 The title of our sermon this morning is creation proclaims the Creator. Creation proclaims the Creator. On your outline, if you've got one there, we're looking at 1.3, God's general revelation. We're going to work through this series on the essentials. Creation proclaims the Creator. Our text this morning is Romans chapter 1, verses 18 through 25. The Bible describes the idols of the nations, the pagan idols of this world, the false gods of this world, as nothing more than the work of men's hands. Psalm 115, verse 5, these false idols have mouths, but they do not speak. Ears they have, but they do not, or eyes they have, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Noses they have, but they do not smell. They have hands, but they do not handle. Feet they have, but they do not walk. Nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them, the psalmist says, are like them. So is everyone who trusts in them. In other words, those who make them, those who trust in them, also have eyes, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Now we see that ignorance on display with the prophets of Baal, for example, on Mount Carmel. If you remember that story with Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 18. You remember the account. They prepared the sacrifice there for their dead idol, Baal. They called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. Oh Baal, hear us, right? Crying out to Baal, but there was no voice. No one answered. At noon, after having done this for hours, Elijah began to mock them saying, maybe he's meditating. Maybe Baal is asleep. Maybe he's gone on a journey. He's gone on a trip. Maybe he's in the bathroom, essentially, right? But there was no voice. No one answered. So what do the prophets of Baal do? They cry out even more. They shout aloud to Baal. They cut themselves until the blood gushed out on them, showing their sincerity, right? Demonstrating how sincere they were. But the Bible records there was no voice. No one answered them. No one paid attention. And if you remember that story from 1 Kings 18, what happens? God shows up, right? God shows up. God speaks, pours out fire from heaven, laps up, consumes the sacrifice, and then all those false idolatrous pagan prophets are killed. In great contrast to the dead and voiceless idols of this world, the true and living God speaks. We worship today because God has spoken. We study theology because God has spoken. There is Christianity because God has spoken. We're here today to read and to hear and to heed God's word because God has spoken. All Scripture is breathed out by God. The Word of God never returns void. As long as we're in the Bible, in this church, God speaks. Amen. He communicates. He decrees. He promises. He commands and He reveals Himself to us. He reveals Himself in a gracious and loving voluntary act of self-disclosure for the benefit of His own people and for the glory due His name. That gracious condescension, that gracious self-revelation begins at creation, begins at creation. John begins his gospel with this very truth in John chapter 1, verse 1, where John says, in the beginning was the Word. And before he created the world, the Word, the Word, the exact representation of His nature, the very self-communication of His being, the brightness of His glory, the expressed image of His person, His only begotten Son, that Word, the Word, was with God and the Word was God. God mediating His gracious self-revelation, mediating His gracious self-disclosure through the Word. So then, through the agency of the Word, our communicating, communing and revealing God first speaks to us in creation. In John chapter 1, verse 3, all things were made through Him, through the Word. And without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Psalm 33, by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. Verse 9, for He spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. Commanded spoke everything into being out of nothing, ex nihilo. And now, sustaining all things by the Word of His power. Creation, then, is considered the first revelation of God. Herman Baving says at the beginning, it is the beginning and foundation of all His subsequent self-revelation. And that creation by the agency of His divine and eternal Word. Now creation, creation is no whispering witness. In Psalm 19, David couldn't look up at the sky without proclaiming. In verse 1, the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utter speech. Night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth. Their words to the end of the world. In them, He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of His chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven and its circuit to the other end, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. In other words, creation proclaims a Creator. Creation proclaims the Creator. Now this revelation, this self-disclosure of God, is called the Book of Nature. It's called General Revelation. General Revelation. Even for those without the Book of Divine Revelation, the Bible, God makes Himself known through that which He has created and through that which He has done. To quote Spurgeon, it's therein that our fingers feel and our nostrils smell. Our palates taste His virtues that excel. He shows Himself to our eyes and He talks to our ears in the ordered motions of the spangled spheres. I love that from Spurgeon said in only the way that Spurgeon can. You and I can't see God, but through His creation we can taste and see that the Lord is good. We can't comprehend Him fully through our senses. Right? But it's through our senses that we experience His glory through the things that He has made and through the works that He has done. God purposefully, intentionally, willfully and with great wisdom designed creation with the purpose that we would know Him. And it's through creation that He reveals Himself. For the psalmist, one said that His sight was full