Without Excuse

Romans 1:18-3:20

1. "Having read this text, we might well wish to have some of the courage of that patient who asked his doctor not to conceal any of the truth about his illness from him, saying that he preferred to know exactly what his condition was, however serious it might be, because he was not one of those who cannot bear to hear the truth. In the words that we have just read we are told the whole truth about our condition. There may well be people among us who cannot bear to hear the truth, and would like to creep quietly away out of this church...but the truth has its consequences. (Lilthi, Letter to the Romans,p.19). It maybe that the truth is not as gloomy as it seems. It is conceivable that Paul, the doctor is telling us the whole truth about our ailment, because, although it may seem humanly impossible to cure us, yet he knows the “remedy". Is it not significant that this gloomy message is immediately preceded by the shining message of salvation?

2. The stable point of departure for what follows in the exposition is heaven. The wrath of God is revealed from·heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men. The very basis of evaluation is God in heaven, and the judgement upon all men. is that they are without excuse. The problem of making judgement between right and wrong in human life is difficult. Human standards are relative. Human standards come and go, but the judgement of God stands sure. "If the time should ever come(for these things are conceivable nowadays,) when we succeed in demonstrating that black is white and white, black, that good is evil and evil good, if we should ever be successful in invalidating the fundamental moral principles of the universe, so that sin were no longer hated and everyone took a fancy to evil, then there would still be a strong hold where evil would be hated, and that is heaven. And there would still be One who has sworn to fight the evil in the world to the last drop of His blood, and that is God, whose wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men." (Lilthi, p. 20.•21.)

3. You may have read a number of years ago of 18 famous and alarmed scientists that gathered in Paris for a conference. lTheywere alarmed because the standard metre, which is carefully preserved in Paris in
the form of a platinum rod, has become 0,2 millimetres shorter. And the international office for weights and measures was justifiably afraid that this minute variation might cause confusion in measurements
in the whole world. But suppose that the standard of divine truth were to become 0.2 millimetres shorter? Would there be no concern? The confusion that results from clever variations and distortions of
truth is indescribably more serious. In emphasizing this critical state of affairs, Paul is trying to say that the divine standard measure exists: truth remains, however much men may interfere with it.”(Luthi,
The divine truth is that man is without excuse. He has fallen far short of the divine measure. He stands condemned... but without excuse. Who are these people?:

1. They who corrupt the knowledge of God. Vs 23,25,28,32,19,20.

1. One of the deep questions that has always puzzled mankind is the questions concerning the salvation of the heathen. The answer of Paul at this points is that the pagan stands without excuse. The basic presupposition is that God has shown himself and continues to show himself so that men have corrupted the knowledge of God. Scripture tells us: 19) For what can be know about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20) For ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse, 21) for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him,.23) they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals...25) they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator...28) they did not see fit to acknowledge God....32)though they know God’s decrees that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but ap prove those who practice them.”

"God does not reap(wrath)where He has not sown. He has not concealed the truth. Men by their unrighteousness have suppressed the truth, not wanting to know it. It is not because of lack of divine revelation that men have forsaken God.(Nygren, Com. on Romans. 101-2)

2. The second presupposition is that man has corrupted the
knowledge of God. The question is sometimes posed, How can the wrath of God come upon the Gentiles, victims of ignorance and blindness not of their own making. But Paul's point is that their own circumstances due to their own making .The mind of man is never a religious vacuum; if there is the absence of the true, there is always the presence of the false. Knowing God (21) they did not honor him as God but became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened" (John Murray, Epistle to Romans, p.42)
Men have suppressed the truth. Throughout the whole history
of mankind God has ever made himself known in His works. He does so at all times. He still continues to do so. (N, p.104) Paul believes that God is living and ceaselessly active. Ever since creation He has been
active in the life of man. Though God ever comes to meet with man, man does not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. (H.I07) With the continuing activity of God, what is the result? Has man learned of God? No. Men have exchanged the truth about God for a lie. So they are without excuse.

