godephesians chapter 4.

this is god's perspective on unregenerates

notice he says this i say therefore and testify in the lord that you should no longer
walk as the rest of the gentiles

walk in the futility of their mind or the emptiness of their mind

having their understanding darkened being alienated from the life of god

because of the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness or

could be translated callousness of their heart who being past feeling or being callous

have given themselves over to lewdness to unclean to work all

uncleanness with greediness what what a description and

i like the uh the contrast but you have not so learned

christ if you're in christ we're supposed to be exact opposite of

all this stuff notice that these people are

are have an empty mind this would be

these are uh in in paul's day these a lot of these would be people who

have education who are the people kind of people he confronted on mars hill

and god says their minds are empty their thinking is empty

and they are darkened they are not enlightened let's think about that and

talk about the enlightenment in western civilization in many respects the

enlightenment was

actually a darkening because of the rejection of

the reformation by and large in increasing rejection in the

enlightenment of the rejection of the reformation doctrines

being alienated from the life of god these people are

do not have uh the life that really counts and uh they are ignorant

they are blind or callous in their hearts this is uh

this this is an and amazing uh description of

unsaved people and remember this is not a human perspective this is a divine
perspective

on unsaved people and

but this is this is the condition of humanity outside of christ

and this is why this is why we're going to get into today a little bit more uh natural

revelation general revelation does not get through to them

because of all of this they uh they are insensitive to it they're callous to

it and it does not enter their

they they end up as we'll see in romans 1 they reject it and they give themselves
instead over

verse 19 reminds me of romans 1 they have given themselves over to lewdness

romans 1 actually god gives them up but they have given themselves over to

lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness covetousness

this is the description and this is why

general revelation is is restricted in in reaching people

it's because not because of the revelation it's because of the recipients

of the revelation let's open in a word of prayer our father we thank you for

uh for by your spirit through your word saving

us out of all this uh so often we take take it for granted that we're in christ

that we have the light we have your life

mediated to us through christ you we have your light in your word

given by your spirit in our hearts and we thank you for for these great gifts as we read
of

your perspective on unregenerate people thank you so much for your grace in our

lives for your mercy on us

for not leaving us in this condition

we pray your blessing on our time as we share today

we pray that uh as we talk about these matters these might be more than

academic to us that we might realize the greatness

of your grace in actually

enlightening our hearts through the gospel through the face of jesus christ as he
shines in the gospel

may we come to a greater gratitude

for your grace in our lives we ask this in christ's name

amen we are uh beginning today in lesson three i want

to talk about this matter of tensions or paradoxes in

kinemies first of all let's set down a basic definition

when we talk about tensions and i'm going to use tension antinomy paradox

as synonymous with each other these are usually used interchangeably

in evangelical systematic theology there are i have noted some

dictionary definitions and some some

knwdistinctions of nuances between these terms but in general we

use these each of these to refer to statements or doctrines about god and his works
that

from human perspective are apparently and that's that's the key word apparently

mutually contradictory and yet have internal and external consistency and

are therefore true test of of truth is internal consistency

and external consistency by internal consistency we mean is it free from

self-contradiction does it pass the test of cons internal consistency external

consistency

is it consistent with that which is outside of it is it consistent with that which it

refers to outside of of this uh of these statements or

propositions in theology the words pretension antinomian paradox are synonymous

each word is used for the state of human perception

in other words it's tension and paradox and enemy from our perception not from god's
perception when two or more

assertions of scripture are apparently mutually contradictory but are divine assertions
and so they're

really true now we see some examples of theological

tensions one is the trinity uh god is one essence but three persons

and each person is the entire essence well

how how do you we don't have anything like that

and that last point is is the kicker each

person is the entire essence how is that possible

uh you know that's that's the point of mystery we'll get to the trinity later in the
semester but

that's that's uh as as burkhoff says that's the mystery that the church can

never remove and that's the point is that you have

this seems to be mutually contradictory god is one and yet god is three

how can that how can that be and uh with as much

definition and wordsmithing over uh the centuries

uh you still have that central mystery is still there and you can't overcome that but we
can

reduce its proportions a little bit so by

proper wordsmithing but this is one of the examples another example is the person of
christ

jesus is a complete divine nature and a complete human nature in one

person not not part

not part human not part divine but fully divine

and fully human and yet only one person and how is that part possible

we don't know any anyone like that there's no there's there's no analogy to that

uh that is exactly like that now there are illustrations we'll talk about the

trinity there's nothing exactly like the trinity we have some illustrations we'll get into
those but

