like the Babers have done and look out and see where the eternal fire has started. You can't see it yet. But the wrath of God is revealed, present tense. Not has been revealed or not will be revealed, but is revealed or is being revealed. So what does he mean by this? Well, think with me for a little bit about this. It could be what David already said that we read, that already we see in this life that the deeds of wicked men end up coming back to haunt them. They fall back, they get tripped, they get trapped, and that is part of the wrath of God. So he could be saying that, that already presently we see that. He could be saying that the wrath of God is already revealed in God's word, right? Every time we read God's word, when we're reading these passages, we get to hear about his wrath, especially on the cross, right? Where the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus Christ for our sins.

11:14But a third way that the wrath of God is presently being revealed is actually found in this chapter, Romans chapter 1. God's wrath is revealed in the way that God gives up the sinner to his own ways. Look at verse 24. Therefore, God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity. Verse 26, for this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Verse 28. 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.

11:56So we'll study these verses later on as we keep studying Romans. But for now, we at least see that this is one of the marks of divine wrath, that God has given up these sinners to their own sinful ways. Now, none of this happens for the Christian. These three things that we just looked at, none of this happens to the Christian. Number one, we'll be saved from the wrath to come, right? That's a promise to us that since we've been reconciled to God, we will be saved from the wrath to come. Number two, even the trials in this life that we think have tripped us up or trapped us, they are not used by God for our punishment. They're used by God for our discipline. His gracious hand is on us. And so, therefore, number three, God is doing the opposite of giving us up to a debased mind.

12:48Have you ever thought about that? Instead, he's drawing us back to himself. You remember that after the psalmist says in Psalm 32 that blessed are those who are forgiven, well, near the end of that psalm, he says, Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. So we should be people that are trying to stay near to God. We shouldn't need to be people who are constantly being forced by bit and bridle to stay near God. But as Christians, we can be grateful that he does use the bit and bridle on us, right? He doesn't handle us. Over in his wrath to a debased mind forever. He brings us back to himself instead of giving us up.

13:40But back to our verse, Romans 1.18, he says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. So God's anger has already begun to be revealed against sin. That's what he says. It's sin that makes God angry. It's sin that brings about his wrath. Sin is the opposite of godliness. So he calls it ungodliness. Sin is the opposite of righteousness. So he calls it unrighteousness. Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. So every sin that we're committing stirs up wrath in the God of the universe, and we sin all the time.

14:27And the entire earth, the entire world, every single person is under the wrath of God until they believe in the Son. Now, we've already seen a lot in this verse. And this verse, what we've just studied, becomes this subject heading of like the next three chapters that the wrath of God is revealed against all of mankind because of their sin. And Paul will spend these three chapters explaining why. The wrath of God is on men and why it's right for God to be wrathful against mankind. And today we're going to study the first reason. The first reason that God is right to be angry, and the reason is this. Listen to this. Mankind has a universal knowledge of the truth that they willingly suppress.

15:26Mankind has a universal knowledge of the truth that they willingly suppress. This doesn't mean that everyone knows everything about God. No one knows everything about God. It doesn't mean that we all know the same things about God. But what it does mean is that there are some truths about God that every single person knows. Do you believe that? There are some truths that every single person knows about God without exception. There is a universal knowledge of the truth. And in this passage, we're going to see three condemning realities about this universal knowledge of the truth. Three condemning realities. This truth is sinfully suppressed.

16:26It is plainly communicated, and it is clearly. Perceived. It is sinfully suppressed. It is plainly communicated, and it is clearly perceived. Let's look at the first one. It is sinfully suppressed. Look again at verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. By their unrighteousness, they suppress the truth. This is everybody. Every single person who has ever lived before they become a believer, before God changes their heart, all men have a knowledge of God that they push down, that they tamp down and hold back and stifle.

17:20And they stifle it by sinning, by unrighteousness. And so a lot of times we fall into the trap of thinking that sinning occurs out of ignorance. Oh, they just don't know better or something. We fall into the trap of thinking that sinning occurs out of ignorance, but really, sinning is a way to willingly cause ignorance. It's not that people don't know about God and therefore they sin. Instead, it's that they do know about God and they sin anyways.

