NO EXCUSES
Romans 1:18 – 32
Introduction:
I will never forget the very first day I stepped into Rev. David Cheung's class in New Testament Exegesis. Upon the start of the class, Rev. Cheung passed out some handouts containing book references he expected us to use throughout the course. He also passed out a sheet containing the course requirements. Of course, the most prominent assignment in a subject like NT Exegesis is the exegetical paper, which is the analysis of a particular passage from the NT. In some sense, an exegetical paper is like writing your own commentary on a given passage. Now, the paper had to be passed on a certain time and date, either by dropping it on Rev. Cheung's pigeon hole or by handing it straight to him. If someone failed to pass on the given date, the supposed grade of the paper would be cut in half (example: if you got 100% on the paper but submitted it late, you only get 50%).
Now, I don't recall if anyone failed to submit his paper on time, but I am sure that if there was someone who did, he probably wouldn't have been able to get Rev. Cheung to give him an extension or to give leniency. Why? It was because he had made it clear already what was the submission date and time. He also made it very clear that he would not be lenient to those who submit their papers later than the said time and date. We were aware of the date and we had no excuse whatsoever to submit our paper late, nor could we complain about unfair treatment because we had full knowledge of the deadline and the consequences of submitting late.
In my particular case, we had full knowledge of deadlines and consequences, thus we could not give any excuses for submitting our papers late and get away with it. With regards to the laws of the land, we often hear the expression, “Ignorantia juris non excusat” or in English, “ignorance of the law excuses no one”. Ignorance of the laws of the land does not excuse us from the penalties and consequences when we violate these laws. Whether we have knowledge or we are ignorant of the law, we must suffer consequences when we break them.
As we continue our study of the Book of Romans, in particular our passage today taken from Romans 1:18 – 32, we learn that we are all under the wrath of God and that none among us can ever reason to God and say that we are not deserving of his wrath. In fact, none of us can ever offer an excuse as to why we should not be punished. However, we may be asking the question, “What makes us fall under the wrath of God and why can we not be excused or spared from it?” Today's passage holds the answer to our question, and I pray that as we study this passage, we will better understand why we need the gospel so badly.
Just a side note before I continue with our study: Paul's presentation of the Gospel began with the bad news. Why is this so? Why didn't he begin with the good news like what a popular gospel tract called “The Four Spiritual Laws” did? My personal interpretation is that Paul wanted the readers to understand the depths of humankind's sin and depravity as well as the punishment due in order for them to appreciate more deeply the salvation the Lord Jesus has won for us and the undeserved grace God extends to us.
There are three reasons why humanity cannot be excused from God's righteous judgment that we can find from today's passage. Let's examine these three reasons carefully.
Reason # 1: Knowledge of God is Readily Available
We cannot excuse ourselves from God's judgment because the knowledge of God is readily available, even for someone who doesn't have the Bible or know who Jesus is, even for someone who belongs to a different religion or even for someone who is an atheist. Just look at verse 18; here we read that God's wrath is being revealed against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Here, humanity is aware of the truth but they chose to suppress it in order to continue living a life of wickedness.
Now, how was the truth manifested or made known to humanity? In verses 19 to 20, we see that Creation was actually a showcase of God's invisible qualities – namely his eternal power and divine nature. All you have to do is to look at the created things such as the animals, the forests, the seas, the stars, the heavens, and you will see that these are truly marvelous sights to behold. Furthermore, they testify that a powerful, eternal God brought all these to existence. In Psalm 19:1 – 3, the psalmist wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night to night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” In Job 12:7 – 9 we read, “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and they will teach you; or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?” The creation testifies that there is a powerful, eternal God. Everything in it bears witness to this God.
Humanity's knowledge of God doesn't just come about because of Creation; it is also available through the decrees God has given in people's conscience. Look at the first part of verse 32. Here we read that humanity knows God's righteous decrees that those who do evil deserves death. Not everyone here on earth is exposed to the ethical teachings of the Holy Scriptures like Roman Catholics, Protestants and even Jews; however, if you look at the teachings of major religions, they actually have laws similar to the Ten Commandments. In Hinduism, adherents were expected to refrain from killing, stealing, sexual impurity and lying. In Buddhism, there is the teaching about having the right attitude, right speech and right action. An author pointed out that primitive tribes know when they have sinned and they have sacrificial systems in place in order to atone for their sins. You can investigate the different belief systems in the world and you will see that many of the ethical practices are similar to the Ten Commandments. What this reveals is that, even though many may not know the God of the Bible, they do know that there is a supreme being out there and that they must be careful not to offend this being by keeping certain moral laws. Even without the Bible, people do have their conscience to dictate what is right and wrong.
Sadly, people have chosen to reject God's revelation of himself through creation by saying that the universe came about because of evolution over millions upon millions of years. Also, people have chosen to deaden their conscience in order to continue in their sinful ways. The knowledge of God is readily available but we have rejected this knowledge. Therefore, we cannot make any excuses when God executes his wrath upon us.
Reason # 2: Failure to Honor God
Our second reason is connected with the first reason but I believe it stands on its own because it is a clear reflection of humanity's rejection of the knowledge of God. The second reason why we cannot be excused from God's wrath is because we have failed to honor God properly. We find this in verse 21 where it says that we neither glorified God nor gave thanks to him, even though we have the knowledge of God.