but each one it comes short of being just like the trinity or just like the

person of christ but jesus is one person and yet

yet two full complete natures that are distinct that are not mixed

together and so this is the what we call a hypostatic union the personal union

of divine and human in one person uh that's that that's another tension or

antinomy uh another one is is the bible uh the bible is fully inspired by god

therefore it's inerrant but it's also written by fully consciously engaged

fallible human authors and these human authors are not only fallible but

they you know even even putting that aside they are they are finite and god is infinite

and eternal as we get into the perfections we'll talk about god's eternality that's

not being governed by the uh by the um

uh succession of moments uh but yet these human authors are they

live and they their their life depends on the succession of moments

and how is it possible then for for god to

uh to communicate himself to reveal himself as the eternal

god who transcends the every every point of space every moment

of time is both outside of space and outside of

time and yet yet is with every moment of space and with every

every uh every moment of time and with every point of space all that is that creates
detention

and is a uh is paradoxical uh and and of course has led uh many

down through the years to say well then the bible cannot be a divine book

uh because humans wrote it uh if humans had any thing to do with it then it is a

limited uh book it is it is not infinite it is

also fallible because it was touched by human hands

and we'll get into that progressive sanctifications another another antinomy

another tension the scripture says that god sank is the

one who sanctifies us completely and yet the bible also says that we're

responsible to grow in holiness commands us to grow in grace

commands us to obey commands us to work out our own salvation

and so you get uh philippians 1 6 he has begun a good work and you will complete it
god is going to do this uh god began

we'll complete it uh and yet philippians 2 and in his chapel sermon last week dr

business referred to this passage as the paradox of sanctification

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is god who works in

you you're supposed to work out because god is working in you

would you please stop and explain that a little bit more and he just goes on how
ungracious you know

uh come on now uh don't you don't you know that

that theologues down through the years would be talking about this how about a little
bit more explanation paul

the christian we're not respond we are responsible to live out our salvation because
our works don't

depend on us they work depend on god's working

and so this enables us to to work out our salvation we can we can

respond to that we're able to work out our salvation because god has given us the
ability he's in us he's working out

he's doing his work in us so we can never say we can never say i can't do that

you know god tells us do something can ever say i can't do that

i referred to dr paul meyer used to say to his

counselees whenever they would say i can't do that and he would always say would
you please

change that can't to won't it's not that you can't obey

it's that you won't that's the point the tension in progressive

sanctification is throughout the new testament totally a work of god he sanctifies

and cleanses the church by the word that's what christ does ephesians 5

father sanctifies it sanctify them through your truth your word is truth
notice that the cleansing is all in ephesians 5 is by the word the washing of water by
the word

and sanctify them by your truth your word is truth christians are we're being

transformed into uh into one from one degree of glory to

another by the holy spirit and so the spirit god is it is doing

this and yet we have to obey we are required to be filled by the holy

spirit as a command we are re responsible to be filled by the spirit

we have to put to death sinful thoughts and deeds the old man we must be perfecting

holiness in the fear of god we have to do that so this is a tension that just don't it

keeps on going uh both are true

both are true god works in us to make us holy

and we work but

we do not cooperate with god we don't provide what he's lacking

you know this is like the open theist we gotta you know fill in his gaps you know

and when god has gaps you know we gotta fill him in and isn't he lucky to have us
along you know uh

you know we're not providing what god is lacking this is the way god has set it up it's
a

gracious thing he is enabling us he's commanding us

and you know what he's going to reward us

for obedience that we were unable to do that he gives us all the ability to do

and he's going to reward us isn't that grace i think that's that's very gracious god
works in us to will and to

work for his good pleasure you know augustine said that when god rewards our works

he really is rewarding his own work in us and that's true

maybe you'll get that a little bit of that kind of feeling

as a pastor when you give recognitions

to your people for various uh acts of faithfulness in the church

and you'll have a special sense of fulfillment because you will have known that your

your investment in them is is is bearing fruit in their life and so

to get a little bit of analogy there well another tensioner into me is divine

sovereignty and i like to call it human accountability human accountability

god is completely sovereign over our lives directs everything according to the
counsel of his will and has unconditionally ordained some to

be saved you know uh you know

nebuchadnezzar learned this this truth uh daniel 4 35

remember how he had he had puffed himself up he built up

babylon and he's admiring babylon and he says i built it by my own my

mighty power and the honor of my majesty while the word was still in the king's
mouth

a voice fell from heaven kingdom has departed from you remember he was made to
be like an animal it was