of God. It was God who sent springs into the valleys which run among the hills. When the thunderstorm passed before Him, it was God's voice in the heavens, His lightnings that lighted the world. When He heard the bellowings and saw the smoke of the volcano, it was God who looked upon the earth and it trembled. He touched the hills and they smoke. That's from the book of nature or general revelation that we are to see a revelation of the glory of God. The crowning achievement of God's creation, the crown of God's creative work, is man. And immediately upon creating man, what does God do? God begins to speak to Him. He creates man in His own image and with the capacity and with the desire to know Him with a heart that delights in Him. He creates man with a heart and a mind to seek after God, to delight in God, to pursue God, to take joy in God. And then God reveals Himself to man, bringing man in communion with Himself. You think about that as an act of grace, right? A condescension, in immeasurable love with infinite kindness, with infinite compassion, with infinite condescension and for His own glory, our proclaiming, speaking, revealing, disclosing God chose to create the heavens and the earth and all that is in them for the purpose of creating us in communion with Himself. It's an amazing truth and a staggering thought when you stop to think about that, right? The God of all the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, would create man to be in communion with Himself. And listen, all our communion with Him is only possible through a communication of Himself to us. Our communion with Him comes through His gracious condescending communication of Himself to us. Theologians over the centuries have thought of this revelation in three ways. First, through general revelation, general revelation, or the revelation of God through His works in creation. General revelation is referred to as general because it's revealed to everyone without exception. It's general to everyone without exception. The first is through general revelation. But God reveals Himself also through special revelation. Special revelation is God's own speech, revealed in His word, the Bible. It's God's own speech. It's referred to as special revelation because it's not revealed to everyone through natural means, but has been given to some people through supernatural means. And those people who receive it through supernatural means, the very word of God written in the Bible, those people then are to proclaim it. They have a responsibility to preach it to everyone else, right? They've received that Bible, that word. God's own speech comes through special revelation. The third way to think about revelation is through the operations of God's Spirit in the soul of man. It's called applied revelation. Applied revelation. It's where the Spirit of God works through the revealed word of God to transform the heart. It's not new revelation. It's the Spirit of God working through that special revelation that God has already revealed to transform the heart. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6, right? God who is shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In that first form of revelation, it's that form, general revelation, that's the concern of our study this morning. And for that, we turn to Romans chapter 1, verses 18 through 25. Now considering our subject, general revelation, I want you to see three points from our text this morning. First, I want you to see God's general revelation. Second, I want you to see man's universal rejection. Man's universal rejection. And then third, we want to look at God's righteous retribution. God's general revelation, man's universal rejection, and God's righteous retribution from Romans chapter 1, verses 18 through 25. And here's the premise of our text. Here's the premise of our text. Through the clear and general revelation of Himself in creation to all mankind made in His image, God renders all men without excuse for their guilt before the bar of God's justice. And that on the basis of man's sinful suppression of that revealed truth through the means of His own unrighteousness. I want to repeat that. I want to think about this premise as we work through the text, right? Through the clear and general revelation of Himself in creation to all mankind made in His image, God renders all men without excuse for their guilt before the bar of God's justice on the basis of man's sinful suppression of that revealed truth through the means of His own unrighteousness. If you didn't get all that, it'll be on the lesson, okay? Point one, God's general revelation. Point one, God's general revelation. Look at verse 18. For 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. And notice first with me the general revelation of God's wrath in verse 18. Notice in verse 18, it's the wrath of God, the wrath that belongs to God, the wrath that is revealed by God, the wrath that finds its source in God, it's the wrath that has its origin in God. It's revealed from heaven where God resides. In other words, this is wrath, righteous wrath, just wrath that comes from God. The source of that wrath that is being revealed is Almighty God Himself, perfect in holiness and full of divine power in His judgment on Assyria. Isaiah describes this wrath of God in chapter 30, verse 27 as burning with anger, as a burden that is heavy. That's that word we looked at in Sunday school this morning, right? His burden is heavy. His lips, Isaiah said, are full of indignation. His tongue like a devouring fire. His breath is like an overflowing stream which reaches up to the neck to sift the nations with a sieve of futility. All right, again and again in the Bible, the wrath of God has spoken of as a devouring fire, a devouring fire. The fire of God's wrath fell from heaven and consumed Nadav and Avihu when they offered strange fire before the altar of God, right? The fire of God consumed the 250 men