Rejection of God

Romans 1:18-23

Rejection of God.

Romans 1:18-23, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

God is a God of wrath. Now many are denying this today. The denials come in two primary forms.

The first is the denial that comes by way of soul sleep, people which teach that when you die you just go to sleep, if you are to be condemned, and you never suffer anything. Then there are the universalists, who are now saying that ultimately God will just save everybody. But the Scripture does not teach either of those things. It teaches that men are to be warned of the wrath to come, and that assumes that it is real.

Beware of the powerful natural appeal of universalism and soul sleep. They evade everlasting suffering, which is a problem for us to deal with, but they do it by perverting the Scripture. So, beware of that because you can easily be sucked in to believing that because you wish well on everyone.

How can a good God allow people to go to hell? Secondly, beware of the pervasive influence of liberalism, which always sees Jesus as too loving to condemn anybody. Thirdly, beware of the loss of zeal for winning souls. For if you are determined to believe that nobody is ever going to wind up in hell ultimately, then there you have the basis for never bothering to tell anybody the truth any longer.

Why bother?

Shallow views of sin and God’s holiness and of the glory of Jesus Christ and His claims on us lie at the bottom of weak theories of the doom of the impenitent. The more closely men walk with God and the more devoted they become to His service the more likely they are to believe this doctrine.

Now that brings us to the question of verses 19-23. If God is going to judge, and if He is going to pour out His vengeance, is it fair, is it just, is it right? These four phases become the four reasons why God is just in condemning men to hell.

Revelation, rejection, rationalization, and religion. Revelation. The wrath of God has been unleashed. V 18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, The reason God will pour out His wrath.

V 19-20, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of

the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, Creation has given to man enough light for him to perceive the revelation of God.

The obvious implication is that man rejected the truth and went downward. If he had accepted the truth of God visible in creation, he would have moved upward. If man had have lived up to the light that God gave him, God would have given him more light.

That happens many times in the New Testament.

• Lydia,
• Cornelius,
• Ethiopian Eunuch,
• Queen of the Ethiopians.

All of them living up to the existing light that God gave them were given opportunity to receive more light, and when they did, they believed momentarily. The message comes to an open heart, to one who lives up to the light he has.

Man can see His sustaining power and His Deity, so that if he lives up to that recognition and that revelation, God will give

him more light. If he sees the never-failing omnipotence and the divine attributes of God as manifest in creation, God will give him more light. God has so much information in creation, so men are without excuse.

Is God’s wrath just? Yes.

Is it fair? Yes. Because man is inexcusable. Man is inexcusable. If a man goes to hell he goes there because he has openly, personally chosen to reject the revelation of God.

What if he never heard the gospel? If he had lived up to the light that he had, God would reveal the whole message of redemption to him. V 21, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Every human being has the light of Christ within him and the revelation of creation around him to lead him to God.

John 1:9, That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. If he does not go there, he is inexcusable.

• Revelation simply says that God has revealed Himself to men.
• Rejection says men have turned away from that revelation.

When man finds God in creation, he rejects God.

• Lucifer did it.
• Adam did it.

Adam even walked and talked with God and rejected Him. Will God give man brains to see these things and will man then fail to exercise his will toward that God? The sorrowful answer is that both things are true. God will give a man brains to smelt iron and make a hammerhead and nails.

God will grow a tree and give man strength to cut it down and brains to fashion a hammer handle from its wood.

When man has the hammer, and the nails God will put out His hand and let men drive those nails through it and place Him on a cross in the supreme demonstration that men are without excuse. The very things God gave man to lead them to Him were the very things he used to crucify Christ.

Men do not act in accord with the truth. They wickedly fight against and oppose the truth. V 21. They knew God, and yet they do not know God because they have turned away from Him. The sin of rejection is crystallized. V21, “When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God.”

That is the crime of all crimes. The worst deed ever committed in the universe is to fail to give God glory. Above everything God is to be glorified. The heart and soul of the fallenness of man. He refuses to glorify God.

What does it mean to glorify God?

It means to

• exalt Him,
• honor Him,
• treat Him as majestic.

The attributes of God are His glory. The glory of God is the consummation of all His being. The glory of God is the consummation of all His attributes. The glory of God is what God is revealed. When man will not recognize that, and man will not give the glory to whom it is due, then that is the ultimate effrontery to God. God is to be glorified.