out and and uh

his reason left him made made to eat grass like oxen's oxen

and at the end of the time allotted

body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles feathers his
nails like bird's claws

this guy was quite a sight i think he was ready to go into uh but

uh maybe play for a rock band or something like that i don't know

at the end of the time he lifts up his eyes to heaven his understanding returns to him

and he says i blessed the most high and praised and honor him who lives forever

he was greatly humbled he says his dominion is an everlasting dominion his kingdom
is from generation

to generation it's not my kingdom it's his kingdom all the inhabitants of the earth are
reputed

as nothing he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth no one can

restrain his hand or say to him what have you done nebuchadnezzar came to learn
that

the absolute sovereignty of god but we are held accountable for our

actions for our decisions our actions

in matthew chapter 16. and verse 27

the son of man will come in the glory of his father with his angels and then he will
reward each according to his works

and so he will hold people accountable and he will reward accordingly

genesis 50 verse 20. this is concerns joseph and we referred to this in the

uh in the devotional last time as for you you meant evil against me but god meant

it that it refers back to the evil god meant it for good

to bring it about as it is this day jesus said woe to the world because of

offenses offenses must come it is necessary for offenses to come

but woe to that man by whom the offense comes it's divinely determined the offenses

will come but the one through whom they come

well an example of that would be judas iscariot divinely eternally determined as being

the one who would who would uh betray the savior woe to that man though

there is divine accountability truly here's is judas the son of man

goes it is as it has been determined woe to that man by whom he is betrayed

god will still still holds judas accountable even though what he did was

in the eternal divine plan now if you don't feel

tension over that then you're not human this is god is not easy

and these are things what what are we going to try to do we're going to try to to uh

we're going to try to um try to explain them so we don't have this feeling in us

like oh i don't know like this uh if acts 2 23 him being delivered by the determined

purpose the boulet and prognosis of god you've taken by lawless hands are crucified
and put to death this death of

christ was was eternally determined by god and yet he's holding the people
responsible for

having slain their messiah as many as ben had been appointed to

eternal life believed in acts 13.

now how do we deal with antinomy's intentions first of all admit the tension

and affirm both aspects are true if you start with that

then at least you're going to be faithful to to the text you're going to be faithful to god
in his revelation

you're going to affirm that god's word is absolute truth you're going to say that you're
going to

say god is true let everybody be a liar but god won't be and so

you're going to affirm that ultimately god knows completely and accurately the truth
about himself and all of the

reality that he absolutely knows everything

everything about everything affirm both truths with total confidence

that both sides of the tension are true because they've both been revealed by god
even though i can't put them

together in my pea brain that

i still have to affirm we are called to affirm this because god

has said it and god's eternally omniscient and all-wise mind both sides of the tension

are compatible we have to affirm that

even his thoughts are higher than our thoughts

when when all this came in on on the apostle paul in romans 11.

and romans 9 through 11 he's talking about this great plan for for the jews and the
gentiles

and you know how he he has chosen the jews but he has put

them aside to reach out to the gentiles to make the jews jealous

and then he's going to restore the jews and this tremendous eternal program of

his makes paul explode

with blessed despair oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge

of god how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past

finding sounds like psalm 145 3 to me for who has known the mind of the lord

or who has become his counselor who has first given to him and it shall be repaid him

for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever amen

these are these tensions these paradoxes these antinomies they are

they are meant to drive us to this blessed despair they are meant to

to bring us to the wall of human understanding if we come by faith

and to come to the place where paul was as he is contemplating this tremendous

eschatological program for the jews and the gentiles don't try to solve

the opposite truths first accept them both

usually we get in trouble we try to solve these things and

we'll end up on one side of the other either we'll be we will have

we will have if if we're too bad imbalanced on one side we will lack the biblical

emphasis on the other side we need to keep them together in tension

and realize there's a greater mind than ours at work

reject only real contradictions for instance we can't it would be a contradiction to say
that jesus was

sinless and was not sinless and god's understanding is the only

fully accurate understanding of reality including himself

so his knowledge reflected in his word

in his inspired inerrant word will be the proper

perspective notice j.i packer's principles for dealing with a tension or

antinomy be confident that the tension is only in

our minds not in god's in his mind everything is reconciled

everything all these tensions are reconciled

so

now i have given you uh in this lesson i went ahead

and put in at least the latest version of my what i

call my theological dicta these are principles of of uh

to apply in in discovering

the systematic theology of scripture and

these i've already referred to some of these you'll you'll hear more of these as we go
through just

