Romans 1:11-17:11 -For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; 12 - That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. 13 - Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. 14 - I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. 15 - So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. 16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 - For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

q I am a debtor - He was a man under conscription.

q I am willing and eager - He was a man under compulsion.

q I am not ashamed - He was a man under conviction.

Romans 1:18-20: 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:

therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

• God's revelation is compelling.
• He has made the invisible visible (20).
• People really do know the truth (v. 18).

• Our rebellion is considerable.
• We are ungodly.
• We are unrighteous.

• God's righteousness is consistent.
• God is God
• God manifests Himself.

The Bogus Exchange - Romans 1:21-23: 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. ²² Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, ²³ And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

q It is DECEITFUL.

o The fear of the Lord is the begininng of knowledge. To reject Him is to reject truth.

o We make the exchange knowingly and deliberately. We buy into a lie because we want what we want.

o When we get what we want we find that we haven't really gotten anything.

q It is DARK. Darkness exists where light is excluded.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. - John 3:19

o We really need to see darkness for what it is - dark.

o The only way to expose the darkness is to turn on the light.

o Jesus is the light of the world.

q It is DECAYING.. What do we do?

o First we Wake Up. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. - Ephesians 5:14

o Then we Rise Up to worship Him as God and acknowledge Him as Lord.

o Then we Give Up the praise and gratitude that is due Him which we have foolishly withheld.

God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

What would be left if God gave up on us? To the extent that we refuse Him, He has given us over to these, but there is still hope:

q Sinful desires and Sexual Impurity.

q Shameful lusts that lead to unrestrained indulgence.

q Sick minds that produce bad behavior.

q Stubborn persistence and silent approval.

We need help. We need to return to verses 16-17

Romans 1:1-7 (NIV) ⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. ⁹God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you ¹⁰in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

A Cause for Thanksgiving

A Crucible for Service

A Constancy for Believers

A Call for Presence

Notes from My Files

How To Talk to Romans About Jesus

Romans 1:1-7 (NIV): ¹Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— ²the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures ³regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, ⁴and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. ⁶And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

⁷To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

q Know Your Identity. – Servant – Called – Set Apart

q Know Your Message Jesus Christ – Start to Finish – Good news of resurrection, grace, apostleship, obedience, and belonging.

Know Your Audience - Location and Vocation

Romans 1:1-7 (NIV) ⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. ⁹God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you ¹⁰in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

q A Cause for Thanksgiving

q A Crucible for Service

q A Constancy for Believers

q A Call for Presence

Romans 1:11-17:11 -For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; 12 - That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. 13 - Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. 14 - I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. 15 - So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. 16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 - For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

q I am a debtor - He was a man under conscription.

q I am willing and eager - He was a man under compulsion.

I am not ashamed - He was a man under conviction.

Romans 1:18-20: 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:

therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

• God's revelation is compelling.
• He has made the invisible visible (20).
• People really do know the truth (v. 18).

• Our rebellion is considerable.
• We are ungodly.
• We are unrighteous.

• God's righteousness is consistent.
• God is God

God manifests Himself.

The Bogus Exchange - Romans 1:21-23: 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. ²² Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, ²³ And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

q It is DECEITFUL.

o The fear of the Lord is the begininng of knowledge. To reject Him is to reject truth.

o We make the exchange knowingly and deliberately. We buy into a lie because we want what we want.

o When we get what we want we find that we haven't really gotten anything.

q It is DARK. Darkness exists where light is excluded.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. - John 3:19

o We really need to see darkness for what it is - dark.

o The only way to expose the darkness is to turn on the light.

o Jesus is the light of the world.

q It is DECAYING.. What do we do?

o First we Wake Up. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. - Ephesians 5:14

o Then we Rise Up to worship Him as God and acknowledge Him as Lord.

o Then we Give Up the praise and gratitude that is due Him which we have foolishly withheld.

Sermon: No Excuses: Romans 2:1—4: ¹You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. ²Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. ³So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? ⁴Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

How We Make Excuses for our sin:

q By passing judgment on others.

q By avoiding the truth.