3. Result? Corrupting the knowledge of God available to them God gave them up. We are told this three times vs. 24,26,28. Mankind knew better but applauded those who did evil more than those who did right. They are given over to the wrath of sin that it might bring repentance. The story of the prodigal son illustrates what this means. The father gives up the son who forsakes him. The father lets him go. The Father in Heaven does not hold anyone back By force either, even though He knows that he is leaving the straight and narrow path. But the Father does not forsake or abandon when he gives up; He waits and keeps watch for the one who has run away. He waits for him to return. He gives him up in order, not to destroy, but to save.”

II. They who live by the Law

1. It is the Jew who comes into consideration here. The Jew was convinced that wrath was intended for the Gentiles because he did not know the true God. The Jew counted it to his greatest credit that he knows God and has the law. .The Jew is not so foolish and blind as to assume that he keeps all the law of God perfectly. When he puts his trust in righteousness by the law, it is not that he feels that his own deeds would enable him to stand before the Judge, if strict justice were to be pronounce the verdict. Righteousness by the law is not to be understood in that extreme sense. The Jew is well aware that he fails in many ways, and he will be lost unless God in his mercy judges leniently. But it is precisely the fact that he has the law and knows
God that fills him with confidences and gives him a feeling of safety. He is aware that he knows the right way and unlike the heathen, he has not strayed away from God. In this way, he is sure, he is fundamentally
right with God , in that sense he is righteous. Beyond that he trusts that God’s leniency will overlook his failures. (N. 119)

2. But it is precisely at the point of knowledge that Pau1 makes his attack. To know God and His will is not perfect righteousness. For the law everything depends on 'performance. On the day of judgement
it will do no good to point out that one has had thel aw and known God's will. It is written, ''Thou renderest to every man according to his work. (Ps. 62:12) It is not the hearers of the law that will be justified.
It is the doers of the law. As a result of the aspect of performance the heathen also stand under the law. If a heathen who has not the law does what the law really requires then he is better off than the Jew who has the law and does not do what the law requires. This is not an imaginary case. The heathen do by nature the things
of the law to a great degree. It is a fact among most people that the children honor their parents, care for their sick, give humane treatment to many who are strangers, have hospitality to those who are foreigners. Is not this a performance of the law! In this respect the heathen stand in a better position that the Jews.

3. What is the conclusion? The Jew and Gentile stand without excuse in terms of doing the law. The righteousness of the law demands the perfect performance. The very haven of security now becomes the finger of indictment.. Paul declares that the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of the Jews breaking the law.What good is the advantage of the law? To bring about a knowledge of sin. These words are appropriate for our times. Many well-meaning people argue that if a man lives by the sermon on the mount and the ten commandment God will welcome him with open arms into heaven. The argument is sound. But the very standards to which he appeals stand off against the man to condemn him. He stands without excuse. There are no perfect doers of the ten commandments and the sermon on the mount. The Scripture declares that no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law. (Romans 3:20) The whole world stands guilty before God. Appealing to these standards involve us in "skin-deep Christianity. It will topple at the great day of judgement when man stands before the presence of God.

Ill. They who live by the voice of conscience

1. Paul’s argument in relation to conscience is not long and is limited but it as adequate for our purpose. The reference to the conscience comes in relation to the heathen who lives his life without the law.
It must be remembered that Paul speaks of the works of the law that the Gentile does even though he has not the law. The works of the law are written on their hearts. Their conscience comes in at the point of
excusing or accusing them when they have done the works that the law requires. “The heathen's conscience stands as an objective witness beside him, showing that he actually knew that he did wrong.
If, when he has done something good and right, he be accused as if it were evil, his thoughts rise up to defend him against the charge and if the evil he has done be approved, he may maintain a good exterior, but his inmost thoughts accuse him nonetheless.” It (N.125) Thus, conscience becomes the judge against a man when he does evil. Paul does not think that the heathen live in utter darkness, unable to tell right from wrong, white from black. When they act contrary to the right, and seek to justify themselves before others and even before themselves, they know within themselves what the fact really is." (N.125)

2. Conscience, in the final analysis can only accuse us, it cannot redeem. Conscience is really only"a knowing with oneself. It has been made to be many things. Byron said, “Whatever creed be taught or land be trod, Man's conscience is the oracle of God."(The Island, Canto r.5t.6) The idea that conscience is the voice of God often is widespread. The conscience is really the sum total of one's taught experiences.
There is no revelation in conscience. Its only message is that one has failed. When man is honest with himself it must admit that his experience is not unsullied . One discovers that at the age of sixteen
the conscience rarely gnaws so much as when we call our old debts in at the age of 60 years, and draw the accounts of evil, and find a deuced balance with the devil. The man who claims to be living by the voice of conscience is only fooling himself. The advice to young people, “let your conscience be. your guide,” is wrong. You can only let your conscience be your guide when you are taught by the Holy Spirit of God and led by him.

