Lesson 3a
Romans 1:19-23 · Courtney Hemenway · Feb 25, 2018
Romans (2018-21), No. 07
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926198491651

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Alright, we are in Romans lesson 3 and we will begin by reading it when we are in chapter 1 and we are progressing through which this is kind of the basics and we've gone through a lot of his exhortation to the Roman church and now it's getting into some of the basics of who we are and how he expresses himself and how everybody is without excuse about saying that they don't know that there is a God. Let's read verses in Romans chapter 1 verses 18 through 23. So I'll read them for you.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. 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. 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. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of a corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

So, a lot packed into these verses. Question 1, we'll begin with, and I read verse 18 for context. In verse 19, that which is known of God is manifested in man, for God made it evident to man. So, again, a little bit of a translation. I think Mike had one when he put these questions together about Manifest in Man. The New American Standard has it, it's evident within them for God made it evident to them. So a little bit different than Manifest in Man and in the first one Manifest in Man and the New American Standard says evident within them.

So, just a little bit different wording in there than what the question is, but I think it still brings forth the same understanding. So, I think in order to understand the verse, you really need the context of verses 18 and 20. So we're looking at verse 19, but for context, We'll look at verses, add in verses 18 and 20.

So, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And then the verse we're looking at, Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. 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 they are without excuse. So, if we look at the first part, because that which is known about God is evident within them. So this states that within man there is knowledge of God.

So what does that mean? It's evident or manifest within them. He created them with God's consciousness, would you say? Okay. He made them with a conscience. So he was the creator, he made them with a conscience, anything else, it's known within them. So it's just, is it, does it say it's just innate in them that they know? If it created them with God consciousness, it is.

Okay. So, a little bit different. I mean, I guess I'm trying to get at, so you, the minute you were born, you knew of God? I didn't know anything. I guess that's my point. What do these verses state? He created a conscience in every one of us. So what was after that? You were born as a blank slate with a sin nature, but you had a conscience. But you didn't know about God when you were three minutes old. So how did you make it evident within you? How was it evident within you? I was told very early on.

I'm still in. I put a bunch of guy in the face and he's like, I feel better. There can't be any sin in that young, beautiful grandchild that we have. But they have a sin nature right away. But if Lincoln goes and he goes into the, immediately he's taken out and they travel to deepest, darkest Africa, turn off all the internet, do everything, will he still know God? Eternity in their hearts. What do you mean by that? I have to look that one up. Eternity in the heart. I don't know where that is, but I'll try to look that one up.

Basically, the first thing I look at in these verses, remember this is in Romans 1.19, what is the first thing that is stated here.

Is it just for believers? Is it for men only? Is it for women only? Is it for American citizens only? Who is this to? Everybody. All mankind. So that means us here in Colorado, The person in deepest darkest Africa or New Guinea, wherever you want to put it, where you can't, it's for everyone. So the first thing is all mankind. There is no one without knowledge of God.

Do you believe that? That's what it says. So, doesn't matter where you're at, everyone knows that there is a God. Really? So, there is no one who is without knowledge. Secondly, note that it is within everyone. It states that within the conscience of every human there is knowledge of God. So, do you believe that? That everyone on this planet knows that there is a God.

It says it. It's what it says. Again, we get a lot of this. Also, if we look at it, the Greek verb for within is in the present tense, active voice, and indicative mood. That means God is actively, continually making himself evident in human's conscience all the time. Always active, always doing that. Getting back to the context of the verse, how did God make Himself evident to them?

So, the first part is read in verse 18. What is stated there? Let me give you the operative word. What was revealed? What was on the front side of this verse is the wrath of God was revealed. So it states that, "...for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness in a manner to suppress the truth and unrighteousness." So historically, God had demonstrated or revealed His wrath against ungodliness and unrighteousness through the Old Testament in times in a number of different events. not only when we get to the second half in verse 20, he revealed himself a lot of times in events that happened.

