Amen. All right, well we're there in Psalm chapter number 19, and of course
last week we started a new series on Sunday nights called Declaring
Doctrine, and what we're gonna do is we're gonna spend many weeks on Sunday
nights doing a systematic study of the major doctrines of the Word of God.
And honestly, this is the type of thing that people go to Bible College
for. They take Bible doctrines classes in Bible College and things like that.
It's gonna be very much learning, and we want you to be grounded in the truth.
Want you to be grounded in what the Bible teaches, and I want to encourage
all of you to be taking notes. If you don't have a baby sitting on your lap,
you know, take notes through all these sermons, and that way you can have
them and reference back to them. And if you remember last week, we began with
an introductory sermon on just the importance of doctrine and why we
would want to even learn about doctrine. Tonight we're gonna jump in into the
first major doctrine we're gonna learn about, and I want to start kind of at
the beginning where we would begin as mankind with God. And tonight I'm
preaching on the subject of the doctrine of revelation. Now when we
talk about the doctrine of revelation, I don't want you to be confused. We're
not talking about the book of Revelation, all right? We're not talking
about prophecy or end times. That's actually a doctrine as well, and we'll
cover that in this series, the doctrine of end times. But when we're talking
about the doctrine of revelation, what we're talking about is how God reveals
himself to mankind, how God reveals himself to mankind, and how we even know
that there is of God. Now when we talk about the doctrine of revelation, I
want you to understand that there are two major parts to this idea or there's
doctrine. There's what's known as general revelation, and then
there's what's known as specific revelation. Tonight we're going to focus
on general revelation, and then next week we'll talk about specific
revelation, and I'll tell you right now that the specific
revelation of course is referring to the Word of God. And Psalm 19 is
interesting because when you look at the first six verses, and we're gonna go
walk through them here in a minute, you'll notice that the emphasis is on
general revelation, how God generally reveals himself to mankind, and then
starting in verse 7, he shifts the focus to specific revelation. Verse 7,
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the
Lord is sure, made wise and simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing
the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The
fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. And of course this is all referring to the
Word of God. More to be desired are they than gold, yet and much fine gold,
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. So today, tonight, we're gonna
learn and we're gonna study this idea of general revelation, and what that
means is this, how is it that God in general or generally reveals himself to
mankind? All right, so I've got two major points and we've got some sub
points for those of you that want to take notes and I'd encourage you to do
that. Point number one is this, God reveals himself through creation.
God generally, in general, reveals himself to mankind through creation. Now
he specifically reveals himself through the Word of God, and we'll talk about
that next week, but in general, in general, without taking into account the
Bible and the Word of God, God reveals himself through creation, and God
reveals himself specifically through the creation of the universe, and this is
what the Bible teaches and this is what your heart and my heart would
tell us to be true, and it is this, that creation declares a creator.
Creation itself declares the fact that there is a creator. Are you there in Psalm 19?
Look at verse 1. Of course, there's the little phrase there might be in your
Bible, to the chief musician, a psalm of David, then the psalm begins like
this, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament. The word
firmament is a reference, is another, it's a synonym for the word heaven,
and it's in reference to the sky. The firmament is where the birds fly,
where the clouds are. He says the firmament showeth his handiwork. So he
says, look, the heavens, they declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth the handiwork of God. Notice verse 2, though. Day unto day
uttereth speech. He says, look, every day, day unto day, day after day, week
after week, month after month, the heavens and the firmament declare the
glory and the handiwork of God, and it's like they're preaching a sermon to us.
