Exposed: The Great Cover-Up, Part 3

You get zero introduction today
by way of review, almost zero. We will almost immediately go
to the text, and I appreciate you racing ahead with me. We’ve
been following Paul and his argument just beyond the introduction
to this book of Romans, where Paul begins to address sin and
the judgment of God. That is the opening section,
the primary theme there of the opening section of this book
that will course all the way down to chapter three, verse
20. The apostle has dealt with his relationship with the Roman
Church, perhaps there were suspicions that Paul didn’t want to go to
Rome or Paul wasn’t interested in going to Rome, or perhaps
even Paul was fearful of going to Rome. None of those things
were true. Paul tells those who were in
Rome, that he was eager. He was fully persuaded to come
and to preach the gospel because it was the gospel of God. It
was God’s good news. It bore the power of God because
it proclaims the righteousness of God. And Paul knew how desperately
the world needs the righteousness of God. The world needs the righteousness
of God because in themselves there is no righteousness. If
you would, I want to go all the way back to verse 13. We’ll take
a running start. And this day, this morning, we’ll
stop at verse 20. In times past, we have been reading
all the way through verse 32. We’ll take up those verses. Perhaps
next Lord’s Day, verse 13, if you would. And I do not want
you to be be unaware, brethren. that often I have planned to
come to you and have been prevented thus far in order that I might
obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the
Gentiles. I am under obligation both to
Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you who
are also who are in Rome, for I am not ashamed of the gospel
of God. For it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to
the Greek for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith
to faith as it is written. But the righteous man shall live
by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men 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, his invisible attributes,
his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen
being understood through what has been made so that they are
without excuse. Paul has been engaged in uncovering,
exposing, if you will, the great cover-up that the heathen world
in their ungodliness attempts to suppress the idea, the very
idea of God, the existence of God. They attempt in their ungodliness
to do away, if you will, with God. Paul first exposes this
by telling them of God’s response to this deed, this crime in dealing
with the wrath of God. Paul goes on to speak of the
nature of this crime, that in their ungodliness and in their
unrighteousness, the attempt is a full suppression of anything
to do with God, any knowledge of him, any love of him, any
adherence to his laws and his ways. In their ungodliness and
unrighteousness, they attempt to do away with God. That’s the
nature of the crime. We saw the proof of the crime
beginning in verse 19, when Paul says, because that which is known
about God is evident within them. They have an innate knowledge
and innate understanding of a divine power. They may not know his
name. They may not have a full picture of God. But. God has made it evident
to them, God has made the truth evident to them. And it’s here where Paul begins
to pick up on the details of that here in verse 20. Here he’s going to lay out the
case, if you will, against this crime committed against the very
idea of God. We pick up this morning with
point number four on the details of this cover up, the details
of the cover up, and we pick up in verse 20. That little word
for Paul uses that to append, if you will, an explanation for
what he has just said. that God had made it plainly
evident to the heathen that there was such a being as God. But
the thought even reaches beyond that all the way back. It reaches
beyond verse 19, all the way back to verse 18. That God had
made the truth plainly evident in a sense, it supports that
whole thought that was begun in verse 18, that they suppress
the truth, they suppress the truth. That God has plainly made
clear to them. As one said, this verse is a
confirmation and an amplification of the proceeding. It proves
that God does manifest himself to men and shows how that manifestation
is made. That’s what Paul wants to do
is lay out the proof of the case. These are the facts. So in addressing
verses 18 to 19, Paul here offers proof that the heathen actively suppress,
hold down the plainly revealed truth of God and his way. Look again at verse 20, and often
what I will suggest that we do. And labor for you toward that
end is to condense it down to the simple sentence until we
really have a grasp of the simple sentence, we really can’t begin
to get into the details. In fact, a lot of times the simple
sentence is going to correct or inform what the nature and
the meaning of the details is. The simple sentence reads like
this. For his invisible attributes have been clearly seen. That’s
the argument that Paul expands upon. God had made it evident
to them for his invisible attributes have been clearly seen. Depending
on the translation you’re using, though, by way of a poor translation,
you might miss something really interesting in the simple sentence
of this verse. The simple sentence says that
God’s invisible attributes have been clearly seen. New American
Standard and that translation is OK. There are some that are
much worse. Paul here is making an intentional
play on words. The words that the New American
translates invisible and seen clearly seen. As I said, the
NAS obscures some of the specialness of Paul’s wording. I mean, if
you labor at it, if you really ponder and meditate upon the
verse, you’re going to come away with this. What do you mean?