That is the reason man has been created, to glorify God. The old catechism said, “What is the chief end of man?” “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” God is to be glorified. Glory is simply His attributes.

Romans 6:4, Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

What part of His glory? The power part of His glory.

Exodus 33, Moses says, “Show me Your glory.” God says, “I will make My goodness and My mercy pass before you.” So, His glory is His power, mercy, kindness, and grace.

John 1:14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Truthfulness is part of His glory. All the attributes of God make up His glory, and man is to recognize that. That is precisely what they will not do.

Romans 3:23, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

They will not see His glory. They will not manifest His glory in their own lives. They will not even ascribe to Him the glory due His name. 1 Chronicles 16. Repeatedly from verse 24 on, it tells us to “give God glory, give God glory, give God glory.” Basically, the created world does that. “The heavens declare the glory of God,”

They do not argue. There has never been a revolt of the stars. They just do it.

Isaiah 43:20, The beast of the field will honour Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I give waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My people, My chosen.

The animals just do what God created them to do. They manifest His mighty handiwork. The flowers bloom, and the butterflies butterfly, and all of creation does what it was made to do, and it does not argue, it just gives God glory.

But in the midst of it all, man rebels, refuses to glorify God, and recognize God. If anyone can stand looking at this created universe and say that they do not believe in God, and they will not affirm the glory, majesty, honor, and power of God. The evidence is so replete.

All of man’s commitment to life can be summed in one statement. “Whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.” That is the reason we live. God has always desired that man would see His glory. Now God had made Adam and Eve and placed them in this wonderful garden. God has placed His presence there.

The word for “presence” is shekinah. It is not a biblical word, but it is the word that was used for presence.

We call the presence of God there the “shekinah glory.” God manifested Himself in some kind of light. Adam and Eve even walked and talked with God in the cool of the day. They recognized God’s glory. They saw God’s glory. They communed with God. They praised God. They accepted His glory.

Then they sinned.

Genesis 3:8, And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

The presence, and they heard God speaking as He moved through the garden. They hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God.

Why? They were no longer interested in communing with His glory. That was a thing of the past.

Genesis 3:23-24, therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Adam rebelled and he was expelled. Adam saw God’s glory and turned his back. He is a classic illustration of Romans chapter 1. “When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God.” God had said, “Obey Me and do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Glorify Me by your obedience to My law. Adam defied God, led by his wife and the temptation of Satan. “You shall be equal to God. Get some glory for yourself. Be like God.” They sought their own glory, and they were expelled.

Romans 1:21, “They knew God, but glorified Him not as God.” Is Adam having an excuse not to be condemned? Not at all.

• He was expelled from the garden because he made his choice.
• He could have obeyed.
• He had the knowledge.
• He knew what it was to perceive and to know God, but he turned his back on it.

God put a sword and said, “That’s it.”

God could, at that point, have just obliterated the human race and started from scratch. But God desired to reach back to mankind and let man see His glory. God wanted to seek out fallen sinful man and draw him back. Throughout the Scripture, God endeavors to reveal His glory.

God comes to the point in the 12th chapter of Genesis where He forms a special nation, and that nation is designed for a vehicle by which God can reveal His glory. God gives them a great leader by the name of Moses. God had said to Moses, “I want you to lead My people. I want you to represent Me before them.”

God came to Moses to set him aside for the work.

Exodus 33:11-12, So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. 12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ For such a great job of leading the ³ million people God says that He will be with Moses to lead them.

Exodus 33:13-14, Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” 14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Moses asks God to do something tangible, physical. Show me something. Demonstrate Yourself.

God says that “My presence shall go with you.”

What is that? The same presence we saw in Genesis 3. Here it is back again. It is God’s glory, God’s shekinah. God is saying, “Now I will show you My glory.” God desired that the people would see His glory and respond properly. I will show you My glory. My presence will go with you.

Moses was still skeptical.

Exodus 33:18-23, And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And

the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”

God says, “I can’t show you the full deal, but I will let you see a little of My afterglow. God tucks Moses in the rock. Moses is up on the mountain God goes by, and when Moses saw the glory, it got all over his face. After this incredible vision that Moses had seen, his face was literally transfigured. The glory of God was all over it.

Exodus 34:5-6, Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,

God just recites all His attributes, and they were all somehow revealed in a blazing light. We do not understand that. We just know that is what it says. Moses goes down the mountain.