It's like they're communicating something to us about God. He says, day
unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is,
notice what he says, there is no speech nor language where their
voice is not heard. Where whose voice is not heard? The voice of creation. He
says, look, there is not one place on this earth. You know, we are going to
eventually in this series talk about the doctrine of evangelism and the work
that God has given us, the ministry of reconciliation, and our goal is to go
unto the uttermost parts of the earth and to reach people with the
gospel of Jesus Christ. But you know that creation, the message of creation,
there's not one place on this earth. There's not any language, there's no
speech, there's no group of people that have not heard the message from
creation that cannot look up to heaven and see that the glory of God is
declared through the creation of the universe. He says, there is no speech nor
language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out, notice,
through all the earth. Creation has declared God through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle
for the sun. And here's what he's saying. He's saying throughout all the
earth and throughout all of time, creation has been a witness and has
preached a sermon. It has uttered speech to every man, every language,
every tribe, every society on earth. The universe preaches a sermon to all
mankind, which all mankind hears and no one is left out. So when we are learning
about this doctrine of revelation, how God reveals himself to mankind, we start
of course with this idea that God reveals himself through creation and
creation declares a creator. He reveals himself through the creation of the
universe and the creation declares a creator. You're there in Psalm 19, look
at Psalm 50. If you flip a few pages over, you'll find that this is a
consistent thought throughout the Bible. Psalm 50. And I would say this,
this is the reason, this is the reason that every society, every group of
people, tribes, villages, throughout history, since the creation of mankind,
every people group, no matter how remote, no matter how far, no matter how
isolated, everyone has always believed that there is a God. Now they don't
necessarily believe in the Jehovah God or understand Jehovah, understand the
Lord, understand the Lord Jesus Christ. That comes through specific revelation
of the Word of God. But in general, in general, God and the existence of God
has been revealed through the creation of the universe and everyone is born
and is able to look up and that's why throughout all history, men and
women have always believed that there is a God, that there is a higher being,
that there is someone that created them. And in fact, the only people who
believe that there is no God had to go to an institution to be taught that.
They had to be brainwashed and they had to have that belief dismantled from
them because just naturally speaking, as humans are born and grow up and look up
at the sky and look at the sunset and look at the stars and look at
nature, nature declares the glory and the handiwork of God. Psalm 50, look at
verse 6. Psalm 50 and verse 6, the Bible says this, and the heavens shall
declare his righteousness for God is the judge himself, Selah. Notice Psalm 97 in
verse 6. If you flip a few Psalms over, Psalm 97, and do me a favor, put a ribbon
or a bookmark or your bulletin or something there in Psalms because we're
going to leave it and we're going to come back to it. Psalm 97 in verse 6,
notice what the Bible says, the heavens declare his righteousness and all the
people see his glory. See whose glory? They see God's glory. So throughout the
Bible, the Bible teaches this idea that the heavens declare the righteousness of
God, that the heavens declare the existence of God, that the firmament
showeth his handiwork. Now keep your place there in the Psalm. We're going to
come back to it. Go with me to the book of Romans, Romans chapter number one.
Romans chapter number one. And here's what you need to understand when
we're talking about the doctrine of revelation. And right now we're talking
about general revelation or generic revelation, whatever you want to call it.
Just how does God reveal himself to mankind, generally speaking? We must
understand that God does it through creation. And he does it through the
creation of the universe because the Bible tells us, we just saw several
verses in Psalms, that creation declares a creator. But there's more than that.
Not only does creation declare a creator, but creation reveals
judgment. Are you there in Romans 1? Look at verse 18. Romans chapter 1 and
verse 18. Notice what the Bible says. For the wrath of God, for the wrath of God is
revealed. Notice that word revealed. What does it mean? It means it's made
known. It's disclosed. It's made to be able to see. For the wrath of God is
revealed. How is the wrath of God revealed? Notice. From heaven. By nature.
Through nature. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness because that which may be known of God is manifest in them
for God has showed it unto them. We'll come back to that verse later on.
Notice verse 20. For the invisible things of Him, the invisible things of
who? Of God. The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world,
notice, are clearly seen. The Bible teaches that God, though God is
invisible, His existence is clearly seen. You say, how? From the creation of the
world. Being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead so that they are without excuse. Notice that the Bible says the
invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen.
And the Bible teaches this concept that it is nature, that God reveals
Himself in nature, in creation. God reveals Himself to mankind. But I want
you to understand something. There is no good news in that message. That
message goes to the ends of the world. That message is translated
into every language, into every speech, into every village, into every tribe,
into every society. All mankind can look at creation and understand
that there is a creator. But the message of creation only reveals the
wrath of God. Do you understand that? Notice verse 18. For the wrath of God is
revealed. I mean, have you ever wondered why mankind without the Bible
basically believes the same thing? We're talking about what you and I would
consider heathen pagans through history for thousands of years, whether
they were Greek, whether they were Romans, whether they were Aztecs in South
America, all throughout the universe, throughout the world. If you have
mankind without the Word of God, you know what you have? You have pagans who
believe in a God who's wrathful, who's angry. That's why they sacrifice, right?