When We Make Excuses for Our Sin

q We condemn ourselves

q We show contempt for God.

When We Stop Making Excuses for Our Sin

q We accept God’s kindness.

q We come to repentance.

The Same Boat
Pastor Tom’s 11:15 A.M. Message

Romans 3: 9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better^[a]? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."^[b]
13"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."^[c]
"The poison of vipers is on their lips."^[d]
14"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."^[e]
15"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16ruin and misery mark their ways,
17and the way of peace they do not know."^[f]
18"There is no fear of God before their eyes."^[g]

19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

Footnotes:

1. Romans 3:9 Or worse
2. Romans 3:12 Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Eccles. 7:20
3. Romans 3:13 Psalm 5:9
4. Romans 3:13 Psalm 140:3
5. Romans 3:14 Psalm 10:7
6. Romans 3:17 Isaiah 59:7,8
7. Romans 3:18 Psalm 36:1

From the Message: We’re All in the Same Boat

9-20: So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it:

There's nobody living right, not even one,
nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.
They've all taken the wrong turn;
they've all wandered down blind alleys.
No one's living right;
I can't find a single one.
Their throats are gaping graves,
their tongues slick as mudslides.
Every word they speak is tinged with poison.
They open their mouths and pollute the air.
They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,
litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,
Don't know the first thing about living with others.
They never give God the time of day.
This makes it clear, doesn't it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it's clear enough, isn't it, that we're sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God's revelation doesn't put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else's sin.

Characteristics of the BOAT It is a (an) …

Broken Boat. – It is broken by sin and cannot be repaired.

Old Boat. – There is nothing new about this same old story.

Abandoned Boat. – God has given up on the law to save.

Tawdry Boat. – It is cheap, disgusting, and ugly.

So … What can we do?

Switch Boats!

Romans 3: 21 – But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify:

The new boat is …

Better. – It is from God.

Open to observation. – It has been made known.

Apart from the Law. – It does not come through deeds.

Testified to in advance. – Everything points to it.

22 - This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 – and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

The new boat is a grace ship. It is …

Solid – It is through faith, but not just any faith – In JC!

Humane. – Not the usual word we use, but descriptive.

Impartial. – All need it and it is available to all.

Paid for .– The price has been paid b Jesus Christ.

You have a fully paid ticket.

Will you get on board?

Will you tell others?

Who?

Romans 3:21-26 - Ministry

21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

1. Righteousness

q Apart from the Law

q Through Faith in Jesus Christ

q To All Who Believe

2. Justification

q Grace

q Redemption

q Atonement

3. Justice

q Nothing but the blood of Jesus

Rough Outline of Romans 1:24-32

Romans 1:24-32 (NIV (c) 2002, International Bible Society) – Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

What would be left if God gave up on us? To the extent that we refuse Him, He has given us over to these, but there is still hope:

q Sinful desires and Sexual Impurity.

q Shameful lusts that lead to unrestrained indulgence.

q Sick minds that produce bad behavior.

q Stubborn persistence and silent approval.

We need help. We need to return to verses 16-17

Roman Road

I have two more entries to bring you soon. Hold on a few more days and
they will appear <S>.

If God Gave Up on Us Entirely

Romans 1:24-32 – Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these

What if God got so fed up with us that He gave up entirely and left us to our own devices? That is the natural next step to Paul's tracking of human history from the divine perspective. He shows us what has already happened as a result of the bogus exchange we have made, namely substituting truth with error, dvinity with humanity, and what is eternal and enduring with what is temporal and decaying.

That will be the subject of our next posting.

The Bogus Exchange - Romans 1:21-23

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. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

When men, knowing God, refused to glorify God and be grateful, they made an exchange. There was something not-so-glamorous about the truth. Either it was too simple or too difficult. It was what it was and Adam and Eve were enticed by the possibility of knowing as much as God, being as wise as God, and usurping the place of God as the last word in everything. They wanted to be wise and professed themselves to be wise. As a result, they became fools.