So, what happened with Noah and the flood? Do you think that got people thinking? You think that might have got people going like, You know, something going on here. What about Sodom and Gomorrah? You think that people just went, huh, that was kind of a bad lightning storm or, you know, what happened, you know? Think that revealed God? And don't look back. So you think that revealed God? I had to find this and I couldn't remember what it was.

One of the times, when God opened up the earth and swallowed the households of Dathan and Abram and fire consumed 250 men at the time of Moses. And that's in Numbers 26, 32. So, sitting there and all of a sudden the earth opens up and swallows everybody and then a fire comes down and burns 250 men.

Is that just another Friday? What did that reveal? Wrath. Wrath of God. You can't just say that was just another Friday. You know, it just wasn't another day. So, also when, think about when Moses and all the plagues before leaving Egypt. What do you think that, you know, when what plagues of toads and all that, or you know, all the different things, all the way up to the Passover.

What do you think that revealed to that world at that time? There was a God. There was a God. There is a God. So, I think the first part of this verse about revealing is about the wrath that revealed God. Many instances over history, God revealed Himself by wrath. He demonstrated His wrath in very open ways that revealed that there was a God. So He expressed Himself so people knew there was a God. So that's the first part.

The second part is that we get Him in verse 20, which basically leads us to question 2. So, what does creation reveal about God to man? So we have the wrath that revealed Him. And now we're looking on the back half, which is of 19. What revealed him was the second part, which is in 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 they are without excuse. So, we had wrath that revealed it now. So, what now reveals it in these verses?

Creation. Creation. Everything. Everything around us. So creation, he says, we're since creation of the world. So all creation demonstrates God. And we'll get into a little bit of that later. But what is revealed by creation? His eternal power and what? Deity. What else? There's another one that I think is interesting in there. There are three different things. His invisible attributes. So in verse 20, all creation reveals God's invisible attributes, which I think is amazing. I'll get a little bit into that. His eternal power and divine nature.

We can see this also in Psalm 19.1, which states The heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. So again, looking up in the sky, I remember, this is personal, but I remember before I was a believer, and I can identify with these verses, I was backpacking and up in the middle of the mountains, total, if you get up there where there's no lights, no nothing, And you look up at the stars. They are within reach. And I remember, and this is before I was a believer, I inexplicably believed that there was a God.

Because I looked up there and it was like, that's amazing. How is that created? I mean, just the whole setting. God really just blew me away. I knew that there was a God. Years later, after becoming a believer, seeing these verses, I was part of that. I looked up and I knew in my heart, I'm sure there are a lot of other things, but there was one time in particular, I looked up and I saw that and I knew there was a God. I think He does that in many different ways. It says here in Scripture, shows that he is God.

And you were without excuse on that. So this is where I get in the... Oh, yes. I think I know where you're going to go and I probably have a question coming up for it, but go ahead. God reveals himself to us two ways, in his creation and by revelation. Is there any sense of revelation in these verses? I'm going to get to those questions. I know you. I know where you're going.

Actually, what I was going to do is harass Mike anyway. We do this. We like this. We're kind of sadistic on each other. Mike gave me so much grief because when I was scuba diving and I'd come back and say, It's so amazing when you get down and you see these fish and these coral that are just unbelievable. It is so cool that this is God's creation and He made this. And He'd give me grief about that.

Because it's better to know the God who created it than what He did. But I was expressing what's in here, that as a believer, I see God's creation. Now as a believer, remember I told you, I didn't know it before, and we'll get to the question he was asking. When I saw the stars and everything, I knew that there was a God, but that's all I knew. I knew that there was a God and he was very powerful, he created this thing, but that's all I knew.

So, it shows us about his invisible attributes, his eternal power, and his divine nature in him. A couple more comments here. But as a believer now, where we get into the discussions is, as a believer I see his hand in his creation and I marvel in it. I marvel and I see his invisible attributes.

