No Excuse Whatsoever

The sermon this weekend at our church is on Romans 1. It's a powerful chapter. I'd like to share what stood out to me.

People Are Without Excuse

Every day we have an opportunity to notice and acknowledge God, give thanks to Him, and rejoice in Him. Every day! God is neither dead nor hidden. "The wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--His eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." (Romans 1:18-20) God has made His existence evident to all people. How can anyone witness the majestic beauty of God's handiwork and not marvel at God, the Creator? But people like to make excuses because they try to avoid the truth/suppress the truth. They are not willing to submit to God; they want to live as they're pleased...to do whatever they want...to live for selves...to indulge themselves in worldly pleasures. They don't want to give that up. Clearly, no one can stand before God on the Judgment Day and claim that God didn't make His existence plain enough.

Foolish Hearts Exchanged God for Idols and Truth for Lie

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles." (Romans 1:21-23) Deep down people know that God exists but they reject Him, ignore Him, or pretend He didn't exist. They neither honor/glorify Him nor thank Him. They would rather glorify idols made by human hands and/or gratify themselves. "They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--Who is forever praised. Amen." (Romans 1:25) And they think they're being wise. In reality, they're deceived and foolish. They love darkness and hate light. "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved 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 their deeds will be exposed." (John 3:19-20) The result is disastrous and scary: God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another, God gave them over to shameful lusts (exchanging natural sexual relations for unnatural ones), God gave them over to a depraved mind and they become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity...(see Romans 1:24, 26-32). What they get is what they want! What they need is the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

The Gospel is the Answer

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes; first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed--a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'" (Romans 1:16-17) The Gospel (Good News) is this: Jesus saves sinners by dying on the cross for our sins (He paid the punishment that we deserve) and gives eternal life and His righteousness to those who believe in Him. I hope and pray that you will choose to acknowledge God, repent, trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, receive His free gift of salvation, surrender your life to Him, and live by faith. Start having a right relationship with God today. He loves you and longs to have a relationship with you. Remember, you have no excuse whatsoever.