Exodus 34:29, Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. Moses comes down talking to the people, and his face is lit up like a light bulb. He has got the glory of God all over the place. Moses came to reveal God’s glory. He came to show the people the glory of God.

Did they accept it? No. They never glorified God. They griped. They complained. They whined all over the place until that entire generation died in the wilderness. God was saying, “See My glory.” He even put it on the face of Moses.

Paul says in Corinthians that the glory would fade on Moses’ face, so he had run back up the mountain, stick his face in the rock again, and get some more glory and come down. Finally,

he veiled his face so the people would not see it fade. It was not his glory. It was God’s glory. It was permanent for God, but temporary for him. God was saying to His people, “See My glory. See My glory.” But instead, they complained, murmured, and they died in the wilderness.

God could have written them off then, but He did not. He gave them plans to build a tabernacle. Exodus 40th chapter when they finished the tabernacle. They were to wander for 40 years, and all the while they were to wander God wanted them to see His glory.

Exodus 40:34-38, Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

Now all the tribes were set around the tabernacle. They all had their camping places, all twelve tribes, around the

tabernacle, and they all faced the tabernacle. It was a place of worship. And when they moved for those 40 years, the tabernacle was picked up and moved along, and the glory went with it. The glory of God came down and dwelt between the wings of the cherubim on the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies, and the whole camp focused in on that glory.

In spite of all of that glory coming down, they didn’t have any faith. Only two of them even believed that they could do it. Even Moses himself because of his sin never entered the promised land.

God was saying, “Will you see My glory? Men refused. The Israelites got in the land. God said, “I want to reveal My glory one more time.” 1 Kings 8. They finished the temple. They brought the ark of the covenant into the temple, and after it was all done the tables of stone were placed there.

1 Kings 8:10-11, And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests could not continue ministering

because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. The temple was there in their midst permanently. The glory of God has filled the temple. God was asking them again that did you see My glory?

Did they respond? Did they become the channel to reach the world? Did the temple remain a place where God’s glory dwelt? No. They refused to see the glory. They turned their back on it just like men always have. Ezekiel saw a vision of the place of worship, the house of God, and he saw the glory there. That is where it belonged.

Ezekiel 8:4-12, And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain. 5 Then He said to me, “Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy in the entrance. 6 Furthermore He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary?

Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.” 7 So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there

was a hole in the wall. 8 Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door. 9 And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” 10 So I went in and saw, and there—every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls. 11 And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. 12 Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’

”

Were they responsible and without excuse? Yes of course! They got into the snakes, and they got into the abominable beasts, and they got involved in the idols because they turned their back on the glory of the Lord. They would not see God for who He was.

Ezekiel 8:13-18, And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” 14 So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.

15 Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.” 16 So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east.

17 And He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger.

Indeed they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”

• God has patiently revealed His glory in the garden and man turns his back.
• God reveals His glory on the face of Moses, and they turn their back.
• God reveals His glory in the tabernacle, and they do the same thing.
• God’s glory in the temple and they pollute the very temple in which His glory dwells.

This is how it is with man.

Ezekiel 10:4, Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the temple; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory. That is the first place. Glory of God just comes out of the holy of holies and it moves to the court.

Ezekiel 10:18-19, Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. 19 And the cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

• Glory of God moves out of holy of holies,
• Then moves towards the court,
• Then moves to over the top,
• Then it moves out the temple,
• Then moves over to the river Chebar,
• Moves over a mountain, and
• Finally, it is gone.

Men have always refused God’s glory.

Did God ever send it back again? Yes, one more time.

John 1:14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

When did God reveal His glory? In Christ. One time Jesus went up on the mount of transfiguration and He pulled aside His cloak, the Bible says, and showed His glory, in blazing light.

• He was the glory of God,
• the same glory that walked and talked in the garden,
• the same glory that shone on the face of Moses,
• the same glory that dwelt in the tabernacle,
• the same glory that departed from the temple,
• that same living God came in a human tabernacle,
• a human temple,
• a human face,
• walked and
• talked in this world.

God’s glory again saying to man, “Will you see Me for who I am?”

He demonstrated love, and He demonstrated mercy, and goodness, and strength, and power, and wisdom, and truth, and every attribute of God.