He didn't have to make those fish so cool. He didn't have to, but he did. And you look up, if you're in Colorado and you see a sunset or you go into the mountains and you see that, now as a believer I'd love to see that about God. I'd love to see that His hand is involved in all this creation.

And now I know who it is. I know Him. And that's the different part that we'll get into a little bit in a question coming up. Thank you. Yeah. So we'll get into one of Newell's comments in here about this. Paul connects the observing of the mighty and the beautiful things of the universe with the consciousness of a personal God. So you know that there's a God. That's what's revealed here.

So verse 20 states that through God's creation that the knowledge of God's attributes, eternal power, and divine nature have been clearly seen and been understood through what has been made. So going back to verse 19, because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. So, did God make himself evident to all mankind through his creation? Answer? Yes.

However, do these verses state that by observing creation, you can discover salvation, or Christ, or anything other than you know that there is a God? No. That's where I think the rub came in that I see this creation, but it says nothing about revealing Christ to me.

There was one book I read that I think the guy found salvation by watching the seasons, a tree's death in winter and its blooming in the spring. It pointed to the resurrection, but I forget the name of the book. It was by, I think, Trottier. I forget the name of the book.

Again, you can't find anything out about Christ from creation. What it does is it points to this consciousness that there is a God. So everybody knows that there is a God, and I think I get into it a little bit later here. Actually, we get into question three.

Why are all men, of all times, without excuse? So, in verse 20 it says that, For since 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 they are without excuse.

And remember who does this apply to? The people in Colorado? Everybody. Remember that's where I went? Everybody. They are without excuse. So, why are all men of all times without excuse? Because he made himself clearly seen. All the time, since creation. He has clearly made it evident to them. So, is there anyone excluded from this verse who does not know that there is a God? Everybody.

So, I'm thinking that I could take all of the people that promote evolution and I could put them under the category of verse 18, that they purposely hold down the truth in spite of what they do know. Can I say that? Yes, and in fact that's what, basically anybody who's an atheist is a liar, who suppresses the truth. How about an evolutionist? Evolutionist, I mean, he's, you know, that one's kind of this hard, whether that's denying God or saying that God was involved in evolution, so a broad statement like that. But everybody knows there's a God. So when the atheists tell you that, they are suppressing the truth that's in them.

I think it's also interesting that they know these things of God and they know that they are not God. So there's knowledge about yourself in relationship to recognize, hey, there's a creator, and I'm not him. I'm a creature. And that's a big part of what sets a person up for hearing and meeting the gospel is that recognition of there's a creator and I'm not him. Because at the heart of every argument against the Christian faith there is someone else seated in that place and a lot of the times it's you. Oh yeah.

That's a lie. And you know it's a lie. See, and that's why I said I don't think there's any true atheists. They have to suppress the truth. What the scripture says is everybody knows it. There's a God. So they have to suppress the truth. And so I say there are no true atheists. They're just deniers. Because everybody knows it. How does that change the way you think and talk to people? You say, hey, I know something about you. You suppress that. You suppress that. You're a liar. You're a liar. You're a liar. No, sorry.

You know, God uses all different methods. You know, I think the thing is that you know that and that you know deep down they understand. So that's the way you approach it. But even though they profess and they suppress, deep down underneath everything they know it.

And so, I think the thing is that light exposes darkness. And I think that makes a lot of people uncomfortable. You know, when the rats are exposed, they run. And I think when you start exposing this about them, they're going to come back at you with everything. But deep down, you know they know.

And I think that's the approach. Again, I say God uses all methods. The guy who's down at Coors Field screaming at people, not my cup of tea, not what I would say is good, but for some reason God's allowed him to do that. However, he'll use whatever. But I guess the thing is knowing every single person on this earth knows there's a God. Basil. God created that in him. The conscience, and then he expressed himself.

You know, we look at this, and I also say besides there's no true atheist, if you look at even the most remote people, what do you usually find? You find out that they have to worship something. They're all worshiping something. They know that there's a God. You know, the Incas who, you know, sacrificed kids and horrific things, most of the time they think there's a God in what? He's angry. He's really mad. I got to do something to please this guy.

