welcome to real Christianity mission is to bring the church back to the Bible my name is Dale Partridge and I'm the president of relearned out of work and Reformation Seminary the premise of the show it's simple the culture is growing darker the church is in need of sound Doctrine and many Christians are hungry for the truth join me here each week as we look to scripture and discover what it really means to be a Christian
 welcome to the show today we are going to continue our journey through the greatest book ever written Paul's magnum opus the epistle to the Romans as we remember Paul opens the book with a short exposition of the Gospel he shares his love for the Roman Christians and boldly States this reasoning for why he's not ashamed to preach the gospel to them and then he teaches the doctrine of justification by faith alone and the Beautiful understanding that Christ is our righteousness today we are going to transition from the introduction of the book which is verses 1 through 17 into Paul's foundational argument for the gospel in fact his argument continues from Romans 1:18 all the way through Romans 3 verse 20 but before we begin I just wanted to mention a couple things one
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 that this passage has with the previous section it in your Bible you're going to see the word for seven times between vs 16 and 21 if you read an ESV you're in NSB that's probably going to be consistent now this word for signifies what's called a causal Claus and so there is seven interconnected causal Clauses in this passage and these causal Clauses represent the grounds or cause for the preceding action give you an example John loves Sally because she is kind I could also say John love Sally for she is kind
 so the word for and the word because it can be interchanged and it might be easier for you to read this passage of scripture by changing the word for to the word because in your mind but let's just look at that example again John love Sally because she is kind there for Sally's kindness is the cause of John's love so together we're going to look at several causes that help us see Paul's framework in his attempt to set the stage for the gospel so if we follow these causal Clauses between verses 15 and 21
 holistically says I am eager to preach the gospel to you because I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes because the gospel is the righteousness that comes from God because the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
 arts and did you guys see the line of Paul Paul's arguments there I have a c paraphrased a bit
 Paul must preach because he's not ashamed he's not ashamed because it's the power of God to save it's the power of God to save because the gospel is the righteousness from God and we need the righteousness from God because the wrath of God is revealed against the unrighteousness of men so in short Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God to save sinners from the wrath of God it is the power of God to make the unrighteous righteous so while verse verses 1 through 17 primarily presented this side of a good news that the next section presents the bad news and ultimately becomes the reason for why the good news is so good and the summary of The Sermon as you guys know it confuses summary statement is one core meaning behind the attack
 the summary of The Sermon is sin is blinding Pace in is blinding know what you guys to see how that truth is unfolded as we go through the sermon now I've broken this sermon into four sections versus 18th or 19th is the wrath of God versus 20 is the evidence for God versus 21 is our blindness to God and verses 22 through 23 is our rejection of God and so I'm going to go ahead and read this passage of scripture from verses 18 to 23 and they were going to go verse by verse the verses 18 everything in the NTSB it says for the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth
 in unrighteousness because that which is known about God is evident within them for God made it evident to them
 for since the creation of the world has invisible attributes that is his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived being understood by what has been made so that they are without excuse for even though they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks but they became futile in their reasoning and their senseless Hearts were darkened claiming to be wise they became fools and they exchanged the glory of The Incorruptible God for an image in the form of a corruptible man kind of birds four-footed animals and crawling creatures so that's the passes that we're going to be dealing with versus 18 + 19 is the part of our first section again I'm going to read it for the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness Men
 Who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth first 19 for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them first we have to notice that
 how Paul presented the gospel pay attention your people he does not begin with the love of God he does not begin with the benefits of God he does not even attempt to prove God's existence he's not attempting to make people feel comfortable he's not using beginner language to accommodate the ignorant know he begins unapologetically with the wrath of God he knows that there is no good news without comprehension of the bad news he knows that the door of Salvation comes by repentance and the fear of the Lord he had her stand that repentance and the fear of God comes how by the awareness of our sin and God's Wrath that comes as a result of Pastor what's up some might find it surprising that I would teach my nine-year-old about God's Wrath toward sin
