 Today we're in Romans chapter 1. We're going to be looking at verses 16 through 23 as we have just begun a study here in the book of Romans. And I have to tell you, Romans is a very deep, deep book and I will not do it justice as we go through it. I'm going to do the best that I can to make it practical and applicable and understandable. But it is a very deep book and I pray that we're able to enjoy it as we go through it together. So we're going to look at verses 16 and 17 first and then we'll move into verses 18 through 23. And what we'll be looking at today is what Paul is speaking about as it relates to the gospel and the darkened heart. So beginning at verse 16, reading verses 16 and 17, Romans chapter 1, Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Now as we know, Paul has been writing to the Romans and he had just stated that he was ready to preach the gospel to the citizens of the city of Rome. The reason that he is ready to go and preach this message to them is because Paul was an evangelist and he wanted him, he rather wanted them to have a relationship with God. He wanted to evangelize them. He wanted them to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And he's going to make it very clear now that the saving knowledge that you can have, in other words, the way that you get right with God is going to come through the message of the gospel. And Paul is making it very clear that the way for people to be saved is through receiving and believing what is called the gospel message. Now as it pertains to himself, he was one who partook of it himself and he also was one who disseminated or gave the same message that he had taken of on a personal level. And from that perspective he begins at verse 16 to say, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I'm not ashamed, that word ashamed is a Greek word that speaks of shrinking back. I don't shrink back from proclaiming this message because this is a message that reveals God to man. And he's saying, and I'm not ashamed of proclaiming this. I want to stand up and I want to let people know. He says later on that he makes it his aim to take this message where the name of Christ has never even been named. And so it's his desire to take the message throughout the world and to stand before all who would listen and proclaim it. Even as the psalmist said in Psalm 119 verse 46, I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings and will not be ashamed. Well that was the apostle Paul. He wasn't ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He didn't shrink back from proclaiming the message of salvation. And he was willing to pay the price necessary to deliver that message because that was part of his calling. We need to remember that at that time in Rome the average person actually considered the gospel to be irrelevant. The atmosphere was not necessarily open. Still he openly declared this message because in spite of its rejection, it's God's declaration of redemption. It's the only message resulting in salvation. And so he says I'm not ashamed of preaching this message. Now some today seem to be a bit ashamed of proclaiming this message. Sometimes it seems that the world that we've been sent to declare this message to, that the culture of the world, the atmosphere of the world being so antagonistic to the gospel. Well sometimes it seems that the world is winning this spiritual war. And because that's true, we can become intimidated. We can be silenced and sometimes even a bit embarrassed to be associated with Christianity. Much is done and said in the name of Jesus that can cause you to feel a bit embarrassed. You turn on the radio and there's a radio preacher screaming that you can be blessed if you send him an offering and he in turn will send you a blessed hanky or will send you some blessed water from the Holy Land or some prayer mat or you turn on the television and there's a fella who's out there screaming and you know Goddy and hokey and you know I have a friend of mine who's now a Calvary Chapel pastor who before he got saved used to smoke pot and watch TV evangelists for entertainment because he said they were so strange. They acted so weird and there are people today who don't want to be associated with the gospel. As a matter of fact some young people perhaps even in this room have taken to no longer refer to themselves as Christians. It's not that they're not Christians, it's that they don't refer to themselves as Christians. You know what they're saying of themselves? They're saying I'm a follower of Jesus Christ because they don't want to be associated with what is called today churchianity. They don't want to be associated with the weirdness of some who are out there saying things that are outlandish and bringing the name of Christ into disrepute. The apostle Paul said I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of this message of salvation because it's the power of God that results in salvation to those who believe in the message. It's the message that reveals how God saves man, how God will save man from misery, how God saves man from the judgment that is to come and how God saves man and brings him into a life that is blessed by him. And God wants to give to us eternal life and that promise of life comes through a message called the gospel that we receive and act on. In 1 Corinthians 1.17 and 18, Paul said it like this. He said Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. You see, it is not within man that power is not within man to actually be able to change our own nature. Man cannot change his own nature by good works or a church affiliation or a ritual or any other human mean. The only way that we can change what we do is by receiving the gospel because we need a new nature. Now, a lot of us change the outer appearance, but God wants to change the heart. We can change what we look like on the outside. It is really not hard to do. Just change the color of your hair. That is not hard to do or work at losing some weight or change the way you wear your hair or buy some hair to wear if you don't have any. I mean, we can change the way we look on the outside and it is really not that difficult. You can go to surgeons and they can enhance your body or reduce your body or whatever you want. They can do that and a lot of people have taken themselves to the doctor and have received these changes. I get my hair cut at the same place. I have