Invisible is now seen and you pick it up. But Paul uses words
that not only mean the same thing, invisible and unseen. He uses
words that sound the same. The root word and its compound
relative word. The words in the Greek are aorta,
unseen, invisible. and caught or outside to clearly
see to. To witness, to observe. Formed
off the verb or perhaps a more pointed. Translation would be
to say that what is unseen is now seen. That captures not only
the common meaning of these words, But the common sound as well,
or to say what is invisible is now visible. But when you begin
to get too creative here, you paint over a beautiful play on
words to see what we don’t see. That the invisible is made visible.
And it’s an intentional device that Paul uses, we might even
call it an oxymoron. What do you mean the invisible
is now seen? What do you mean the invisible is now made visible?
What do you mean that we see what is unseen, Paul? It was
clearly deliberate, and Paul here is referring to physical
sight and to the sentence, pardon me, in the sentence as a whole,
as kind of this paradox. that takes place where we see
what isn’t seen. As one said, the original employs
a pair of words which, though resembling each other in form,
expresses a seeming contradiction. That what is imperceptible by
the senses is nevertheless clearly apprehended in mental conception,
the scene of understanding. Let’s pause and consider These
invisible attributes about which Paul speaks for a moment. And
remember, we’re just laying the groundwork. First, we’re going
to digest the simple sentence, and then there are some details
that we want to consider this morning. Literally, Paul says
invisible things, very general. The word attributes is not in
the original. That has been supplied by our
translators, but it’s a good enough help. In so far as it
goes, because what Paul is referencing are those two little elements
later on in the verse, namely his eternal power and divine
nature. And those two things can easily be summed up under
the heading of attributes, God’s attributes, power and deity. They’re invisible. And Paul says
these invisible things. His attributes, his perfections
become visible. And he will even tell us how. Some try hard to isolate and
limit these things. Some commentators say that they
refer only to the things that God has done in creation. Creation,
providence, divine judgment. Others suggest that it refers
to things pertaining to who God is. Goodness, wisdom, power,
majesty. This isn’t necessary, it is a
general enough statement, general enough that it can encompass
not only what God has done. But who he is, in fact, I would
even suggest they’re inseparable. So address. Also, the idea of
God’s invisibility. The Scriptures everywhere speak
of God’s invisibility. John 118. No one has seen God
at any time. The only begotten God who is
in the bosom of the Father. He, that is Jesus, has explained
Him, that is God. Colossians 115. He, that is Jesus,
is the image of the invisible God. 1st Timothy 117. Now to the King, eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only God, the honor and glory forever and ever.
Amen. But beyond this truth. That God is a spirit and as such
is invisible, consider that Paul isn’t talking about God himself,
he’s talking about God’s essence. He’s talking about God’s attributes.
And they’re not physical attributes either, like what we would think
of them about one another color of hair. Size, physical size,
what Paul’s talking about here is spiritual attributes, attributes
of his nature, attributes of his character. And how do you
see those? You don’t. By nature, those attributes
are invisible, and yet Paul says these invisible qualities of
God are clearly seen. They’re clearly seen, the invisible
is made visible. The unseen is seen. Follow along
in the verse. When Paul says his invisible
attributes has been have been clearly seen, what it refers
to is a scene, obviously, with the mind’s eye. With the spirit. With eyes that, as Calvin referred
to, need the spectacles of faith. As one said, while these eyes
are the observing pardon me, while these eyes are observing
the glories of the universe, which God created, the soul with
its invisible eye is being deeply impressed. It clearly sees God’s
power displayed in the things that were made God’s works. The creation, the preservation
and government of the universe is ever before our eyes as a
most elegant book. One of the old confessions said
that it is that in which all creatures, great and small, are
as so many characters leading us to clearly see the invisible
things of God, all of the facts of creation, everything that
you look about and see are like so many letters in a book altogether
forming the story of what God is and what God has done. I repeat
for you the great testimony of Tertullian, first century church
father, when he said it wasn’t the pen of Moses that initiated
the knowledge of the creator. The vast majority of mankind,
though they never heard the name of Moses to say nothing of his
book, they know the God of Moses nonetheless. And nature, he said,
is the teacher and soul, the soul rather, is the pupil. We take you to a passage. If
I would, if I if I could, I want to take you to Acts chapter 14
for just a few moments, go ahead and turn to Acts chapter 14.