That's why every pagan religion has had human sacrifices and animal
sacrifices and this sacrifice and that sacrifice. Why? Why? Where did they
come to that? Well, they came to that because you can look up at heaven and
realize that we didn't put ourselves here. Someone put us here. Someone created
us. Someone with intellect and intelligence, with wisdom and knowledge
put us here and if we were put here by someone then we are accountable to
someone. And the doctrine of general revelation teaches that God reveals
himself through creation and creation not only declares a creator but it
reveals judgment. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven and here's what I
want you to understand. The message that comes from creation is not enough to get
anybody saved. No one's gonna look up to the sun, look up to the moon, look up
to the stars and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That will require
specific revelation from the Word of God and someone with the Holy Spirit
communicating that. But creation is enough to put in the heart of man
that we are accountable to someone and that there is a God whose wrath is
revealed from heaven. The reason that an unregenerate man can look up to
heaven and understand a creator whom they are accountable to is because of
the complexity of the universe. The Bible says that God created the world
in wisdom and in knowledge. Go back to Psalm. Keep your place there in Romans.
We're gonna come back to it if you would. Go back to Psalm 136. Keep your
place in Romans. Psalm 136. Psalm 136. Look, the only way you could be smart
enough to look at creation and think that this just came about that nothing
created everything and that perfect order came from chaos. The only way
that someone would be that smart is to spend four years in an institution
where they're being brainwashed. Because no one would look at our stars
and the moon. No one would look at the animals and how
they interact. Nobody would look at the way that our world is
developed and the season. Nobody would look at that and say, oh this was a
mistake. Anyone would look at that and realize someone designed this. Someone
created this. Somebody planned this out. Psalm 136 and verse 5, the Bible says
this, to him that by wisdom made the heavens, for his mercy endureth forever.
Psalm 104 and verse 24, if you would, just head back there to Psalm 104 and
verse 24. The Bible says this, Psalm 104 verse 24, oh Lord how manifold are
thy works. In wisdom has thou made them all. The earth is full of thy
riches. Job 37, if you would, just you're there in Psalms, just flip one book back,
Job 37. Job 37 and verse 17. Now I ask you to keep your place in Romans and I
ask you to keep your place in Psalms. You can go ahead and lose your place
in Psalms but keep it in Job because we're gonna leave it and we're
gonna come back to Job, all right? So keep your place in Romans and keep
your place in Job. Job 37 verse 14, the Bible says this, harken unto this
O Job, stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. Does thou know
when God disposed them and caused the light of his cloud to shine? Does
thou know when the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of
him which is perfect? Notice in knowledge. The Bible is clear that the
earth was created by a God who is full of knowledge, who is full of wisdom, who
is full of power. Go to Jeremiah chapter 10. Jeremiah chapter 10, you're
there in Job? Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon,
Isaiah, Jeremiah. And we're gonna come back to Job so make sure you keep
your finger there but you've got Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of
Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 10. Jeremiah 10, 12, the Bible says this,
he had made the earth by his power. He had established the world by his
wisdom and has stretched out the heavens by his discretion. And again,
nobody, nobody could look up at nature, could look at nature, whether you want
to look at it in the sea, in the sky, whether you want to look at it in the
land, nobody would look at that and say this perfect balance came from chaos,
this perfect design came from nowhere. The Bible is clear that God, generally
speaking and in general, reveals himself to mankind through creation and
he does it, first of all, through the creation of the universe. And the
creation of the universe, what does that do? It declares a creator and it
reveals judgment. It reveals the wrath of God. It won't get anybody saved but
it'll get them condemned. It'll get them fearful enough and scared enough
to try to search out some God and maybe make some sort of sacrifice or
appeasement of that God. And it basically just sets them up for a
missionary to be able to come and preach to them the revealed gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to notice, not only does God reveal himself
through the creation of the universe, but there's another way that God
reveals himself through creation. He does it through the creation of the
universe and then he also does it through the creation of life. See, God is
the source of life and God reveals himself physically through the
universe, the stars, the heavens, the moon, the sky, but he also reveals himself
through the creation of life. Are you there in Job? Looking for Job 12. Job
chapter 12 and verse 7. Notice what Job, what the book of Job says. Job 12 and
verse 7, it says this, but ask now the beast, Job would say, ask the animals, but
ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee and the fowls of the air
and they shall tell thee. They said just look at the animals, just look at
the amazing wildlife that is on this earth, he says, and if you pay attention
they will teach thee and if you listen they will tell thee, verse 8, or
speak to the earth and it shall teach thee and the fishes of the sea shall
declare unto thee who knoweth not in all these, he said, notice what he says,
he says who knoweth not, he says who can look, this is what Job would say, he said who
can look at the fish and at the fowls and at the beasts and at the earth, he
says, and who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath
wrought this. He says you can't honestly look at life, animal life, and
not know that the Lord did not do this. The word rot means to work this,
that he wrought this, he says who knoweth not in all these that the hand of
the Lord hath wrought this. Go to Psalm 104, keep your place there in Job, we're
gonna come back to it, but if you're there in Job, just go back one book
over to Psalms, Psalm 104. Psalm 104 in verse 24, notice what the Bible says.
