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[0:00] Romans chapter 1, I'll get there in a minute. I'll do a little review of what we went over before.! Morning Sherry, nice to see you. I'll introduce Sherry in the morning service.

[0:12] Nice to have her here. Last week we began talking about bibliology. Big word, what does it mean? Studying the Bible.

[0:25] Studying the Bible. Studying the Bible. So, not like we do when we do a Bible study. Not a matter of taking a passage of scripture, looking at it, understanding what it says, applying it to our life.

[0:36] But we're talking about studying the Bible. What is the Bible? What does it mean to us? Not in a we can adapt it any way we want to type of way, but how is it speaking to us?

[0:53] Is it trustworthy? What's it about? All those type of things we talked about last week. Where do we begin? There's another thing we talked about. We begin by looking at the Bible as it talks about God's character and God's ways.

[1:06] When we read the Bible, Bonnie was talking to somebody this week, and she was talking about the Bible and stuff. And the girl doesn't know a lot, but she got it.

[1:18] When Bonnie was talking about it, she said, oh, so it's sort of like God's autobiography. That's a good way to put it. It's God's autobiography. He's telling us about himself and who he is.

[1:30] And so he's talking to us. He's revealing himself to us, which brought us last week. We were talking about the revelation comes from God.

[1:42] Revelation comes from God. He shows us who he is. When we talk about revelation, we're talking about it's the work of God by which he makes himself and his purposes known to us.

[1:55] So God has taken the word of God and he's revealing to us what he knows, what he is all about. So that we know who he is and what his purposes are.

[2:07] The purpose of it is to help us to understand him, understand what he wants us to do and the direction he wants us to go. Even before Adam and Eve, God was making ways to reveal himself to us.

[2:23] We talked about the fact that God created everything. And in his creation, he shows us. And then after his creation, he was showing us. Adam, remember one of Adam's first jobs?

[2:36] Name all the animals. Adam's naming all the animals. And Adam notices something about the animals. There's two of them at least. And he's only there by himself.

[2:49] And God revealed things to him. He needed somebody. He needed to help meet. He needed to have someone else like him. And so Eve is created. And remember, Adam's like, now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.

[3:01] His response to God is like, I've got somebody like me. And God had fulfilled a need that he had. We talked about Psalm 115, where it talks about the difference between God and the idols.

[3:16] And God was in the heavens. God had created everything. We could trust him. The idols were in Adam and objects. Made to look like humankind.

[3:28] And they're like, eh, they can't do anything. Remember it talked about in 115 Psalm there? They can't hear. They can't speak. They can't walk. They can't do anything. So what good are they?

[3:40] And then we talked about the differences between idols and God and stuff. Deuteronomy 29, 29, we talked about the secret things belong to the Lord, our God.

[3:52] But those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the works of this law. God has kept some things to himself. God has not revealed everything about himself.

[4:06] But there are things that he has revealed to us. You know, the things that he has not revealed are for him. The things that he has revealed are for us. And we talked about the implications of that.

[4:18] What's the implications of this revelation that God is giving to us? Everything that is revealed, all revelation, reveals to us something about God and who he is.

[4:32] We have to submit to his revelation and what he wants us to know. We talked about some things. What are some things that we don't know? Well, we talked about the fact that we don't know when Jesus is coming back.

[4:46] And why didn't God tell us that? We talked about that. Why didn't God tell us when Jesus is coming back? Because, and I use the illustration, he's coming back on Christmas Day at noontime, 2025.

[5:00] Okay, so I know Jesus is coming back. Christmas Day, noontime, 2025. What am I doing up until 11 o'clock on December 25th?

[5:12] Whatever I want to. And I know he's coming back on the, at noontime. So up until 11 o'clock, I can do anything I want to. 11 o'clock, it's like, oh God, forgive me for all those different things.

[5:22] Now I get serious with God for the last hour of, you know, no. Why didn't he let us know when we're going to die? Same reason. We know when we're going to die, what are we going to do?

[5:34] We're going to live it up until just before. Why didn't he tell us why he does certain things? Why he handles things the way he does.

[5:46] We just need to learn to trust him and follow him. Which brings us to the second thing for today. He has revealed himself in different ways. And one of those ways is called general revelation.

[6:00] General revelation. What do I mean by that? Well, some people call it natural revelation. God's revealing himself to us all the time. Are we paying attention?

[6:13] And if you want to define it, it's God's work of revealing truth about himself through his creation. God's revealing things about himself through his creation.

[6:26] You know, this time of year in particular, we look out and we see the leaves changing. Well, it's kind of all gone by now. But you see the leaves changing and things. We marvel at that and the beauty of it.

[6:37] We look out. We live here in Maine and we look out at the seacoast and stuff. And we look at all the different views out there. And oh, it's just so magnificent. The things that he has done.

