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[0:00] Let us pray.

[0:11] Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time to get together and open your word.! Open our understandings, Lord, as we open these pages.

[0:22] Open our minds, our hearts, that your spirit might work. Open our thinking. Open our mind, Lord, that you might be the one that we put our attention upon.

[0:39] Help us, Lord, to be reminded of heavenly things, of eternal things, of the things that matter, Lord, that you would be glorified in every life, in every home.

[0:50] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Romans chapter 1. We'll get there in a moment. There was a notice that appeared in a church bulletin that there would be a special Sunday meeting called No Excuse Sunday.

[1:09] No Excuse Sunday. To make it possible for everyone to attend the meeting. But every excuse would be addressed.

[1:20] Beds would be placed in the foyer for those who say, Sunday is my only day to sleep in. Eye solution would be available to those who had tired eyes for watching late night TV the night before.

[1:33] Steel helmets would be supplied for those who would say, The room will cave in if I come to church. Blankets will be provided for those who think that the church is too cold.

[1:47] And fans would be provided for those who would think the church is too hot. And we'll have hearing aids for those who would say the pastor speaks too softly.

[2:00] And for those who would think he speaks too loud, people would have cotton wool to make it just the right sound level. And scorecards would be available for those who wanted to list all the hypocrites who were present in the meeting.

[2:14] And some relatives would be provided for those who would think that they would not attend because they want to go visiting on a Sunday. And there would be 100 TV dinners for those who cannot go to church because they have to cook the dinner also.

[2:30] And one section would be devoted to trees and grass for those who like to see God in nature. And then the sanctuary would be decorated with Christmas ponsensias and Easter lilies for those who have never seen the church without them.

[2:46] This is how we could imagine a no-excuse Sunday. It's funny, isn't it? And yet it's the excuses that we can sometimes make. Excuses, excuses.

[2:58] Excuses, why not to attend? Excuses that sometimes people use for not believing God. Excuses for not believing God.

[3:11] Some people would try to make excuses for their unbelief. But God says they are without excuse. They are without excuse.

[3:24] We're going to read from Romans 1, from verse 18, and I'll comment as we go. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

[3:40] It's got the sense of holding it back, of suppressing it, of rejecting it, essentially, of rejecting the truth in their unrighteousness.

[3:53] The word says the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against such. It's awful. It's awful.

[4:04] It's awesome to think of the wrath of God. God's anger. God's anger. it's something we don't always consider doing.

[4:14] But God is angry at the wicked every day. He's angry at those who reject his truth. He's angry at those who reject his ways. He's angry at those who choose rather the pathway of sin and rebellion.

[4:30] God hates sin. He hates sin and unbelief. And he is angry. And when we see, as was talked earlier, and someone was mentioning it this morning, the vile state of society today, that the governors of our land are considering legislating things that are plainly immoral in the Word of God.

[5:00] And God hates it. He hates sin. And he's angry at the wicked every day. Perhaps he's angrier now than he was some time before.

[5:11] As we see the decadence, the degradation, the decline of our society, as it becomes more depraved and more sinful. It goes on.

[5:22] Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. For God hath showed it unto them. It's a willful rejection. God showed it to mankind.

[5:33] God's shown his truth. He's shown his way. And it's manifest. It's evident. In them, this willful rejection. This willful rebellion.

[5:45] And the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. It goes on. 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.

[6:08] It talks of the invisible things of him, his invisible attributes. It tells us that it's obvious. It's as plain as day, when we notice creation, creation, we are without excuse to reject the creator.

[6:26] Creation shouts out. It shouts out. The invisible things of him are evident. His eternal power, his invisible attributes, his Godhead, his divine nature, creation shouts it out, so that they are without excuse.

[6:47] Without excuse, verse 20. And then, verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God.

[7:00] Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. They are without excuse.

[7:13] Creation and conscience is enough evidence to condemn every man. Creation and conscience is enough to condemn every man.

