Does God speak to us today outside of the Scriptures?
In previous posts we learned, by looking at specific statements in the Bible, that the Lord is revealing Himself today to all humanity through creation. Through these verses we saw that there is a purpose for God to reveal Himself this way: so all can know that there is a God in heaven.
We learned from these Scriptures that this general revelation cannot rescue people from sin, but can lay the foundation to open up further revelation from God’s Written Word through the Bible (Psalm 19: 1-14; Acts 14:15-17; Acts 17:22-31). In addition to these verses, the Bible also teaches us that the creation itself is the perfect witness against humanity’s rejection of God’s authority. This truth is found in our last passage.
The last passage I would like to highlight is the passage found in Romans 1: 18-25. In this passage we learn that creation clearly reveals who God is to humanity’s conscience. This passage teaches us that the rejection of this testimony by humanity has led to its just judgment of receiving the wrath of God in the day of judgment (Romans 1:18).
To make the point clearer lets first look at the larger context of our passage.
Our passage is in the greater context of Romans 1:18-3:20 which teaches us that the wrath of God comes upon those who are sinners. In this larger section, we learn that every person is guilty of God’s wrath because all have sinned against a just and holy God (Romans 2:1-6; Romans 2:11-12; Romans 3:9-23).
Now that we have examined the greater context, lets break down a few verses in our passage.
Romans 1:18 begins this section by letting us know that God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all men who suppress or hold down the truth. What is this truth? The truth is found in the next verses.
Romans 1:19-20 teaches us the truth of God is clearly revealed through creation to men’s hearts, namely His eternal power and divine nature. These verses tells us that humanity is without excuse! No one can stand before the Lord on that judgment day and say, “Lord I didn’t know you existed!” All of creation was witnessing to them that the Lord God is the Creator and the One they should worship. Truly, no matter what, it is humanity’s fault that humanity failed to trust in God. No one can escape from the consequences of this objective truth.
The final verses of Romans 1:21-25 help us understand that since man in his “wisdom” exchanged God worship for creature worship, God gave them over to their wicked hearts. These verses help us understand the free will of man.
If you haven’t personally trusted in Christ yet, why not? For the Lord has also revealed His righteousness in the Gospel (Romans 1:16-17) to rescue you from the sin that condemns you against Him (Ephesians 2:1-9).
Pastor Steve
Psalm 119:89