[6:47] And all of those things are revealing things about God himself. Margaret? The things that always amazes me is how not only birds migrate and come back and whatever, but also butterflies, how they know where to go and which way to go and that.

[7:07] To me, it's always a lot of time. Mm-hmm. And living here where we do? Fish. Fish do the same thing. Fred? Yeah. You were just mentioning in the front of you.

[7:18] Mm-hmm. Yes, it's beautiful. And when it goes away, the camouflage shows you what you did want to see.

[7:28] Uh-huh. That's true. Sometimes we see things we don't want to see. Yep. You know, somebody has all kinds of stuff hidden away there in the woods and, excuse me, the leaves go away and it's like, oh, look at all that junk back there.

[7:45] You're going to say something else? No. Oh, okay. So God's revealing things. Through his creation, he's revealing things to us. You know, one of the interesting things is God made it all.

[8:00] And he reminds us of it every once in a while, the things that he has done. One of the most interesting things for me is, anybody know where to find the Ten Commandments?

[8:14] Matthew chapter, not Matthew. No. Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. You'll have the list of the Ten Commandments in there. And he comes down through and he's giving the different commandments.

[8:25] And then he says, you know, about the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. And then he gives an explanation of why we have the Sabbath day and why we keep it holy.

[8:37] And in Exodus chapter 20, verse 11, the keep the Sabbath day is verse 8. Verse 11, it says this. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.

[8:55] Right in the middle of the Ten Commandments, that verse is in there. God did this. Okay, if he's putting that right in the middle of the Ten Commandments, there must be something important for us to see there. Something important for us to know. And so he puts that in there.

[9:07] And he picks up on that theme at different times throughout the Bible. Romans chapter 1 is one of them. Psalm 19 is another one. We'll look at both of those. What are the benefits of the general revelation that we have?

[9:21] What are the benefits of God putting all this stuff out there and for us to look at it and see it? Every time we look out, we know there's a God. The problem is, so often we ignore it.

[9:35] Margaret? And science, they never explain it. That's right. Yep. So, we look out there, we see the creation, we see what God has done. We look at it and we know there had to be a creator.

[9:51] Now, going to school and things, they're going to teach you about evolution and all those other things. But when you look out there, evolution just doesn't cut it. There's a design to it.

[10:04] There's a purpose to it. There's a way that it's been done that says somebody created all of this. So, when we say we look out at creation and God reveals himself, yeah, there's a creator out there.

[10:17] You know, God is announcing to us his presence. We know that there's somebody else. We know that there's a higher person. We know that there's a God out there. You're in Romans chapter 1.

[10:28] Look with me at verse 18. Romans chapter 1, verse 18, it says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

[10:43] Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. For God has showed it unto them. God has shown us things by his creation.

[10:56] He's manifest himself through his creation. Verse 20. He says, 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.

[11:14] So, according to verse 20, what is it about God that can be clearly seen there? The invisible things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead.

[11:27] You think about what it took to create all this. What did it take to put all of this in design out here? What did it take to the fact that we learn about his power when we learn that God wasn't out there and he was digging holes and planting trees and he was doing it?

[11:44] No, he spoke, the Bible says. And it all came into existence. See, God's revealing things about himself as we look at that creation. And it says he revealed the invisible things, even his eternal power and Godhead.

[12:00] He is in control. He is the creator. He has made it all. When we stop and think and look, it's amazing. Especially when you start taking things like Margaret was saying, you know, the migration patterns.

[12:15] That's just one thing. The migration patterns that, you know, the butterflies and the birds and the fish. How do they know where to go? I don't know if you've been out and watched the birds.

[12:27] You know, they're starting, they're moving around at different times and stuff. And the geese are doing their V's and the other birds are moving and stuff. And I haven't seen one of them up there with a thing going, you know, GPS is also this way.

[12:40] They don't do that, do they? They don't hear recalculate. They don't hear recalculate. That's right. You don't hear that either. So. And another thing here. It's a little time.

[12:53] Long. Yeah. When the consequences of things, when the birds are cold, they're afraid. In the sense, it keeps all consequences on the bees.

[13:05] And it doesn't get bigger than that. They actually fall into the rock and lay it there. And it's freezing. It's totally freezing.

[13:17] And then it comes alive again in the spring. The dog's outside. And they start to eat all the chemicals. And it can't make the bees. And I just get them to follow the cell phone.

[13:31] And it took five years. But it's the time they're not to feed. So the bits of the cell phone needs to come off. And later it's the whole process of going again.

[13:44] You don't hear the death of that. Nope. I mean, don't get on. That way it's a catapult. Yeah. It's just that. I mean, that's what it is. It's a little bit of cold.

[13:55] Yep. And you look at it around here. The bears. You know. They eat enough to go into hibernation. And they're fine.