For a great testimony, echoing the same thing that we’ve just
heard, that God’s invisible attributes have been clearly seen, they’ve
been laid out there for us to view. Paul and Barnabas, are ministering
in Lystra. They had just healed a crippled
man. The people who witnessed it began to worship Paul and
Barnabas. And in verse 11, look what happens. When the multitude saw what Paul
had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycanian language,
the gods have become like men and have come down to us. And
they began calling Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was
the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose
temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to
the gates and wanted to offer his sacrifice with the crowds.
I mean, they’re basically turning Paul and Barnabas into idols.
What was their response? Watch. Look at verse 14. But
when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their
robes, rushed out into the crowd crying and saying, men, why are
you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature
as you and preach the gospel to you in order that you should
turn from these vain things to a living God. Who made the heaven
and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and Paul
calls them to turn their eyes to avert their eyes from dumb
statues that did nothing. And to idolatry. and to look about them and to
see the handiwork of God. Verse 16 and 17, Paul goes on
to say that in the generations gone by, he permitted all the
nations to go their own ways. God doesn’t compel anyone. God
doesn’t compel to faith. God doesn’t confine anyone to
follow Him. He permitted all the nations
to go their own ways, and yet he did not leave himself without
a witness. And I know what you’re thinking,
the Ten Commandments, right? The testimony to the nation of
Israel, maybe even Israel itself, that was the testimony that God
left. No, it wasn’t. What was his witness? Look at what Paul says in that
he did good. and gave you rains from heaven
and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”
In other words, what Paul says is the very fact that God gave
them rain and thereby food was a testament. It was a witness
to His existence and His goodness, His nature, His attributes. The same witness that Christ
spoke of in Matthew 5.45, When he said that God causes the sun
to rise on the evil and the good and sends the rain on the righteous
and the unrighteous, they all see it. They all see the handiwork
of God. They just do different things
with it. Some ignore it completely and
suffer the consequences. Others are intrigued and made
curious and begin to contemplate the great designer behind these
things and these blessings. The awesome miracle that is life. And they are led ultimately to
a knowledge of God and a knowledge of the Savior, others. Others
suppress the truth in their unrighteousness. One pastor said it this way,
they were able to understand the fixed order of the heavenly
bodies. They could pick up a flower and
see how marvelously the petals were arranged. They could look
at how the leaves attach themselves to the stem. They saw the cycle
of water as it evaporated into the clouds and was carried over
the land and deposited. They understood the mystery of
human birth as they saw it and they saw growth. They knew the
glory of a sunrise and the majesty of a sunset. They knew the rolling
and roaring of the seas and the rushing of the rivers and the
trickle of a brook and the flight of a bird. They knew it. They
heard it, they saw it, they saw the same thing that everyone
else saw. It was the revelation of God.
