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Good Judges Hate Sin (Romans 1:18-23) | Louis Azuma
4th September 2025 • Compass Student Ministry Sermons Podcast • Compass Bible Church North Texas
00:00:00 00:36:17

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Shownotes

02:30 The Righteousness of God's Wrath

04:02 General Revelation: Evidence of God in Creation

09:54 Suppressing the Truth About God

12:22 No Excuses: Everyone Knows God Exists

15:04 The Heart Issue: Ignoring Evidence of God

17:37 Everyone Worships Something Instead of God

20:25 The Heart of Sin: Devaluing God

22:10 Sin's Personal Offense to God

26:38 The Deceptive Nature of Sin

31:42 Fighting Temptation with God's Promises

35:22 Closing Prayer and Reflection

Transcripts

Speaker:

something that you might not know about me.

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Is that I, I love kids movies.

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I love kids movies.

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My favorite movie is Penga I

Madagascar, um, Tanga Madagascar.

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Um, and so knowing that I love

kids movies, my, my wife, my

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lovely wife was like, we need to

watch how to train your dragon.

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It's awesome.

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It's so good.

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It's the best.

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So, so we sat down and we're gonna

watch how to Train Your Dragon,

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but one thing that you also

might not know about me is that.

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I hate dumb protagonists.

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Like when the, when the

main character in the movie.

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Is just like they don't

know what they're doing.

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Right.

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When they're like making bad decisions,

they're, they're just really cringey.

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Like, I, I, I hate it.

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I can't stand it.

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That's like my least

favorite part of any movie.

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So naturally, when I, when I watched

this movie for the first like 70% of the

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movie, I was just like, this is terrible.

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This dude has no clue what he's doing.

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Like, what?

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Why, why did you keep the dragon?

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Why, why, why did you, why

didn't you get rid of the dragon?

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Why are you trying to hide the dragon?

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Why aren't you doing a better

job of hiding the dragon?

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Why don't you make a better

wing for your dragon?

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Because you decide to make

this wing that's super flimsy

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and falls off and what?

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Anyway, I was like, this is terrible.

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What are you doing?

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It, it just, it bothers me.

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I get upset about it.

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You can even tell right now.

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I'm, I'm like, this

is, this is a bad idea.

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But the rest movie was great.

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The like last 20 minutes were awesome.

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Um.

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Anyway, I, I hate dumb movie protagonist.

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Right?

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And see what you get mad at

says a lot about you, right?

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What, what you get upset at says a lot

about who you are, the kind of person you

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are, the kind of things you like, right?

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It's, you can learn a lot about

someone by what makes them mad.

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And see when we see what makes God mad,

what God directs his anger, his wrath.

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At, it tells us a lot about him and

what we're gonna learn tonight in Romans

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chapter one is that God's anger, God's

wrath, shows that he is a good judge.

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He's righteous.

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God's wrath reveals his righteousness.

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See God, he gets angry

at the right things.

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God gets angry at the things that

you're supposed to get angry at.

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He gets angry at.

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Unrighteousness and see that

there's a problem there.

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And that's because God

gets angry justifiably.

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So God should get angry at you and me.

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God should direct all of his holy

fury at you and me because we are

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unrighteous and that's what we're

gonna see tonight, is that everyone

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deserves God's wrath, everyone.

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You do.

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I do.

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Pastor Rod does.

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Everyone deserves God's wrath.

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So turn with me.

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Romans one 18 to 23, we're gonna see

that everyone deserves God wrath.

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God's wrath, but good judges hate sin.

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But before we get there, remember,

remember this slide from like.

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Three or four weeks ago about how the

gospel is all about God's righteousness.

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This is like kind of our

roadmap for Romans, right?

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So last week, remember that thesis

statement we talked about, like when

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you're writing essay, you have to write

your thesis and it has to have everything.

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And you got your whole diagram, right?

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Your thesis.

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So Romans one, 16 to 17 is

like Paul's thesis for Romans.

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So then we're, we just finished that.

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So we read the thesis.

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Now we're in like the

first paragraph, right?

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The first, the first body paragraph

that he's gonna talk about.

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So that's gonna be.

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Chapter one 18, all the way to three 20.

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So what we're gonna be learning

about is that the gospel shows that

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God's wrath against sin is righteous.