18:00In our wickedness, we don't want to think about God. We don't want our consciences to be reminded of him. And so we sin in order to push that back down. And anytime it pops back up again, we tamp it back down with our wickedness. So, unbelievers, including all of us before we came to faith, unbelievers in their grueling slavery to sin live their lives like an exhausting game of whack-a-mole, right? That over and over and over their consciences are reminded by God, and over and over and over they sin to keep it down.

18:40And this cycle is only broken by turning to God in faith, by desperately crying out to Him for mercy, and He's faithful and just to forgive. Now, Christians, don't think for a second that this habit has been completely eradicated in your life. This is who you were. This is what you worked at constantly. We loved the darkness rather than the light because our works were evil. We were good at it. We were good at removing God from our mind, suppressing our knowledge of Him by our unrighteousness.

19:27And so, as long as we're still in these earthly tents, Our flesh is still going to tempt us like this, isn't it? And this is part of the reason why we need to be desperate to stay faithful and consistent in our devotions, in the reading of scripture, in prayer. You know, a lot of times we think that those things aren't necessary, but this is one of the reasons why it's so necessary because you are an expert at ignoring God.

20:00Even as Christians, our habits remain, especially when we can be distracted by our TVs all the time or our phones all the time. These habits remain. And if we're not careful, we can avoid coming to the one that we love. We can go through our day stifling our knowledge of him. And so we should avoid this at all costs, right? We should train ourselves daily to be filling our mind with scripture. We should train our hearts daily to be constant in prayer.

20:31So know yourself. Also, know the unbeliever. This is part of the reason why unbelievers are going to react so violently or harshly when you try and share the gospel to them. They're desperately trying by their sin to keep that knowledge down, right? And you ruin it when you help it pop up again. How dare you? But do it anyways, right? Remind them of the Creator. Do it gently. Do it in love. Know that these things are going on in their hearts and their minds, that they do know that there's a Creator, that they're sinfully suppressing this. And in love, pray for them and do share the gospel with them. So mankind has this universal knowledge of the truth. And that knowledge is sinfully suppressed. It's also plainly communicated. Plainly communicated. Look at verse 19. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.

21:46What can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. So he hasn't yet told us what can be known about God. He'll tell us that in the next verse. And he hasn't said how God has shown it to him. He'll tell us that in the next verse. But one thing in this verse is very clear is that God has made it obvious to every single person. God himself has made this obvious.

22:18Mankind has a universal knowledge of God because God has plainly communicated it. He's told them. He's shown them. And so sinners, if you're an unbeliever, If you're a non-Christian, this should terrify you, right? Because I bet that many of you are banking on the fact that you can plead ignorance with God when you see him face to face. But God knows better. God knows exactly how plain he has made it to you. And he knows exactly your thoughts.

22:56And on that day, though, a sinner might say, How could I have known about you, God? God would be able to respond, not that you could have known about me, but that you did know about me. I made it plain. I showed you. And he knows your thoughts. So there's no possibility for the sinner to unknow his knowledge of the truth. Instead, all the sinner can do is suppress it and keep it down. For us, for Emmanuel Baptist Church, we can be grateful that God has so obviously communicated these things to us. He hasn't spoken to us through mystical visions or mysterious dreams or any of that, but instead, he's communicated in very plain, obvious ways. He's caused our consciences to know about him. And for a long time, we suppressed this knowledge that we saw in creation. We suppressed this, but eventually God changed our heart. You remember that. Verse of the hymn, long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light, my chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee. So praise God that his eye has diffused this quickening ray, that we were fast bound in sin, but now our hearts are free.

24:30So let's be grateful. And let's also remember this. One more application. Let's also remember this in our evangelism, like we talked about earlier. Paul said in our scripture read this morning, in our scripture reading this morning, that the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything. Excuse me, sorry. Since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet, listen to this, he is actually not far from each one of us. He's actually not far from each one of us. That's what Paul says. So the unbeliever is surrounded by plain evidence. For a Creator, because God has made it plain to them.

25:37Paul continues that the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day, and we already talked about that day, but he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed and has given his assurance to us all by raising him from the dead. And so when we talk to unbelievers, we can talk to them the same way Paul did. We can trust that they have this knowledge of the creator.