been getting my hair cut at the same place for years. A friend of mine is a guy who cuts my hair and I have known him for 29 years, 28 years. He was telling me that there is somebody in the salon that he works in that goes to our church who walked up to him after I had come in a while back now and said, OK, now tell me, does he or does he not dye his hair? Anybody here ever wonder whether I dye my hair? Raise your hand. I am just, mind your own business. It's because I have a white beard, right? You know, in dark hair, right? So I've had that question asked so many times, Pastor, do you dye your hair? Anyway, so as we're looking at this, no, I don't. No, I don't. You know, just so you know. And I don't know why I'm telling you that. I just feel like vulnerable and open. Please don't hate me. But for some reason my beard came out white and my hair is darker. Well, I'll say this. I wear gel and gel causes the strands to clump together which gives it an appearance of darkness. If I were to wash my hair and stand out there and let it dry, you'd see that I have gray hair from here, but my beard is really white. Why I do not know other than I used to have a red, red beard and red beards do not turn gray, they turn white and that's just the way it is. OK, so we'll get back to the word. You can change the outside if you'd like, but you can't change your heart. The change of heart comes by the Gospel. It comes to receive in a new nature. God promises that. He said, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, I make all things new. When God was speaking in the book of Ezekiel in chapter 36, verses 26 and 27, God made a promise. He said, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. God said, I will give you a new nature. I will give you my spirit. I will write my law on the tablet of your heart. So from the inside, you'll begin to live out those things that are pleasing to me that all comes through what is called being born again. It isn't because I received a certain church affiliation or a ritual. It isn't because I've tried very hard to become better. I need a new nature, and that's what Jesus means when he says, unless a man is born again, he cannot enter. He cannot see the kingdom of heaven. So the promise God gives to us through the Gospel is a new nature and therefore Paul says, I'm not ashamed of proclaiming that. I don't shrink back from sharing the fact that man can be saved. And God has said that I take it to the world, to the Jew first, he said, and also to the Gentile. Now when you see Jesus in Matthew chapter 10 commissioning his apostles to go out and take the word out and begin to proclaim who he is and all, he says, you first go to the house of Israel. You don't go the way of the Gentiles. But later on he expands that commission. You shall receive power after that. The Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. When Paul would go in the book of Acts after being saved to proclaim the message, he went first to the synagogue and then he would speak to the Gentiles. That is the rule and that's how it was. So from the very beginning, the house of Israel had an opportunity to hear a message of the gospel, a message of salvation. So he says, you take this message out. He said, I'm not ashamed of preaching to my fellow Jews, but I also will take this message out to the Gentile. And he says, because it's in this message, notice verse 17, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. The gospel reveals the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is given to us when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. How can a man be changed? How can a woman be changed by receiving Christ? And God will take that which was at one time declared to be unrighteous and will give to you His righteousness that comes through the gospel of Jesus. Second Corinthians 521 says, God made Him, God made Jesus, who had no sin to be sinned for us. So that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus became the sin offering taken away the sin of the world. I receive Christ as Lord and Savior. He takes my under righteousness and gives me robes of righteousness that all comes through the promise of the gospel. It's revealed, he says in verse 17, from faith to faith. It is shown to be by faith and not by the works of the law. Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, was justified by faith before the law was given, and we'll see that in Romans chapter 4. So it is the pattern of his faith that all people are to follow in order that they might be saved. You see, faith in the Old Covenant led to faith in what was revealed in the New Covenant, which is Jesus Christ. So it's this gospel message that has the power of God that results in salvation. But there is a condition. It's not just that I hear this message. It's that I receive and believe and act on the message that determines whether or not I'm saved. Romans 10, 9 and 10 says, if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. So the gospel of Jesus Christ changes a life, the direction and the manner in which it is lived, and that's why he says in verse 17, in the just shall live by faith. And so we put our faith in Christ, we're born again, and our life now begins to reveal who we worship by the way that we live. So this is all found in verses 16 and 17. Now he moves on into verse 18 and begins to speak concerning the guilt of mankind. He says in verse 18, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. So he begins to speak concerning the condition of the world. He's going to speak concerning Gentile guilt. Then he's going to speak concerning Jewish guilt. Then he's going to speak and say that all have sin and fall short of the glory of God. So he begins here speaking concerning Gentile guilt. Now in verse 18, notice how he begins by saying the wrath of God is revealed. There are a lot of people who have a difficult time and perhaps it's understandable to some degree, with the concept of God actually having wrath, that God has indignation, that he could actually become angry, especially if they are saturated with the New Testament doctrine of grace and they don't have a well-grounded concept as it relates to that subject. So for them it's difficult. There are those who would say that God in the Old Testament is a God of wrath, but God in the New Testament is a God of grace and mercy. But the problem with that is that there's only one God. And