[7:29] Creation, consider that. The people who should be shouting the loudest are the scientists and doctors as they look into their telescopes and into their microscopes. They can see the design.

[7:41] They can see the order. They can see the plan. Yet, for some, their foolish heart was darkened. It's been said, the worst sin in the universe is not to give God glory and honour.

[7:57] They glorified him not. They glorified him not as God. Some scientists will say, scientists will say, there is no God. They would say that all the wonders around you are accidental.

[8:15] It's astonishing. No almighty hand made a thousand billion stars and hundreds of billions of galaxies. They made themselves, they would say.

[8:26] The surface of our land just happened to have topsoil without which we'd have no vegetables to eat, no grass for the animals whose meat is our food.

[8:40] The inexhaustible envelope of air only 50 miles deep and of exactly the right density to support human life, it's just another accident.

[8:51] that we have day and night, that the earth spins around at given speed without slowing down.

[9:01] Who made this arrangement? Who tilts the earth just so that we get seasons? The sun's fire that it does not generate too much heat so that we fry but just enough heat so that we do not freeze.

[9:19] Who keeps the fire of the sun constant? And that human heart that pulsates in every one of you, that human heart that beats for some 70, 80 years without faltering, how does it get sufficient rest between the beats?

[9:38] And that human tongue who gives it the flexibility to form words and who made a brain to understand those words? Is it all just an accident?

[9:51] It's all just an accident. All this amazing complexity and the exactness of design. There is no God. That's what some people say. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

[10:06] God created truly. God Psalm 14 verse 1. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.

[10:18] They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. Someone said this, the greatness of our God is seen in sky and sea and forest green and living creatures great and small reveal the God who made them all.

[10:42] Truly they are without excuse. Without excuse. I read of a man who owned a company who would get his prospective employees to undergo a lie detector test and one of the questions was do you believe in God?

[11:06] And he says that even when a man claims to be an atheist that when they answer that question no, do you believe in God? No. The machine says they're lying.

[11:20] That's interesting isn't it? Because deep down deep down I don't think any thinking human could ever take such a position. The design of creation points to the master designer.

[11:34] For God's wisdom is plainly seen in the works of creation. God's handiwork in nature is everywhere and we can see it so strongly his existence and power is evident in the creation that we see.

[11:56] And it's also clear to us that man's guilt and condemnation is something that this points to too.

[12:08] That such a creator to reject him would be such a condemnatory thing. man's love. So Paul writes that man is without excuse if he does not respond in faith to the God who made it all.

[12:26] Man is without excuse. Only those who are spiritually deaf and blind cannot hear the voice of God or see his hand in nature. We see that the earth and its function, its form, that the fashioning of it is so evident that a designer's hand has made it just so, perfectly so.

[12:49] The sun, the moon, the stars, the galaxy's creation shows his workmanship. God's fingerprints are everywhere around us.

[13:00] Our creator God deserves glory, glory, glory. He is worthy of our praise. Even in ancient times before microscopes and telescopes, the greatness of God was evident to mankind.

[13:17] Truly, as David declared, the heavens declared the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Psalm 19 verse 1.

[13:28] The heavens declared, they shouted out the glory of God. Look into that starry night. And deny him, if you dare.

[13:40] The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament, the skies, they show his handiwork, day and night. You know, Julie and I went down the beach and looked at a sunset.

[13:55] We got there too late to see the sunset. But we saw something even more beautiful than that. As we sat there by the beach and the sun had already gone down and the glowing sky on the horizon was beautiful.

[14:10] Even though we missed the sunset, we didn't quite make it on time. But then as the stars started to come out, one by one, and the moon, and I saw a shooting star, and I thought, the heavens declare the glory of God.

[14:27] The firmament showeth his handiwork. heaven. How can men look at the stars in their orbits and the solar system? How can they observe a small sea coming out of the ground and reproducing the life of a giant tree from which it came?

