TEXT: Romans 1:19-22
READING: Psalm 33:1-22
SUBJ: The declaration that all men are without excuse before God in that they all may know and understand His “eternal power and Godhead” through all that they see and all that is in them.
AIM: That we realize that none are excused because of ignorance and that their condemnation is because of their sin and the resulting rebellion and that we are blessed with gracious revelation in Christ and through the Holy Spirit.
INTR: The preaching of the wrath of God and the existence of hell is increasingly unpopular and that is the continuation of rebellion that has been in existence from the fall.
1. Adam and Eve first manifested aversion to the presence of God in their efforts to hide themselves.
2. It is popular with many to excuse the actions of the heathen and even of those who simply choose to act in opposition to God and who elevate the dignity of man over that of God.
3. In any event the final word remains with God to do as He wills “among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.”
THESIS: The witness of the Word against all sin and rebellion stands without controversy in that it declares that two things may be known by all alike: “His eternal power and Godhead.”
I. That which may be known (v. 19)
1. It is interesting to note that men have waxed increasingly philosophical and are so given to reason from the human perspective which is, in effect, a departure from reason.
1) It is this argument they take to the Scripture and attempt to discredit it and
2) Since is appeals to the fallen nature of men to distance themselves from God it is popular even among those who do not embrace the same things openly.
2. Their problem becomes manifested in that the ruin of the image of God remains in them and they become their own condemnation.
1) What they cannot escape is their own conscience where a witness against sin appears in them.
2) Paul described the problem as: Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 1 Timothy 4:2.
3. Proper government and morality have been shown to prosper and the appeal to reason is without question known and rejected:
1) We compare: To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Jude 1:15
2) It has been shown to them as being in them and it is in sinful and open rebellion against God that judgment is pronounced.
3) It is not of me to judge, I must not and will not – Christ declared that every word that He had spoken would be to their condemnation.
II. A further explanation (v. 20)
1. The invisible things of God (which include His eternal power and Godhead)
1) Men pride themselves in the ability to hide themselves but deny the same to God and
2) They do not hesitate to both presume upon and demand an accounting from God.
2. There are many things that men accept without seeing many of which prove to be true
1) Among these are atomic theory – physical laws have been proven without actually seeing the things so affected.
2) How much more so the things that are provided to us as evidence of the power of God and if the power then the ability to control it.
3) The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. Psa. 19:1-2
3. Everything from the vast universe above to the intricate details of the smallest parts of creation bears the evidence of their creator.
1) These stand as infinite testimony to the His power and Godhead and they have refused to acknowledge and bow to Him.
2) God chooses not to reveal Himself in the manner that men seem to demand and so they elect to create what they can understand and then worship it idol – Deut. 29:29
4. The word of the prophets: Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. (Isaiah 40:26)
III. The Power of God to usward
1. How are we affected by the power of God? We consider Elijah and the wind, earthquake and fire showing the eternal power of God and then to hear from the same source the “still small voice.” Do we realize that the same One who created all speaks to us in such a way?
2. Paul’s word to the Ephesians: And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:19-20). It is He that is mighty to save!
3. The desire of Paul: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11)
4. His power is majestic, and we must stand in awe of it: The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. (Psalms 29:3-4). S. A. Psalm 33:
IV. The final analysis (v. 21)
1. Man reverses his analysis of what He sees. Donald Barnhouse likened the thought of a remote peoples finding the wreckage of a modern airplane and supposing that somehow that it was the beginning of something special as opposed to the truth as to what it was.
2. Men have spoken of aboriginal peoples as just being behind in their opportunity and development.
1) In fact, what we witness today are the wreckages of great civilizations and cultures (Especially Eden)
2) And, if the trend continues in America we see the same result – the effects of sin and rebellion against God
3) They knew God but refused to glorify Him as God choosing their own self-seeking ways and history is littered with the garbage of ruined civilizations.
3. It is not a new thing: Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Romans 3:19.
4. But, it was the coming of Christ into the world that capped the condemnation:
1) He is God manifest in the flesh and
2) The degree of ruin was declared in what was done to Christ and
3) the contempt of man was displayed in the utter rejection and the effect on Him: As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: Isaiah 52:14.