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It's the right thing, it's

the right response from God.

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God should show his wrath towards sin.

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It's a good thing.

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And if you wanna put that into a question,

this is what your question would be.

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Why does God send people to hell?

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So this is what we're gonna

be covering for a while.

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The gospel shows that God's

wrath against sin is righteous.

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Okay?

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So grab your Bible, read along with me.

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In verse 18 of Romans one, for

the wrath of God is revealed from

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heaven against all ungodliness and

unrighteousness of men who by their

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unrighteousness, suppress the truth.

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So we talked about God's

righteousness a lot, right?

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And now what do you see?

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Unrighteousness.

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Unrighteousness, right?

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God's wrath is revealed.

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It's shown from heaven

against unrighteousness.

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The opposite.

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And that's why we see that

God is righteous because

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God hates unrighteousness.

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And that's how we see that he's righteous.

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You see the opposite?

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God, it, it's like a,

it's like clarity, right?

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Like you know how when you see like a

diamond ring, it's always on like a black

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background 'cause it makes it pop, it

make it, it helps you see it clearer.

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God's wrath shows his righteousness

'cause he directs his wrath at.

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Unrighteousness at the opposite.

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And then verse 19, four.

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Remember when you see

four, it means because.

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So how come God does that?

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How?

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Why does God show his wrath

against unrighteousness?

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Well, what can be known

about God is playing to all

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of these unrighteous people.

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It's obvious because God

has shown it to them.

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Why?

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How?

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Verse 20 for his invisible

attributes, namely his eternal

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power and divine nature.

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So the fact that God is powerful and

he's God, they've been clearly perceived

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ever since the creation of the world

in the things that have been made.

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So God made a bunch of stuff and

that shows us that God, who, God

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is, he's God and he's powerful.

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So God made a bunch of stuff right,

the things that he made, creation.

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Shows us something about

God, what does it show us?

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His invisible attributes, his

namely, his E, eternal, his eternal

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power, and his divine nature.

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And the conclusion is that no excuses.

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Everyone can see that God is God.

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Everyone can see that.

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So that leaves us without excuses.

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What this verse is saying is that

everyone, and we'll, we'll see you later.

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Suppresses the truth of God's existence.

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Everyone tries to ignore God.

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Everyone does it.

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That's what Paul is trying to

establish, that God shows himself to

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everyone, but everyone ignores it.

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So our first point tonight is abandon

your excuses for ignoring God.

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Abandon your excuses for knowing God.

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Leave him behind.

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Paul is saying that we don't

have any excuses because it's

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obvious who God is is obvious.

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It's plain.

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Now, maybe you've been wondering,

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well, everyone deserves God's wrath.

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Like everyone, like every single person.

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Are you sure?

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Like that was your main

point, Louis, everyone really.

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What about someone who maybe

doesn't have the Bible?

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Uh, do they deserve God's wrath?

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Well,

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does this say that you need

the Bible to know about God?

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His invisible attributes, his

eternal power, his divine nature?

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Where does it say that God shows who he is

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in the things that have been made?

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That's how people know.

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That's how everyone knows that God is God.

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The fancy word for that that

you can use to impress your

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parents is general revelation.

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It's everywhere.

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General revelation.

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If you, if you're reading a, a,

a Christian book, you might find

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that word, general revelation.

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The things that have made creation, and

the reason it's called general is not

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because it's a high ranking officer in

the Army, but because it's for everyone.

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It's obvious.

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General revelation.

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So the way we know that God is,

God is because we look at creation,

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we look at things that like, oh

wow, you couldn't just randomly

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by chance come up with something

so complicated like a human being.

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Or why do humans have consciences?

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Why do you feel bad when you lie?

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That's not because you

evolved from a monkey.

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That's 'cause someone made you.

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There's no reason for you to

feel bad if you've just evolved.

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So things like that, they

show us that God is God or how

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did, how did we even get here?

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Why, why is the earth so specifically

designed so that it's not too close

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to, the sun will re burnt up, but

it's not too far from the sun.

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Will we freeze?

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And the tilt of the earth is at the exact

angle where the, the sun comes and we

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get seasons and things grow and the the

moon protects us from asteroids and it

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helps the tides do all this cool stuff.

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And how does that so perfectly designed?

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How does that happen?