briefly go through these but first of all receive theology from above

don't build it from below now this is a danger that people have

you know because you know this happens a lot in uh forensic

example one of the dangers in uh in in in studying counseling for

instance is to say well we are in god's image

therefore all i have to do is look at me and i get an idea of what god is

and so i i then i build my theology on the basis of

what of how i perceive myself that's called building theology from

below don't build theology on the basis of man

being created in the image of god man being created in the image of god

really uh if we start with man and go upward we're

involved in a humanistic enterprise so we need to that's why we need special

revelation we need the revelation from

above we need to get it from above second revere the triune god in

interpreting scripture we must when we say revere him in interpretation this is a

hermeneutical

principle it's a principle of reverence that god is always going to be is always

going to transcend me in every way in every respect he's going to transcend

me he's going to be greater than me and uh

this is a problem when you when you lose this principle of reverence

and you don't start with this principle of reverence then you are liable to fall back into
building theology from below you're liable to fall back into thinking that god is kind of
on the same plane as me

and that's the danger whereas if we start with he's always going to be transcended in
every way and that

includes we'll talk about when we get talked about his perfections or his attributes
he's

he is transcended in every one of these perfections

so you talk about love god is love oh well all i do is look at myself and i know what
love is

that's building theology from below we have to we we have to begin with the

fact that god's love is going to be so much greater than ours

it's going to be something that's ultimately incomprehensible and when we start with
that then we can

then we can receive the theology from above through his word uh another one is
because god is he is who he is he does

what he does refer to that the first first day when i

talked from psalm 145 that his perfections are reflected in his

works why because because he is the kind of

being that he is he does the kind of works that he does and so

he his perfections are are revealed through his actions in time

and space because god is he is who he is he does what he does

in other words his actions are determined by who he is they flow out of who he is

these are the kinds of actions that you would expect if you knew everything about god

you would say oh it's not it's it's not it's very reasonable that he would do

this observe both positive and negative theology positive theology we give a

positive description about things negative theology is where you you say what
something is not and so

often in in theology you have to begin and sometimes be

subtle be satisfied with saying what it is not rather than what it is

this happens in in talking about the person and the work

of christ and the person of christ the early church found that in the end

it had to largely leave its definition of the person of christ

in the realm of negative theology and so they used four alpha primitives in the
calcidonian creed to describe

the hypostatic union the union of the two natures in one person
and so we'll talk about that actually next a little bit and when we get to the theater

the trinity emphasis not exclusion in the revelation of god's perfections and

in the actions of the persons of the trinity that's going to be big

because if we say if we if the bible says god is love

well that's it he's nothing else right that's it he's

nothing oh the bible oh john said god is love that's it no

so this is where you have to bring in this principle emphasis not exclusion

we only absorb one thing at a time because that's the way

humans are we're time and space creatures and so he's going to talk about one

thing god is love that's important in that context

but it isn't all that god is and

we talk about the persons the actions of the trinity when we get there we get the
trinitarianism

we'll see that all the persons all three persons always

work together no no no no no no no i know

i know that god the father is the creator oh yeah

yeah john 1 and during the logos without him nothing

was made that was made you know colossians 1.

everything was made through him

the point is that all three work together but for a given context one is going to be

emphasized that is not to the exclusion of the others just because the others aren't

mentioned doesn't mean that they're excluded well anyhow get on my soapbox for
that

both in not either or be beware the forced choice and this happens

uh sometimes it will be both it will be either or

and you'll have down to two choices but let the word of god establish those

don't you assume it this is this is one of the problems with open theism

there's only two options for them what kind of a god are you going to take

and we'll talk about that are you going to take a cold immovable

unfeeling god of of communism

or are you going to take the friendly god the relational god only two only two
possibilities only two

possibilities take one or the other all right there's no

so remember it might be a case of both hand i'm not

saying always will be but keep that as an option whoever controls definition controls
the fight we talked

about that already meaning of a scripture text is static oh that's crucial

is that going to deliver you is that going to deliver you that the meaning

of a text of scripture does not change and the meaning i might say their

meaning is in the words as they were originally written

by the human author under the inspiration of the holy spirit so you have to get back to
when the

author wrote it and that's the meaning and that's all the meaning is the meaning is in
the

words and it's not in anything else and it's in the words of that text and it's not in
anything else

don't go looking say well you know we don't have all the

meaning here you have all the meaning there you have all the meaning

meaning of a text has not changed now get this get this

so you know the illustration you know i always like to use isaiah 7

about the virgin shall conceive and bear a son

well uh so what do we say okay we're sitting in our little

bible home bible study here and you know then there's the usual oh what does it

mean to you what does it mean to you it doesn't matter what it means to you

we just want to know what it means that's not the question to ask what does

it mean to you oh let's all go around share that so moving so wonderful

has nothing to do with the author said but it's all right it's what does it mean isaiah 7
14