so God is the same God in the Old Testament as he is in the New Testament. When you look at the wrath of God, you see that the word wrath is an old English word defined as deep, intense anger and indignation. Anger is defined as stirring of resentful displeasure and strong antagonism by a sense of injury or insult. Indignation is righteous anger aroused by injustice. Such is wrath, and wrath, the Bible tells us, is an attribute of God. God's wrath is revealed or made visible against ungodliness and unrighteousness, Paul says. Ungodliness refers to a lack of reverence for God, and unrighteousness is its result. When you look at the Old Testament, you will see that the wrath of God is revealed often. As a matter of fact, the wrath of God, you might find this interesting, the wrath of God is mentioned more often in Scripture than the love of God. Now isn't that interesting? The wrath of God is mentioned more often in Scripture than the love of God. And you see many times in the Old Testament, the examples of the wrath of God, you see the wrath of God when he casts Adam and Eve out of the garden. You see the wrath of God revealed when he brings the great flood on the earth and brings judgment on people who have rejected him. You see the wrath of God revealed at the tower of Babel. You see the wrath of God revealed at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the small cities surrounding them. You see the wrath of God in Exodus 14 when he destroys the armies of Pharaoh in the Red Sea. You see the wrath of God revealed often. Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 10 said it like this, he said, but the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth will tremble and the nations will not be able to endure his indignation. So God's wrath is revealed very clearly in the Old Testament. All you need to do is pick up your Bible, begin to read it and you see the wrath of God revealed quite often throughout the Old Testament. But it's not just demonstrated in the Old Testament. The wrath of God is also found in the New. Jesus was speaking in John chapter 3 verse 36. Actually John 3 36 reads, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life but whoever rejects the Son will not see life for God's wrath remains on him. God's wrath remains on him. Colossians 3 5 and 6 says, Put to death therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed which is idolatry. And Paul goes on to say because of these the wrath of God is coming. And so there are many New Testament believers who don't realize that God's wrath is poured out on those who reject him and they may even make excuse for the sins that they find themselves entrapped by not realizing that God does have indignation concerning those things. Revelation chapters 6 through 19 speak of the great tribulation. The great tribulation is referred to as the wrath of the Lamb it's spoken of the great day of his wrath. So Paul makes it very clear that God's wrath is poured out on those who deserve it. The question has to be what is it that they're doing that makes mankind deserve the wrath of God? Well he begins by saying in verse 18 that they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Does God have wrath? Because man suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. Jesus said it like this in John 3 19 and 20 He said this is the verdict light has come into the world but men love 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. They don't want to come out and be seen. They don't want to he said the average person is not going to parade his sin although that occurs more and more frequently in these last days. The average person really doesn't want all their sins to be listed for people to be able to read. I mean think about that for just a moment who in this room starting with me would like our sins to be put on this board behind me and all of my sins to be listed. Nobody does, nobody wants that exposure but the bottom line is there are people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness they know what the truth is but they don't want to actually bow their knee to it saying that because they suppress the truth they deserve being judged. And so what you see here is him beginning to make that case. Notice verses 19 and 20 he says what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhood so that they are without excuse. So he begins with conscience and he begins with creation. Conscience and creation he speaks of an innate knowledge what may be known of God is manifest he says in them for God has shown it. The gospel is what is called special revelation it gives to us what is called complete revelation but even if some have not heard the gospel they still have an innate knowledge of his existence. Man has the facilities of reason of moral law of conscience and that informs man and these are given to us by God they didn't originate with us there's something that God has placed within us like it says in Ecclesiastes 311 he has made everything beautiful in its time also he has put eternity in their hearts except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end he's put eternity in their hearts this is innate knowledge that there's something greater than myself there's an awareness that there's something out there and it also gives rise to something called a conscience. Now we're living in a time when some do not seem to have a conscience as a matter of fact it's a growing phenomena that is actually it seems to be accelerating a lack of conscience a lack of a sense of shame a lack of feeling bad about things that have been done a dulling of the conscience we'll see it later on where it's actually referred to by Paul as a conscience that has been branded it's cauterized it's just so hardened and callous towards conviction we definitely without going off into a long tangent concerning that live in a time when the word shame many people don't even know what that word means because they never experience it they don't have a sense of shame what they do is just find with them and it doesn't bother them at all what they do they say they're just being true to themselves and just being real and they have no shame so they do things that are that ought to cause somebody to blush but it doesn't anymore as a matter of fact it's been said that this is a this is a time we're living in a time when people have forgotten how to blush immodesty doesn't cause people