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It can't just be, oh, well, you know,

a bunch of stuff flew around and hit

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each other and then boom, here we go.

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Right?

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That's where we came from.

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I'm oversimplifying it, but creation

shows us that God exists, and so we have

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no excuse to ignore him because anyone

who's living in the world who's created.

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God has shown them that He exists.

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Right?

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Not just, oh, you figure it out.

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No, God has shown them this.

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This is active.

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This is something God did.

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God made the world so that

you could see that he exists.

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You don't need the Bible

to know that God exists.

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That's what, that's what Paul is

saying here in these verse few verses.

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It's obvious that God exists and

what we do instead, and what he's

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gonna say later is that we suppress

the truth, that word suppress.

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I always think of this, the best way I've

ever heard it explained is he's like,

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you know when your trash can's too full?

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And you're like, I don't

wanna take that out right now.

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So you suppress it, you push it down.

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That's what people do with the truth.

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That's what you and I do with the truth

of who God is, is we suppress it, we

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push it down, we try to ignore God.

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We plug our ears.

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We say, I right that, and you

see this all around us, right?

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People come up with all sorts

of creative ways to ignore God.

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Maybe you have.

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Friends who, who tell you, well, you

know, we know that that God doesn't exist

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because of evolution or because of the

Big Bang, or because of the fossil record.

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Or we know that God doesn't

exist because actually he spoke

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to a man named Joseph Smith.

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Or maybe you hear that, oh God,

doesn't we know, or things like that.

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Maybe you say, well, we know that

the Bible isn't true because of this.

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So people come up with all sorts

of ways to ignore God, but God

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has come, has revealed himself.

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He's shown who he is.

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Through creation and through

your conscience, right?

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You feel bad for stuff.

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There's no reason for you

to feel bad for stuff.

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If you're just a smart monkey, there's

no reason for you to feel bad about

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anything because you're living for you.

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But why do you feel bad?

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Because it's pointing you to something

that, that God wants to show you.

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So many of you maybe are, you

actually have been shown more

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things about God than just creation.

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Because you've grown up in a church

or in a home where you hear about

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God through his word, and maybe

you're still suppressing the truth.

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You even have more evidence for God.

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You have parents who've

taught you the Bible.

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You've, you've heard about arguments

like apologetics and things like that

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for the existence of God or for the,

the reality of the Bible, and many

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of you are still trying to ignore it.

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You're still trying to say, well,

I don't really know if that's true.

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Or I don't really know

if the Bible's true.

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I don't really know if, um, Christianity's

the only way, or I don't really think this

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is, you come up with all these excuses.

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Or when I'm older, then I'll do it.

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Or, uh, when I learn a

bit more, then I'll do it.

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Or when I stop sinning

this much, then I'll do it.

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We come up with all sorts of excuses for

ignoring God, but also as a Christian, if,

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if, if you're a Christian in this room,

this was you, before you came a Christian,

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you were unrighteous, you weren't just.

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Okay.

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And then God saved you.

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You weren't just, well, I,

I wasn't a terrible person.

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Maybe I was a sinner,

but everyone's a sinner.

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No, you were unrighteous

not righteous at all.

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And God saved you.

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Right.

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We're, if you're a Christian, maybe

you're gonna be like, why are we learning

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about God's wrath for two months?

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Well, because it tells us who

we were before we were saved.

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And we need to be honest about that.

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'cause it helps us

appreciate God's grace more.

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It helps us.

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Have more compassion for unbelievers.

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So Christian, this was you before Christ,

you were ignoring God, and then you

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said, oh, God got your attention, right?

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The gospel came to you.

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God revealed himself to you through

the gospel, through His word, and you,

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he gave you the faith to trust him.

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So

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we all come up with reasons

to ignore God, right?

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And and you often hear

the argument, right?

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Like, well, if Jesus just appeared

to me, then I would believe.

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Him.

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Right?

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Maybe you've heard that before.

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Maybe you've said that If I had a

vision of God or if I lived when

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Jesus lived, I would definitely be

a Christian, but I just can't really

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know for sure anymore 'cause I, I

didn't see God, I didn't live with him.

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What this passage is saying is

that the problem is not evidence.

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The problem is your heart.

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The problem is not the amount

of evidence you'd get because.