 but I find it surprising that any loving person would withhold the truth from any person they loved it because only when we understand God's Wrath toward sin can we realize that we need to be saved from it only when we hear the very bad news that were deserving of judgment can we appreciate the very good news that God has provided salvation through his son and quote r.c. Sproul once said if all you preach is the good news and you never preached the bad news the good news becomes no news
 in other words the sick will not seek treatment if they are ignorant to their illness ultimately Paul is teaching us here at the wrath of God must precede the grace of God Wrath must proceed Grace you can't have Grace without rash so the question you must ask yourself is this are you like Paul beginning your gospel presentation with the wrath of God and eternal punishment that comes with that or have you resort to some more accommodating approach I get have you taken the biblical example for evangelism or are you choosing to develop your own way
 if you've chosen your own way what is a driver behind that decision is it the fear of rejection is the lack of confidence can we have to see how Paul unfolds this message message here since 18 for the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who buy their own righteousness suppress the truth okay first the wrath of God is revealed now in scripture there are two types of revelation of God there's General Revelation which is the evidence of God in creation myths from our own bodies to the governing of the universe special Revelation is God's revealing of the way of Salvation in Christ through his word okay so we have General Revelation and special revelation
 the passage that we're talking about here is primarily dealing with General Revelation which is sufficient to condemn but not adequate to save I'm going to say that again General Revelation is sufficient to condemn but not adequate to save what I mean by that is a creation screams of a Creator but without scripture in the preaching of the Gospel no man can be saved after all faith comes by what by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ that's Romans 10:17 soap all states that the wrath of God is revealed through General Revelation it's revealed in nature by the Fallen this of our flesh and the guilt of our own conscience every person Longs for eternal life get our bodies inhibit us from doing so we we die what we long for peace at we're broke and we long for righteousness that we find ourselves riddled with guilt and shame God's Wrath is also revealed
 I'm in the old cabinets sacrificial system which is designed to inform Mankind and teach mankind of the severity of their sent our sin is so terrible that something has to die in our place Millions upon millions of animals were slaughtered because of the sins of Israel is sin requires death therefore sin is serious God's Wrath is also revealed in history through the fall of Adam and Eve the flood is another evidence of God's Wrath of destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in through the record of God's anger toward those who reject him God's Wrath is also revealed most clearly
 and I would say most significantly
 at the cross that's where we see God's Wrath revealed most significantly is that the cross our sin is so severe that in order to redeem has he had to pour out his anger and Justice on his only sinless son
 ultimately the reality that we've been living in in history teaches us that God is a just and all-powerful God who punishes sin for the sake of his great name now secondly God's Wrath is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of meant so it's not so I went to catch the word all here okay God's Wrath we know is revealed through creation through understanding of who got us through our conscience through the cross through history and we can see that God is a righteous God he's an eternal God but secondly God's Wrath is against quote all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men is what it says, meaning that it's against not only Israel but also the Gentiles who are also guilty of the righteousness of men so this is
 his way of making a universal statement of condemnation anyone who reject the one true God and lives in Rebellion against his will is under his wrath all ungodly and the righteousness of God has revealed from Heaven against all of it and then Paul says quote who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth no notice that they know the truth can you can't suppress what you do not know
 so did this is an important thing to catch here this is the root of all other religions in fact Plutarch who is a first-century Greek philosopher he once said quote if we Traverse the world it is possible to find cities without walls without letters without Kings without coin without schools and theaters but a City without a temple or that the practice is not worship prayer and the like no one ever saw and quote okq Manatee knows there is a God the thousands of religions that exist testify to that fact
 okay we know that there is a God
 ultimately what Paul is teaching here is that Humanity has no excuse for atheism General Revelation is absolutely sufficient for the evidence of an eternal and all-powerful creator