the virgin shall conceive oh i know what that means that means the

virgin mary virgin mary of nazareth that's what that means

can you see it in the text is it in the text you see mary's name anywhere in that

text no you don't no you don't now we know from matthew 1

that mary is the referent of isaiah 7. how do i know that

the word tells me that this was done to fulfill what was written by the prophet

and now i know who the referent is but the referent wasn't part of the text back there
in

isaiah 7. so i'd say be careful about the distinction between

meaning and reference sometimes the referent is included in the text

if it's specified it's included and it's part of the meaning but sometimes it's not

and so don't go to another text to transport meaning backward

that's going to save you in eschatological interpretation especially going to save you
big time

meaning of a text of scripture text is static meaning with scripture text does not
necessarily include his reference

it might but if it doesn't it doesn't that's just all there is

whatever god is he is to and for himself first

first and so god is first to f first

and foremost directed toward himself now this will be important when we get to the
perfections of god every

perfection of god first of all is directed toward himself and that's going to cause us
some

problems but we're not here to keep you from problems here so

all mysteries meet at the cross every when if you meditate on the cross enough

you're going to come all those tensions all those intimidates they all meet at the cross

trinity it's there person of christ it's there scripture

it's there all these tensions we've referred to

all the mysteries meet there it's a depth it's an unfathomable depth

there in the cross beware the simple option beware the simple option

we happen to be dealing with an infinite mind here

and so be careful of a facile simple option

verbal similarity does not equal identity of meaning just because

you have trumpets in five different texts does not mean they refer to the same

trumpets each text is going to have to stand on its own

just because you have clouds in four or five different texts doesn't mean they refer to
the same clouds

you're going to have to be careful and assess each context in its own integrity

triune god is eternally the beginning and ending of all reality outside himself

and he's not that he was the beginning it will be the ending he is the beginning and
the

ending eternally without succession of moments he is

always beginning and ending he is he subsumes beginning and ending he is that

eternally so that's important

the triune god knows and controls all reality

creeds and confessions are the result and evidence of beliefs not their cause

creeds are produced by people who believe what's in the creed the creed doesn't
begin the faith

it is the result of the faith creeds and confessions are the result of

people already believing something and wanting to say it in a formal way

and so people didn't begin to believe those things at the time when those creeds and
confessions were written

those things have been around and now all of a sudden because of circumstances

usually false teaching they're forced to put on paper what they believe commit

themselves in writing to what they believe they've already believed that for a long
time

and with that comes the canon the canon's the result and evidence not the cause of
belief

that the books of the bible are the canon the canon the lists of canonical books

were made because there were spurious books around and they had to what commit
everything

to paper but they already were using these books in their churches

as the word of god they were already accepting these as the word of god

their can the canon does not make their faith in the books of in these books as as

divine scripture it is their faith in these books as divine scripture that produces that
results in the

canonical lists again it's just like a creator confession a canonical list it's just

like a creator confession it's like you saying i believe that these books are the word of
god

distinction does not necessitate separation just because things are different

doesn't mean that they're separate so for instance in the person of christ

the divine nature will not be the human nature there's a distinction but they are never
separated

in the trinity there are three persons they are distinct from each other but

they are never separated we might say an illustration

and shows illustrations don't don't always come up to this high standard but uh in a

marriage you have two distinct persons and yet

god hath joined together let no man

separate so they are distinct and yet they are one and so

a type is not necessarily less than its antitype a type might be greater than its
antitype in hebrews

there are there's at least one type that's that's the the type is greater and the end
type is

actually lesser and the type is the is the tabernacle in heaven

heaven becomes the type and the antitype is the tabernacle on earth which is greater
the type or the antitype

well in this case the type is greater normally the type is lesser pointing to

something greater but it's not necessarily so type might be heavenly and it's easy to
type earthly

interpret a text literally if literal interpretation of the text makes sense in the context

assume it's going to be literal unless you have compelling reasons

in the context to say otherwise behind underneath figurative language is

a literal assertion just because something is figurative doesn't mean it's not literal it is
a

non-literal way of asserting literal truth and the point is get to the literal truth

and then finally all always has a context don't take all out of context all is is