But if you go to all, anywhere, any place, usually you find them worshipping something. Because they know there's something there, that there's a God. Verse 23 is going to know it. Exactly. I mean, so, you know, we say that, you know, somebody doesn't know. Well, they all know that there's a God and that His attributes are there. He's, you know, all these three things that are exposed by all creation. So that's the fundamental knowledge that every one of us knows about everyone. So again, how you approach somebody, deep down you know that they know that there is a God. It's just how far they suppress it, and going back to what Mike says, on the first one, there is wrath.

It's interesting, you mentioned eternity in our hearts a little bit earlier, that's Ecclesiastes 3.11, so this concept of God creating men with eternity in their hearts longing for understanding where they came from and where they're going was something that Solomon established far before Paul. But Paul builds on that concept and further helps us understand that it's not just eternity, it's specifically his invisible attributes, eternal power, and that divine nature side of things. Dr. Richardson wrote a book titled that. mission books that we read back in the day. It turned me in their hearts. Yeah. Ecclesiastes what? 311. Okay. Yeah. And I've just, yeah, no, it's, it's a, it's a rare first obscure verse that kind of has, um, so yeah, it lends into this. Exactly. Yeah.

And one example would be when Nate Saint was killed in 56. with his companions there on the beach, the Akas, which means savages, they had a knowledge of God that they had done something wrong when they killed him. And their testimony later when they came to believe God's way was that they had been so angry and God had been so angry at Why? We can't go anywhere.

They all know. They all know. That's the foundational thing of these verses. It doesn't matter where you go, whoever you talk to, whoever is an atheist, whoever denies God, anything, deep down they know. They're now known as the Waodani. The people used to be the savages. So, they all know. That's just an underlying fact. That's kind of a cool, cool fact.

That no matter what, everybody knows that not one person on this earth doesn't know about God. So, what is seen that shows us God's attributes, power, and divine nature? So, all creation declares His majesty. We already looked at that in Psalms 19.1. The heavens are telling of the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Also in Psalm 97.6, the heavens declare His righteousness and all the peoples have seen His glory. So, as my personal testimony, like I said, looking up at the heavens, I knew there was a God.

One of the things this brings to light is that this concept of, I'm in a neutral place about how I think about God. I'm in the gray. I'm not saying I don't believe in Him. I'm not saying I believe in Him. I'm kind of in the gray. I'm in a neutral zone. These verses disqualify that kind of thinking and expose the fact that there is no neutrality when it comes to believing in God. You're not in the waiting room kind of Not on the yellow line. Once somebody comes and talks to me about it, maybe I'll be convinced, but until then I'm just not really sure. You're saying, essentially you're saying no until you say yes. Yes.

That's what I say, it's all suppression. They all know. There's not a single person. The world wants a neutral place. Right. Very much. Well, they want to deny God. Well, they want the blank slate, like, I don't know yet. That's the agnostic perspective. I can't know for sure, so I'm neutral. Right. But underneath all of that they know. That's why I get to these verses. Every single person. There's not an exclusion in this sub footnote that says, you know, Bill in Arvada doesn't know this. It also gives us a piece about God's wrath in the context of Him not being neutral. God is not wrathful to neutral people. Right.

And verse 18, which reveals, that's why I said there's two aspects of this. The revealing through His wrath, I mean, like I said, it wasn't just another Friday when Sodom and Gomorrah happened. Or, you know, the Passover happened. Or, you know, these were things that were very demonstrable that there is a God on the wrath side.

Now, the other now we look at on the back side is, all of his creation declares it. So, they are without excuse. They are totally without excuse. So, how does creation show God's attributes, power, and divine nature? How does it do that? It says made by God on the tree over there. How does it do it?

Fibonacci sequence. I'm actually not kidding. You're going to explain that. The kids and I are even just studying like botany right now. It's mind blowing to just be studying flowers and seeds and things like how could, I mean I'm a science background, I'm like how can scientists study this? It's all by accident. It's amazing.