 but he says they're unrighteousness that is their sinful nature from birth becomes the means of their self-inflicted blindness remember that passage is says who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth okay they're on righteousness becomes the means of are self-inflicted blindness for those who are lost even though the wrath of God has been revealed against their sinfulness from their conscience to the Cross they suppress it through denial and rebellion and will suffer the consequences of hell as a result of Jesus says in John 3-19 through 20 quote and this is the Judgment that the light has come into the world and people loved Darkness rather than the light because their works for evil for everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light less
 his Works should be exposed and quote so Paul continues
 Ian versus 19 through 23 to build this further Evidence against the Gentile world who denies the existence of the one true God and this is what he says in verse 19 he says for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them
 for his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so they are without excuse for 21 for even though they knew God they did not honor him as God or give things but they became futile or meaningless in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened first 22 professing to be wise they became fools and exchange the glory of The Incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and a birds and a four-footed animals and crawling creatures and quote
 the evidence for God is Not hidden its act according to Paul it's plain to see and it's plain to see because God has shown it to them in the things that have been made nobody can see a magnificent building and deny the architect nobody can look at the art in the Sistine Chapel and deny the artist nobody can look at a gourmet dessert and deny the chef and the same way we cannot look the human body the structure of the seasons of governance of the Galaxy the laws of nature the reproduction of seed bearing trees the evaporative systems of water that did the DNA of our scientific study of our of our makeup we can't look at all these things and Anaya Creator essentially creation is sufficient evidence for an eternal and divine God
 it is rational thinking to look upon the world and conclude that what was made has a maker again it rational thinking to look at a building and understand that there was an architect and that is to say that General Revelation is adequate to prevent any man on Earth to stand before God and say I didn't know
 got to look him straight in the eyes that you did know you do know
 and better yet what this does is it prevent any excuse for idolatry to worship a carved image of a bird or to praise a mountain or trees or to celebrate the moon it's absurd it's irrational and it's wicked
 they have is Worth 22 says become fools and exchanged the glory of The Incorruptible God for an image of corruptible man can the First Amendment and the Ten Commandment is Thou shalt have no other gods before you see this is what Humanity does because of sin we run from reality we rebelled against our make sure we hate the idea of submission to our creator we want a ton of me we want to become and determine our own way ultimately we are we're enemies of God and this is why we deserve hell he's so we've learned that although General Revelation is sufficient for the evidence of God it's not sufficient to redeem the heart to reconcile reconcile you to God and to save your soul to Jesus said I am the way the truth
 and the life and nobody comes to the father except by me Paul says in Romans 10:12 through 17 he says for there is no distinction between you and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all abounding and Rich's for all who call on him for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved how then will they call on him whom they have not believed how will they believe in him on whom they have not heard and how will they hear him without a preacher
 how will they preach unless they are sent just as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things so faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ we need to hear the word of Christ we know we can walk into a conversation with someone and we don't need to do what is called classical apologetics which is trying to produce evidence for God
 we don't need to be trying to convince someone of the Big Bang Against The Big Bang Theory or talk about Evolution or talk about the eternal power of we don't even have deeper theological scientific issues or even the moral relativism these are important discussions to have it a cultural level but you're never going to convert somebody through that line of thinking that's classical apologetics the other side is called what's what's called presuppositional apologetics apologetics it presupposes the existence of God because the scripture teaches that Humanity understands and knows that there is a God it's plain to see they suppress it in their own righteousness but they know that there is a God again we talked about the religions of the world testify to that reality there is a God and they know it they don't want to submit to the gospel because they love their sin
 but this reality is it that we need to still preach the gospel so again General Revelation tells us of God's existence is greatness and Majesty but it does not tell us of God's plan for salvation the general Revelation can redirect our worship from Idols to the Creator but it does not tell us who to worship or how to be saved it's a general Revelation reveals God the maker of the heavens of the Earth and the Earth but it does not reveal Jesus Christ the savior of the world give the world's again this mortgage Board of religion is the strongest evidence of Humanity's misinterpretation of divinity and suppression of the truth instead of worshiping the god of the Bible who consistently incoherently aligns with reality Providence in the conscience of our minds are they substitute what are they do they they said student nature or self as the object of Their Own Worst I see this all the time here in Sedona Arizona there people doing moon seances and