is defined by the context what all of what might ask everything of what

so do that okay all right

okay we're gonna move on then into uh

second part of our course and that's bibliology and we are going to talk today

about general or natural revelation and

we talk about revelation we use the the uh think about the greek verb

apocalypto or apocalypses the noun it's a an uncovering a disclosure

uh let's talk about general revelation

uh this is general revelation is god uh communicating something about himself

through nature conscience and history to

all people to all people that's why it's general it is put out there

for anyone it's not guaranteeing that everyone will have as much accessibility

these things as others we've talked about this already

but it is out there he's putting it out there whoever

whoever wants to look at these things they're out there and it's not guaranteeing that
everybody
will know all these things uh exhaustively

or any of these things exhaustively just putting them out there

we're talking about the general i mean general means unrestricted that is in the
revelation it's not

restricted in the revelation it's not restricted there might be something in me

that restricts this revelation from being perceived

but there's nothing in the revelation it's non-verbal

it's a non-verbal disclosing of god's existence and his perfections we talk

about revelation of god we're talking about his existence and his perfections

and that includes his truth to all people by means of nature conscience and

history remember this is an objective revelation

it is not assured that everyone

will have full access to this

they will have sufficient access to this then there's special or particular revelation god

through prophets apostles etc selected individuals

he's going to give a written revelation in graphe

he's going to have things about himself are going to be

communicated in written statements

this is the personal and primarily verbal it's not exclusively verbal but

it's primarily verbal disclosing of god's existence and perfections including his will and
his truth by

supernatural means to particular selected people

those would be like prophets and apostles for varying purposes including bringing
people to be saved

and worship him a right a lot of reasons why he communicates through scripture
before the second

advent of christ the final revelation consists of jesus christ and the words

of the bible but notice i say before the second advent

because as i've mentioned before second advent christ comes reigns

king of kings and lord of lords and everything he says is direct

revelation well various old testament passages

actually this will be special revelation about general revelation

these uh these are the spectacles that we use to get a proper perspective
on general revelation psalm 19 the heavens are telling

the glory of god god's glory is declared by the heavens

because they are his handiwork this is notice

this is given universally it's a it's a message that goes out but it's not

it's not verbal verse three there's no speech nor are their words

their voice is not heard but it's gone out through all the earth

this glory is is given to all the earth

solve it a3 when i consider your fingers or your heavens the the the work of your
fingers the

moon and the stars which you've ordained all these things are his

psalm 29 the voice of the lord causes storms and floods and earthquakes and
manifests his

powerful glory uh some have thought well this

probably david is contemplating a storm here the voices of the lord is over the

waters the god of glory thunders the lord is over many waters the voice of the lord is
powerful the

voice of the lord is full of majesty the voice of the lord breaks the cedars

yes the lord splinters the cedars of lebanon he makes them also skipped like a calf

he knows what dave david thinks about god when he sees these things

do we think about god when we see these things does that fill our mind when we see

the wonders of nature we see a powerful storm we see that are

we in awe of god is that what fills our hearts

i was coming uh this morning driving in my wife and i live in simi valley

driving in over that rise if you've been over to see me you know that there's this rise
between the two valleys

between san fernando valley and simi valley and you get that rise and go through the
hills there and there's that pass that

santa susana passed and and uh the last couple days have just

been wondrous these low there's this this marine layer that's

coming off the ocean and and it just hovers and these these hills are not all that

big and they're they're they're nice looking but they're they're not all that big but

the the marine layer is so so low and it's just like it's draped over

these hills like a blanket it just it was just i was just awestruck by the

thing you know just uh amazing

so that's right i didn't stop in the middle of the road and worship and

kind of do psalm 93 the lord reigns he's clothed

with majesty the lord is clothed he has girded himself with strength surely the world is
established that it cannot be

moved moved your throne is established from of old

uh psalm 104 we won't go reading the whole thing what i encourage you to do is uh

maybe if you're if you're married take your

wife sometime up into the mountains and just just look out find one of those scenic

overlooks back east we had skyline drive and my wife and i

would when we had a had a free afternoon we'd just

hop in the car 90 minutes we'd be at skyline drive and be up there on skyline drive
looking out over the shenandoah

valley just just glorious just wonderful and and and we stop at these scenic

overlooks and i would get out my bible

and every stop we would read something about god's creation and so if there were
people nearby i

would read extra loud and one day there were there were some

some buddhists nearby and so i just started reading really loud

out of psalm 104 you know and within a few minutes we were we were

by ourselves there they were gone

that's right but uh bless the lord o my soul o lord my god

you are very great you are clothed with honor and majesty those who cover yourself
with light as with a garment

who stretch out the heavens like a curtain this morning as i was coming through san
antonio pass there was a