Psalm 104 verse 24, the Bible says this, oh Lord how manifold are thy works,
we already read this but I want you to see it again, in wisdom has thou made them all,
the earth is full of thy riches, look at verse 25, so is the great and wide sea,
wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. Notice the
Bible tells us, the Bible says hey do you want to know God, you want to see God revealed,
you want God to reveal himself, he said just look at the sky, look at the earth,
look at creation, it declares, the heavens declare, the firmament declares the glory
and the handiwork of God, and then the Bible would say you still want to see God,
just look at life, he said look at the great and wide sea, wherein things creeping
innumerable, both small and great beasts, he said look at the animals, you know what they'll
tell you, there's a God that God reveals himself, God reveals himself through the creation of the
universe, the creation declares the creator and the creation declares judgment, God reveals
himself through the creation of life, he declares himself through animal life but he also declares
himself through human life, notice Psalm 139, Psalm 139, and it's important that we make
that distinction because human life and animal life are not the same, I know we live in a society
today that has rejected God and that wants to tell us that we came from animals and that we're
equal to animals but the Bible does not teach that, the Bible says that you and I were created
in the image of God, the Bible says that we were created different and greater and better than
the animals, now God says you can look at the animals, you can look at the animals and realize
that this was not a mistake, this was not some sort of a weird accident, this was not a process
of evolution, he says look if you just look at the animals and look at how they're built and
and how they perform, it's obvious that there's a creator behind it but then God says this,
you can look at yourself, you can look at human life, Psalm 139 verse 13, Psalm 139 and
verse 13 the Bible says this, for thou has possessed my reigns, thou has covered me in my
mother's womb, I will praise thee, I love these words, I will praise thee for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well, and by the way
he's talking about a human in the womb and I just you know this already but there is value
in life in a womb, those babies that are being aborted today by the tune of 3,000 a day,
God would say of those children that they are fearfully and wonderfully made, notice verse 15
he says my substance was not hid from me, when I was made in secret and curiously wrought
in the lower parts of the earth, thine eyes did see my substance yet being
unperfect and he said though I was not complete, he says yet being unperfect and in thy book all
my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of
them, he says how precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God, how great is the sum of them
and he says look, he says when I was in the womb, he said before that I even had members,
before I even had the body parts, I was already precious in God's sight and he had thoughts about
me, thy thoughts unto me O God, how great is the sum of them, so you say well how does God
reveal himself, well look you should be able to look at your own body and realize you were
fearfully and wonderfully made, you were created by a creator and if you were created by a creator
that means that that creator has a purpose and that means that that creator has a plan
and that means that that creator will hold you accountable, so we begin this series of lessons
on the doctrine and we kind of have to start where all mankind starts and it's with this,
the doctrine of revelation, how God generally reveals himself to mankind and God does it
through creation, he reveals himself through the creation of the universe because the universe
the world itself, the sea, the moon, the stars, the planets, they declare a creator
and they reveal judgment, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, the Bible says
and not only does creation reveal God through the creation of the universe but creation
reveals God through the creation of life, both animal and human life, I'm trying to do the
best I can to give you these points if you're writing them down, they will be on the
midterms so you might want to take notes, go back to Romans chapter 1, this is like the best
Bible college class ever, Romans chapter 1 because it's free you know, Romans chapter 1
and you're actually learning something, Bible college you're just learning how to be lame,
Romans 1, here's point number 2, when we're talking about general revelation, how God reveals
himself to mankind in general, I want you to notice first of all God does it through
creation but there's a second way God does it, it's a two-pronged approach, one is that God does
it outside of us through creation, another way is that God does it inside of us through
conscience, God reveals himself outwardly through creation and God reveals himself inwardly through
conscience, are you there in Romans 1, look at verse 19, notice what the Bible says, because
that, notice, because that which may be known, notice he says this can be known,