No, that's one. Any others? How else is he? His attributes. Divine power. Environmental harmony. Order. Ecosystem. Order. Pattern. When I said Fibonacci, there's a pattern throughout all of his creation that scientists have identified as this Fibonacci sequence. The galaxies down to the pine cone, down to the DNA sequence.

There's a pattern that is known by scientists that is explained away, but it's unique. What you get is kicked out of the scientific community because you call it intelligent design. It's intelligent design and you get thrown out of science immediately because of that now. Because it's not just a random thing. There was an intelligent person designing this.

What about gravity? That just happened. What about planetary orbits? We're the perfect distance away from the sun. We have all the things to create life here. That was just by accident. And we stay in this rotation. We have a sun that keeps shining. What about the laws of physics? Thermodynamics. All these things, these are just by accident? Chemistry, anything.

You know there's one that some guys in the old Brethren Church, I think it was Genescope or something, and they talked about some of the things just in the human body. When you look at the human body, How do you not know that you, well, one thing I always say, if you're in on the birth of a child, how do you not know that there is a God that creates life when this, out of a single cell, you have this child? Now, you know, I mean, that's just, I remember in the delivery room, it's like, how do you not know that there's a God that creates life? But, you know, when you look at the body itself, I remember in the Genescope series that they were doing, just about the human eye, and what's involved in the human eye.

That was developed from a puddle, right? It goes against all the laws of thermodynamics, and you created this eye that is able to focus, change, do everything, and the complexity of just the eye. Now go to the brain. Go to any organ that you want. Go to a cell in your body. That just happened, right?

So he expresses himself in so many different ways, in all creation, but science knows it. I mean, you can see it anywhere. And again, the people who don't deny that. They go in all sorts of different directions to find out a way not to say that there's a God.

They become experts in suppression, right? And you know deep down, it's got to just be burning in them. Somewhere deep down that they're, I think that they know that it's, they know it's, they're going swimming upstream. But they, the sin nature just keeps them going.

Yeah, I mean self, it's, I'm the center of the universe, not God. So, Again, just the vastness of the heavens. We get bigger and better telescopes and look further and further out and we still can't see the end of this. And it's all staying there. It's all hanging there. It's all in perfect unison. And that's just by accident. I guess it was that big bang theory. When it blew up like that, it was perfectly, you know, when you put a piece of dynamite on a rock and it blows up, it goes in perfect shape around. All those little pieces are perfect, right? Anyway. So, all right. Question four.

What is the second reason man deserves the wrath of God? So, if you look at verse 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." So, what was the second reason why they observed the wrath of God? By those verses.

They substituted something else for Him. Yep. Imagination. And this is, I think, in the suppression part. So what do they do? If they know it's true, they have to bring something else out. We see a lot of that in Doc Disney's movies and stuff. The imagination of man that creates all these spirit beings. All sorts of movies. TV, Twilight Zone. As a child I remember thinking, if I just believe this, it's going to happen, it's going to be true. I can't make things happen. believing them to be... What? You know, if you don't worship at a tree and make everything harmonious...

But isn't that suppressing the truth of our main imaginations, like this verse? Yeah. I think the thing in here too is, basically what it says, besides the suppression, it says they did not honor him as God. They did not honor him as God. Or, the second part is, they didn't give thanks. Those two things. You know, everybody knows, but they didn't honor him. Nor did they give thanks.

Which gets us into the next one. Question five. How total is the darkness and worthlessness of man's heart and reasonings? We're swell people, aren't we? We are just a bucket of fun and love God from the moment we took our first breath, right? My favorite ones, we'll get to later, is in Romans 3, 10 through 18. Pretty much sums it up pretty well.

There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one. There is no exclusion. Somebody escapes this.

Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of asp is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths. And the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Pretty much sums it up. Yeah. So we've just spent 20 minutes saying that they all know.