there was a break in the clouds and the sun beams were filtering through the clouds it
was wonderful

i remember my wife and i saw this on skyline drive one day and

the it was overcast up there on uh over over the shenandoah

valley but down the middle of the valley there was a slit in the cloud cover

and there was like a sheer curtain of light all up and down the valley it was an
amazing sight

and so this this fit right in there didn't it sure sure at your rebuke they fled at the voice
of
your thunder they hastened away says you covered it with the deep as with the
garment the water stood above the

mountains referring to the great flood unless you're evolutionists don't

believe in a great flood oh it's just a local flood yeah

you know it's above the mountains i don't think so went down into the valleys to the
place

which you founded for them you see what those waves did to the shoreline

saw that on the news just ate away at the shoreline all those powerful waves we had
last week just ate

away at the shoreline can you imagine just extrapolate that and just imagine

the great flood just imagine the hydrodynamic pressures and what it would do

to the face of the earth if some little waves like these

you know if they eat away shoreline well well psalm 104 isaiah 40.

uh isaiah could see that god is unique has power to keep his promises

they look up these he brings out their hosts by number he calls them all by name by
the greatness of his might and

strength of his power not one is missing incidentally when you get to name something
you have authority

you have authority this is why joseph names jesus and he's supposed to name jesus
because he has authority on earth

over jesus as his legal father so just to stick that in there jeremiah 33

if you can break my covenant with a day in my covenant with the night his covenant
of faithfulness with israel is assured by

his covenant with with creation uh course notes uh

acts 14 acts 14. this is uh this is when um

paul and barnabas on their first missionary journey and uh

this is where they

they want to worship them in uh this is in lystra it's again richie the first they want to
worship

him at the end they stone they stone him that's the way it is it's a crowd

but he has to restrain them from worship they want they want to worship barnabas i
guess the older guy

he must be zeus or he must be he's zeus and and paul's hermes he's the

he's the messenger and uh he says in verse 15 why are you doing

these things we're just men uh you know

you should not uh turn you you should turn from these useless things he calls the he
the gods that

their false gods vain and useless and he talks about the true and the living

god who created all things now he turns them to the true god notice he's not he's not

doing uh rational apologetics here he's not uh

meeting them on common ground no he is preaching to them he's preaching to them

the god he

already believes in uh and he uh he you know god has been

long suffering allows nations to walk in their own ways uh he did not leave himself
without

witness he's left a witness of his goodness of his providential goodness to us giving us

food and rain from heaven and seasons and all these

testify to the providential mercy and goodness of god that doesn't mean

it's not an indication for us to worship nature but rather we should worship the

true and the living god because of this in acts 17 this is paul's sermon on mars

hill again you'll notice you'll notice that he is not engaged in rationalistic

apologetics he is not engaged in uh in in in meeting the enemy on neutral

ground notice he says uh in in verse 23 the one

whom you worship without knowing him i proclaim to you he tells you what he's doing
he's preaching he's preaching

i'm preaching him to you and so this is this is his sermon on

mars hill this is he's not engaging them and he's there's no dialogue here he came to
tell

he did not come to dialogue uh he he says that uh god is the creator of

all things god made the world and everything in it notice he doesn't do

doesn't use any arguments for the existence of god he just starts right away just goes
right in and preaches

and since he's lord of heaven and earth does not dwell in temples made with hands

you've got it wrong he's the creator of everything he's predetermined not only

the seasons but also the boundaries of the nations and what's the purpose so that
they

would seek after after the lord if perhaps they might find him grope for

him and find him although he's doubtful that this that they'll do this he adds

then in verse 30 and 31 well actually what he does here

uh is is that he um

in verses 26 through 29 he quotes from their own poets but he

quotes things that are in line with biblical revelation he's not

contextualizing uh the gospel in the sense of in the false sense of contextual

contextualized contextualization he's not accommodating the gospel to their way of

thinking but rather he is hitting them right between the eyes he

is targeting the the the word of god on their false beliefs

and he knows what the epicureans and stoics believe and if you study uh

epicureanism and and stoicism you'll see that he is he is touching all of their

hot buttons he's not trying to friendly up to them he's coming at them full force

and he's saying you are wrong here is the true and the living god that i am preaching
to you

and uh verses 30 and 31

he says he start then he adds special revelation to special revelation about general
revelation and he says god has

looked overlooked your ignorance but now he has a point of the day which he's going
to

judge the world by the man whom he has ordained and that man is jesus christ
because he

raised him from the dead and that's when they shut him off well this is this is the
apostle paul