[14:45] How can they look at such things and deny God? How can they see the marvellous cycle of the seasons? The cycle even of the clouds forming and of the rain falling and of the evaporation and only the wonder of it, the cycle of the world?

[15:03] How can they witness the birth of a human being? Now I look back to the birth of my little ones, and how can you look at that and deny him?

[15:14] The marvel of it. The glory of the sunrise, of the sunset, the marvel of human birth. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show his handiwork.

[15:27] Look at the birds in their flights. As it's been said, the birds are able themselves to navigate even by the stars. It's been found that even if a bird is hatched and raised in a windowless building, so a bird is born in a dark room, shut away from all of the sorens of the life around them, born in a windowless building, and is shown an artificial sky, they immediately orient themselves to the proper place to which to migrate.

[16:02] They can navigate by the stars. It's amazing. We look at the arch of fish. It's able to fly drops of water with amazing force and accuracy to knock insects out of the air.

[16:16] Another little creature, the bombardier beetle. It separately mixes two different chemicals inside its body that it releases and combines to explode in the face of an enemy.

[16:29] And yet, this explosion doesn't happen prematurely, you know, when it's being mixed. It doesn't happen to hardly be to itself, but just at the right moment as it mixes those ingredients to defend itself.

[16:49] Many people have come to see the reality of creation, that it's evident. There was a NASA scientist who said, Robert Jastrow, said this, we see how the astronomical evidence supports the biblical view of the origin of the world.

[17:09] The essential elements in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same. Science has proved that the universe exploded into being at a certain moment.

[17:25] It asks what cause produced this effect. Who or what put the matter and the energy into the universe and science cannot answer these questions.

[17:35] Yet God answers it in the beginning. God created. Does anyone have an excuse for not believing in God? The Bible says no.

[17:47] There is no excuse. God has revealed himself to every man and woman in creation. He's revealed himself in your conscience for you to reject God.

[18:00] You have to become a fool. A fool. And no excuses will be accepted for you. to neglect him. It goes on professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

[18:17] Verse 22. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. One atheist said this, I know there are lots of problems with evolution, but God is not a factor that I consider, and without that, this is the best thing, the next best thing I can come up with.

[18:37] evolution is the next best thing I can come up with. Kind of sad, isn't it? It goes on, verse 23, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.

[18:59] things. Now, I've been in a heathen temple and seen an idol. I've mentioned this before, and it looked very bright and glowing.

[19:10] And I went up to it and donged it on the head. And I wasn't worried about catching any evil spirit out of it or anything. And I asked one of these guys here who were bowing down to it, and I said, what is this?

[19:24] He said, concrete. It was concrete spray painted with a nice gold finish. It's a lump of concrete that bowing down to it. Changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man.

[19:38] It was ugly. Buddha. I mean, who might worship an ugly, big, fat man like Buddha? I mean, come on. It's ugly. It's an image made like to corruptible man.

[19:50] Not a nice-looking man either. Why would you be so foolish? as to do such. And yet, idolatry is not confined to such religions as that. As Tozer said, idolatry begins in the mind when we pervert or exchange the idea of God for something other than what he really is.

[20:11] It's a substitute for the real thing when we pervert or exchange the idea of God for something other than what he really is. And idolatry is not confined to such pagan religions.

[20:24] and as such, it's idolatry is when something is a substitute for the real God. It goes on, verse 24, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own bodies to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.

[20:43] Their foolish heart was darkened. men. Where the light of the gospel is shut out through the foolishness of unbelief, men descend into ever deeper depths of depravity.

[21:00] God gave them up to uncleanness. Verse 25, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever.

[21:13] Amen. You know, there's some countries where there's cows walking down the street and if you were to injure them with your motor vehicle you could be killed because they consider those cattle gods.

[21:27] Change the truth of God into a lie. Worship and serve the creature more than the creator. But we can do that in Western society too. We see the worship of the creature.