It was a revelation of God of himself in his nature, in his
attributes. I want to take you to a second
passage, if I could. Paul’s on a roll, so we want
to follow him from Acts 14 to Acts 17. Where Paul deals with more heathens,
more of the godless, the testimony is the same, the witness is the
same. Their idolatry is even worse. We pick it up in verse 16 of
Acts 17. Now, while Paul was waiting for
them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as
he was observing the city full of idols. So he was reasoning
in the synagogue with the Jews and the God fearing Gentiles
and in the marketplace every day with those who happen to
be present. And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers
were conversing with him. Some were saying, what would
this idle babbler wish to say? Others, he seems to be a proclaimer
of strange deities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought
him to the Areopagus saying, may we know what this new teaching
is, which you are proclaiming for you are bringing some strange
things to our ears. So we want to know what these
things mean. Now, all the Athenians and strangers visiting there
used to spend their time and nothing other than telling or
hearing something new. So Paul stood in the midst of
the area of the guess and said, men of Athens, I observe that
you are a very religious in all respects. For while I was passing
through and examining the objects of your worship, I found an altar
with this inscription to an unknown God. Therefore, what you worship
in ignorance. This I proclaim to you, the God
who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven
and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. And
with that, Paul begins to point them to creation, to point them
to all that they could see. As a great testimony to them.
That what they were innately led, provoked to worship in ignorance,
Had a great cause behind it, and they knew it. They knew it.
Verse 25, neither is he served by human hands as though he needed
anything since he gives to all, even the heathen, life and breath
and all things. And he is made from one every
nation of mankind to live on the face of the Earth, having
determined their appointed times and boundaries of their habitation.
That they should seek God, that’s the great cause. God wants to
be known, God wants to be discovered. That perhaps they might grope
for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of
us, for in him we live and move and exist, as even some of your
own poets have said, for we are his offspring. Being then the
offspring of God, we Well, not to think that the divine nature
is like gold or silver or stone and image formed by the art and
thought of man. And then Paul lays out the gospel. Therefore, having overlooked
times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere
should repent. Because he has fixed a day in
which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man
whom he has appointed. Having furnished proof to all
men by raising him from the dead. And so back, if you would, to
Romans 120. Paul, likewise, says here. God
left himself a witness. God gave a testimony, the good
that he does, the creation that he made, the providential restraints
that he places on people and nations. All of that testifies
to the invisible attributes of God. In all of God’s workings,
we see God, we see his attributes, we learn of his nature, we see,
to use Paul’s words, his eternal power and divine nature. And so that’s the simple sentence.
That’s Paul’s support for that strong statement in verses 18
and 19, that the heathen are actively suppressing, holding
down the plainly revealed truth of God for his invisible attributes
have been clearly seen. Paul says it’s suppression. They
know because God told them. God showed them who He is. They
can’t pretend any longer. They can’t play the foolish game
of atheism and entertain the notion that there is no God. They can’t do it. That argument
won’t fly. As my boss used to say, that
dog won’t hunt. That excuse won’t work. That’s
the simple sentence that Paul intends to drive this point home. with four critical features of
God’s revelation, four critical features of God’s revelation.
Look at this. First of all, God’s revelation was long. It is long because it still goes
on. You can walk outside right now.
Well, not right now. You can go outside and you can
look around and you can have the same testimony, observe the
same creation. that others have had since the
very inception of the world. Look at verse 24. Since the creation
of the world, I told you it was a long testimony. Ever since
there was such a thing as a world, ever since mankind was created. One pastor said it is not, at
least not primarily God’s mighty deeds in history, that are being
contemplated, the reference is rather to the works of creation,
to the works of God, which for a very long time have been visible
to men and have ever made their indelible impression on their
minds. In the very moment of creation,
for the very moment that man was placed on the earth, Adam
and Eve in that beautiful garden, they had a witness. They had
a witness. That continues on down to this
day, we have a witness, your neighbor has a witness from God,
your family members who do not believe in God, that friend of
yours who does not believe that God exists, has a witness. God’s
told him and it wasn’t just a whisper in a corner, it was a proclamation
that has been taking place since the moment of creation. Robert Haldane said it this way,
by the works of creation and from those of general providence,
you know, almost every culture has an understanding of the idea
of sovereignty that not all things work out together. I suppose,
you know, when. Two ran to the river that first
day. And however rudimentary their
society was, maybe they had even just the basics of a language.