But now there's a new element that's been introduced, that if they don't honor God as God and they're not thankful, they're given over to darkness. Now, once they're given over, do they still know? Yes. I mean, even though their foolish mind has darkened, do they still know? Everybody knows. So what does he mean by that? Giving over to darkness? He said they lost a little bit of light that they had. They lose the light but they still know. Pardon? They lose the light that they had. They suppress it. It's shut down in their mind. They've hidden it from themselves.

So if I'm talking to somebody and I say, well you know, and they're going to say back to me, I don't know what you're talking about. Can I say to him, you knew at one time, but now your mind has darkened? No, you still know. Scripture says though, at that point, it's not what I'm saying, it's what God's saying about you. Exactly. It's not about you. It's like denying God and all that. You can deny Him all day long. Or even being a believer. If you don't believe, it's still true about you, right? Even if I don't believe it, it's still true about you, right?

What I'm saying is that if I deny this, if I don't do what God says here, you know, that I know that He exists, you know, that I know He's the Creator, I know that He's God, then I decide, you know, I'm not going to honor you as God, who are you anyway? And I'm certainly not thankful.

Does the understanding I had at one time get dimmed? Does it get dark? Do I get to a point where I'm irretrievable? You know, that kind of comes up with, like with Pharaoh. He hardened his heart. What does that mean? Well, doesn't the conscience get seared? But I think the verses that we went through still state no matter what, you're without excuse. There are a lot of verses like 1 Samuel and other verses about the king of Nineveh, they knew God and even expressed, uh-oh, now I've died. They're going to come to Jesus. God's going to come to Jesus wrath on me. You never can measure who God was. Yeah, and what happened? He had suffered the consequences. He's eaten with the cows. Sure. Until he looked up. There's definitely a pattern that happens.

The moment they suppress their truth and their righteousness, and that foolishness begins, there's a great exchange, we call it, where they stop acknowledging the Creator for anything, and they pick up something in the created realm and worship it, right? Four-footed animals, birds, whatever. So they exchange the glory of God for some creative thing. worshiping the Creator and I start from that point forward it just goes downhill to the rest of the world.

Actually what I'm trying to do is set up the next question which is how dark is darkness and am I irretrievable? Because we're going to deal with the Reformed theologians that say the darkness is so absolute that you can't be saved unless you're regenerated first. And that's what we'll get to in the next one. The other one which I'll quickly read, I know we're over here, Newell had a good summary of this.

I think every human being knows he ought to give his being over to his Creator's worship and glory, and ought to be continually thankful for life itself and for its blessing. But men refused both worship and gratitude. I think that's the important part, is gratitude too.

They became godless and thankless. But they did not free themselves thus easily from conscience and terrors. So came idolatry. First they resorted to vain speculations and reasonings. a reasoning, to escape the thought of God and duty. Then the judicial result, as Dean Alford well renders, their heart, their whole inner man, the seed of knowledge and feeling, became dark and lost the little light that it had, this is what you're referring to, and wandered blindly in the mazes of folly.

Think of a whole race of created beings knowing, but refusing to recognize their Creator, of their eating from His hand daily, but refusing even one thanksgiving." So, we'll touch on that on the next question really as it gets into the Reformed and Calvinists and all sorts of stuff, whether you have to be regenerated and all that beforehand. So, we'll get to that next week. Let's close. Father, we thank you again just for your creation and just your demonstration of your invisible attributes, your power and your divine nature. And again, we just thank you beyond that.

That just shows us that there is a God and He is powerful and again, just all the attributes that you demonstrate. We still need your word and the revelation of Christ your Son and what he did on the cross for each and every one of us. So we thank you for your word. We thank you again for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We thank you that through both of those we have this intimate knowledge of Christ and you. And we thank you for that. And again, we just pray for Vern in the next message, just that he'll be accurate and true to your word and just prepare our hearts to receive it. We thank you for all these things in Jesus name. Amen.