5 Ways We Suppress the Truth
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Last week, we started talking about God’s Wrath
And how the fact that God is revealing a little bit of His wrath, and not the full extent, is actually a LOVING act by God
And it is NOT A SIN for God to hate sin....in fact, we need Him to, because of His perfect nature which He can’t deny
We also talked about how God’s wrath is upon the world because mankind has “suppressed the truth of God”
Meaning…they’ve denied it, rejected it, ignored it, etc.....
So when you’re talking to a friend and they say they’re an atheist, or that there is no God…that is a very clear picture of someone who can look at creation, and come away with that conclusion, that they are suppressing the truth
And, let’s be clear.....ALL OF US ARE GUILTY OF SUPPRESSING THE TRUTH
5 ways we suppress the truth:
We look at creation, we look at ourselves, we look at each other, and we:
1 - Refuse to honor God as God (verse 21)
And instead, we do what verse 25 says, “we exchanged the truth about God for a lie and WORSHIPED AND SERVED THE CREATURE rather than the Creator”
This is where we turn attention to ourselves....how many of us are guilty of seeking our glory and fame over His?!?!?
EVERY HAND GOES UP
We look at creation, we look at ourselves, we look at each other, and we:
2 - Do not give thanks to God
Obviously, if we don’t honor Him as God, we’re not going to give thanks to Him for being God right?
We look at creation, we look at ourselves, we look at each other, and we:
3 - Become futile in our thinking
Our thoughts become worthless, because we’ve made them all about ourselves. They become vain. We’ve pushed away the only REAL truth and bought into the lie
We look at creation, we look at ourselves, we look at each other, and our:
4 - Foolish hearts are darkened
Meaning, we become unable to understand, unable to see the true truth.
Why is our culture so evil? Because they no longer can see the truth, so truth becomes relative, truth becomes whatever they want it to be
says, : The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
We look at creation, we look at ourselves, we look at each other, and we:
5 - Claim to be wise (when in all reality we are the most foolish) (verse 22)
We not only refused to honor God as God, we did not give thanks to God as God, we not only then became futile in our thinking, but our foolish hearts were also darkened, and to top it all of, we do this all in the name of wisdom
We claim to be really really smart, we think we’ve got it all figured out, or at least we act like we’ve got it all figured out
But the verse goes on to say that in all reality, we are fools.
All of us are guilty of doing these things we just listed....that’s where you were, OR, that’s where you still are today
See, Paul is saying, you’ve suppressed the truth, you’ve taken what was clearly able to show you and explain to you who God was, and you’re now no longer able to see Him clearly due to SIN
Let’s try to illustrate this:
Windshield in a car - typically, you can see everything in front of you right?
Except when, like on Sun morning last week, I hopped in my truck, turned it on, looked forward, and wham....could barely see anything
Just like trying to drive with a frosted over window, mankind is doing the same thing
We kind of know God is there, but we’ve suppressed the truth so much that we’ve lost sight of Him
But, as Paul says, we are without excuse in verse 20
Why? Because WE are the ones who have SUPPRESSED the truth
That’s why it’s fair that all people who do not believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ go to hell.
Because WE are all guilty of suppressing the truth
Closing
Closing
As we’ve pointed out....we are all under the wrath of God
tells us that. It says that “by nature we were children of wrath”
We’re all guilty as charged, and unless something changes, we’re destined to experience the full extent of His wrath
Right now, sin seems fun, it seems harmless, the world seems to enjoy it, what’s the big deal.
Well, it seems that way because our minds are deluded, our hearts are darkened
Trust me, the Bible mentions God’s wrath around 580 times.....and it is never ever pictured as a good time
We’re all destined for Hell
But, that’s what makes the gospel so amazing!
That’s why Paul was so enthralled with it, why he was eager to preach it, and why it was the most important thing to him in the world
, “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
It is the only option that we have
It’s the only way we can be made RIGHT with God
Can you sit here this morning saying, yes, I have put my trust and hope in Jesus Christ. I believe that I am only made right through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and because He took MY wrath upon the cross at Calvary?
That’s your only hope
And if that is you, what better way to respond to what we saw today in verse 18-23, then to be like Paul, and live our lives so He gets the glory, as originally intended?
Don’t make this week about you…if you’re a believer, you’re freed from the suppression of the truth
Make Him known!
Secondly, If you’re a believer, or claim to be, why would you spend this week doing the very things that provoked the wrath of God in the first place?!?!
If I say I love my wife, and then proceed to:
Never honor her
Never tell her thanks
Only focus on myself
Always talk about myself
Never ever think about her
And make sure no one knows about her
Do I love her?
NO!
But all too often, that’s how we treat God you guys
And He’s not going to be okay with that
Are you guilty of living like children of wrath?
Check yourself
Finally, if your hope rests in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and your life is all about making it all about Him, then I have a challenge for you:
You all have friends, family members, coaches, teammates, teachers, classmates, work colleagues, on top of all the other people you interact with each day....you’re all surrounded by people who:
Are futile in their thinking, are suppressing the truth, are seeking their glory instead of God’s glory
Who…most alarmingly, would take the full brunt of God’s wrath if they die or if Christ returns
Meaning…they aren’t saved
And sure, they’re life might seem good, they might be nice people, or “good” people, but we just read that there are no good people, we’re all children of wrath, we’re all under the wrath of God
The only thing that matters is whether they respond to the free invitation of the gospel of Jesus Christ
If they never respond to it, then they will one day stand before God, and they may try to plead innocence, or plead ignorance, and God will say to them, “You have no excuse”
You guys, we have the chance to bring out the ice scraper, to clear the windshield, to show them Jesus, show them God, show them what Paul was so eager to show his friends and those he came into contact with
So will you really say this week, “I am eager to preach the gospel, and I’m not ashamed of the gospel”
It’s your call....what are you going to do?