Now, how did humanity fail to glorify and give thanks to God? This is not a simple case of failing to say “thank you” or “praise God” when you receive blessings or when people honor you, although expressing these words are appropriate; rather, humanity fails to glorify and to thank God by becoming futile in their thinking and their hearts becoming foolish. A Bible scholar suggested that because man refused to acknowledge God, he must now substitute God with a being greater than himself, which explains why he fabricates myths and idols. The result: images of mortal men and animals are made to be gods or deities.
Just imagine that: man takes the place of God as the object of worship. This was very much true during the time of Paul when people worshipped Caesar or the emperor as a god. It is very much true today when people kneel, bow and burn incense to Buddha, or when people pray to the statues of Mary, Santo Niño and all the other saints. It is also true that we worship men when we bow and burn incense to our departed ancestors. At times, when we claim glory for ourselves or when we view ourselves as more superior than others, we make ourselves to be gods and, in effect, we are worshipping ourselves.
Ancient myths such as those of the Greek and the Roman Empire were also fabricated by men in order that they could have objects of worship in place of the true God. However, these Greek and Roman gods and goddesses behave not like the true God but just like fallen, depraved human beings.
Humanity also made animals as objects of worship. We see this in the Book of Exodus where the Israelites, upon the absence of Moses, demanded Aaron to make gods for them to worship. Aaron asked that the people give them their gold earrings, and from these he fashioned a golden calf. Aaron then declared to the people that the golden calf was their god and he even instructed the people to build an altar for the calf. If you remember the second plague that God inflicted upon the Egyptians when Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, God sent countless numbers of frogs upon the land. There is significance to this, as the Egyptians had a god who had the head of a frog. Today, people still worship animals such as the Hindus who treats the cow as a deity as well as the elephant.
Our trip to Southern India in 2007 was a memorable experience for us not only because we got to do ministry but also because we saw firsthand what India was like,especially the city of Madurai with all the shrines, temples and images found in almost every corner of the city. We also got to see from a distance one of the fourteen towers of the Meenakshi Amman Temple, where each of the towers are filled with thousands of idols. It was fascinating to see such a sight, but at the same time, it was also saddening because the people chose to worship these idols rather than seek after the one true God. The same is true for the whole of humanity – we know that God exists but we refuse to worship him and give glory to him. We have chosen to worship the creation rather than the Creator. Thus we are not excused from the wrath of God.
Reason # 3: We Deliberately Sin Against God
Finally, we cannot escape God's judgment nor give excuses because we have deliberately sinned against God. Again, this reason is connected with the two previous reasons we've looked into. If you look at the progression, it goes something like this: Man rejects God's revelation of himself through the creation and conscience; they give glory and worship instead to idols; because of their failure to worship God, God gave them over to their sinful desires.
Now, the idea of God giving humanity over to their sinful desire does not mean that God caused us to sin; on the contrary, what it means is that God gave us up to what we want to do. If we want to abandon him and go after other gods, fine. But we better be ready to face the consequences of our actions. It is our willful rejection of God that produces ugly results in humanity.
There is a long list of various sins people commit as a result of their rejection of God. We do not have time to look at each one of these sins in detail. However, I would like for us to pay attention to one particular sin mentioned in verses 26 to 27. It is the sin of homosexuality. The media as well as the gay rights movement want us to believe that homosexuality is not a sin but rather, it is a choice people should be free to make. Psychiatrists on the other hand say that homosexuality is in the genes of some people, thus making them more prone to become homosexuals; therefore such people should not be hindered from being their “true self”. They can justify all they want, but when God says its a sin, its a sin.
Now, I don't want you to leave this sanctuary later thinking that homosexuality is the worst sin of all. In God's sight, sin is sin, regardless of what kind of wrong act you've committed. You cannot blame your environment for making you a sinner. You can't blame the people around you for making you a sinner. You made the choice to rebel against God. You made the choice to worship anything and anyone other than God.
In the 1960s, psychologist Dr. Stanton Samenow and psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Yochelson, sharing the conventional wisdom that crime is caused by environment, set out to prove their point. They began a seventeen-year study, published in 1977, titled, The Criminal Personality. To their own astonishment, they discovered that the cause of crime cannot be traced to environment, to poverty or oppression. Instead, crime is the result of individuals making, as they put it, “wrong moral choices”.
Well, sinning is a poor choice humanity made as an act of rebellion against God. Because of this poor choice, we are left without an excuse as we must face the wrath of God.
Conclusion:
Today, we have learned that none of us are excused from God's wrath. It is because we have rejected God's revelation of himself through creation and our conscience by instead believing in the lie of evolution as well as in deadening our conscience. We cannot be excused because we have failed to honor God by bowing our knees and offering our prayers and allegiance to false gods – idols. Finally, we cannot be excused because we deliberately chose to sin against God instead of choosing to follow God's way.
While it is true that most, if not all of us are already believers of Jesus Christ and we have been justified by faith in Christ such that God's wrath is no longer upon us, I believe today's message should be a reminder to us that God's wrath is real. While we may be spared from his wrath, there are still many who are lost in their sins and in their rebellion. We must take seriously our responsibility of sharing the good news to the lost.
Today's discussion should also help us to see the gravity of our sins and why Jesus had to pay for our sin and rebellion with his death on the cross. As God's redeemed people, we should no longer allow sin to dominate us, going back to the old way of life. Instead, let us live the new life which Christ has already bought for us through his death and resurrection, forsaking our sins and choosing instead to please God.
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