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It's already clear and you just

come up with reasons to ignore it.

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So I had a friend in second grade or

third grade, I can't remember, and

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he, I remember we were talking about

Christmas and Santa came up and I was

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like, oh yeah, you know, my parents

pretended to be Santa, whatever.

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He's like, no, no, no.

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Santa's real.

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He's like, no, like

Santa's definitely real.

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And I was like, wait, you really think

he like comes down people's chimneys.

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He's like, well, who says he

comes down chimneys anymore?

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And I was like, whoa, okay.

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Like you are committed to this.

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You really, you really

believe in this Santa guy?

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Like, and here's the thing, right?

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I could give him all the evidence.

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You know, well, well, Santa didn't

come to my house because I knew

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'cause I stayed up all night.

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Or because our fireplace is boarded up.

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Or what about places that

don't have fireplaces?

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What about apartment complexes?

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I, you know, you could give

him all the evidence, right?

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But he wouldn't, he, he would

still believe that Santa existed.

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Why?

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Because of his heart, right?

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He, he loves Santa.

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He wants Santa to exist, right?

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So whatever evidence you give him.

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He's gonna suppress the truth.

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He maybe he could even stay up

all night and be like, well, maybe

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Santa just didn't come this year.

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Right.

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Or, or maybe Santa, you know, whatever.

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Right.

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He could come up with any argument.

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He could come up with any excuse to

ignore the evidence that I gave him.

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Right.

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And that's a funny example, but that's

what happens to a lot of unbelievers

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and maybe to some of you, is, is people

give you evidence for why the Bible's

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true or why God existed, or how we

know that God made the world and.

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The more evidence you hear, you

just, you just keep pushing it down.

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You keep pushing it down.

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And that's because the

evidence isn't the issue.

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Your heart's the issue.

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You don't want God to exist.

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You want to be in charge of your life.

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And so you say, I don't

care about the evidence.

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So you ignore that.

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What you, you don't

need better information.

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It's already clear.

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That's what Paul's saying.

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So you don't have any excuse,

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and that's what.

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That's the condition of everyone.

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Before salvation, every single person

is naturally bent to ignore God.

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And so even for you Christians in

the room, you need to be careful

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that you're not just stacking up

information because the information

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only helps you if, if it changes you.

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That's the problem with, with the people

that Paul's talking about here is, is

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they, they have all the evidence they

need and they, they don't want it.

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They ignore it.

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And so even if you're a Christian,

you still have this tendency to hear

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information and not be changed by it.

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To hear sermons and not do anything

about them, to read your Bible and

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not forget all about it, you still

have this tendency to accumulate

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information and, and ignore it.

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So it's not enough just

to seek out information.

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You must also be changed by the

information, because what Paul is

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saying is, is it's a heart issue.

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It's not an evidence issue.

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It's not a, it's not a head issue.

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It's a heart issue.

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But the main thing he's saying is

that this is why God can judge people.

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This is why God can send people

to Hell because there's no excuse.

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They should know better.

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They should know that he exists.

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It's obvious.

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It's okay for God to do that, right?

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Maybe you've had that question come up.

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Why?

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How can a loving God send people to hell?

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He's a good judge.

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If you're guilty, a

judge should punish you.

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And what Paul is saying is that

everyone's guilty, no excuses.

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It's obvious.

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No one's gonna be in hell

and be like, you know what?

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God, I would've believed

you if fill in the blank.

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No excuses.

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That's what God is saying.

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It's.

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I, God has done everything he needs

to show his existence to people,

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so everyone should know better.

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But also the reason everyone should know

better is because everyone's in this.

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In this camp of not worshiping God,

if you wanna, this whole passage,

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1823 in one sentence is everyone

worships something instead of God,

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and everyone should know better.

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That's the whole passage.

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In one sentence, everyone worships

something instead of God, and

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everyone should know better.

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So this was the everyone

should know better part.

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And then now we're gonna, we're

gonna look at the, everyone

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fails to worship God part.

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Everyone has enough evidence to worship

and thank God, but instead we turn away.

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From God.

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So that is, we're gonna see

right here in verses 21, 23, read

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along with me, 21 through 23.

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So Paul just said, people

are without excuse.

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Why?

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So then he, he keeps going.

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Verse 21, 4.