And they glanced down into the brook and one was a handsome
guy and the other one was a not so handsome guy. They knew that
not all life is fair. And that some guys sheep die
more often than the other guys sheep. Almost all societies have
this idea of sovereignty. They don’t know what to do with
it. But he says by the works of creation
and those of general providence that they are dependent on something
outside of themselves. They don’t know what it is. They
can’t put their finger on it a lot of times, but they’ll light
a bonfire and throw some creature upon the fire in order to appease
whatever this thing is. It’s natural to worship. Even if you don’t know what you’re
worshiping, that’s exactly what Paul told the Athenians. By the
works of creation and from those of general providence, God can
be fully recognized as the creator of heaven and earth and his natural
attributes may be inferred. It began at the creation is continued
ever since. It began. With our being as men
and women. To begin to look at the creator
and to see his works To watch that slowly unfolding process. Scripture paints the picture
that God behind it is absolutely supreme, absolutely sovereign,
absolutely the almighty that stands behind creation. I’ve used this following quote
from Thomas Watson in another an entirely different understanding
discussion. I’ve used it in painting the
picture of ultimately total depravity. But in this particular setting,
I just want you to basically put yourself with Adam and Eve
in the garden. Thomas Watson said it this way,
see what a glorious condition man was in. When God entered
into covenant with him, he was placed in the garden of God. I mean, wow, what do you say?
That’s a scene so awesome that God had particularly crafted
the Garden of Eden. God had made all of the trees.
God had placed them there, which for the pleasure of it was called
paradise. And when God calls something
paradise, I mean, He had his choice. Adam did of all the trees,
only one accepted. He had all kinds of precious
stones, pure metals, rich cedars. He was a king upon the throne
and all the creation did obeisance to him. Man in innocence had
all kinds of pleasure that might ravish his senses with delight.
Do you get the picture? That from the very moment of
creation, Creation itself was meant to testify and proclaim
God’s goodness. The bottom line is that all you
have to see how all you have to do to see God is to open your
eyes. Open your eyes, look around you
and you immediately see not only the handiwork of the master creator,
you have a detailed description of the creator himself. John Calvin said it this way,
the Lord began to show himself in the visible splendor of his
apparel ever since the creation of the universe. He brought forth
those insignia whereby he shows his glory to us whenever and
wherever we cast our gaze, wherever you cast your eyes. There is
no spot in the universe wherein you cannot discern at least some
sparks of his glory. Do you know that there are 270,000
species of flowers? You’re talking about being overwhelmed
when you go to the florist on your anniversary, guys, right?
Every color, every shape, every style. Amazing. And that doesn’t
even begin to take into account all of the fragrances. Animals,
1,250,000 identified species because almost every day. They go out, I don’t know who
does this or who’s tasked with this effort, go find a new species,
but they do it. One million different types of
insects, most of which were in my backyard this summer, 30,000
different species of fish, 9,000 different reptiles, 10,000 different
birds, 6,000 different animals. Watson said it this way, to imagine
that the work of creation was not framed by God, is as if we
conceive of a curious landscape to be drawn by a pencil. Without
the hand of an artist. Open your eyes, see God, it’s
that simple, specifically, though, what does creation reveal? What
does it reveal? God’s revelation was not only
long, it was deep. It was substantive, there was
something to it. Verse 20 tells us the particulars
of his revelation. Verse 20 says, for since the
creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power
and divine nature. Those are the invisible things,
those are the invisible attributes. The idea of God. Is formed on a reflection upon
those things. And a reflection upon God’s creation
points us to his power and to his divinity. We have to come away as we ponder
those things, as we see the intricacy of different leaves on all manner
of variety of trees. The idea that we come away with
is there has to be a designer, there has to be a God. As you
look at humans and how uniquely we’re made and how wonderful
and How complex. We couldn’t make ourselves. We
couldn’t make a tree. We come away with an understanding
that there is eternal power. We see God’s eternal power and
that word such a common one, God’s power and creation. referred
to again and again in Scripture as being one of the key characteristics
of God. God is God Almighty. And there are a lot of things
that testify to me that as I look out, I see, you know, the mountains,
for one, always the mighty ocean, the Grand Canyon, having ever
been if you’ve ever been there, I mean, it’s breathtaking. The lightning storm and hurricanes
and tornadoes, all of those things, those acts of nature, as the
news would have us understand them. The peaceful movement in the
heavenly bodies, sun, moon, stars, for me, Niagara Falls, standing
there, one of the most incredible, 170 million gallons per second
goes over the edge of the rocks, deafening roar. One Puritan said, the power of
God is that ability and strength whereby he can bring to pass
whatsoever he pleases. That’s a strong God. Whatever
his infinite wisdom may direct, whatsoever the infinite purity
of his will may resolve, whatever God wants to, there’s nothing
that God can conceive of that he’s unable to do. Awesome, almighty
power. Psalm 112, all the Psalms just
are replete with testimony about God and his power. Great are
the works of the Lord. They’re studied by all who delight
in them. Psalm 118, 17. I will not die,
but live and tell of the works of the Lord. Psalm 118, make
me understand the way of your precepts. I will meditate on
your wonders. Those are people that are looking
to the God of creation. and recognizing what he’s done.