among the company of Korah who burned incense in Numbers chapter 16, the fire of God fell. The fire of God's judgment fell and consumed those wicked men. Speaking of eventual judgment, eventual judgment, the Lord said in Luke chapter 12, verse 49, I came to send fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled. The word Jesus Christ said those words. The judgment of God, the wrath of God often referred to as the fire of God. It is a terrifying wrath full of power. And even though the Bible speaks of a coming future fire that will be poured out on the earth and a future punishment by eternal fire for all the ungodly dead, everyone outside of Christ will face that fire. Romans chapter 1, verse 18, speaks of this particular wrath of God as being presently and actively revealed by God. It is actively being revealed even now. God's wrath, the wrath that is mentioned in verse 18 is currently being revealed now. There is a very real, very obvious, very evident sense, overtly obvious to anyone. That's why it's general revelation. It's a very real, obvious and evident sense in which God is currently pouring out his wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. It's amazing to me that it doesn't get preached today when it is so obviously and so evidently happening all around us. That wrath is being revealed. It's being revealed. And it's to point us to a future eschatological wrath and end times wrath that is coming. You will face that wrath apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. It's revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Ungodliness is that which is irreverent. It's that which fails to hallow the name of God. It's that which is against or fails to uphold the holiness and majesty and character and nature of God. It's that which is opposed to God. That which contradicts God's plans, God's purposes, God's law, God's character. It's that which is not like him. That which is not like God is ungodly. God who is perfect in holiness, anything that is unholy is ungodly. Anything that is not like him is ungodly to the degree that it is not like him. That which does not reflect his glory in his creation is ungodly. Unrighteousness is that which violates his will. Unrighteousness violates his commands, his law, his precepts, his statutes, his judgments. It is unlawful conduct described as lawless. Those who practice lawlessness or immorality, those given over to iniquity. It is that which transgresses his statutes and his judgments and his order and his authority. It's that which transgresses God's right to rule and reign in the affairs of men over your life. That is unrighteousness. Now these two words taken together are meant to communicate in total the sum of man's wickedness. The sum total of man's depravity and the pervasiveness of man's rebellion is seen in their separation from the God who made him. The degree of man's ungodliness, the degree of his unrighteousness is seen or understood in relief, if you will. Now think about it with me. His ungodliness, his unrighteousness is seen in relief in the sense that his wickedness, his depravity, his ungodliness, his unrighteousness is seen in its fullness against the perfectly pure white backdrop of divine holiness. It's seen against the backdrop of that which it offends. That make sense? The more that you understand the holiness of God, the more you see sin as exceedingly sinful. The more that you see your sin against the backdrop of God's perfect, infinitely perfect holiness, the more sinful sin becomes, right? The more wicked, the more depraved that it is. And it's that perfect holiness that fuels God's wrath. Think with me. The degree to which God is holy reveals the degree to which his wrath is just and righteous, powerful and full. The degree to which God is holy reveals the degree of his wrath. In other words, no holiness, no wrath. If God weren't holy, why would God be enraged over sin? Why would God pour out or reveal his wrath from heaven? So with a view then to an end times eschatological judgment, that day of the Lord with a view to that day, with a view to that fire by which God will devour his adversaries and as a prelude to that ultimate and eternal outpouring of divine and powerful and just and righteous wrath, even now with an eye to that day, God is revealing his just and righteous wrath from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. In other words, in other words, God is not indifferent toward you. God is not indifferent toward your sin. God is not indifferent toward the myriad ways in which you offend his holiness. God is not indifferent toward you. God is not a passive stoic. God did not create the world, set it spinning and then walk off and leave you to do as you please. God created man for his own glory, communicates a gracious condescending self-disclosure of himself to man to bring man into communion with himself and what does man do? Man runs off in ungodliness and unrighteousness and so the wrath of God then is revealed from heaven. And because just because this truth of the revelation of God's righteous wrath against sinners may be suppressed in your sin-stained heart and mine, may be suppressed by my own ungodliness, by my own unrighteousness. Even though that truth may be suppressed, may be suppressed in the self-justifying deceits of your own darkened heart, does not mean that God is not angry with you and angry with the wicked every day. Those who put on billboards plastered across the freeways of this country that says God is not mad at you. The Bible has something different to say. God is holy and you are not. That's the problem, isn't it? We see the evidence of this revealed wrath in the world all around us every day. It is a part of God's general revelation, death. The fact that you die is evidence that God is even now revealing his wrath from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. That doesn't mean necessarily that there's a