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Although they knew God, so everyone,

he's saying all these people,

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they knew God through creation.

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They, they saw his work in creation.

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They knew God.

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They did not honor him as

God, or give thanks to them

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Him, but they became futile.

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That means like kind of useless, futile.

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Think about like trying

to grab smoke, right?

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You try to grab it and it's just gone.

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They became futile in their thinking

and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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Verse 22, claiming to be wise,

they became fools and exchanged the

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glory of the immortal God for images

resembling mortal man and birds

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and animals and creeping things.

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Now, all this part, you notice

there's like a, a descent here.

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We start with God, and then we go

down to, to people, and then we go

407

:

even lower to, it's like there's

the reverse order of creation.

408

:

You see that birds, animals, and then

you get like the, this is sometimes

409

:

translated like reptiles, like the,

the, the ugliest animals, right?

410

:

The worst ones.

411

:

Um, so it's like a downward spiral.

412

:

And in the rest of this chapter, we're

gonna see the downward spiral more.

413

:

We're gonna see more, more and more

sin that happens from rejecting God.

414

:

When you know God and reject him, then

it creates this downward spiral of sin.

415

:

But remember how we talked about

the issue is your heart, right?

416

:

The issue's not your head.

417

:

The issue is your heart.

418

:

This is why God punishes sinners.

419

:

This is why God sends people to hell, not

because they murder people, or they're

420

:

un or they're, um, atheist or whatever

the reason that God sends people to hell.

421

:

Is because they don't honor him

and they don't give thanks to them.

422

:

You see that the problem is not

just, oh, well, you did bad things.

423

:

Sin at its root is saying

something else is better than God.

424

:

Something else is better than God.

425

:

Everyone worships things besides God.

426

:

That's what sin is.

427

:

You see that right here?

428

:

They didn't honor God

or give thanks to him.

429

:

And instead what did they do?

430

:

They wanted something else.

431

:

They exchanged God.

432

:

They said, God, I don't want you.

433

:

I want these things.

434

:

And this is, this is

an allusion to Exodus.

435

:

You know when the Israelites

made the golden Cavs?

436

:

After they came out of Egypt and

then Moses went up on the mountain,

437

:

they're like, oh, Moses probably dead.

438

:

We haven't heard from him in a while.

439

:

Let's make some bulls and worship them.

440

:

Right?

441

:

That's what happened.

442

:

So that's what this is an

illusion to is they, they said,

443

:

we don't want Yahweh anymore.

444

:

We want Golden Bull.

445

:

So that's what we do, except

we don't worship golden Bulls.

446

:

We worship things like money or power or

pleasure or myself, or autonomy, right.

447

:

Doing whatever I want.

448

:

We worship those things instead

of God and what we're doing.

449

:

What, what really the, the problem

here is, is we're saying that

450

:

those things are better than God.

451

:

So the reason sin is sin

is because it devalues God.

452

:

The reason sin is sin is because it

says God, you're not very important.

453

:

You're not worth it.

454

:

You're not worthy of worshiping,

you're not worthy of living

455

:

for you won't satisfy me.

456

:

You can't make me happy.

457

:

You're not trustworthy.

458

:

That's what sin says because you

say, I want that instead of God.

459

:

And that's what makes it.

460

:

Sin is not the, is not necessarily

the the thing you want, but the

461

:

fact that you don't want God.

462

:

You're saying, God, you're not important.

463

:

You're not valuable.

464

:

So point number two, admit

you're devaluing of God,

465

:

right?

466

:

Be honest that when you sin.

467

:

You are saying, God, you're not

important, or God, you're not

468

:

trustworthy, or God, you're not good.

469

:

So Right.

470

:

You can tell how much someone

values something by seeing how much

471

:

they'll give up to get it right.

472

:

What they'll trade for it.

473

:

That's, that's how you see how much

someone values something, right?

474

:

Like if I stole your phone.

475

:

You'd be like, here, take everything.

476

:

I want my phone back.

477

:

Right?

478

:

Give me, like, you would,

you'd be offering everything.

479

:

You'd be being like, oh,

here's my younger sibling.

480

:

Here's here.

481

:

You'd gimme everything.

482

:

You'd be like, gimme my phone back.

483

:

I need that right now.

484

:

Because you really

value your phone, right?