this is knowledge that you can have, because that which may be known of God is manifest,
is readily perceived, is evident, it's apparent, that's what that means, he says because that
which may be known of God is manifest, notice, in them, he says God reveals himself outside of
them through creation but then God also reveals himself inside of them, you say how,
through conscience, for God has showed it unto them, the word showed means to be seen,
to become visible, that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God has showed it
unto them, you say how does God do that, well notice Paul is kind of taking the church at
Rome through a little bit of a systematic theology series himself because in Romans 2
he continues this idea, go to Romans 2, look at verse 14, Romans chapter 2 and verse 14,
Romans chapter 2 and verse 14 the Bible says this, for when the Gentiles which have not the law,
right, they don't have the specific revelation of God, they don't have the
oracles of God, they don't have the Word of God, this is Paul speaking to the Romans
2,000 years ago, the Gentiles is a reference to the heathens, the pagans, he says look,
for when the Gentiles which have not the law, they didn't have the law of Moses, they didn't
have the book of Moses, they didn't have the commandments of Moses, he says, for when the
Gentiles which have not the law, notice what he says, do by nature the things contained in the
law and Paul would say to these Roman believers, he would say, have you ever thought about this,
how heathens who do not have the law of God by nature just kind of do the things,
that are contained in the law, he says, for when the Gentiles which have not the law,
do by nature the things contained in the law, these, notice, these having not the law,
are a law unto themselves and here's the truth, here's the truth, throughout history,
throughout time, throughout this world, in every village, tribe, society, nation, groups of
people, generally speaking, men and women have agreed that there is a God and that the wrath of
God is revealed and we must appease that God, but you know that generally speaking, most people
have just agreed with certain basic truths, like murder is wrong, stealing is wrong,
adultery is wrong, now we understand that there are some reprobate cultures out there that,
are gonna be eating people and the cannibals and all that stuff, we understand that there are those,
but in general, do you understand that in general, throughout human history,
no matter what society, whether it's the Far East, whether it's the West,
throughout human history, men in general have all kind of agreed that murder is probably not a
good thing, that stealing is not a good thing, that lying is a bad thing, where does that
come from? Where does that come from? Because here's the truth, if there is no God and evolution
is true, there's nothing wrong with murder, I mean you're just a mistake, you're just a body,
you don't have a body, you are a body because if there is no God and evolution is true,
you have no soul, you aren't anything, you don't actually love, you've just got these cells
and these wires and these hormones inside of you that make you think you love your wife
or you love your husband and you love your children, but it's really just survival of
the fittest and something that evolved to kind of get us to group together and protect
each other and keep the species alive, it's a really weird way of looking at life.
If evolution is true, killing, there's nothing wrong with killing, by the way,
that's why these kids that walk into these schools and shoot up all their friends,
a lot of them are evolutionists and Nazis and all these things, why?
Because that's where that thinking leads, but see, by nature though, most people,
by nature most people, whether they're Christian, non-Christian, whether they've ever heard,
thou shall not kill, whether they've ever heard the message of the Bible,
most people by nature are a law unto themselves, notice verse 15,
which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness,
and their thoughts, the meanwhile, accusing or else excusing one another.
You ever had this internal dialogue, should I do it, should I not, should I do it,
should I not, I really want to steal that pen from church, you're gonna have the pen, okay?
The ushers keep watching me, this internal dialogue, where does that come from?
I'll tell you where it comes from, from God.
God puts something inside of every human being and it's called a conscience,
everyone is born with it, everybody has a conscience, everybody's born with a conscience,
you say, well, why, why did God do that?
Here's why God did that, because God reveals himself outwardly through creation
and God reveals himself inwardly through our conscience, and there's this two-prong approach,
that when a Holy Spirit-filled witness of the Lord Jesus Christ shows up on a shore
in Africa or in the Philippines or in a real heathen place, California,
they can go to unbelievers and say, you're accountable to a God,
you're accountable to the God of the Bible, and there is something inside of them that says,
I know, because God generally, God generally reveals himself through creation and God
generally reveals himself through conscience, everyone is born with a conscience.