the new testament witness and then romans chapter 1 romans chapter

1. verses 18 through 32

the wrath of god is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and

unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness this is why god
is

revealing his wrath against men because they have suppressed the truth

and they've suppressed the truth because they have they have

they have uh uh they've twisted the revelation of god and nature verses

19 20 what may be known of god as manifest in them for god has shown it to them

again he's made the revelation since the creation

his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that

are made even his eternal power and his godness

the the reality of him being god is known by what he has done
and so in verse 19 he's saying they are culpable

this is why they are being judged this is why god is revealing his judgment against
them

why his wrath against them because they are culpable they had a knowledge of god

and they have suppressed it it was a knowledge that god has revealed

in and uh and they have suppressed it verse 20 gives

the uh the explanation of verse 19 since the beginning of the creation two

of his invisible aspects are clearly seen and what do they do what do they do

verses 21-23 they knew god they didn't glorify him and they weren't thankful

but rather they changed the glory of the incorruptable god

into the image of corruptable creatures they twisted this creation and they

started worshiping the creature rather than the creator and

how is he revealing his wrath verses 24 through 31 verse 18 says he is revealing

his wrath how is he revealing his wrath verse 24 through 31 he's giving them up

to their to their sin

and they continue in verse 32 to reject his revelation in nature

and he gives them up and not only do they reject his

revelation but they encourage others to reject it as well

so he is giving them up to the vilest to the basest of sins including the sin of
homosexuality

regardless of what homosexuals say oh no that's not what yes it is that's what he
meant there

they have take they have changed the use they have exchanged they are burning in

their lust for one another men with men committing what is shameful

well then romans 2 talks about the conscience about the conscience verses 14 and
15.

gentiles do the things prescribed in the old testament law that means they know that
there's a rational and a wrong when

they do what is required of the law in the law they know it they know that this is

right and to do otherwise is wrong and they show the work of law written in

their hearts the their conscience bears witness that this

work is right they have a sense of right and wrong and so god is

manifesting through their conscience the universal moral law of god

and they are accountable for it

it's kind of interesting one of the things back in romans 1 paul says

in verse 20 that they are without excuse

i talk about the heathen's responsibility i word it that way because of the old the old
uh

evangelistic objection we talked about evangelism today the evangelistic objection

that

that oh what about the heathen who've never heard well so that's why i worded it this
way

you wish people would be original i mean that's been said by unbelievers down
through the generations you know can we

come up with something original here but uh the heathen's responsibility

for and rejection for and rejection of general revelation

um what's the bible says they are accountable for

this first of all it says they're without excuse in verse 20 anapala gaitas

uh on apollo get us they they are without excuse

uh they willfully reject in spite of

the c of god uh they know that nature demonstrates his

eternal existence but they by their own will they reject that

they have a conscience that tells them what is right and wrong

and they reject the right and choose the wrong and they will be judged

for that and the judgment has already begun

god is giving them up never

never in my upbringing would i ever have thought

that people would have paraded themselves in the streets of the united states of

america shamefully men with men and women with

women doing hideous things out in public and being applauded

and being praised for these things

it's sobering to see it and then to read romans 1

that this is what happens when god gives up people

he removes the restraints it is not something to celebrate it is

something to fear and to mourn

to mourn

i think of they're celebrating that

a man has openly declared himself homosexual he's the first hope

publicly declared homosexual in the nfl and they say it was wonderful

wonderful great and no one stands to say something

against it god gives people up

he's already begun the process he's done this in other civilizations

you study the the the the history of the roman empire really

imploded imploded because of the moral decay within

and then we have corrupt apartment corporate guilt in adam and we'll see that in
romans 5 1st corinthians 15. and

so really the heathen the un regenerate has no excuse they're without a

legitimate excuse oh do they try to excuse them yes they do what it's saying here is
that before god

is the judge of all they have no legal leg to stand on

they have no excuse that's going to be valid in god's

courtroom this is the evidence

of their responsibility rejection

and they're limited the limitations are it's obscured by the curse through the fall

it is man is blinded we saw that in ephesians 4 by depravity and by satan it

is non-verbal and so you know it's up to it's up to

interpretation this is why the blessing of special revelation it contains no salvific truth

it won't save anybody it's obscured by the curse it's obscured by the fall of man

satan is blinding the minds of the unbelieving this will not save it never will save

but it is enough to condemn it is enough to condemn and it should be part of the

preacher's

arsenal should be you and i should use

the bible's witness to general revelation paul used it

as a lead-in to the word about christ and what he has

done