In the first chapter alone, the
whole counsel of God is clearly seen. We're going to see seven
things, seven things of God here in Romans chapter 1. The gospel of God, the righteousness
of God, the wrath of God, the creation of God, the glory of
God, the truth of God, the judgment of God. and or the reprobation
of God. Now this chapter begins in verse
1 with the gospel of God. And then it ends in verse 32
with the judgment of God. See that? This whole counsel
of God is seen right here in the first chapter. Like Genesis. Genesis begins with the creation
of God. The goodness of God. The creation of God. Light and
life. Genesis ends with a coffin in
Egypt. Those are the last words in Genesis.
Begins with God's glorious creation of light and life and ends in
a coffin in Egypt. Genesis 1, the beginning. Revelation,
the end of Revelation. The judgment of God. Judgment
of God. From creation to destruction. From generation to condemnation. From salvation to damnation,
it's all seen in this first chapter alone. First chapter alone. Now, the reason being, and we're
talking about it ends with judgment. It begins with the gospel, good
news, wonderful mercy, grace of God, and sending His Son for
sinners, the good news. Verse 32, with the judgment of
God. Why? Because man rejects God
and the Gospel. Like the article in the bulletin.
I hope you take time to read it. Man is to be... We're to
pity our fellow man, have compassion upon him, but before God, he's
to be blamed. It's not just ignorance. It's
willful ignorance. It's rebellion. Anyone doesn't
believe. Hmm. They're a rebel against
God. But God. But God. So rich in mercy. We're going
to see the long-suffering of God. Romans 1 talks about how
man has just rejected God and then God gave them over and so
forth. And it ends with judgment. And
right in the middle of Romans is Romans 8. There is therefore
now no condemnation. Right smack in the middle, John. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Why are you in Christ Jesus?
Romans 8. For whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate, called,
justified, glorified. No flesh can glorify Him. Salvation
is over the Lord. So it's all right here. It's
all right here. Now it begins with the gospel
of God, which Paul said in verse 17 is the righteousness of God. In the gospel of God is first
seen the righteousness of God. The reason Christ came, the reason
we needed Christ to come is because God is holy. The absolute holiness
of God, verse 17. The righteousness of God is revealed
from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall
live by faith. The righteousness of God. Now,
all of God's people know the answer to the question I'm about
to ask you. There are no exceptions. They're all taught of God. What
is the chief attribute of God? Holiness. 99.9% of religious people will say,
love. If you ask somebody that question
and they say, love, they don't know the God of the Bible. All God's people know this. This
is His chief characteristic. This is His chief description
of God. In Isaiah 6, remember, Isaiah
said, I saw the Lord. And the love of God is not mentioned
in Isaiah until chapter 38. The word love is not in the book
of Acts anywhere. Not making less of the love of
God, but it begins with His holiness. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness
and hateth the unholy. Isaiah saw the Lord in Isaiah
6 and he said, the cherubim, the cherubim, the seraphim, the
angels cried one thing, holy, holy, holy. And I was going to
have you turn to Psalm 99 where it speaks of His holy name, His
holy temple, His holy throne. Holy, holy, holy. This is why Christ had to come.
This is why we need a substitute. God is holy. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Why did Jesus Christ die on the
cross? Because God is holy. You understand
that. Most people don't. The righteousness
of God is seen because, look at the next thing, verse 18,
the wrath of God. Because of the righteousness
or holiness of God, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. The wrath of God. You know, I
said the chief attribute of God is holiness, and it is. And if
someone says the love of God is his chief attribute, well,
I ask this one question. Why is there a hell? If God loves everybody, if that's
his chief attribute, there wouldn't be a hell. There wouldn't be a hell with
it. Why is there death? Why is there death? Would you kill somebody you love?
Would you send someone, punish them for everything that you
love? No. Neither does God. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven. The wrath of God, clearly seen, like creation. But man doesn't see it. Look
at 2 Peter 3 real quickly with me. 2 Peter 3, the wrath of God. Look at verse 4. You know these verses. We've
looked at this so much. Verse 3 says, In the last days
scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying, Where is the
promise of His coming? Since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue. as they were from the beginning
of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, two
things, creation and the flood, condemnation. The Word of God,
by the Word of God the heavens were of old, this is creation,
the earth standing out of the water, in the water, whereby
the world that then was being overflowed with water perished
at the hands of God, the wrath of God. And the heavens And the
earth which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved
unto fire." God is going to send fire to destroy this world. Judgment, perdition of ungodly
men. And oh, how they misapply these
next two scriptures. But beloved, who's he writing
to? Beloved. Those who have obtained like
precious faith. Verse 1 and chapter 1. Beloved. He says it four times
in this one chapter. Beloved, beloved, beloved. Beloved,
be not ignorant of this one thing, like the world is. A day with
the Lord is a thousand years, a thousand years is a day. The
Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count
slackness, but is longsuffering to who? Us. Who's he speaking to? His beloved. He's elect. Not willing that any should perish. False
religion takes that and says God doesn't want anybody to perish.
What God wants, He gets. If God doesn't want something,
it ain't going to happen. If God doesn't will something,
it ain't going to happen. That's the word. Not willing
that any of... us should perish, but that all
should come to repentant." They will. They will. They do. In time. They will. By His sovereign mercy and power
and grace. So, well, I didn't mean to stop
there, but this is the wrath of God. Go back to Romans 1. There were nine plagues in Egypt,
weren't there? Most of you learned those as
a child, didn't you? The nine plagues. Plagues of
God, weren't they? Clearly seen as the hand of God
against wicked, idolatrous Egypt. Egypt represents the world, always
has. Nine plagues that came down from
heaven, didn't they? Flies and lice and hail and fire
and so forth. Why didn't the Egyptians see
that? Why didn't the Egyptians say,
this has got to be of God? Why didn't the Egyptians start
calling, oh Lord, God, forgive us? Why is this wrath coming
down from heaven against us? God must be angry with us. Why
didn't they start calling on God? They weren't His chosen. Israel saw it. History all knew. They all knew this is the judgment
of God. Did they tell the Egyptians that?
Probably, you know they did. We do. We do, but they don't
hear us do. The wrath of God. Look at verse
18. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven. Revealed. It's clear. Against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth, that is suppress
it, hold it down. hold it back, principally speaking of false
preachers and prophets. Israel saw it, the wrath of God
against sin. And all Israel knew, they all
knew this, at least in their heads, that the only difference
between them and the Egyptians was the sovereign mercy and grace
of God. and that blood on their doorposts.
Didn't they? They all knew that, as did God's
true Israel. They all know that. They don't
think Paul in Romans 2 is going to go on to say, are we better
than them? No, and no way. God hath revealed
this thing to us. God hath had mercy on us. Verse
21, it says, knew God, they glorified Him
not as God. Neither were thankful. The wrath
of God is revealed constantly. Hurricanes and tornadoes and
death and judgment all around us. And are men calling on God? No. Why did you call on God? Because God chose you. Because
the goodness of God led you to repent. No flesh has got glory
in His presence. Now write the wrath of God, the
creation of God, verse 20 and 21. Invisible things of Him from creation of the world
are clearly seen. They're clearly seen, aren't
they? Don't you marvel at God's creation? Don't you say with
David, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Don't you just marvel,
just amazed by God's hand and everything. You clearly see it,
don't you? All around you. Why don't men see it? Not many wise men. Very few. Most wise men are scientists,
falsely so called, the truth. Doctors. Those men who operate
on this marvelous creation called the human body, why don't they
see the hand of God? God has blinded their mind. These
things are clearly seen. I love, there's a proverb, Proverbs
8 verse 9 says, it's all plain to him that understand it. If
you understand, it's plain. If He gives you eyes to see,
it's plain, isn't it? Ears to hear, it's plain. But
God hath hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and
revealed them unto me. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in Thy sight." Creation of God. These things are clearly seen. Verse 20, though, says His eternal
power and Godhead. They're without excuse. Men and
women are without excuse. Clearly seen. I was going to
have you turn to Psalm 8. Let me just turn real quickly
for you. These wonderful passages that
speak of God's creation. When I consider thy heavens,
the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou
hast ordained, what is man? What is man that thou art mindful
of him or visited him? Psalm 19, you know, it says,
"...the heavens declare His glory, the firmament showeth His handiwork,
day unto day others' speech, night unto night showeth knowledge."
Why don't men hear that language? Why don't men see it? Well, Peter said, they're willingly
ignorant. They're willingly ignorant, they
see it, but they don't like to retain God in their knowledge.
And the fool has said, no God, meaning, No God for me. I don't
want a God. Men don't want a God. They don't
want a God. Because if He's God, the Creator,
that means He owns us. If He owns us, that means He
can do with us as He pleases. Men don't like that. I don't
want that. If God is the Creator, if God is the judge, men don't
want to answer to a judge. That means we're accountable
unto Him. Men don't want that. Men want to be in control of
their own destiny. The creation of God is clearly
saying that without excuse, without excuse, without excuse. And the only reason we see though
is because you see your calling, brethren? Now God has chosen
you. And He did it by the foolishness
of preaching. What very few doctors and lawyers
will sit and listen to? Preaching. What foolishness? Oh no, to us it's the power of
God and the wisdom of God. We don't preach foolishness,
and we do preach wisdom, but not the wisdom that man teaches,
the wisdom that God teaches. That's 1 Corinthians 1 and 2.
And the glory of God. Look at the next thing. The glory
of God. Look at verse 23. Verse 22. This is a description
of our educated society. Our society thinks education
is the cure for all of our social ills. Is it now? Is it now? Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible
God into an image made like to corruptible man and birds and
four-footed beasts and creeping thing. You know, the glory of
God is His creation, the glory of God. What wisdom, what power,
what glory, what a marvelous work creation is. Salvation is
a greater work than that. Salvation of God. The recreation
of a human being. Creating a new creature in men and women who are worms. The metamorphosis, if you will,
of a human being Son of God is a greater work. That's His wisdom. That's His work. That's His power.
It takes His power, His glory. Salvation, like creation, was
God's will. God's work, wasn't it? God's
power. God's Word. Man wasn't even around. Man had
nothing to do with creation. That's what God said to Job and
his friends that were debating so many things. He said, Who
is this doing all this talking? And then He said, Where were
you when I made these things? He said, Can you? Let me ask
you something, Job and your friend. Can you put a hook in a whale's
mouth and pull it out? Where were you? Who are you?
Who is this doing all this talking? And Job, put a hand on that. Creation is God's glory, but
salvation is His chief glory. Salvation is His chief glory.
And like creation, man rejects God's work of salvation. Like creation. It says in verse
23, they change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an
image like man. The first image they make is
of man. That's significant. Now everything
is for God's glory. Romans. Romans. What a book. In Romans 11 verse
36 is one of those landmark verses, if you will. It says, Of Him,
Through Him, To Him, For Him are all things. Learn the meaning
of that verse. Romans 11 verse 36. You know
something about God and why everything is. Of Him, Through God, To God
are all things. For His pleasure and for His
glory they were created. But look at Ephesians 1. You know these verses. Maybe
somebody in here doesn't. But Ephesians chapter 1, there
are three mentions of His glory in this first chapter. Ephesians 1, my, my. Is this
not your favorite chapter? One of them right now? Romans
1. But Ephesians 1 says in verse
6, and this is on our side out front, To the praise of the glory
of His grace. Why did God save anybody? And
He's the one who did it. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. Verse 12, that we should be to
the praise of His glory. Verse 14, unto the praise of
His glory. That's what salvation is all
about. Creation is all about His glory.
Creation declares His glory. Well, so does salvation. Even
more so. The glory of God. The glory of
God. But man robs God of His glory. Man doesn't believe there's a
Creator, and man doesn't believe salvation's of the Lord. He rejects it, doesn't he? Man
believes salvation is by the will of man. How foolish can you get? Man
believes that salvation is by the choice of man. How foolish
can you get? Man believes it's by the decision
of man. And the Scripture speaks of the
determinate will of God. God determined, purposed all
things. But you and I, most of you, we
clearly see, we clearly know, we clearly believe The salvations of the Lord. Why? Because Ephesians 1 begins with chosen of God. Blessed be God
who has chosen us. Reveal these things unto us.
Alright, look at the next thing in our text in Romans 1. We see
the truth of God. The truth of God. And as I said,
it's significant. Talking about idols, men make
God's idols, actual images of God, which God said, don't do
it, didn't he? He called it the abominable thing.
Don't do it. Don't ever do it. He said, you
saw no likeness. Don't make any likeness. How
is it that so-called wise men and smart, intelligent, educated
people could possibly Go through all this mumbo-jumbo and have
statues. How is that? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Huh? Do you not see that? That
God... Man's not wise, he's a fool. Look at verse 25. Now it says,
He changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served
the creature more than the Creator. who is blessed forever. There
it is again, it changed the truth of God. You got the righteousness
of God, beginning with the gospel of God, then you got the creation
of God, and the salvation of God, the re-creation of God,
the glory of God, and the truth of God that man rejects, that
man changes. Is it any wonder that this ends
with the judgment of God? The truth of God changed. They
changed the glory of God. Now, the creation of God, they've
changed it into a lie, haven't they? They've changed the truth
of God's creation into a lie. They've changed it into evolution. And they worship the creature,
even calling it their mother, Mother Earth. But more specifically,
they worship man, man's will, man's will. They worship and serve the creature
more than the creator. They change the truth of God's
creation into a lie called evolution, and they change the truth of
God's sovereign love, sovereign mercy, sovereign grace, sovereign
will, sovereign election of a people, God's power, God's glory in saving
a dead sinner. They change it into salvation
through man's acceptance and decisions. Man, man, man, man. They worship the creature. Man's will, man's choice, man's
power. Salvation up to man. So twisted
and perverted. Listen to this. And you see the
signs, you see them everywhere. The most conservative fundamental,
so-called fundamental, Bible-believing denomination In so-called Christianity
today, you'd have to admit it's Southern Baptist religion. This
is what the Lord brought my father out of. But they believe and preach and
teach that God loves everyone. And that's just a total twisted,
perverted lie. That's what it is. They believe
that Jesus Christ died for everyone, which is a total twisted, perverted
lie. Nowhere in the Old Testament
does it say that that atonement was made for all the world. Nowhere.
It's for Israel. That's a particular redemption.
But they say things like this. Southern Baptist religion, and
this is, say things like this. Unbelievable. But they say things
like this, and you've seen it. God believes in Have you seen that? That place, what's the name of
it? First Baptist Church in Roanoke. A big monstrosity. The so-called preacher there
said this, I read it with my own eyes. He said this, you control
the one that controls you. Now, people, this is not just
error and doctrine. This is being, you don't know
God, you say something like that. We've got to teach them better.
No, they need to be born again. Once you're born again, everything
clears up. No more argument about God and
man. Well, I've got questions about
God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. If you're born again, you'll
have no more questions. No more questions. You'll understand
that I was dead. I was blind. I was deaf. I was lost. And He found me. I was undeserving. I had nothing
to do with it. I didn't exist. But now I do. I've gone. No more questions. No more questions. It's all cleared
up very clearly once you've given eyes to see, ears to hear, lights. Once light is shown, everything
clears up. It's God that brings us out of
darkness into His marvelous light. It is God that brings us out
of death into life. It's not a change of doctrine,
it's a change of God's. It's being brought from death
to life. You didn't believe in a false
God years ago when you were sincere and just needed to be educated
to know the true and living God. No, you've got to be born of
God. The false Christ, you believed
in Jesus, you accepted Jesus, you weren't saved then. You didn't need saving, you saved
Him. You found Him, like somebody jokingly said on TV one time.
And this is the mockery that religion has made of God, so
much so that men make it a laughing stock. Someone said to this person,
like religion says, have you found Jesus? And this person
mocked and said, is he lost? That's how men mock God. And it needs to be mocked. It's
such a ridiculous nonsense. It's not salvation. They don't
know God. God believes in you. And you
believe. How ignorant can men get? You
control the one that controls you. You've got to let God. Let God. What are you going to
let God do? Can you stop the sun from coming
up? Can you make the sun come up? Can you make there be light? The salvation is up to the Lord.
It's Romans 9. We're going to get over to Romans
9 maybe. Maybe. But Romans 9 says, Shall the
thing formed say to him that formed it, Hath not God power over all flesh
to make of the same lump one vessel display one another. Yes,
He does. And that's exactly what He did. You see, it's not ignorance. It's just don't know God. And
when you finally know who God is, you know what you'll do?
You'll call on Him for mercy. You'll bow your knee to Him.
You'll repent to Him. You'll cry unto Him for mercy.
And you know what God will show you? Christ in Him crucified. And then what you'll see from
that day forward is salvations of the Lord. I had nothing to
do with that. Nothing to do with that. Reprobation. Look at verse
24. It says, God, they changed the
glory of God, the truth of God. God gave them up to uncleanness. God gave them up to uncleanness. Verse 26. For this cause, God
gave them up unto vile affections. That's not saying that God gave
up on them. That's not saying that He did
all He could do and He just couldn't do anything with these people. The king's heart is in the hands
of the Lord. Like the rivers of water, He turns it with His
will. The preparation of the heart, the answer of the tongue
is of the Lord. Proverbs 16. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. It's all of the
Lord. It's not saying God gave up on
them. It's saying that God gave them over to these things. Gave them over. It's not saying
He couldn't save them, He just gave up, there's no use. What's
the use in trying anymore? But He left them alone, left
them to themselves. Now most think of reprobation
as if. Verse 28 uses the word, reprobate. They did not like
to retain God in their knowledge. God gave them over to a reprobate
mind, a mind void of judgment, that don't have good sense, don't
have any understanding. Verse 21 says, their foolish
heart was darkened, their vain imagination darkened. And a reprobate
mind, void of judgment. Most think of reprobation as
this, that God created some people to destroy them, that God elected
some to heaven and some to hell. But here's the truth of the matter.
All right? Here's the truth of the matter.
All of us are born dead in trespassion and sin. All of us are born rebels,
come forth from the womb speaking lies. In sin did my mother conceive
me. I was shaped in iniquity. That's
what the scripture said. Romans goes on to talk about
that. Romans 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. We're headed for destruction.
Here it is. Every one of us are born headed for destruction. Unless God had chosen us, unless
God does something, if God leaves us to ourselves, if God leaves
us alone, we'll destroy ourselves. Now, no one deserves to be saved. That's what religion said. Everyone
deserves a chance to be saved. You deny man's sin when you say
that. You deny his rebellion against
God. You deny the sovereignty of God. It's not by chance. It's
on purpose. Everyone deserves a chance to
be saved. You deny the fall of man. You deny the utter depravity
of man. You deny it. You deny it. The
next message, the utter depravity of man at Calvary. Nowhere does
it seem more clear than Calvary, when God came down here and man
killed Him. That's what man will do. That's
what you and I did. Some He chose to save. Praise
be to His sovereign mercy. Praise be to His sovereign electing
grace. Somebody chose to save the others,
all he had to do was leave them alone. Leave them alone. People reject. God loved Jacob
and hated Esau. They reject that. Well, He should
have hated Jacob. He should have hated Jacob, didn't
He? Jacob loved sovereign election. Jacob knew that he deserved to
be damned, just like his brother Esau. Esau willingly rejected
the birthright, willingly rejected God. Said, I don't want anything
to do with God or that religion or my dad, anything to do with
that. God hated him. Well, he should
have hated Jacob, but he didn't. He set his love on him. He gave
commandment to save him. He made a covenant concerning
him. Oh, Jacob sure glad. Oh, happy, blessed is he that
hath the God of Jacob for his help. He said, I'm the God of
Jacob, therefore you sons of Jacob. I'm the Lord that changeth
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not concerned. You're just
like Him. And you'd do what Esau did if I hadn't chose you, wouldn't
you? Now here it is. And you ask any so-called Christian,
ask him this question, ask him, can God save anybody? Can God
save anybody? Ask him that question. Can God
save anybody? Anyone He wants to. Can He? Ask him. There's not one person
that wouldn't say yes. Why doesn't He? Why doesn't He do it? Even so, Father, it didn't seem
good in that sign. It's the only reason. If He can
and He loves them, Dan, why doesn't He? And people hate that. They hate
that. But once you find out what you
were, once you find out when God comes to you through the
truth of the Gospel and says, you were just like them, but
I chose you, Oh, to the praise of the glory
of His electing grace, His sovereign mercy. God had mercy upon, not
unto us, not unto us, but unto Him be the glory. Not for works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to Thy mercy
Thou hast saved us through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto He called us by His gospel. That's what you'll
be saying. The language is the same of all
of God's people who were really born again. The language is the
same. God has from the beginning chosen us to salvation. Doctrine? It's life. Life. God leaves a man alone, he'll
become more and more vile. Is one sin any worse than another?
Is the sin of sodomy, homosexuality worse than any other sin? Is
it? No. No, it's not. Sin is sin. All manner of sin shall be forgiven. Such were some of you. Paul wrote,
didn't he? But now, he did say in Genesis
that the cry of Sodom is exceedingly great in my ear. He said it three
times. The cry of Sodom is exceedingly
great in my ear. He said, I'm going to go down,
in our language, he said, I'm going to go down and see if it's
as bad as it is, in our language. And he came down, he smote him
with blindness, and it's just a grope at the door to try to
get at those men that know them. You know what he's talking about.
And in Isaiah 3, it goes on to talk about Israel, religion,
and it goes on to say in chapter 3, it says they're worse than
Sodom. You read it for yourself, throughout
Isaiah, it says the sin of the sister Sodom, they're worse than
her. It says in chapter 3 that they declare their sin like Sodom. You know, homosexuality and the
whole community is coming out, coming out, coming out, boldly,
brazenly, defiantly against God. The last verse says, knowing
the judgment of God, knowing the consequences of a lifestyle
like that, doesn't matter, going to do it anyway. How ignorant
can you get? But religion is worse because
they declare their sin, which is worse than even Sodom, when
they say, basically, I saved myself. I
willed my own salvation. They declare their sin like Sodom.
They put on top of their building, free will. Nothing angers God more. In fact,
our Lord said of sin, He said, the publicans and the harlots
will go into heaven before the self-righteous Pharisee. Didn't
they? You talk about making a man. Reprobate. And you know, you
can look into the eyes of some of your fellow men. They look
like animals, don't they? Given over. And I tell you, if
somebody is listening to this, If God doesn't do to you like
He did to old Lot and lay His hand on you and bring you out,
be merciful unto you. I tell you, you better flee from
the wrath to come. Better come out of that. And then we've got the judgment
of God. And it goes on that we've read all of these sins that are
filled with this. Verse 32, so knowing the judgment
of God. Verse 31, without understanding.
Verse 30, haters of God. Nobody hates God, preacher. Yes,
they do. God said so. The natural man, enmity. Romans
8, 7. Verse 31, without understanding. Without this natural affection.
Implacable. You can't deal with them. Unmerciful.
Who knowing the judgment of God, clearly see the consequences,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death." Do men
deserve a chance to be saved? No, they're worthy of death. And so am I. So am I worthy of death. Then why me? It wasn't me. And they not only do the same,
not only continue to do it, but have pleasure in them that do
them. And Paul, I think it's in Romans
also, he said, they turn his glory into shame and ashamed
of his glory. That's how perverted man is. Chapter 2 is going to go on to
talk about religion. Chapter 2 is the Jews, the Jewish
religion, orthodox, law-keeping, law-abiding, that applies to
modern Christianity. Chapter 2. He's going to lay
it all in the dust. The Romans are going to lay it
all level. What's that? Come far and show
Him the glory of God. Salvation is of the Lord.