Now, your conscience can be seared, that's a sermon for another day,
that's a different doctrine called the doctrine of being a reprobate,
and we'll deal with that, I'm sure, in this series, but your conscience can be seared,
your conscience can be hurt, your conscience can be ignored, but you're born with a conscience,
and even unsaved people have a conscience. Go to John chapter 8, if you would, John chapter 8,
you've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John chapter 8, and look at verse number 3,
John chapter number 8 and verse number 3, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,
John chapter 8 and verse 3, the Bible says this,
and the scribes and Pharisees, these are religious people, but they're not saved,
and the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him, this is Jesus, a woman taken in adultery,
and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, master, you know the story,
it's a one-on-one story, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act,
I always think that's interesting, in the very act, it's like okay, well if it was in the very act,
where's the guy? Verse 5, now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned,
but what sayest thou? And I'm not preaching on this story, of course, there's a lot here,
and I've preached about it before, and I'm not gonna get into those details,
I just want you to notice something, verse 6, this they said tempting him that they might
have to accuse him, and really the idea is that there's no right answer to this question,
there's no right answer, whatever Jesus says, and he says yeah you're right,
the law of Moses says to stone her, so stone her, then they'll just accuse him to the Romans,
and say he's telling us to follow the law of a different God, or a different government,
and if he says well the Roman law says don't stone her, so don't stone her,
then they'll go to all the people and say he's telling us not to follow the law of Moses,
so there's really no right answer to this question, it's just kind of a catch-22,
and by the way, I'm not preaching on this, but let me just say this,
you know that you don't have to answer every question,
there's some questions you don't need to answer, there's some details you don't need to give,
and here Jesus is being tempted that they might have to accuse him,
but Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not,
now nobody knows what Jesus wrote, and people like to argue and debate what he might have
wrote, we don't know what he was writing, he could have been writing his grocery list
for all we know, I think he probably, you know, if I had to take a guess,
and this is totally a guess, just my opinion, I think he probably started writing, you know,
writing their names, Zacchaeus, stealing, Bob, you know, cheated in third grade or whatever,
you know, and he started writing all their sins out maybe, I don't know, we don't know that,
I just, I think that's, if I had to guess, that's what I would say he was doing,
notice what happens, verse 7, so when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself
and said unto them, here's all he said, he said, he lives without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at him, he didn't say no or yes, he just said this,
well, if there's anybody here, if there's anybody here that's without sin, cast the first
stone, and again he stooped down and wrote on the ground, Jim, you're lying on your taxes,
whatever, verse 9, and they which heard it, notice, unsaved people, no Holy Spirit inside
of them, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one beginning
at the eldest even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst,
and of course he tells her to go and sin no more, and the idea is this, the idea is this,
that God has revealed himself through creation outwardly, and through conscience inwardly,
go back to Romans chapter 1 if you wouldn't, Romans chapter 1, so we're doing a systematic
study of doctrine, and we're starting where all mankind has to start, and it's through
the doctrine of revelation, and specifically, we're talking about not specific revelation,
but general revelation, how does God generally reveal himself to mankind, and he does it through
creation, he does it through conscience, and here's the application, because I like to end
every sermon with some sort of an application, and here we go, Romans 1.20, for the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
which that are made, even as eternal power and Godhead, notice, here's the application,
so that they are without excuse, you know that there's no human being who will ever stand
before God with a proper and true excuse, no one, and here's what I believe, and here's what
I think, I honestly, and this might sound odd, if you study Acts chapter 10, I think you read
that, we read that recently in our ninth chapter today, you have Cornelius, who's an unsaved man
in a different religion, and he's genuinely searching after God, and God orchestrates this
thing where Peter goes to preach the gospel to him, I believe that people are honestly
searching for the truth, that God will do his best to get us involved in the ministry
of reconciliation to find them, but whether you and I do what we're supposed to do, and
we'll talk about that here in a minute, the point is this, that the doctrine of
general revelation teaches that all mankind is without excuse, whether they know the
gospel or not, they know God, whether they understand the gospel or not, they know God,
because God reveals himself through creation and conscience, and because God reveals himself
through creation and conscience, everyone is without excuse, go to first Corinthians
chapter three if you want, we're almost done, first Corinthians chapter three, I'm
gonna give you one more verse and a quick story and we'll be done, first Corinthians
chapter three, because when you preach sermons like these, people will say, well it's