26:07We can trust that God has made himself available by not being far away. No matter how ardently they deny this by saying, I don't believe there's a God, I don't believe there's a God. We still can trust that God has plainly shown it to them, and we can call them to act on this knowledge and be saved from the wrath to come. The universal knowledge of the truth is sinfully suppressed. It's plainly communicated by God Himself. Finally, it is clearly perceived. So on God's end, it is plainly communicated, but on man's end, it is clearly perceived. Look at verse 20. 4.

26:54His 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. Now we get to see exactly what God communicated about Himself to all men, and we get to see exactly how He communicated it. Let's start with how. Paul says that these things have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So when God created the world from that moment on, every man who is in that creation, every man and woman has seen something about God. Creation testifies to the character of God. And so when mankind looks out at the stars, when they look at the mountains, when they look at the flowers and the grass, when they look at the bugs and the animals, all of these things testify to the character of God. And Paul says that it specifically teaches us two things about God that every single person knows. First, that he is powerful, and second, that he is divine. He says his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. His power. In his divinity.

28:33We know that the creator of the universe was no man. He was divine. He must be. He must be immensely powerful to have spoken the universe into existence with the word of his mouth. Nobody can do that except God alone. It obviously took immense power, and everybody knows it. And so when you speak to an unbeliever, you can trust that they know this too. Though they're suppressing it, though they have allowed themselves to be blinded, they do know this. These things are clearly perceived in creation. Turn with me to Psalm 19. This is one of the most special Psalms.

29:24Psalm 19, it proclaims the same message that Paul is proclaiming in our passage today. Psalm 19 to the choir master, a psalm of David. Verse 1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Saying that the skies themselves, when you look up at the sky, it proclaims that there is a designer. They proclaim his handiwork and they don't whisper about it, right? Look at verse 2. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard.

30:25So in the daytime, when you see the clouds and the sun, in the nighttime, when you see the stars, every single day, over and over and over, these things are pouring out speech to us about who God is. Everyone hears it every day. Look at verse 4. Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In them, he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. So the sun and the sky, they shout out these truths about God.

31:14The psalm will go on to extol the greatness of God's written word in Scripture. And I encourage you to read it every day this week if you can. Psalm 19, but go back to our text in Romans 1. Creation is shouting these things out. So, where does this leave us? We see creation, and since it communicates exactly what God wants it to, then in creation, we see God's power and we see His divinity, and where does this leave us? Look at the end of verse 20. So, they are without excuse.

32:00That's where mankind is left. Nobody has an excuse for ignoring God and sinning. So, God is fully justified when He condemns men and women to eternal punishment. He is fully right to be wrathful. It is men who have no excuse. God is the one who has made it plain. Creation displays his power and divinity, and man has no excuse. But let's remember that this is just the beginning of the story, right? This is where Paul is beginning. He's just announced his gospel, and then he's starting with the wrath of God.

32:51And for some of you, maybe again today you will reject the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross. And you can be forgiven of all your sins, and you're going to reject it again and again and again. And maybe this is the end of the story for you. God's wrath. But in the letter to the Romans, Paul has just begun. He's describing the wrath of God because it's part of the gospel message. Let's look back at the text and see if we can follow his logic as we read over it one more time. He's just said that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. He said that the gospel is the power of God to save. And then it's like he goes through this series of explanations. So salvation from what? It's the power for salvation, salvation from what? For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Well, then you might ask, what have they suppressed?

33:56And so Paul explains again: for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown them. So they're suppressing something that God has communicated to them. Well, then you might ask, well, how has God made it plain? What did he communicate? And Paul explains again. He says, 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're without excuse. So you can see how structured this is. And if we followed it backwards, we would say that there's this universal knowledge of the truth because of what we see in creation, and therefore every man is guilty, and therefore every man is under the wrath of God, and therefore every man needs the gospel.

34:48So the wrath of God is just part of the story. Don't forget the rest of the story. Don't forget that God graciously and lovingly offers undeserved mercy to the vilest of sinners. That the worst offenders can come to him and receive eternal life. That anyone can come and be with him forever because of what Christ has done on the cross. Now, before we close, let's talk a little bit of application of this text. You know, normally when we study an attribute of God, the first application that we can immediately say is, copy that, right? We study the love of God, copy that, be loving. We study the patience of God, copy that, be patient. We study the wrath of God. It's not quite the same, right?