485

:

So what that says is that your phone's

really important to you, right?

486

:

Because you're willing to

give up anything to get it.

487

:

But imagine if I took something that

wasn't that important to you, right?

488

:

Let's say I, I took.

489

:

Your younger sibling and you

were like, yeah, that's fine.

490

:

You can keep 'em.

491

:

What does that say about

your younger sibling?

492

:

You're devaluing them, right?

493

:

You're like, well, I'd rather have all

this stuff than my younger sibling.

494

:

That's what you're saying.

495

:

That's what happens when you sin.

496

:

You're saying, I'd rather

have this than God.

497

:

You're devaluing God.

498

:

You're saying God's not important.

499

:

God's not worth it.

500

:

God's not good.

501

:

God's not beautiful.

502

:

God's not something that

I treasure and I cherish.

503

:

That's what you say when you sin.

504

:

What makes sin wrong is

what it says about God.

505

:

It's what it says about God.

506

:

Is that not worth my time, not worth

my energy, not worth my self-control.

507

:

Not worth my morning.

508

:

Not worth my thoughts.

509

:

That's what sin says about God.

510

:

The root of sin is preferring

other things to God.

511

:

So I want you to think about

what your sin says to God, what

512

:

your sin says to God, right?

513

:

Like, um, when you're, when you're

anxious, when you're saying to

514

:

God is God, I don't trust you.

515

:

You can't take care of me.

516

:

You can't keep your promises.

517

:

I don't believe you.

518

:

That's what you're saying

to God when you're anxious.

519

:

Right?

520

:

And that changes it.

521

:

Right?

522

:

That makes you not wanna be

anxious because you're like,

523

:

man, I if, especially if you're a

Christian, you're like, I love God.

524

:

I don't wanna tell God.

525

:

I don't trust him.

526

:

I wanna tell him I do trust him.

527

:

And that's how you fight anxieties.

528

:

You live that way.

529

:

You say, okay, yeah.

530

:

Like, I don't wanna do that.

531

:

Or maybe.

532

:

Take discontent, right?

533

:

Maybe you're, you're not happy

with something, you're, you're

534

:

discontent with your life stage.

535

:

You're discontent with

your class schedule.

536

:

You're discontent with your family.

537

:

You're discontent with, with how

talented you are, the way you look

538

:

or the clothes you have that says,

God, you're not enough for me.

539

:

I need more.

540

:

God, I need you to give me

more stuff to make me happy.

541

:

And it says that, God,

you've given me everything.

542

:

You've given me your son, but

that's not enough to make me happy.

543

:

I need that.

544

:

I need to be dating someone to be happy.

545

:

I need to have these clothes to be happy.

546

:

I need to make this team or

get these grades to be happy.

547

:

And you're saying, God, you're not enough.

548

:

I need more.

549

:

So see how that changes

what sin really is.

550

:

'cause it makes it personal

because it is personal.

551

:

Sin is a personal offense to God.

552

:

So

553

:

think about what your sin says to God.

554

:

Take any sin that you struggle with.

555

:

Just think about what does this say to God

556

:

that is really gonna change

your view of that sin.

557

:

And also that shows

you that you know what?

558

:

God is righteous to punish sin because

this sin is terrible to God, right?

559

:

This sin is disgusting.

560

:

This sin is gross.

561

:

This sin is really, really,

really offensive to God.

562

:

It makes sense that God would,

would punish sin, that God would

563

:

show his wrath towards sin.

564

:

Something else our verse said

though, was that your sin tricks you,

565

:

that your sinful heart tricks you.

566

:

You see that right here,

claiming verse 22, claiming

567

:

to be wise, they became fools.

568

:

Right?

569

:

When you sin, it's not like, oh, it's a

terrible idea, but I'm gonna sin anyway.

570

:

That's not how sin works.

571

:

You think you are smart when

you're sinning, you're think, you

572

:

think you're making a good idea,

otherwise you wouldn't do it.

573

:

If you didn't think your sin was

a good idea, you wouldn't do it.

574

:

You'd be like, oh, well

I don't need to do that.

575

:

But you think it's wise, right?

576

:

You think it's helpful.

577

:

You think it's important.

578

:

You think you need to do it.

579

:

You think it's good for you, and so you

do it, but really you're being foolish.