3. Conscience makes us aware that we are without excuse, but it can lead us on to the grace of God. The voice of conscience can bring back experiences to our minds and use them for the grace of God.
In the year 1875 Ira D. Sankey, D.L. Moody's song leader, was traveling down the Delaware River on a steamboat. It was a calm, starlight evening and there were passengers on the deck. Mr. Sankey was asked to sing. He stood there leaning against one of the great funnels of the boat. He seemed driven to sing the Shepherd Song. Saviour, like a shepherd lead us, Much we need they tenderest care. In thy pleasant pastures feed us, for our use they folds prepare. There was deep stillness. The words rolled out and every heart was touched. After the song a man with a rough, weatherbeaten face came up and said, "Did you ever serve in the Union army? Yes, answered Sankey, in the spring of 1860. Can you remember if you were doing pioket
duty on a bright, moon light night in 1862.” “Yes, answer Sankey, very muoh surprised. “So can I,” said the stranger, but I was serving in the Confederate army. When I saw you standing at your post, I thought to myself, "that fellow will never get away from here alive so I raised my musket' and took aim , At that instant, just as here, you raised your eyes to heaven and began to sing. Music has always had a wonderful power over me, and I ,took my finger off the trigger.. “Let him sing his song to the end,” I said to myself. I can shoot him afterwards. He's my victim at all events, and my bullet cannot miss him. But the song you sang then was the song you sang just now. I heard the words perfectly "We are thine, do thou befriend us, be the Guardian of our way."

Those words stirred up many memories in my heart. I began to
think of my childhood and my Christian mother. She had many, many times sung that song to me. When you had finished your song, it was impossible for me to take aim at you again. I thought, “The Lord, who is able save that man from certain death, must surely be great and mighty-and my arm of its own accord dropped limp at my side. Since that time I have wandered far and wide but when I just now saw you standing there praying just as on that other occasion, "I recognized you. Then my heart was wounded by your song; now I wish that you would help me to find a cure for my sick soul. Deeply moved, Mr. Sankey threw his arms about the man who in thedays of the war had been his enemy. The stranger found the common Saviour,the Good Shepherd.

Conscience can do this. It can lead us to understand that we are without excuse, and that God has given us a Saviour

Conclusion:.
1. The diagnosis of Scripture on the ailment of mankind is that man is without excuse whatsoever. The disease is deadly. Man is in a state of facing death. But there is a remedy. Do you have the courage to hear it? The judgement of God’s wrath hangs over the head of mankind. What is your verdict?

A single Japanese word, "mokusatsu" may have changed many lives. It has two meanings: (1) to ignore, (2) to refrain from comment. The Emperor was ready to end the war in July 1945 when the Allies issued
the Potsdam ultimatum. The cabinet issued a press release announcing a policy of “mokusatsu", with the second meaning implying no comment until they could have time to discuss the terms of the ultimatum. The press sent the dispatch with a translation announcing that the cabinet would ignore the ultimatum. To recall the dispatch would have been a loss of face so the matter was allowed to stand and as a result, the war was prolonged, the Russians came into Manchuria, atomic bombs fell on Japanese cities and the Korean treaty drew a line which made the Korean war inevitable. One word, mis-interpreted. There is a greater Word sent to you now. Will you ignore it. Will you refrain from comment? To ignore it is to face wrath. To refrain from comment or commitment is to flirt with possible destruction. We are not assured of one more life's breath. Your time maybe cut short while you are yet in your sins. God's desire is that you experience his grace. Will you accept Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd as your Saviour?