[14:08] Maybe that's what we were designed to hibernate. I just never hibernated. Anyway. It shows God's power.

[14:19] It shows his Godhead. It shows that there is a God out there. That we need to reckon with. He gives us a message.

[14:30] Like I said, everything that's out there that you look at. God's message is, I'm here. I'm here. Get to know me. According to verse 18 there.

[14:41] What happens when we don't recognize that God is out there? Verse 18 said again. It said. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

[14:58] Who hold the truth in unrighteousness. They try to take the truth and change it. The truth is there's a God. The truth is there's a creator. The truth is he is there watching over.

[15:11] And yet we try to change it so that we can eliminate God. That's what evolution was all about. A way to end the... They're telling you it's 10 o'clock there. You gotta go.

[15:25] Now who was I going with that? There's a God out there who we have to reckon with. There's a God out there that we have to say. He's there.

[15:37] And if he is the creator of everything. That means I have to be ready to answer to him. I have to be ready to say. I acknowledge you as the creator.

[15:49] But we don't want to do that. People can see that the unrighteous tribes of the world. They will worship the sun or the moon.

[16:01] They know they can't do the things that they can do. They can do the things that they can do and all that. But they can not acknowledge that. They can not hold who to call upon.

[16:13] They don't know who to call upon. But they know that they are not the answer to everything. There is something else out there. Go with me over to Psalm 19.

[16:25] Psalm 19. Psalm 19. in Psalm 19 David's writing and he says beginning at verse 1 I'm going to go 1 through 6 he's going to say at verse 1 he's going to say the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork day unto day other is speech and night unto night showeth knowledge there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world in them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race he is going forth is from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof he says okay look

[17:33] God has done all of these things he's created the heavens for his glory you know what's the significance of this this general revelation that God has given to us as it reaches all around the world what's the significance of it there's those out there who have never heard a gospel message but they have no excuse because they know that there's a God who created everything as Bonnie was just saying you can find wind up in these tribes they're all worshiping something because they know it's not of themselves and God has given them evidence of himself take the sun he mentions the sun there the sun comes up every day goes down every day comes up the next day goes down there's a pattern to the sun the sun puts forth heat the sun is something that as she mentioned they worship a lot because sun is so prominent in everything that we do they know that there's something out there and that sun illuminates their lives and that sun illuminates their lives just like

[18:55] God should illuminate their lives they should understand that God created that sun and he's giving them evidence of it he says that the heavens declare the glory of God God's glory you know when you think of the word glory what do you think of praising okay what pleasure okay brightness how about worthiness we give glory to those who are worthy worthy we give glory to those who have gone above and beyond and we give them glory we give them recognize the worthiness that they have God has done what nobody else can do God has created you know we talk about men scientists and trying to create life in a test tube and all this sort of stuff they're trying to copy but they can't copy what God has done they cannot make the creation he did and the thing about it is suppose they could you know

[20:12] I can make some life in a test tube okay think of the grand scale of what God has done the entire universe by speaking it into existence you know the general revelation of creation shows us that God is worthy of worship but there are limitations to that general revelation limitations of what we can learn we learn that there's a God who created everything we know that he's out there we know that he exists we know that he has power we know that he is glory we know a lot about him but what do we know about his character it's God who created all this and is beautiful and everything but what do we know about his character what do we know about him what do we know about how we can have a relationship with him what do we know about salvation turn back over to

[21:21] Romans chapter 8 this time Romans chapter 8 Romans chapter 8 Paul says this beginning at verse 18 Romans chapter 8 beginning at verse 18 for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God for the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him that hath subjected the same in hope because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now he says look you're looking at this universe universe that God has created but it has some limitations because of sin that came into the world it has some limitations how did the curse of sin affect the universe to make us question

[22:46] God I mean we may believe there is a God there's a lot of people who believe there is a God but they're like why are they like that well they look out and they see the fact that the world has you know disasters that happen natural disasters I was reading somewhere this week another sinkhole opened up in the middle of the highway and a car went in as it opened up I mean things like that happen like why does that happen why do sinkholes happen why do earthquakes and hurricanes and tornadoes and things like that why do people get sick where do all these diseases and things come from why is there you know people being killed I was reading this week and we'll talk about this in the morning service a little bit but in Nigeria over a hundred thousand Christians have been killed in Nigeria why just because they love the Lord you know so why do all these different things happen see the majesty of creation draws us to the fact that there is a creator it should make us curious and want to know more about him but how do we get to know more about him that general creation doesn't say here's God now let me show you

[24:14]  Jesus and let me show you how you can be saved so what do we have to do with that well next week we'll talk about the fact that there is a special revelation a special revelation that gets that's included there that God has given to us it's going to be his word and we're going to start looking at the Bible itself and what God has given to us so that's our word prayer Father thank you for this time together so