The fool hath said in his heart there is no God. - Psalm 14:1a

It is not an intellectual decision to say, "There is no God," but a moral decision and a heart choice. The "fool" may actually know there is a God, but at the core of his being, he has made the choice to exclude God.

The result of this process is a bogus exchange. It is a decision to abandon the incorruptible, invisible, unchanging God of the universe for one of our own making. We can control gods we manufacture and theologies that we conjure up. We can tame them, rename them, sanitize them and compartmentalize them into manageable units.

And Heaven sees it as a tragic comedy.

"Look at the birds and four legged beasts they are calling gods," the angels must be saying ... and the God of glory weeps for He, devoid of all ego, simply desires to be known for who He is and afforded the His rightful place in the loving worship of the sons and daughters of man who He loves so much.

Our sophistication is mere sophism and folly.

There are three reasons why this exchange is bogus drawing from verses 21-23.

• It is DECEITFUL. It comes from futile thinking as verse 21 say..We dealt with that some in the last lesson. Futile thinking is circular at times and dead end thinking at others. It goes nowhere and accomplishes nothing because it simply isn't true.

• The fear of the Lord is the begininng of knowledge. To reject Him is to reject truth.
• We make the exchange knowingly and deliberately. We buy into a lie because we want what we want.
• When we get what we want we find that we haven't really gotten anything.
  

• It is DARK. Darkness exists where light is excluded. Paul says in verse 21 that our hearts have been darkened. Jesus explained it this way to Nicodemus:

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. - John 3:19

• We really need to see darkness for what it is - dark.
• The only way to expose the darkness is to turn on the light.
• Jesus is the light of the world.

• It is DECAYING. The things we have chosen to worship in place of God are either mortal or are already dead. They have no life and give no life. we have been lulled into a stupor of self-pride, deliberate ignorance, ingratitude, and dark deception. It has produced all manner of emotional, intellectual, and relational repercussions that have damaged us spiritually and in every way imaginable. We are adrift in a sea of ambiguity because we have refused to worship God as God. That is our bottom-line problem.

What do we do?

• First we Wake Up. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. - Ephesians 5:14
• Then we Rise Up to worship Him as God and acknoweldge Him as Lord.
• Then we Give Up the praise and gratitude that is due Him which we have foolishly withheld.

To do this will require a measure of grace which Paul is yet to explain in Romans. But we know it. It has been revealed to us in the life and death of Jesus Christ. It has been made available by His resurrection and glorification. It is presented to us by the Holy Spirit. We receive it when we receive Him by faith. That grace will restore what was lost to us by willful disobedience and arrogant pride.

Romans 1:21 - What We Do with What We Know

"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."

As I suggested earlier, the problem is not with what we do not know, but with what we do with what we do know.

There will always be more left unknown than grasped with our mortal minds. We do not know all there is to know about God. We don't know a fraction. What we do know is enough to call us to worship.

As I write this entry, I am preparing for Sunday - Palm Sunday to be specific. No one in the crowd that greeted Jesus fully understood His coming. They did not get it. Some got it more than others and they welcomed Him. He did not reject their welcome. He received it as praise to God.

He received it so well that some of those who rejected the knowledge they did possess wanted Him to rebuke the worshippers. Jesus replied that if they were to be silent, the stones would cry out. ( Luke 19:30). Stones don't know much, but they know enough to acknowledge the presence of God.

Here is how Peterson translates the verse:

"What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives." (The Message, Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H Peterson)

People knew God perfectly well. They knew enough to treat Him like God. How is that? Worshipfully, doing what we call "glorifying."

To glorify is to recognize the extreme weightiness of a matter. In this case, it is to take God so seriously that we stand in awe, are struck down by the sheer magnitude of His power and are overwhelmed with the right kind of fear as we behold Him.

The right kind of fear is the stuff that makes our jaws drop, that leaves us speechless, that causes us to tremble, that turns on the lights and lets us know that if we get this part right, we don't really have to worry about anything else.