35:47There is a righteous anger, of course, that men can have, but most often, our anger is mixed up with all kinds of sin, isn't it? James says, Let every person be quick to hear, slow to anger, or quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. So don't try and justify your sinful anger by pointing to God and saying, See, he's wrathful. He said, vengeance is his. So be slow to anger. But I did want to point out three applications for us today. The first one is one that we've mentioned already: to share the gospel. Use apologetics, use a defense of the faith to talk about God and tell people.

36:38On the one hand, our text today has shown that these logical proofs of a creator using creation can actually be valuable. In other words, it's useful to point to the creation and say, look, there must be a creator because God has made it so obvious to them. So this text is saying, yes, yes, do that. If you've ever had a chance to listen, just as a side note, to Todd Friel's Witness Wednesdays, it's not the most fun thing I listen to every week. I don't necessarily look forward to it as some of these other things I listen to, but I keep listening to it because it's challenging. And one of the things that he says all the time, especially at lunchtime when he's walking. Around talking to people, and they're having a sandwich. He says, You know, did you expect that that sandwich just fell together? If you were walking down a sidewalk and you saw a sandwich, nobody would look up into the sky and start to be amazed at how the sandwich just fell together on the sidewalk with the bread on the outside and everything nice and orderly on the inside, right?

37:56No, you would naturally assume that somebody stacked that sandwich. Somebody put it together. And in the same way, we should assume that somebody put the universe together. It's much more complicated than a sandwich, right? So, on the one hand, since God has communicated this so plainly, since God has made it so obvious, arguments like this can be useful. We should be talking to people and telling them, look at creation. Doesn't that show you that there's a creator? And yet, on the other hand, this text simultaneously shows us that we certainly cannot stop there. Because if you stop there, then all that you've told them is what they already know, right? That's what this text is saying. All you've covered is what they already know. They already know there's a creator. It's not an intellectual issue they're struggling with, it's a moral issue.

38:52They're suppressing that knowledge through their sin. So, yes, on the one hand, bring out. What's already evident in creation? Tell people to look at creation and know there's a creator, but don't stop there. Paul doesn't say that creation is the power of God for salvation, right? He says, the gospel is the power of God for salvation. The gospel. So assume they already know there's a creator, whether they admit it or not, and share the gospel with them. Second application: trust the Lord. When we think about his wrath, listen to Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. We know that leaders are like this, and we can be tempted to worry.

39:54But the psalmist continues, he who sits in the heavens laughs. He holds them in derision. Therefore, then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. So when we think about the wrath of God, we can trust him, right? That he's got everything under control, that he is not worrying and fretting. No, it says that the one who sits in heaven laughs.

40:30Wrath is perfect and measured and controlled, and everything is in order. And the psalm will go on and end by saying, Blessed are all who take refuge in him. And so, as a Christian, we don't apply the wrath of God by taking vengeance ourselves, but instead by trusting him and sitting back and knowing that vengeance is his, trusting him that he's got everything under control, and fleeing to him to take refuge in him. So, share the gospel, trust the Lord, and last, as I mentioned earlier, know your weakness. Don't forget this one.

41:08All of us have perfected the art of suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. Maybe you lived 70 years before you became a believer. And for those 70 years, you were really good at not thinking about God, right? Maybe you only lived 15 years, but still, after we become Christians, this can be a hard habit to shake. So our only hope is to be immersed in the word, to constantly be training our minds, to be thinking about the Lord, to pray without ceasing. There's no greater joy than walking with God, than having fellowship with the Lord. And we as Christians get the privilege of obeying his commands and loving our Father.

41:58So don't forget. Pray with me. Father, it's hard for us to study about the wrath of God when we think of loved ones or we think of others who don't know you. But your word is clear, and I pray, Lord, that you would give us hearts of love and compassion and hearts that trust you and flee to you and take refuge in you. We're sorry, Lord, that for so long we stubbornly refused you, though you made it so clear in creation, and we suppressed that knowledge by sinning against you.

42:41And we thank you, God, for drawing us to yourself, for breaking that slavery and breaking those chains and bringing us to yourself. And we pray, Lord, that you would use us as you change the hearts of more and more. Help us, Father, look at creation and be awed by you. Help us be amazed by your power, by your divinity, as we look out on the trees, as we look at the animals, as we look at the sky in the day and the sky at night. I pray, Lord, that we would look and be in awe and bow the knee before you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

43:26You dismiss.