580

:

Isn't that crazy?

581

:

You're, you're being a fool when you

sin because you're making a bad trade.

582

:

That's what's happening is you're

saying, I'm trading God, right?

583

:

God, he's beautiful.

584

:

He's glorious.

585

:

He's all satisfying.

586

:

He keeps his promises.

587

:

He's faithful.

588

:

He's wise.

589

:

He's always who he says he is.

590

:

I'm trading him for whatever, for sin.

591

:

You're making a bad trade, and so

you're being a fool, but you, what

592

:

happens is, is you, you trick yourself

into thinking it's a good idea.

593

:

And that's what, that's what happens

when you're tempted, is you have, you

594

:

have to decide, what am I gonna do here?

595

:

And you have to, that's why

God gives you promises, right?

596

:

So your, your sinful heart tricks

you into to thinking you're making

597

:

a good decision when you sin, right?

598

:

You're, you're making a bad trade.

599

:

And speaking of, of bad trades, right?

600

:

This happened.

601

:

Um,

602

:

and sorry, Josh, I had to, um, it's

too, too good to pass up, right?

603

:

But apparently, apparently someone

thought this was a good idea, right?

604

:

Someone, at least one person in the

world thought that this was a good idea.

605

:

Right.

606

:

Because otherwise they

wouldn't have done it.

607

:

If they didn't think it was a good

idea, they wouldn't have done it.

608

:

And when you're on the outside

of it, you're like, oh, that's,

609

:

that's a terrible decision.

610

:

I can't believe that they did that.

611

:

I can't believe that, that they

would trade this guy for whatever.

612

:

Right.

613

:

Two first round picks,

Kenny Clark, whatever.

614

:

I don't even care.

615

:

Right.

616

:

Bad decision because you, you think

about how valuable this guy is, right?

617

:

That this is what they named

the awards after, right?

618

:

MVP most valuable player.

619

:

So

620

:

what's happening is when you are, when

you're, when you're devaluing God in your

621

:

sin, is is you're saying that I, when you

step outside of it, it's like, oh yeah,

622

:

well, duh, I wouldn't choose God over sin.

623

:

Like, and everyone here would be

like, oh yeah, that makes sense.

624

:

I'm not gonna sin because

I'd rather have God.

625

:

But in the moment.

626

:

It's different, right?

627

:

Because like this moment,

allegedly, this is personal.

628

:

Allegedly this is personal because his

agent was offended by the owner, right?

629

:

This was personal.

630

:

And see that's what happens with

our sin, is it, it's, it gets, it

631

:

gets complicated, it gets personal.

632

:

Our, our desires, they blind us.

633

:

And so you have to fight to

see things the right way.

634

:

Because the reason that trade was made

is because someone probably didn't see

635

:

things the way they should have seen 'em.

636

:

Someone was like, well, my ego

is more important than my team.

637

:

That's basically what happened with

this trade, and that's what happens

638

:

when you sin is something happens

and you're blinded to something.

639

:

That's true when you're, well, I'm,

I'm gonna use anxiety 'cause it's so

640

:

easy to to see this, but when you're

anxious, you're blinded to the fact

641

:

that God's gonna take care of you.

642

:

Because now there's all these

things coming at you and you're

643

:

like, well, what about this?

644

:

What if this happens?

645

:

How, what, what about this?

646

:

Uh, I don't know how this is gonna

work out, or This person might do

647

:

this, or, or this could happen.

648

:

And so you're blinded, and that gets in

the way of seeing how things really are.

649

:

You're blinded to reality, right?

650

:

Your heart, and as the pastors

say, is being darkened.

651

:

You, you're not seeing things the

way you're supposed to see 'em.

652

:

And so.

653

:

On the outside it might look foolish,

but when you're in it, it seems

654

:

like, whoa, that's really hard.

655

:

So in the moment you have to fight to

see what your sin really is, right?

656

:

Your, your sin is essentially is

making you a really bad trade offer.

657

:

And you have to see through the,

the promises, the the fake promises

658

:

of sin to say, you know what?

659

:

That's not a good trade.

660

:

And then not trade your two first

round picks or not trade your best

661

:

player for two first round picks and.

662

:

Some random guy no one's

ever heard of, right?

663

:

Not that bad.

664

:

But, so I want you to think about that.