Paul says folks who knew God failed to be thankful. The folks in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday were certainly excited. But were they thankful? I don't know. Were they consistent? Maybe not. When Friday came, they were nowhere to be found.

They weren't the same folks that showed up to heckle Jesus at His trial. Those were a different sort of belief-avoiders. But the nominal believers were not there to support Him either. Where were the folks He had healed and given hope? Where were those He had fed. Certainly 5000 supporters would have made an impression on Pilate.

What does God want?

He wants us to take Him seriously. He wants us to glorify Him and be thankful to Him.

Only when we take God seriously, can we take ourselves seriously - or anything else for that matter. Paul says that without the cornerstone of acknowledgement of God as God, man became and we become futile thinkers, vain imaginers.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

Those who will not acknowledge what they already believe have no starting place for their thinking, no basis for understanding, and no hope of getting on the truth train. They have this big missing piece to the puzzle in their hands and because of their own stubborn refusal to employ it, nothing else connects.

Maybe it is pride - the kind that wants to do it all oneself and take all the credit for it.

Maybe it is boredom coupled with laziness. Unwilling to plumb the depths of God's reliable truth, they become restless, wanting the stimulation that comes from philosophical "innovation." There is enough newness buried in the depths of divine reality to keep us busy forever, but it requires going deeper and most of us are too lazy for that.

And gratitude require humility and that dethrones us from the seat of power over our own destinies. Mostly, we just don't want to bother with God.

Most people believe, at the very least, in a higher power, but they want that higher power to serve their own interests. They do not lay the foundation stone for their thinking and so, their thinking wanders off into a wilderness of ambiguity and abstraction.

First comes REFUSAL to worship and give thanks.

Second comes the FUTILITY of foolish thinking and vain imaginations. Having set genuine truth aside, we start making up our own. Relativism doesn't even begin to define what is going on.

We jump from the crowd of “welcomers” to the crowd of scoffers and finally sit in the seat of Pontius Pilate and snort, "What is truth," with only a hint of a question mark and a great bif exclamation as if to declare, "You and I both know that it does not exist."

That is futile, foolish thinking and it creates a vacuum into which we must pour our imaginations. We are not getting less religious in the world. We are getting more so. It is natural. we were made with a sensitivity to and longing for the spiritual dimension of life. when we don't find it at the center of the universe in the self-disclosure of God to humankind, we invent the wildest concocted scenarios to satisfy our hunger for more.

And we sink deeper and deeper into the abyss.

Finally comes DARKNESS. Our foolish hearts are darkened by the emptiness that comes through the absence of real truth. We were made to worship God. When that is missing, futile thinking will only titillate temporarily. When we've fabricated all that we can and nothing works, we delve into deep darkness and despair.

Paul spends the next page or so describing this darkness but we know what it is already. We need God and nothing else will satisfy. Not only do we need God, but we know that we need God.

Today, our challenge is not to create belief where there is none. If that is a problem, God can handle that. If we are willing, God will make Himself known to each of us. Our challenge is to take what we already know and believe and really believe it, to embrace what we have avoided and to follow the admonition of Proverbs 3:5-6:

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

When we stop trusting our foolishness and start trusting God as revealed in Jesus Christ, we will stop trying to invent obscure realities and will discover the basis for truth - a truth upon which we can build our lives.

As Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem that Sunday many centuries ago, He came as light so that the darkened souls of foolish men and women might see again the truth of God and acknowledge Him as God. It would take more than a ride to convince the hardened hearts of the people; it would take a cross, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection, and a living body of believers He would leave behind who one by one defy the downward spiral of futility by living out the gospel of grace and truth visibly and joyfully.

Come to Jesus. You are know different than anyone else in this respect: You like me, have rejected the truth you already know. Now is the time to return.

My friend Henry Neufeld has posted a timely article that we are discussing on the CompuServe/Netscape Religion Forum under the title Good Theology, Bad Theology, and Demons. The discussion can be located at this page.

I find the article timely because of my recently posted sermon which gives a bow to the subject of natural revelation as a tie-breaker in the excuse game.

