Suppressing the Truth Pt. 1

Read Romans 1:18 – 20

Today's text shows us that that God does get angry, and He will discipline.  There are indeed certain things that make Him mad. I think it is important to know that God's wrath is different from human anger... which can be uncontrolled, hot and explosive.  God’s wrath is a righteous anger, it is holy, completely controlled and stems from God’s hatred of sin and NOT the sinner.  There are three acts of sin in this passage that cause individuals to never come to faith in Christ. Today we will look at the first act… 

Suppress the Truth
The first act is how humanity is prone to suppress the truth. When you look at what Paul writes in verses 19 and 20 you see that God has revealed himself to humanity.  He has revealed the truth of His reality to us through creation.  God in his wonderful mercy gave humanity a glimpse of who He is (verse 19) and his divine nature and power through His creation (verse 20).  I truly believe God gave us the beauty of His creation to point us to Him, the Creator.  There is a theological term here you may or may not care about called general revelation. 

General revelation is basically God revealing himself to humanity through creation (note this is a revelation that points to him and is not a saving one).  God wants to be known.  He wants humanity to worship Him; He desires that we give Him full acknowledgement of His divine power and nature.  General revelation is simply a peek at who God is but not a full revelation of who he is.

How often have you ever been outside on a clear night and just sat in awe of the beauty and immensity of the stars in the sky?  Have you ever viewed a landscape that literally took your breathe away and at that moment you had 100% certainty that God is real?  I experience that often!  God has revealed himself to me so clearly that I am without excuse.  I cannot stand before God on judgment day and say, “I never knew you existed because you never revealed yourself to me!”  

Paul continues by writing about people who know this yet they still choose to not believe.  God has revealed himself to all humanity (God’s revelation) yet some choose to suppress this truth.  The cost is too high for them and they choose not to follow.  They are unwilling to exchange their supposed freedom, happiness, fun and individuality in order to follow God.  Yet if they would truly follow Him they would know that only true freedom, fun, happiness, and individuality comes with a right relationship with God.