What did they do to Him? They murdered Him. But that is how it is with man! Ask yourself this question, has man repeatedly throughout his history known God, seen His glory, and turned his back on it? Even Israel, with the fullest revelation did that.

Why would we expect anything other than that from the pagan? When it comes down to condemnation, and God’s judgment, God judges’ men because they reject His revealed glory. The classic illustration is Pharaoh! How many times did God display His glory and how many times did Pharaoh deny it?

Jeremiah 13:13-14, Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness! 14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the Lord. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ”

Why?

How can You do that?

Jeremiah 13:15-16, Hear and give ear: Do not be proud, For the Lord has spoken. 16 Give glory to the Lord your God Before He causes darkness, And before your feet stumble On the dark mountains, And while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death And makes it dense darkness. In other words, you give glory to God, or else. Men know to give glory to God because God is revealed it to them.

Jeremiah 13:17-18, But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for your pride; My eyes will weep bitterly And run down with tears, Because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive. 18 Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves; Sit down, For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.” No, God is not happily involved in wrath. He is sadly involved in wrath. A comparative passage in the New Testament.

Acts 12:20, Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they

asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country. 21 So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. 22 And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” 23 Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.

Isn’t he marvelous? He is a god. Herod loved it. Not exactly the planned ending to Herod day.

Why did the Lord smite him? Because he gave not God the glory.

Did he know to do that? Of course, he knew to do that. All men know to do that. That is why he is without excuse.

What about the future?

Will God’s glory come again?

Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Darkness. The sun is dark. The moon does not give its light. If the sun is dark, the moon will not give its light. The stars fall out of the sky. The heavens collapse, pitch blackness.

Matthew 24:30, Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. All the lights go out and then comes the blazing shekinah revelation of the glory of God, and then His glory will fill the earth in the wonder of His kingdom.

The whole history of Scripture is the history of God revealing His glory.

What about the present tense? God’s revealing His glory in the world today.

Colossians 1:27, To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Ephesians 3:21, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

We are the radiation of Christ’s glory in the world today, and they do not listen to us either. Man, always refuses God’s glory. Romans 1. Now we have a context for this verse. When they knew God, and all men knew Him simply because of His revelation in creation, and because Christ is the light that lights every man that comes into the world.

But when they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God because of their own pride.

What happens? “neither were they thankful.” They do not ascribe everything they possess to the God who gave it to them. Man’s failure is not that he fails to recognize God, but that he refuses to glorify God. If he does not accept God as the source, he will not thank God, and not to thank God is blasphemous.

For God has provided everything that is, and He is so good. He even makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Instead of glorifying God and having thankful hearts darkened.

V 21, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. They became empty in their thoughts. If you reject God, you have an empty mind, you have created a vacuous situation. Vain human philosophy, perverse, self- willed musings and reasonings. They were left with empty thoughts, useless, pointless, purposeless thinking.

They go from truth to emptiness. But that vacuum does not stay empty very long. That is representative of all the world of filth, trash, sin, vileness, and evil. So, man has a history that is devolutionary, not evolutionary.

• He knows God.
• He will not glorify God.
• He will not be thankful.
• He is too proud.
• When he puts God out of his life, he creates a vacuum.
• Vacuum is his own empty thoughts,
• vacuum brins the darkness of evil that fills up his foolish heart.

Man having rejected God cannot any longer find the truth.

John 8:45, But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.

1 Corinthians 2:14, But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

They are foolishness to him. Because his mind is filled with senseless, empty, and evil thoughts. That is the legacy of man’s refusal to glorify God. It is not just intellectual darkness but moral. We read all the dumb things that philosophers write. We listen to the talk programs, and read the articles in the paper, and all we hear is this empty, foolish, rambling on of human philosophy that has no content of truth at all. But it is all man’s left with.

Conclusion

I know there are some here and you stand in Romans 1, you have known God because that which may be known of God is revealed unto you, being understood by the things that are made, the created world. You are responsible to live up to that light.

As Paul said in Acts 17, God is not far from you if you seek after Him. He has tried to reveal His glory to you. He has revealed His glory, and you have turned your back. You are

not thankful to Him because you will not recognize Him as the source of all goodness, and so you have never been led to the true light, Jesus Christ. You stand without excuse before the judgment of God. That is not my message to you, that’s God’s message.

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have never embraced the Son, if you have never taken God’s provision for salvation, I pray that you would do that today.