one-for-one correlation between your sin and an outpouring of God's wrath and judgment. God is pouring out his wrath in a general way that we can all see, right? There may be temporal consequences for your sin and you may think to yourself, I think I got away with it. It doesn't change the fact that God is holy and that he is pouring out his wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Death, disease, disaster, despair. It should be no wonder to us when we see a disease directly attached to a sin by and large, right? God pouring out revealing his wrath from heaven. The world, this world was created by God and declared to be very good. God created all things and it very good. That now testifies of his righteous wrath and indignation. The effects of God's curse in Genesis chapter three, right? Daily experienced. We daily experience the effects of God's curse against sin in Genesis chapter three and somehow men suppress that truth. The doctrine of God's providence teaches us that physical disasters and calamities are the temporal foreshadowing of his future judgment, right? That tower that fell on those men at Siloam, killed all those men. If you don't repent, you'll likewise perish. That is an outpouring, a revealing of God's righteous wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Matthew chapter 24 describing this age in which we're now in wars and rumors of wars. Nations rising against nations, famines, pestilence, earthquakes, hurricanes, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, right? More specifically, more specifically, we see this wrath poured out in our text. Look at verse 24. We see it poured out in verse 24 as divine abandonment. This is the general revelation, the general revealing of God's wrath against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Verse 24, therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie. And they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. Look at verse 26. For this reason, God gave them up. Look at verse 28. God gave them over to a debased mind. Do you see? The wrath, the divine wrath of God's abandonment. This is the general revelation of the wrath of God. God, even now revealing presently, actively, his righteous wrath against sin by turning men over to the abominations of their own depraved heart. When I say men, I mean women also. We're not politically correct here. Where they ride a tidal wave of sin towards ultimate judgment and ultimate wrath in that day of the Lord. Even now, God is revealing his righteous wrath, turning people over. We see that all around us, don't we? We see that all around us. In all its filthy dishonor, we see it. In all its disgusting shame, we see it. Women who shout their abortions. It's appalling, almost unbelievable. It is, you could say, rising to the level of a supernatural blindness. Shouting their abortion, pride parades. Celebrating iniquity, celebrating sin. The violence or the hostility that comes out when you attempt to address that with the truth. They've labored really hard, labored really diligently, fervently, zealously to suppress the truth of God in their ungodliness, in their unrighteousness. So when you come with the truth of God, that which they have suppressed, and you try to bring that to the forefront in their thoughts, in their mind, they respond with the defensive, cornered animal attitude of that one who has lost, that one who has worked hard to suppress that truth. They respond with hostility, they respond with violence. That's why there can be no public discourse today about these things. Men have suppressed the truth of God in their unrighteousness, and you can't chip away at that. The Lord can praise God, and the Lord does it through the gospel. If they've suppressed His truth, they will suppress your voice. They've suppressed His truth, they will suppress the preaching of the gospel. They will suppress the word of God. They labor to do that. There's a progression associated with this. Those who do not turn from sin to trust in Christ are described then further in Romans chapter two, verse five. Look at verse five in Romans chapter two. They are in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart. You are, you could say day by day by day, treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to each one according to His deeds. You will be judged according to your works. Eternal life in verse seven. To those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor and immortality. But to those who are self-seeking, those who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, what waits for you is indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil of the Jew first and also of the Greek. We're dealing with the limits of human language when we talk about these things, right? Think about the holiness of God. Ultimately, ultimately God most evidently displayed His righteous wrath against ungodliness, against unrighteousness at the cross where He poured it out on His only begotten Son for the sins of His own people. And if God did that to His own Son, do you think that you're going to escape the fires of hell? You think that you're going to escape judgment for your sin? Not going to happen. We see here the general revelation of God's wrath, and that is commensurate with the holiness of Almighty God, right? Notice also now the general revelation of God's nature in verse 19. The general revelation of God's nature in verse 19 through creation, right? Verse 19. Because what may be known of God is manifest. It's made clear. It's evident in them. That word in can be translated in or among. It's far better translated here among, right? He made it manifest or clear among them, among the peoples of this world. Because, or for, God has shown it, revealed it to them, to all men, okay? This is the general revelation of God's nature through creation. Now, how has He communicated this general revelation of Himself to all mankind? Look at verse 20. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen. That's interesting, isn't it? Being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Now, this refers to God making Himself known among the people of this world through His manifold works of creation, right? His manifold work in creation. It speaks of what we may know of God by observing creation. It applies to everyone on the planet. It applies to everyone on the planet. Now, notice the interesting contrast here between His invisible attributes and those things that are clearly seen. By seeing or by observing visible things, invisible things are perceived or understood. Do you see? That's general revelation. By seeing or observing visible things, invisible things are perceived or understood. Now, how is that possible? How is that possible? Because God has made it clear. God has shown it to us. He's revealed it. He's made it clear, manifest. At the end of the day, at the end of the day, there's simply no such thing as an atheist. There is no such thing as an atheist. There's only aggressive truth suppressors. That's what they are, okay? This general revelation of God's divine nature, think with me now, is not merely a consequence of creation. It's not a coincidence of creation. God created, no one, by the way, we can see God in creation. And no, by the way, if we don't see Him in creation, we're without excuse. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. God, listen, deliberately, purposefully, intentionally manifested His divine glory in creation for all to see. God was deliberate about it, purposeful in it, intentionally displayed His divine glory in creation. Creation is a deliberately revelatory act meant to reveal God to man. It is the theater in which God's glory is displayed for man to see. What are His invisible attributes that we are to understand through the visible creation? What are those attributes? Even, namely, His eternal power and Godhead. His eternal power and Godhead. Look around at the things that you can see. Experience His creation, and you can't walk away without thinking to yourself, God is awesome in power. And the more that we can see, the more powerfully He is revealed. Staggering, unimaginable scope. Staggering and unimaginable complexity. Staggering and unimaginable simplicity. It's amazing, right? It's amazing. The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day unto day unto day. Utters that speech. Night unto night unto night. Reveals that knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. It is everywhere around us, right? Their line has gone out through all the earth. It is a general revelation of Him and their words to the end of the world. And listen, David, when he wrote that, didn't have a telescope and he didn't have a microscope. It's amazing, right? God's infinite, transcendent omnipotence and omniscience, His wisdom and His power, creation shouts aloud to the glory of God. Only one who is absolutely deaf can't hear it. The one who is brain dead is the one who can't see it or understand it, right? But that's the only one. It shouts aloud to the glory of God. And it is the fool, the fool who is set in His heart, there is no God. You can look at a leaf and see the handiwork of God, right? Absolutely stunning. Absolutely amazing. Look at a snowflake. Not here. It would be miraculous. Even more so if we saw a snowflake here, but trust me, look at the humidity in the air. We can see that, right? The humidity in the air declares the glory of God. God is amazing in power, amazing in wisdom, amazing in strength, amazing creation. We're to see, brothers and sisters, listen, we're to see birds, four-footed animals and creeping things and stand in awe and wonder at our Creator, God, who also, by the way, created us. We're to stand in wonder and in awe of Him, not turn and worship those things and think, wow, that amazing bird. How amazing is evolution that that came from, right? Absolutely absurd. That's another indication of how aggressively lost ungodly, unrighteous men suppress the truth of God in their unrighteousness. That is entirely, the entire argument, start to finish, is entirely irrational. And there are those evolutionists who are lost people who see that. We'll say, yeah, I'm not believing that nonsense anymore. Day unto day, utter speech. Look to the stars of the heavens. Night unto night reveals knowledge and understanding. What is man's response then to God's general revelation? What is man's response to this wonder? It's the fruit of the fall that we don't see it, right? It's the fruit of fallen man's corrupt heart, corrupt nature that it isn't seen in all its technicolor splendor that it has created in. You've heard the argument before, witnessing to someone, and well, if he's God, why doesn't he just write his name across the sky, right? He has written his name across the sky. His handwriting, his handwriting is in the heavens and done in such a way that is gloriously and majestically pointing to his revelation and also to his hiddenness. And there's a reason that God does that. That'll be a sermon for another day. A reason that God maintains a holy transcendence from man. He is altogether not like we are. What is man's response to these things? Second point on your notes, man's universal rejection. Man's universal rejection. Man looks to creation, finds there a revelation of the invisible God, and he says to himself, I'll not have that one to rule over me. And he suppresses that truth in his own unrighteousness. By the means of his own sin, by the means, the instrumentality, that's what that means in the text, by the instrumentality, the means of his own sin, man suppresses the truth of what may be known of God from his creation, he suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. Why? Why does he do that? Because as soon as you acknowledge God, you simultaneously acknowledge your accountability to him as your creator. You are not your