Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Yesterday I witnessed further evidence of the failure of a corrupt foundation. It is shocking in a sense to see how people buy into the lies of New Evangelicalism. I have been dealing with a man who is in his 80’s. He was raised in the United church. I have tried to witness to him many times and he always rejected any effort. Yet recently, he was open to hearing the truth for a time. Obviously the Holy Spirit is still working to convince this man of his need to be saved. For a time this man was interested in listening to the truth, but then he put the brakes on again. The Bible makes it clear that only the Holy Spirit can break through the hard heart of man. We can try to break through with humanistic reasoning, but it will not yield lasting results. Those who are saved need to guard against trying to get people to agree with us in a superficial manner. God’s Word is very balanced and very important. He does not take counsel from man. Every generation is trained in part by the past and also by the present. We are living in a time when most of the training given is heavily tainted by humanism. In Romans 1, God began by directing Paul to give his credentials. Then he reminded the recipients of Who God is and the importance of knowing Him. We also are reminded of the power of the gospel of Christ in that the saints in Rome were wonderfully changed by placing their faith in the true God. Paul also reminded us that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation for all who will believe it. Having laid these foundational truths, God now addressed the paganism that was already prevalent in Paul’s day and is certainly gaining even more prominence in our day. The sodomite philosophy is growing and most people have no way of addressing this poison in a proper manner. We do not gain anything by dancing around this issue. In verse 18 Paul spoke of the wrath of God. This is still in the first chapter of this book. Obviously God knew it was necessary to remind us that He has a right to be passionately angry. His anger is always justified. In this verse we are reminded that God’s wrath is revealed from heaven. God is in heaven. That is where His throne is. That is where He resides. He knows all that is happening on this earth. He can see all the ungodliness and the unrighteousness of men. God stated that the reason for the wickedness is because those who choose to live this way hold the truth in unrighteousness. They despise the truth. We are being threatened today that conversion therapy of minors is illegal. Yet at the same time, it is not illegal for teachers or doctors and nurses or anyone else, for that matter, to encourage any minor to consider that they might not be what their biology states that they are. Twisted and wicked thinking, for sure. In verse 19 God tells us that God has manifested Himself to the ungodly and unrighteous. God has revealed Himself to all people. In verse 20 we are told how God has done this. He tells us that the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. This refutes evolution. It is strange that in the 1800’s when God’s truth was just as readily available as it is today, professing Christians decided there was a need for a new idea called “theistic evolution”. This false idea suggests that God started the ball rolling and then allowed evolution to carry on and bring things to where they were at, at that time. Charles Darwin popularized the evolutionary ideas. He is not the originator of that ungodly thinking. There were professing Christians who were caught off guard by his lies and they did not know how to refute them. Thus they decided to find a way to compromise the truth to appease the liars. That has been the way it has been all along for those who do not want to believe what God has said. Paul wrote that the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen. There is no need for head scratching. There is simply a need to believe what God has said and what He has revealed. Paul further stated that we can understand the invisible things of God by the things that are made. Notice again, the things that are made, not the things that accidentally formed over millions and billions of years. When we look at creation we can see God’s eternal power and Godhead. That is undeniable. Charles Darwin did not want to believe in God. That is why he chose to believe the ideas of his father and his grandfather. He chose to reject the truth and he deliberately went out to distort the truth. Many have chosen to accept his lies and they continue to promote them to this day. Stockwell Day fumbled around trying to defend a small aspect of creation and he was laughed to scorn and did not know how to stand up against that because he did not believe the truth. I remember as a young person, being very ignorant about creation. I did not believe evolution, but I did not know how to refute it. I do not remember any Biblical teaching given in defence of creation as a young person. It was not until I was at Bible school that God blessed me with an instructor who was a staunch creationist, that I came to a much clearer understanding of the truth. As a young person I was not taught to simply believe the Bible. Any belief I had in the Bible was attacked by naysayers and I did not know how to stand against them. God was gracious with me and He helped me to see that I could and still can trust His Word explicitly. I can know the eternal power of God and of the Godhead. I was without excuse and still am. Those who take the position of defying God are also without excuse. God’s Word is clear and it is not hard to understand. It is important to believe what God has said. Lost people refuse to understand it. They do not bother to pursue truth. Saved people can have their minds cluttered with lies, but God is gracious and He will guide His children into the truth. In verse 21 we see that those who reject God, had the truth. They chose to reject it. When they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God. Peter wrote of the scoffers in II Peter 3. He said they were willfully ignorant of the facts. When a person chooses not to glorify God and is not thankful for Who God is and what He has done, they are in big trouble.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
This is not talking of believing in the God of your imagination. This is talking of believing in the true God. In Matthew 28:18-19 Christians are commanded to go and teach all nations. We need to make God’s truth known to all. Some years back, as young pastor, I witnessed to the high school principal of the town we were living in. He claimed to be of a Baptist background but stated that he was an agnostic. In my witnessing to him, I asked him if he had any teaching in his science classes on creation. He stated that he did. I asked him who taught the class. He stated that his science teacher taught it. I asked him if the man believed in creation. He said he did not. After some discussion, I asked him if he would allow me to come in and teach the creation segment of the science class. He said he needed to think about that. I thanked him for his time and left and made this a matter of prayer. Several weeks went by before I received a phone call from this principal. He gave me about a week’s notice that I could come in and teach one class on creation. I thanked him for the opportunity. I had already been preparing for this opportunity, trusting God to give me an opening. Now I needed to narrow my focus to one 45 minute class on creation. What would I present in that short time? God directed me and the day came for me to present my material to the class. The science teacher was in the class and I taught the lesson. Of course my lesson was based on the Word of God. The teacher had instructed the students to take notes on the class and after the class, he would expect them to write a paper either on why they believed in evolution or why they thought creation might be real. I never heard that anyone got saved through my teaching there, but several students contacted me for more information because they chose to write on creation. God gave me an open door there and all I needed to do was walk through it. People need to be reminded of the facts. The results are in God’s hands. Paul reminds us that the rejection of the basic facts of Who God will result in vain imaginations. Lost people already have foolish hearts. When they pursue their foolish hearts, they are further darkened. Charles Darwin was not enlightened through his evil pursuits. He was further darkened through it. There are some who suggest that he repented and was saved before he died. There are others who say that is not true. God knows the facts and it is in His hands. Suffice it to say that Charles Darwin’s wicked writings are still heavily used to support the lies of evolution. God’s warning given here is still very necessary for today. The majority of society is still believing the lie of evolution. The climate change hoax is built on this lie. The murder of unborn children is built on this lie. The sodomite agenda is built on this lie, etc. We can know the truth today. If you will get into a good church you can be taught the truth and you can then know God’s peace in your heart. You need that. Pastor Bartel
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