[21:39] We see the greening movement where we've got people campaigning and they don't care about the abortion that's going on but they'll want to save the whales.

[21:51] They'll want to save the yellow crested whatever it is. They'll want to have a big campaign about such things as that and yet they will not consider what God counts as value.

[22:06] Atheism is basically a lie. It's a lie. Those who claim to be atheists are actually liars because there is no excuse for unbelief.

[22:18] The word of God declares that everyone knows that God is real. It's evident to every man. God is manifest.

[22:33] He's evident. God has showed it unto them. His invisible attributes are visible in all of creation. He's written his laws on the conscience of man, in the hearts of man.

[22:48] He's written his laws so that no one, no one, not one, has an excuse. And when judgment comes, there will be no excuse for you, no excuse for me.

[23:02] People are willingly ignorant of their sin, of their unbelief. They're dumb on purpose. God gave man the brain to smell iron and make nails and a hammerhead and the brains and the strength to bring down a tree and to fashion from that tree a handle for the hammer.

[23:25] Then God laid out his hand and allowed man to take the nails and the hammer and to nail him to a cross so that God could demonstrate his love to the world.

[23:39] Man has taken all that God has given him and used it against him. It goes on, for this cause God gave them up.

[23:51] verse 26, unto vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature.

[24:03] And likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one toward another. Men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was mean.

[24:22] It's talking about homosexuality. It says it's unseemly. It's indecent and shameful. And it says that such will receive the recompense of their error.

[24:39] It will lead to a penalty. It will lead to a recompense, a retribution. Don't we see that today? The AIDS epidemic.

[24:51] I've heard the Songyu homosexual disease apparently that's just surfacing too. Sin.

[25:05] Ever sicker and violent. No matter what the governments of our world would say about it. It goes on. verse 28.

[25:19] And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Now in these verses it says God gave them up, God gave them up, God gave them over.

[25:35] Simple man chooses his own path of self-destruction. And one thing leads to another. contrary to popular ideas mankind is not ascending to God but is descending from God.

[25:54] Humanity is in a downward spiral of depravity. Man is not growing upward but downward. Man is not evolving, he's devolving.

[26:05] It's like that garden of mine that it just doesn't take much effort to grow those weeds. I've got an anointing for growing weeds in my garden.

[26:17] I don't have to try to grow weeds. I don't know about your garden but it's a fact isn't it? It just naturally grows weeds and man is like that too.

[26:32] Our inclination is not godly. the weeds of our sinfulness are something we've got to combat and ask God to help us restrain and rather cultivate the good things of his works in our lives.

[26:53] So we see mankind's vile and horrific slide into sin. More and more and more of vile sin till we just get to the pits of filth.

[27:07] And wrong belief leads to wrong thinking which leads to wrong actions. You know it goes on there the various verses continuing there filled with all unrighteousness all the wicked fruit of unrighteousness even without natural affection.

[27:28] I mean how could a mother bring herself to murder her own child her own flesh and blood. It's a result of sin. But thank God God can forgive sin even whatever it be all of the things we've mentioned there's nothing beyond his power.

[27:49] If you've fallen into homosexuality if you've committed an abortion if you've done the vilest wickedness that man could ever write about then there is still mercy with God today.

[28:03] There is still mercy tonight and this is not to condemn anyone but rather to point you to the answer that we all need. Friends knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death but not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them.

[28:21] This speaks to the people who would say well I haven't done such things as that but I respect and support the rights of others the rights of others to engage in abortion.

[28:33] I support the rights of others to engage in homosexuality and other wicked behaviour and our children are being taught this ever more. I'd imagine as they so called legalise so called same sex marriage that the sex education lessons will even be more graphic about all the alternatives of such things no matter what God says about wicked behaviour.

[29:03] God says that those judged too are those who have pleasure in them that do them. We don't stand with those who condone such things.