own to do as you please. You are created. You are not the master of your fate. You are not the captain of your soul. And yes, there are punishments found in the scroll. Our suppression of this evident and observable reality is actually a heightened indication of our hostility against him. It's not an indifferent suppression. It's not a forgetful indifference or a neglectful suppression. It is a willful hostility against him. Our sin is an assault against God's truth. Our sin is an assault against his created order, his divine right to rule and reign over us. We suppress the truth by saying that it's not his. We suppress that truth by saying I'm not his. I'm mine. It is my life. I can live for myself. I'm the one who's ruling and reigning on the throne of my life. I'm the captain of my fate, right? And the truth, and the truth comes. And the truth comes, and it comes, and it comes, and it whispers in my ear, declares to me, you are a rebel. You are a traitor. You are an enemy of God by your wicked works. And so then I busy myself frantically to silence that revelation in my ear. Busy myself in sin to suppress that truth. It's interesting, but that truth is often pressed upon our consciences by the third form of general revelation to all men. There's the general revelation of the wrath of God. There's general revelation through the creation of God. And there's also general revelation through the image of God in man. That revelation is manifested largely through our conscience. God has revealed himself in man, his crowning creation. We know something of the divine nature because we are moral creatures created in the image of God. Romans chapter two, verse 15. We who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness. So what do we do then to silence that witness? What do we do to suppress that truth? How do we offload the guilt? How do we offload the shame by saying that God doesn't exist? By saying that there is no law that governs me. We drown our conscience in alcohol. We drown our conscience in sex, in drugs. We drown our conscience in pleasure, in leisure, in entertainment. However, all of our efforts are vain and futile. What's the end of all this general revelation? What's the end of it? Look at verse 20. It is so that, for the purpose that, designed so that they are without excuse. In other words, God has made the universe in such a way that unrighteous and ungodly men are guilty and culpable and responsible if they reject the light that has been graciously given to them. This universe has been designed, creation designed, you designed in such a way that you are guilty, culpable, responsible if you reject the light, the revelation God has made of himself to you. No one, no one in that day will be able to say, I didn't know, I didn't know. What about that one, the outback, right? That didn't have a Bible in his hand. No one will be able to say, I didn't know. What about that one who's never heard the gospel? Who's never heard the gospel? No one, that's general revelation, folks. No one will be able to say, I didn't know. General or natural revelation, the book of nature, isn't sufficient to save someone from sin. It's not sufficient to save someone from the wrath of God, but general revelation is certainly sufficient to remove any excuse from those guilty of sin and under the wrath of God. General revelation leaves you with absolutely no excuse. Verse 21, because although they knew God, presupposes that they all know him, presupposes that. It's interesting that when you open your Bible and you turn to Genesis chapter one, verse one, the Bible doesn't make a case for the existence of God. The Bible presupposes the existence of God. In the beginning, God, right? Because verse 21, 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 listen, just because someone over the course of their life sins in so many what the world might consider seemingly small or insignificant ways and yet renders themselves through their suppression of truth in their own righteousness, renders themselves unable to see it, unable to understand it, unable to recognize it, unable to acknowledge him, that doesn't excuse them from judgment, that exacerbates their judgment. That makes them more guilty, more worthy of God's retributive justice against them, right? It makes it worse, not better, that they don't see it. Professing to be wise, they became fools. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, birds, forfeited animals, creeping things. So what does God do? Point three on your notes. God's righteous retribution. God's righteous retribution. What does he do in verse 24? Therefore, God also gave them up, there it is again, divine abandonment. He gave them up to uncleanness, gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie. They've made the exchange, they've made the exchange. They've said their hearts and minds, this is what I want. I'm suppressing this truth of God in my unrighteousness and what does God do? God gives it to them, gives them to it, abandons them, turns them over, those who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever, amen. If you are foolish enough to believe that all that we see is a cosmic accident, or foolish enough to believe that everything came from nothing through evolutionary processes, for example, or foolish enough to suppress the overwhelming general revelation of God in creation, just so that you can fulfill your own sinful lust so that you can be a God. Then God says, you can have those lusts. You can have that lie, I give you over to it, and you are without excuse on the day of judgment, without excuse on the day of judgment, without excuse. When you stand before God on the day of judgment, what was our premise? Through the clear and general revelation of himself in creation, to all mankind made in his image, God renders all men without excuse for their guilt before the bar of God's justice on the basis of man's sinful suppression of that