not fair, I mean, you mean to tell me that creation is enough to condemn someone,
creation is enough to judge someone, creation is enough to bring the wrath of God so that
no one will stand before God with an excuse and say, I didn't know, because their conscience
would have told them, because creation would have told them, hey there's a God out there,
you better figure this thing out, people say it's not fair, I mean, and they always
want to talk about some guy in the Amazon jungle who never heard the gospel, what about
that guy, God's not fair, God's not right, God should do more, well you know what the
answer to that question is, it's in first Corinthians chapter three, look at verse
five, notice what the Bible says, actually look at verse four, for while one sayeth
I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal, now we're jumping
into a discussion here where you've got the church at Corinth and they're divided
into these groups, don't we love to do that, just look at Facebook, they're divided
into these groups and some people say I'm of Paul and other people say I'm of Apollos
and they're all fighting about these things, and here's what he says, look at verse three,
look at verse four, I'm sorry verse three, for ye are yet carnal, for whithers
there is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk
as men, notice verse five, he says who then is Paul and who is Apollos,
you wanna get all upset about Paul and Apollos and Cephas, he says who is Paul
and who is Apollos, he says let me tell you exactly who Paul and Apollos are,
this is what Paul is saying, he says who then is Paul and who is Apollos
but ministers by whom he believed, he said you know all that Paul and Apollos are
are just ministers that brought you the gospel that you may believe, and then he says this,
and I want you to notice this, even as the Lord gave to every man,
you know the Bible teaches that God has orchestrated a plan so that every believer,
every unbeliever has a believer assigned to them and it's their job to get that person
the gospel, I mean is that what it's saying, who then is Paul and who is Apollos
but ministers by whom he believed and he says there's nothing special about them
even as the Lord gave to every man, the Lord gave to every man a Paul,
the Lord gave to every man an Apollos, the Lord gave to every man someone
that's supposed to bring the gospel to them and here's what I think is funny,
people will say well if someone doesn't hear the gospel that means that God is not fair
and God is not doing enough, you know who's not fair, the believers out there who aren't so winning,
they're not fair, say God's not doing enough, no you're not doing enough
because God, do you understand that God has given you a responsibility,
there are certain people that you're supposed to bring the gospel to
and when you fail to do so, it's not God's fault, it's your fault and it's my fault
because God gave a minister to every man, so yeah quit the gardening and show up for soul winning,
quit the little league and show up for soul winning, quit whatever distractions are
distracting you and show up for soul winning because there are people out there
whose conscience is telling them there is a God and they need you to bring the gospel to them
because on the day of judgment, on the day of judgment, they will be without excuse,
when I was a teenager, many of you know, most of you know I think, I was born in Venezuela,
my family's from Venezuela, we moved to the US when I was four years old, yes we are citizens
and when I was a teenager we had our cousins visiting from Venezuela and they came and
I was like 15 years old or something, I had one of my older cousins, he was maybe 17 years old,
he came to visit and our church had teen soul winning, we went out to teen soul winning
and we were out knocking doors and inviting people to church, preaching, you know asking
people about salvation or whatever, remember this lady over the door and we began to try
to give her the gospel, I was trying to give her the gospel and she listened,
she wanted to hear it and she said to me, she said I can't believe that,
I can't believe that because that's just not fair, that's not right, that means that if somebody
then never got this message of salvation is just through Jesus Christ because he said I am
the way, the truth and life, if you can only come to the Father through him then what about
people who don't know and it was what she said to me and I had my cousin who'd literally
just gone here the day before from Venezuela, she said what about people in Venezuela
who have never heard the gospel and I said well actually I was born in Venezuela and he
just got here from Venezuela and we're here trying to give you the gospel because the message of
salvation has truly gone through all the world and God has revealed himself to all mankind
through creation and through conscience but it is our job to take the specific revelation
of God's Word to the uttermost part of the earth, so you stay tuned, we learned about
general revelation, next week we're going to learn about specific revelation, we talked
tonight about how God reveals himself generally to mankind, next week we'll learn how God
reveals himself specifically to mankind, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer,
Heavenly Father thank you Lord for your word, thank you for the Bible and Lord thank you for
the fact that the truth is this, that you care about mankind and you've really primed
the pump for us to bring the gospel to a lost and dying world, people have to be convinced,
they have to be manipulated, they have to be brainwashed, they have to be educated
into not believing God because creation reveals that there is a God and our conscience reveals
that there is a God and Lord I pray you'd help us have a firm understanding of this
very basic doctrine of general revelation, in the matchless name of Christ we pray, Amen.