 bowing down before the red rocks and going to vortexes and hugging literally hugging trees and talking about Mother Earth or whatever it may be there literally worshipping idols and some of them are even handmade Idols with are bowing down in front of them but they substituted nature or themselves as the object of their worship they think that they're a part of the universe is there a part of creation of the Thera version of God whatever it maybe that's what we do we know that there is a God but yet we've rejected because of our unrighteousness and our sinful nature ultimately General Revelation offers enough to provoke the recognition of an eternal loving and all-powerful God but it does not provide the substance of how we might enter into a relationship with him which takes us to the conclusion of today's message how do we make the blind see
 how do we make these individuals that are self-inflicted blindness through the in righteousness of their sinful nature how do we help them see him as a reference in Romans 10:17 faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ we need to proclaim the gospel we need to tell people of their need for repentance to the one true God we need to teach them of the Forgiveness that they can receive through faith in Jesus Christ Alone this is essential they need to understand this reality the late reformer Archibald Brown once wrote coach the gospel is a fact there for tell it simply it is a joyful fact therefore tell it cheerfully it isn't interested fact therefore tell it Faithfully
 it is a fact of infinite moment there for earnestly it is a fact about a person therefore preach Christ and quote
 the gospel needs to be heard and there's two ways that it can be heard it can be read or it can be preached essentially it's scripture right scripture can be read or it can be preached but those two Avenues need to be completed they need to be proclaimed they need to be preached in fact when you think about it no person was ever saved any other way then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ no person was ever saved
 they didn't come through the hearing of the scriptures the truth of the scriptures or the preaching of the truth of the scriptures in fact no one even came to Faith through prayer you can pray for somebody but they can't actually come to face unless they've heard the scriptures or read the scriptures and this is why when we pray for someone to be saved what we need to be praying also for is that someone would proclaim the gospel to them because it is the means of Salvation it is the vehicle in the agency on which God uses to adjust and change the heart it is the Midwife to the New Birth we cannot save anyone any other way except through the means of the Gospel so it needs to be preached yes we do need to be praying for people yes we need to be talking about Theology and studying yes we need to talk about the truth of God the moral law of God but at the end of the day
 the only thing that can save is the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
 I'm not. Let's pray father we thank you Lord that you have given us evidence for your nature and who you are and that you are the Creator in Eternal and divine power of majesty and greatness that we can see this in the things that are made and then we ask that you would give each and every person wisdom on how to understand these facts how to present the gospel Lord we ask that you would teach us to present the gospel with the bad news so that we can present the good news we know Lord that the wrath of God is what makes the grace of God so Majestic and so merciful father we ask for a blessing upon those who are listening that they would be encouraged edified confident in your truth so that you are the one who saves but you send us to proclaim the gospel we thank you for including us in your Providence and the involvement of salvation of those who use safe we love you and we
 you in Jesus name amen
 well guys I hope this was a message that was edifying for you on this journey through Romans if you guys haven't left a review of the podcast I would love it if you would take a moment to do so you don't even need to write something you just need to tap the stars in your podcast app my B podcast might be Spotify if you do write something I will read it those reviews really do help the exposure for the show and help people find our show if you also don't follow us along on social media on Instagram a tree learn.org Twitter at Dale Partridge you can find me there even at Facebook a tree learn.org where they're producing constant amount of content we also have a YouTube channel that's got about twenty-five thousand subscribers work continuing to add more content there as well but thank you guys for following along to be a part of this journey my name is Dale Partridge this is real Christianity and we will see you next week
 thank you for joining me on this episode of real Christianity real Christianity is a listener supported audio Ministry of relearn. Org our mission at Reno. Org is to bring the church back to the Bible we achieve this through strengthen and Christians in biblical and Theological literacy find biblical articles podcast sermons and videos at our website at relearn. Org our team is small but our mission is large and we need your help if you'd like to support our ministry financially you can always do so at relearn. Org forward slash donate thank you again for joining me today and I hope to see you next week for another episode of real Christianity