revealed truth through the means of his own unrighteousness, right? Through the clear and general revelation of himself in creation, to all mankind made in his image, God renders all men without excuse for their guilt before the bar of God's justice, and he does that on the basis of man's sinful suppression of that revealed truth through the means of man's own unrighteousness. You know, what should be the response of men made in the image of God? He reveals himself. What should be the response? What should be the delighted response of the heart to abide with him in adoration and in worship? Even now, what should be the response of sinful men made in the image of God, right, who fell in Adam and now sinned because they are by nature sinners? What should their response be to the general revelation of God? You should put your face in your hands and weep over the ways that you've offended him and cry out to God for forgiveness and mercy that you've sinned against the one who made you for his glory and you've lived in offense against him. You've lived in rebellion against him. You should repent and put your faith and trust in him that he is merciful, that he is forgiving, and that he will pour out grace and mercy upon you in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, if you will turn and put your trust in him alone. If you do that, the Lord Jesus Christ took your punishment upon himself and endured the wrath of God in your place for you so that you could be brought out of the bondage that you're into your sin, rescued from death, rescued freed from bondage to slavery to sin, rescued from the wrath of God and brought into fellowship with a God who made you to live eternally in his presence with him and communion with him to worship him forever. What a glorious blessing. What a free offer of his grace. You'd be a fool to keep living life the way you are now. An absolute fool to turn a blind eye to it. You are suppressing the truth of God in your sin. And there is an accounting coming, a day of reckoning coming. There's hope for you in Christ. There's hope for you in the Gospel. That paragraph began in verse 18 with that little word, four. In verse 18, that little word, four. That means that our paragraph is explaining or flowing from that which came before. Four connects it to what came before. What came before is this in verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. It's the power of God to salvation. Salvation from sin. Salvation from the righteous and the holy wrath of Almighty God. Salvation. It is the power of God, the Gospel, is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. Everyone who puts their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Jew first, also for the Greek. For in it, in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Why is the righteousness, the perfection, the holiness, the righteousness of God, why is that righteousness of God which can be received by faith, a free gift from God, can be received by you in faith, putting your faith in Christ, that righteousness can be yours. Why is that free offer of His grace revealed in the Gospel in verse 17? Why? Because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men. That's why the Gospel is there. Because God has revealed His righteous wrath. And His wrath hangs over your head. If you're not clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You could die today. God has made provision in His only begotten Son that we may be saved from sin and saved from His wrath. General Revelation has rendered you without excuse. You are anything but a good person. You are anything but a good person. Don't fool yourself. God will not be mocked. You're suppressing the truth of God in your sin. You've exchanged the truth of God for the lie. You don't need the Gospel because you're lonely. You don't need the Gospel because you're poor or because you're unhappy. You need the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that is revealed in the Gospel because you are unrighteous. Under the wrath and condemnation of a holy God and on your way to hell. His gift of righteousness can be yours by faith. Will you trust Him now? Don't wait. Don't put it off. Do it now. Do it now. Turn from your sin now. Don't trust Him now, brothers and sisters. We have a new heart created in us by the Spirit of God applying the work, the benefits, the blessings of Jesus Christ our Savior. And it's in that new creation then that we can look to God's creation and praise and adore and worship Him. Amen? Don't take that grace of God in vain. Worship the Lord, heart, soul, mind, and strength. All praise, honor, and glory to the one who has graciously revealed Himself to us through His Son. Let's pray. Father in heaven, our great Almighty God. Lord, we look to the heavens, look around us. We see the work of your hands. And we stand in awe and wonder of who you are and what you've done. But, Lord, it's when we look within, at the sin of our own heart, the corrupt nature, this other law in our members. Lord, we look to you in wonder and awe, in gratitude and thanks and amazement, Lord, that you would in grace save sinners through Jesus Christ. You would change us, save us from the presence of sin, save us from the power of sin, save us from the penalty of sin. We're grateful for this work that you do. And it is wondrous in our sight. We're grateful. Lord, I pray that you would do that work for sinners here today, for the glory of your name. You would save them, cause them to worship you as is right. And that, Lord, for your people here, that you would cause us, Lord, to see with fresh sight, see with eyes of faith, wondrous works of our God, and you would exalt in you, magnify the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and worship you in spirit and in truth. May you be honored in these things. May you be glorified in them. May your will be done. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen.