“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:” – Romans 1:20
HAVE YOU BEEN MISTREATED BY the disgusting hypocrisy of the evangelical, shunned by those sanctimonious sons of Belial who verily know not God? Have you been abused by the vile priests of the Catholic Church and its prisonhouse of religion? Have you been defrauded by money-grubbing televangelists who promise “blessings” in exchange for your coin? If you may answer “yes” to any of these questions, I would have you to know that no degree of mistreatment imposed upon a man by religious snobs and pious frauds can provide him justification for his rejection of Jesus Christ. You would be unwise to permit difficult circumstances to embitter you against the God of the King James Bible; foolish, to blame God for the wicked and unlawful deeds of men. You must not put the Almighty on trial for wrongs others have committed against you. You must not reject the free gift of eternal life he offers you, simply because many who name the name of Christ have demonstrated themselves to be fools, hypocrites, or snobs.
Yet I miss the primary purpose of my text, if I do not mention that, you, who so confidently proclaim there is no god, or cowardly resort to agnosticism, are entirely without excuse. The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen – not just in the heavens which declare his glory, the firmament which sheweth his handiwork (for there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard) – but even his eternal power and Godhead. Consider, if you will, how even the most savage mind and darkest heart realizes that blood sacrifices are necessary to atone for sins – that men of all climes and complexions have attempted, in vain, to depict either the devils they mistook for and worshipped as gods, or the true God.
“There is written,” remarked Spurgeon, “upon the face of nature enough to condemn men if they do not turn to God. There is a gospel of the sea, and of the heavens, of the stars, and of the sun; and if men will not read it, they are guilty, for they are willfully ignorant of what they might know, and ought to know.” Titus 2:11 tells us the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men – not merely to the learned, or the erudite, or the scholarly; not merely to the literate, and cultured, and refined; not merely to the inhabitants of various regions of the world, but to all men. This means the savages of the South Seas bore witness to the grace of God which bringeth salvation long before any missionary brought the gospel to their barbarous shores. This means the brutes of Africa bore witness to the grace of God which bringeth salvation long before Europeans even knew there was a Dark Continent to exploit. This means the barbarians of the New World bore witness to the grace of God which bringeth salvation long before colonization introduced them to Christ crucified, buried, risen. The man from the wilds of Borneo who is without a Bible cannot honestly complain that God has dealt unjustly with him, because though no missionary graced his dark land with the light of the gospel, the gospel of creation has always testified to his need for redemption, and spoken words which transcend all tongues.
Yet, it is not only the visible things which are manifest even to the most brutish and barbarous of men, but the invisible things of him are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. Nature testifies not only to the existence of a Creator, but of a mighty God, an everlasting Father, a Prince of Peace. Though the heathen well understand that a Savior must deliver them from their wickedness, lest they perish, infidels, who avow that heaven and hell are figments of primitive imaginations, will criticize God for not providing missionaries to every generation of pagans across the globe. Yet who are they to reply against him that formed them? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? God knows the things that would have happened, if the things which did not happen, did happen. Do you suppose he who knows all things is ignorant of how a people would receive the gospel of his Son? Why should he bother sending missionaries to a civilization he knows will reject Christ, especially when nature itself proclaims their need of redemption?
I call your attention to the rich man of Luke 16, who “in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments”, and beseeched Abraham permit Lazarus to warn his five brethren, “lest they also come into this place of torment”. But Abraham told him frankly, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets (i.e., the Word of God), neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31). It has always been, that though men have been provided a multitude of reasons for why they ought accept Christ, they perpetually search for excuses which, they suppose, will justify their rejection of him. They have creation to testify of his existence, but they blasphemously deny this and attribute the existence of all things to farcical, pseudo-scientific philosophies as evolution. They have the complete Word of God – the King James Bible – which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, but they will mock it as a collection of mistranslations and myths, looking instead to the feeble, limited, vain human mind for life’s answers. They have the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, who was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, yet they scoff that he was merely a man whose tomb has been discovered.
Unbelievers do these things, not out of an absence of “evidence”, but rather the hardness of their wicked hearts of unbelief. No matter what proofs are given of God’s existence, of the King James Bible’s infallibility, of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven, men will reject these truths because they have already decided they will have nothing to do with Christ; therefore, “evidence” which does not support their wicked unbelief is of no use to them. “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts” (Psalm 10:4).
We are warned every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement. They may, with impudence, now deride the mighty God, may scoff at his goodness, sneer at his grace, deny his deliverance. They may boast of their blasphemies and cavil against their Creator and scorn their Sovereign, supposing there is no God who will hold them accountable for these wicked words. And yet they, for all their hard speeches and ungodly deeds, being abominable, disobedient, unto every good work reprobate, still curse at a God they profess exists only in the imaginations of fools, and blame him for their problems, and expect him to bless them in spite of this iniquity! Such rebellious reactions as these disclose that within their heart of hearts, they do believe there is a God, and that their existence is meaningless, vapid, and pointless without his existence. Though God has blessed them with life, health, family, friends, fun, and provided them many infallible proofs not only that his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead, but that by him all things consist, and that without him was not any thing made that was made, still they choose to reject his free gift of eternal life, reject his mercy, his goodness, his grace, his love.
CONCLUSION
If you who read these words have not trusted Christ as your Savior, you are without excuse. You dwell on an earth made by he whose existence you deny, you eat fruits he created, you breathe the air he provided, and you inhabit an age where the complete word of God – the King James Bible – is available in a variety of tongues and formats. Please do not continue in rejecting your only hope for eternal life. Does it not frighten you to know the wrath of God abides on those who do not believe on his Son? Does it not frighten you to know that your eternal destiny weighs entirely upon whether or not you accept or reject Jesus Christ? Does it not frighten you to know that everlasting destruction in the lake of fire awaits you if you perish without having received Christ as your Savior? It should, if you are to entertain any hope of eternal life. It must, if you are to believe the gospel. Do not miss heaven because you were appalled by the hypocrisy of those who claim (often falsely) to represent Christ. If you will but acknowledge you are a sinner who cannot save yourself from hell, and will believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and was bodily resurrected from the dead, you will receive eternal life. I pray that you do so.