665

:

When, when you, when you're

tempted to sin, right?

666

:

Think about your temptations

to sin this week.

667

:

You, you're gonna be tempted to,

to watch that video or, or make

668

:

that joke or be lazy or to dis be

disrespectful when, when your parents

669

:

tell you something you don't wanna do.

670

:

And, and think about it in

advance when you can see clearly.

671

:

So that you can say, oh, you

know, in the moment, right?

672

:

I, I start feeling the pressure, but

I, I've, I've prepared myself, I've,

673

:

I've prepared myself for battle, right?

674

:

I've, I've thought this through,

so when the trade offer comes,

675

:

I can just say, no, I'm good.

676

:

I know what I already have, right?

677

:

I know that, that God is better.

678

:

I know that the promises of my

God are better than the promise

679

:

that this sin is offering me.

680

:

Don't fall for the, the foolish trait

of exchanging the glory of God, right?

681

:

'cause sin separates you from God, right?

682

:

Sin, even if you're a Christian, it

hinders your relationship with God.

683

:

You're not as close with him as you

could be because His holiness it.

684

:

It makes you feel uncomfortable

when you're in living in sin.

685

:

And so

686

:

don't fall for the, the

bad, the bad trade offer.

687

:

And fight to see clearly fight

to see, oh God is, is really the

688

:

one in control in this situation.

689

:

God is really worth my time.

690

:

God can really make me happy, happier than

this thing or obeying God is better for me

691

:

than following after the world than what

my friends do, or using my words to build

692

:

someone up is better than gossiping or.

693

:

Sharing the gospel with that

friend is better than, than

694

:

never telling them about Jesus.

695

:

So fight through those temptations

to see the, what's really happening,

696

:

to see who God really is and what

he really says, and ultimately even

697

:

play out the situation in your head.

698

:

Okay, if I do give into the

sin, what's gonna happen?

699

:

Right?

700

:

If I, if I, okay, if I do go

to this party and hang out with

701

:

these people, what's gonna happen?

702

:

If I do say these words and respond

in anger, what's gonna happen and, and

703

:

see what, what it really is, because

in, in the moment it's gonna look good.

704

:

But that's where you use God's

promises and who God is to, to

705

:

fight back against those things.

706

:

So think about about how

your sin impacts God, right?

707

:

The reason sin is sinful is

'cause what it says about God.

708

:

That's why God is right to show his wrath.

709

:

So we saw that everyone

should know better.

710

:

Everyone should know that God exists.

711

:

But the problem is that everyone

worships something else instead.

712

:

And so if that's, if that's you tonight,

if you are currently suppressing

713

:

the truth, you know, just another

sermon that you've, you've heard

714

:

about, or you know God's real and you

keep pushing it down, you keep, I'm

715

:

not gonna talk to my leader at all.

716

:

I'm not gonna turn from my sin.

717

:

I'm not gonna confess

that I've been doing this.

718

:

Don't keep pushing it down because God's

wrath is being stored up against you and

719

:

your sin, and one day you're not gonna

be able to suppress the truth anymore.

720

:

It's gonna be obvious and clear,

and you're gonna stand before God

721

:

and you're gonna see, you know what?

722

:

I tried to ignore it

and it, and it's real.

723

:

It's, it's, it's real.

724

:

God is real.

725

:

Heaven is real.

726

:

Hell is.

727

:

So don't push it back anymore

if that's you tonight.

728

:

Alright, let's pray and

we'll go to small groups.

729

:

God thank you that you have given

us a way to escape your wrath.

730

:

That we don't have to suffer

the punishment for our

731

:

sin because you love us.

732

:

And so you have sent Jesus to

die on the cross for our sin so

733

:

that he could absorb your wrath.

734

:

For us and that we could get his

righteousness so that we could

735

:

be good enough to go to heaven.

736

:

Not because of what we do,

but because of what he does.

737

:

So I pray right now, God, that you

would help us to, um, not suppress

738

:

the truth, even if we are Christians

and we're convicted about something.

739

:

I pray that we wouldn't suppress

that conviction, but we would rather

740

:

respond to that conviction by coming

to you with confession and repentance.

741

:

Trusting that killing sin

is better than hiding it.

742

:

Pray all these things in Jesus name.

743

:

Amen.

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