Greetings again my Brethren. Well, it is another month of God’s new graces. Let us rejoice and be glad in them as the word of God says. This month we will continue to look at another divine communication God uses to show us He is there and He loves us. Nothing is more real to us than facts, and when they are self-evident facts, well how can we dispute them? Yet I know some people do, but usually these people are deceived and know not a Holy God who loves them. Now a self-evident fact is a fact, something we know is true and it is evident or known to us. In Romans Paul was talking with the Church at Rome and said, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” (Romans 1:18-20) I do not know about you my friend, but these verses give me great pause and cause a face pucker factor of 10 when I read them. Please take another read of these verses, because they tell us no matter what we say or do in life, or no matter when we have lived in this world we shall be judged by God for how we did things (not what we did, but how we did things) and we will have no excuse for our actions and if they (our actions) have not been dealt with by Christ at the cross then we will stand before a Holy God and be found guilty. No, we will not have a chance to stumble and mumble, or soft shoe before a Holy God and make excuses or try to vindicate ourselves, oh no. The Bible says in Revelations 20, “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelations 20: 11-12). On this day it will be self-evident that we did wrong and now it is too late. As in our life on earth God makes things in our life self-evident so that we do not find ourselves in a mess standing at the great White Throne. Back in Romans Paul tells us, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” Wow, here is another moment to pause and take stock in this verse. My friend I hope you understand what the Holy Spirit is saying here. For even the things that we do not understand (the invisible things) from our creation on earth and even from God’s perspective, (the beginning of time) time eternal we shall be held accountable for our actions and thoughts because we know there is a God and He is a righteous God. I hear many people say, “how can God hold people accountable for their actions who lived, died and have never heard of Jesus Christ and had their sins dealt with.” Well, for these folks, hearing of Jesus Christ and having their sins dealt with is not the issue, but the issue is knowing whether they believed there was God and they were accountable to this God. All, more or less, do what they know to be wrong and omit what they know to be right so that the plea of ignorance cannot be allowed from any. Our Creator’s invisible power and Godhead are so clearly shown in the works he has made that even idolaters and wicked people are left without excuse. They foolishly followed idolatry; and rational creatures changed the worship of the glorious Creator, for that of brutes, reptiles, and senseless images. They wandered from God, till all traces of true religion must have been lost, had not the revelation of the Gospel prevented it. For whatever may be pretended, as to the sufficiency of man’s reason to discover Divine truth and moral obligation or to govern the practice aright, facts cannot be denied. And these plainly show that men have dishonored God by the most absurd idolatries and superstitions; and have degraded themselves by the vilest affections and most abominable deeds.
Chapter one continues and describes the evilness of man’s heart and soul. “And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;” (Roman 1:27-28) Yet even with a “reprobate mind” (not knowing and not wanting to know the difference between good and bad, righteousness and unrighteousness) they were still held accountable. They should have known. And to all people born on earth (that have a knowledge of sin) God has made it self-evident to them, He has hard-wired man to know of their evil and perverse ways and to know they will be held accountable.
Next month we will continue looking at the “Oracles of God” as we continue to look at the Diversity of Divine Communication by looking at a few examples of communication. Do you hear Him draw near? He is speaking to us, but do we have the hearing ears to hear what the LORD is saying to us? Written by David Stahl