[29:14] Now there's some churches that openly stand whilst that they advocate such things they defend such things and they have ministers who do such things no matter that God condemns it they condone it they excuse it.

[29:35] Friends there's no excuse they are without excuse. In 2 Peter 3 it tells of those in the last days scoffers will come walking after their own lusts.

[29:50] In Psalm 10 verse 4 it tells of the wicked through the pride of his countenance he has a proud face. He will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts.

[30:03] There is a hell. John Lennon knows that now. He knows it now. He sang a song imagine no heaven or hell.

[30:15] Well he can imagine all he likes but he knows now he knows now he knows for certain now there is a hell. There is a hell. And without Christ you are hell bound tonight.

[30:26] Without Christ you are lost and condemned to hell. Without Christ you are hell bound. I can't pretend otherwise today.

[30:38] It would be woe to me if I did not tell you that. If you are without Christ you are bound for hell. And friends I urge you it tells us in James 1 to lay apart sin and rather receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls.

[30:58] Receive with meekness the engrafted word. Let it be engrafted. Let it be planted. Let it be planted within you tonight. To receive the word with meekness is the word which is able to save your souls.

[31:13] We must heed the warnings of God's word. You know science tells us that the universe has not existed forever.

[31:24] It's common sense. I know I've heard a brother talk about along this theme too. Naturally it had a beginning sometime. It had a cause then. How can man to come into existence from nothing?

[31:40] Science cannot answer that but God can. It says in the beginning God. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

[31:54] Created means made from nothing. Made from nothing. It had to be made from nothing because at one time it wasn't there and God made it.

[32:08] He spoke and it happened. There's no valid excuses for unbelief today. young people, older people today, there's no excuse.

[32:18] There's no excuse to not believe. There's no excuse not to listen to him tonight and hear his voice. There's no valid excuse for you to be lost other than your own wicked rebellion against him.

[32:40] Some would mock God and accuse God and judge God. How can we do such a thing? What God might choose to do on this world when things occur we don't always understand.

[32:55] God but the day of his wrath is coming. He's holding it back. Thank him for that. Thank him for that. His wrath is held back still but it will be poured out.

[33:10] Don't be overtaken by it. Like those when the flood came. It was only those in the ark who were safe. It was only those that were enclosed in the ark who were safe.

[33:22] And God shut the door. He says when it's time over. He says when it's game over. He says when time's up. And that time will come.

[33:34] The time of his wrath. And friends we can be saved from wrath through him. We can be saved from the day of wrath. But don't make excuses any longer today. If you're outside of Christ take refuge in the saviour.

[33:48] Christ is the ark. Christ is the ark today. It's not being built somewhere out in the desert. But Christ is the ark. He's the one that we can flee into and find refuge in and be safe from the flood of God's wrath.

[34:05] They are without excuse. If you're outside of Christ tonight you are without excuse for your unbelief. And the wrath of God is just around the corner.

[34:17] I pray you'll trust him. I pray you'll trust him now. Let us pray. Heavenly Father we thank you that the wrath that you talk of was poured out at that hill, at that place outside the gate, at that mount.

[34:39] Your wrath was poured out. Your anger was vented in all its fury without restraint as it was poured out on the person of your son.

[34:54] We thank you Father that you chose that way unto yourself. We thank you Father that you spared us from that which we are all due, that penalty of our sin.

[35:13] you poured it out upon our dear Lord Jesus. We pray Lord help us to realise that today. If there's any that are lost today, help them to see that your wrath is just held back for a moment, for just a moment longer, that we will trust you while we can, that we will turn from our sin, that we will crumble to our knees, we'll fall at your feet and pray Lord forgive me for my sin.

[35:44] Take my sin. I trust you now. I ask you Lord forgive me. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin, for paying that awful price for me.

[35:58] Thank you Lord that you can help me to stop making excuses and start living how you would be pleased for me to live. Help me to choose that pathway that you will choose for name.

[36:12]  In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.