to blush profanity in public or being abusive in public doesn't cause people to blush people having physical relations out in a park in front of witnesses who come by with their children doesn't cause them to blush and if you say do you have to do that then they think that there's something wrong with you for actually confronting them for doing something that used to be improper so we're living in a time right now that the church itself has forgotten how to blush Marie and I watch old movies because we're old people and there's some people out here I can see that you you dye your hair but I know you're old that maybe you grew up in a time where you saw certain movies like I grew up in a time when old movies and they are old movies were popular movies so I grew up watching all these old movies that had family themes and moral themes from the Shirley Temple things to you name it and one of the old movies that Marie and I will watch a movie called The Thin Man and there was a series in the 30s with a guy named William Powell and Myrna Loy he was a detective and he went on adventures and it's very clean and all and the other day Marie and I were watching on one of these classic television channels The Thin Man I think it was called After the Thin Man but it's interesting it was made in 1934 and William Powell and his wife Nick Charles and whatever his wife named they take a train from New York to get to San Francisco because they didn't want to fly took them three days to get there just that by itself I'm thinking three days in a train but anyway so they come to San Francisco when they arrive in San Francisco and they're about to disembark from the train and they packed all their bags and everything Myrna Loy gives her husband a kiss and there's a a fellow who works at the train station standing there looking in the window when she kisses her husband and the man wags his finger at her like you shouldn't do that and she says it's okay we're married and I turned to Marie and I said that had a message in 1934 that today nobody would even understand what that means they wouldn't even understand what that means because they'd say what's the big deal in making out in public they don't have those kinds of morals and I was saying to somebody the other day 1934 America was more righteous than the church in 2013 because 1934 America you didn't have to explain to them that some things were proper and some things were improper you didn't have to explain it because the churches still had power and people still listen to what the word of God had to say in 1934 in 2013 the biggest arguments I get into is not be with an unbeliever it will be with a believer who says I have the right to do what I want and you're bringing legalism into my life that's the bigger argument today guys because people live as they want to and the fear of God is not in their sight that is really the emblem of an unbeliever not a believer and they're suppressing the truth they're willfully rejecting and neglecting it that is the trait of an unbeliever who doesn't want to receive what God has to say but actually will argue against God himself that what they're doing is okay and it isn't your conscience is not the way to be saved but it can be a help to be open to the gospel the conscience that which is innate verse 19 again what may be known of God is manifest in them that which is innate there's this moral barometer that you have and certain things are wrong and the argument would be from Paul that God is placed within you the capacity to distinguish good from evil and that would be called a conscience it's a moral compass a conscience alone cannot save you though because your conscience is really formed over a lifetime and reflects the values that are taught and are caught so your conscience may not be bothered at all about something that is actually wrong if you were raised in a home where your mom never married your dad chances are you're never going to really think that that's wrong because that's how you were raised if you were raised in an environment where perhaps you didn't have as much wealth as you would have liked and on occasion somebody came home with something they stole you may think that there's nothing wrong with stealing when you really have a need for it and so if somebody says to you that's called stealing you may argue and say there's nothing wrong with it if you were raised in a home with two women raising you as lesbians you may say it's okay because that's how I was raised so your conscience can actually be dull so it's not really going to be capable of telling you what is righteous and what is unrighteous but it can be used because there are certain things within you that may be pained because you did certain things that violated your own moral standard so it can be used in that way but a conscience also can be silenced or it can be corrupted 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 2 speaks of rights concerning speaking lies in hypocrisy having their own conscience seared as with the hot iron so you have your conscience and he's beginning to speak how that people can see because there's an innate knowledge within them they have an internal knowledge that they're not perfect and then secondly he speaks concerning creation verse 20 he says since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly being seen so he's revealed himself at least enough evidence that he's here by his creation creation reveals the invisible attributes of God's eternal power and Godhead nature points it actually reveals in some way God's incredible power and his faithfulness so the psalmist could be outside looking at the sky as it says in Psalm 8 verses 3 and 4 and he can say this and I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which you've ordained what is man that you are mindful of him the son of man that you visit him or he could say in Psalm 19 verse 1 the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork every house is built by some man he who built all things is God and so a person can see creation and they can say there's something greater than myself out there something has happened that caused this form to come into being and so you have your conscience he says on the one hand you also have creation now in verse 21 he goes on to say because they knew God they did not glorify him as God nor were they thankful but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts he says were darkened professing to be wise they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God to an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things notice he says in verse 21 they knew God but they didn't glorify him as God so this is man's reaction to God's witness of himself they have a revelation yet they reject it and man demonstrates his rejection by doing four things one he says they dishonor him they proudly reject him they're rejecting him out of pride two they are thankless they don't have a sense of gratitude for what God has done there's this sense of entitlement that man can have and believes that we deserve even more than what we got and it's wrapped up in our hearts we know that anybody who is here who has a parent or a grandparent knows it's within the child it's wrapped up within them and the same was true with us you have to learn generosity and gratitude it's something that you have to learn over time you have to be taught that there isn't necessarily something that you just have so it's Christmas we just went through the Christmas season and my three year old granddaughter my Bella at our house we have a tradition where we open one present on Christmas Eve Bella's not satisfied with one can we open another one can we open another one so we you know you know yeah no problem she opens the rest of the presents that family bought her oh this is great drops it oh this is great drops it then says as all of us has heard where's the rest where's the rest she even went to the fireplace where we have stockings and starts grabbing the stockings to see if there's something inside of that she's only three years old but that's human nature oh just what I want just what I want what house do you have and that's part of human nature you actually have to learn to be thankful you have to learn it it's a lesson that has to be taught to us because wrapped up within our own hearts is an attitude of unthankfulness but we ought to learn to be grateful for the things that God gives to us we ought to rejoice in the fact that he's provided for us but he says they've rejected him and they don't thank him nor do they appreciate the grace that he's shown them he speaks of the futility in their thoughts concerning him man has begun to search for meaning outside of God and it only results in confusion and vanity which is when he says their foolish hearts are darkened because they refuse his light his spiritual illumination the result will be living in moral darkness when their hearts are darkened the heart is the core of a person's being it produces the thoughts the words and the actions so when it's darkened it simply means that we do whatever we feel like doing and we don't really care how it impacts somebody else it doesn't matter as long as I'm happy right as long as I'm satisfied as long as everything revolves around me as long as everything that's going on makes me better and feel better about me then I'm gonna do that right I mean that's what we do so if what my lifestyle is hurting my parents well it's too bad they've hurt me plenty as I've grown up and so get used to it if the way that I'm living hurts my friends if the things that I do and say and the way I treat them hurts my friends well they've gotta grow up they've gotta get used to it they've gotta accept me for who I am or if I'm married and I just don't want to be married anymore because after all marriage is supposed to make me happy it's all about me and if I'm not happy then I'll just dump you and find somebody who will make me happy it's your fault that I'm not happy anyway so I'll let you go and it doesn't really matter about the kids kids who don't have a dad or a mom in the house anymore as long as I'm me as long as I'm happy as long as everything's going good for me and I'm satisfied and I can visit them I can become Uncle Dad to them over time and that's alright what we have in our society today is an example of the premier idolatry of worshiping ourselves narcissism it plagues our society this search for making me happy at all costs narcissism the world revolves around me my desires my wants my feelings what makes me happy is the most important thing right that's how a lot of people think no the bible says you're to die to self are you kidding me why would I do that because I've gone through plenty of pain and it's time for me to actually break out of this shell and nobody's really seen me for what I really am and all the potential I have no I've got to pursue me I've got to be me it's all about me favorite song is me me me I mean it's all about me and you want to know something that's the flesh that's the flesh that's the flesh and I have seen too much brokenness and too many broken homes and too many broken hearts because the person wants it all about themselves it doesn't matter who gets hurt it doesn't matter as long as I feel satisfied but the funny thing is at the very end these people who gave everything up so they could be happy die alone broken lonely lost in pain and nobody shows up at their funeral because the ones that they would have had showing crying and feeling bad they dropped them out of their life a long time ago Paul says this is the result of rejecting God not pursuing Him dying to self what happens is you become an idolater professing to be wise he said you became fools you changed the glory of the incorruptible God into looking like a man or an animal in other words you've substituted an idol for the true living God and he said this is what is wrong with mankind is though God has revealed through conscience and creation the reality that there's something greater than yourself he's also given to you a message that declares exactly who he is called the gospel and because that gospel has been given to you he said Paul said I have made a choice in the Lord I have come in the Lord to declare a message I'm not ashamed of called the gospel of Jesus Christ which reveals the righteousness of God and that's how you can avoid the other things he lists afterwards by embracing that gospel but the world that rejects the gospel is settled in the mind of God has a settled displeasure upon them because they've rejected the light that has been provided thus choosing to live in darkness and their lives are a testimony of what darkness actually does it always corrupts ultimate so we have the gospel that gives us light may we walk in the light today