But note that it’s called eternal power. We know when we look and
we see this awesome power displayed in the world in which we live,
we know that it is a power that goes far beyond our finite little
existence. It is eternal power. It is a
particular attribute of God because it is eternal in nature. And
it testifies not only of the eternal nature of his power,
but the eternal nature of the God who wields it. Not only is
God God’s eternal power, Paul points to that his divine nature,
we see it. We see his divine nature in all
of these things. This word here is very general,
almost heathen philosophers used it to speak of the deity, the
divine one, very general. As one defined it, it indicates
the sum of all God’s glorious attributes, which makes him leave
an impression on everyone’s mind, the exhibition of God’s power,
wisdom, goodness in the created universe. We might even refer
to it as divinity. It is all of what God is. When you look about, you not only
see that God is powerful, you see that he’s sovereign, as I
mentioned a moment ago. Life isn’t fair. Not everybody
gets the same blessing, not everybody gets the same opportunity, not
every no two people are alike, no two life situations are identical. As I said a moment ago, the idea
of sovereignty is presents itself in every culture. It’s just part
of the fabric of of what you begin to realize and recognize. You see God’s sovereignty. You
see God’s goodness. You know that you don’t deserve
the rain. You know that you don’t deserve to see the beauty of
the sunset. You know that in that day in
which you live, you knew that you offended God and others. You know that God is creative.
I mean, take one look at a duck-billed platypus, right? Trees. Ten years ago, maybe more than
that, the kids and I got into a tree growing hobby. And after
starting to try to grow this great variety of trees, I think
at one point over 200 species we had tried. I’m amazed that
there are any trees at all. I mean, some of them are almost
impossible to germinate. God manages. And the amazing
thing about trees, I discovered one time, you know, in that second
testimony. of the creation in Genesis two, God goes through
the whole thing first and then he comes back and kind of a closer
look, closer inspection of creation. And in that, he says, it’s a
very fascinating thing. That the trees were created not
just for food, they were created for aesthetic value in of itself. God was concerned about our beauty
before he even made us. God was concerned about a testimony
to us before he even put mankind on the earth. Just amazing. We see God’s mercy, we see his
wisdom and intelligence. I want to take you to one more
passage briefly this morning, Psalm 104. Psalm 104 could be my favorite. Well, there’s a lot of them. It’s a good song. It has been called the poetic
version of Genesis one, and we’re going to really fly through the
song of God’s creation is Psalm 104. We’re first the psalmist
opens with the God of creation. Bless the Lord. Oh, my soul.
Verse one, thou art very great. Speaking of God’s infinity. Speaks
of splendor and majesty light in verse two, he talks about
the waters in his upper chambers, the clouds, the God makes his
chariots in verse three. In verse four, he makes the winds,
his messengers flaming fire, his ministers, all of those are
what we call anthropomorphism, human terms used to describe
the indescribable God. And then it moves from the God
of creation to the creation of God. He established the earth
on its foundations. Here’s the great testimony of
God. So that it will not totter forever and ever. God set the
earth in motion and God pushed it out into the heavens. That it’s covered with a deep
for six as with a garment, the seas that we heard testimony
of from Job chapter thirty eight last week. The waters were standing
above the mountains that I rebuked. They fled. God spoke. The water
took off at the sound of life under. They hurried away. Genesis tells us about that in
detail. Skip down to verse nine. Thou
did set a boundary. What did God use? Sand. Jeremiah
522 says, I have placed the sand as a boundary of the sea sand. Moment by moment, every moment
of the day, this ongoing miracle called Providence unfolds before
us. And that’s where we see the preservation of God’s creation
in verse 10 and following that God sends forth springs. Verse
13, he waters the mountains. He causes the grass to grow for
the cattle. Verse 14, vegetation for the
labor of man. He goes on and says the high
mountains are for goats, cliffs. Everything has order. Everything
is by God’s design. And then the praise that comes
at the end of Psalm 104, O Lord, how many are thy works? In wisdom,
thou has made them all the earth is full of thy possessions. If
you’ll only open your eyes and look, you can see God. You can
see his invisible attributes. You can see his divine nature.
And so God has revealed himself from the very moment of creation
forward. His nature is clearly declared,
but if we don’t consider it, If we don’t ponder it, if we
don’t meditate and wonder about God’s creation, it fades gradually
from view and steadily until God is totally imperceptible
to the heathen. We must ponder the works of creation,
we must trace their testimony to a full view of God himself,
or we end up completely empty handed. There’s a third critical feature
in God’s self-revelation, not only was God’s revelation long
and deep substantive, it was simple. It was simple. All we have to
do is consider it, think about it, look at it for what it is
and think about it for just a minute. Look at verse 20 again, since
the creation of the world is invisible, attributes is eternal
power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood
through what has been made. It talks about thinking, conceptualizing,
making something an object of our thoughts and meditation,
and the word is a frequently used one in Scripture. What he
says is that these invisible things of God, when they are
taken in and considered, pondered. Meditated upon. They grow just
like so many of God’s seeds, the idea of God begins to flourish,
the concept of God and his creation begins to grow in our hearts
and minds. As one said, the visible creation is God’s handiwork,
makes manifest the invisible perfections of God as their creator. And that from those things which
are perceptible to the senses of knowledge, these invisible
perfections are derived. And thus, a clear apprehension
of God’s perfections may be gained from his observable handiwork. Now, you can’t get anything beyond
that than curious. You become curious, you become
aware that there’s something outside of yourself that’s bigger
than you. You don’t know his name and you’re
not saved. But you’re hungry. You want to
know, you want to know that God that is beyond. And they had
it. They had the testimony right
there. Paul said the heathen had it. As one pastor said, they
could look at the stars, they could look at the incredible
arrangements of the petals, they could look at all of those things.
And they could trace them up and know that it had to go beyond
themselves. They had to know that there was
something bigger than them. In revealing himself to men. God renders the heathen inexcusable. The revelation that’s been made,
they had no argument, no apology, as one said, no ignorance for
their neglect of God through the revelation of God in his
works. It was sufficient that they know that there was a greater
power, greater being. We’ll pick it up there next Lord’s
Day. Because that’s where we move
in, essentially, to point five of our greater outline. We find a conviction there of
God’s self-revelation. Point five, God’s guilty verdicts
on humanity. That God has given this great
testimony. And to ignore it, to slight it,
to downplay it, to reason God away in light of that, leaves
man nothing other than guilty before him. We’ll take it up
beginning there next Lord’s Day. Let’s pray. Well, merciful God,
we humble ourselves before you and thank you. Just for the reminder
of who you are and awesome God that from the very moment of
your creation. Began to artfully. Proclaim and lay out for us. A clear testimony of who you
are. Lord God, we thank you and praise you. And if there are
any in our midst today. Who come with nothing more than
that understanding of a higher power based on what they’ve seen
in nature. If they do not know that you
in your process. Of saving humanity through your
plan of redemption, you finished it by sending your son, Jesus
Christ, if they don’t know that. Encourage them by your mighty
power to seek out some believer among us. And be led to the God
of creation with a full knowledge of you through your son, Jesus
Christ. Lord, we thank you for your constant testimony to us.
We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. God Bless.