Neufeld has placed himself in the thick of the fray in the ongoing Intelligent Design debate, this time arguing from a Christian theological perspective that ID is bad theology.

Henry's full article can be found on Threads from Henry's Web .

Why is ID bad theology and why is this assessment shared among even conservative Christian scholars? Neufeld explains:

"If you are wondering why there is a split amongst conservative Christians over ID, it is simply that many conservative Christians are saying either that this does not prove or that it is not even trying to prove anything that actually works within their theology."

Going further, he asserts, "I don’t accept ID precisely because I believe that the universe is designed."

I'm not going to do all your work for you; you'll have to read the article and come back and comment here and in the forum.

I am still digesting Henry's article, but I did respond to him with this:

Henry,

>>I would say that while Paul does say that one can find God through creation, he doesn't offer any guarantee that we'll all find out everything, or that we'll get everything right. I think "clear enough" would be a good equivalent there.<<

My theology professor, Bill Hendricks, in his lecture on revelation, said that God has not revealed everything about Himself, but what He has revealed is true to who He is and adequate for us to know Him and relate to Him.

All Paul really guaranteed in Romans 1 was that nature offered enough revelation to point us toward "awe" "wonder" and that in human rebellion, we rejected even that.

Psalm 19 is a two-parter in my view - the revelation through creation which is adequate as a "call to worship," refined by the spoken word in the second part of the Psalm that reveals even more information.

I'll be interested in seeing how this develops ..."

Indeed I will.

Romans 1:18-20

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:

We like our excuses. We thrive on them, depend upon them, and retreat to them whenever we are backed into a corner by the grey ghost of personal responsibility.

At the same time, we flaunt our freedom and declare it to be one of our highest values. We assert our rights to choose our destinies and determine our own fates. We lock ourselves into a very perplexing situation.

That is because, if we really are free, we have made our choices and must live with them. Among those choices are mercy or wrath, embrace of truth or willful ignorance, and faith or rejection when it comes to the divine revelation.

We are without excuse for several reasons:

• God's revelation is compelling.
• He has made the invisible visible (20). Not only has He spoken through His verbal and written Word, but Paul suggests that had He not done so, creation itself presents enough evidence of His holiness, power, and might to convict us. Even in ignorance we ought to have sought Him to worship Him.
• What do you see when you look around?
• How does your view of creation inform you about the nature of God?
  
• People really do know the truth (who hold the truth in unrighteousness -v. 18) It is not what we don't know that condemns us, but what we know and suppress.
• Consider ways that we suppress the truth in our own lives.
• Consider how we might return from this willfulness by first recognizing it as such and reorder our thinking, anchoring it again to truth.
  

• Our rebellion is considerable.
• We are ungodly. We have rebelled not only against God, but against our own true selves, the people we were made to be in His image. We were made to be godly and are not.
• Do you really understand the "you" that you were meant to be?
• What would a "godly you" look like? What potential are you not realizing because of what you refuse to be?
  
• We are unrighteous. There is nothing "right" about us. We are not rightly related to God and we are not headed in the right direction. That lack of "rightness" is unrighteousness.
• Consider righteousness in terms of relationship. What is right about your relationship with God? How about your human relationships? How about your relationship with yourself?
• Consider righteousness in terms of direction. Are you headed in the right direction? If you continue in the way you are going, where will you end up?
  

• God's righteousness is consistent.
• God is God. He is eternal and is eternally consistent. His wrath is His indignation at anything against His own character. He cannot and will not vary His nature to suit our whims or allow for our failures.
  
• Try to swim against the tide of a roaring, mighty river and you will experience wrath. Try to beat down the winds of a hurricane and you will experience wrath.
• How much mightier and true to Himself do you suppose God is?
• God manifests Himself. When we align ourselves with Him, that manifestation comes across as welcoming, gracious, merciful, and loving. When we resist His grace, that manifestation is a storm that we call wrath. The question for us is how we will respond to His revelation: as an indictment or as an invitation. He will not change, but we can.
• You have a choice to make.
• What will it be?