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We started in our last session discussing this whole topic of people that don't believe there is a God. The Bible says in two passages in the Psalms, actually three passages where the unbeliever declares, well, the fool declares, there is no God. And the question we're seeking to answer is, how did individual human beings, or human beings as a whole, get to the point where they rejected God, where they refused to believe in him, and then went off on their own, coming up with all sorts of ideas and philosophies that try to explain that which can only be explained by the word of God and by what God has done for us. So we looked at three undeniable proofs of the existence of God. First of all, the Bible assumes the existence of God.

It begins in Genesis, chapter one and verse one. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It assumes the existence of God. It doesn't argue for the existence of God. It doesn't try to convince us there's a God, it just assumes it.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The second proof that we have of the existence of God is fulfill prophecy. God has given over the centuries, hundreds and thousands of prophetic utterances, hundreds and thousands of years before the occurrence of the events. God foresaw those and told us about them. And we can trace those in the word of God.

And God tells us to test him and to show that he has got to prove that he's God because he is able to tell the end from the beginning. He knows all things, all things actual and even all things possible. And he's given us in his word many prophecies that look forward to events, that look forward to individuals, that look forward specifically as you look at the Lord Jesus Christ, to where exactly he would be born, when he would be born, how he would live, how he would minister the content of his ministry, how he would be persecuted, how he would be killed, beaten, what he would say when he was hanging on the cross, that he would rise again the third day, all according to the word of God. So God has given us his word and fulfilled prophecy is a great evidence of the existence of God. And then thirdly, we saw that God has provided man with many proofs.

Specifically, we started looking at Romans, chapter one and verse 19. God begins in verse 18 by saying, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold or suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And then here are the evidences, because that which may be known of God is manifested in them. That's an inward reality and consciousness. Some call it conscience, where there's the evidence that there is a supreme being, a supreme creator, an all powerful, all knowing, all wise God.

And so that evidence God has given to every human being. And then in verse 19, because that which may be known or is known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it unto them. And now the second evidence of the existence of God in this passage is creation itself. Verse 20. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen.

Invisible things clearly seen. That's an interesting statement, an interesting concept, that there can be things that are clearly seen, that are invisible from the things that are seen, that are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. By the things that are made. Even his eternal power and godhead, so that we see in creation an undeniable, powerful evidence of the existence of God, specifically here, his eternal power, that he has infinite power, power that cannot be limited in any way, so much so that he's able to speak this creation into existence, as we read in the first chapters of the book of Genesis. And the fact that he is who he is, his godhead, the existence of God in all of his power, in all of his wisdom, and in all of his glory, and those who refuse to accept the word of God, those who push the word of God away, those who suppress the word of God, suppress the very knowledge of God and suppress all of the evidence that is existent in this universe. The problem with man is that once he does that, Romans chapter one and verse 20 says so that they are without excuse when they stand before God. There is no defense that they can present that justifies their unbelief and their rejection of who God is.

And so we're looking at the great Revelation of God in conscience, in the word of God, through fulfilled prophecy and in creation. How is it then that with such clear and universal evidence, how is it that people do not believe that there is a God? And you may find yourself in that status, in that state of complete rejection of God, even the existence of a God.

And what we need to realize is something horrible happened to human beings as we consider these things. There are two very important things to be aware of. First of all, that God does not impose himself on us. He does not force you to believe. He just gives us the evidence, all the evidence we need. He only exposes us to what is true. And then we need to respond to the evidence and respond to what is true. We therefore have choices.

God gives us choices. The choice to believe, to accept the evidences that he has given us, or to reject those, to accept the reality that God exists, to accept the reality and truth of his word, or reject it. Those are choices that we as human beings have been given. However, the consequences of those choices are not in our doing, they're not in our power. We have no choice as to the consequences of our choices.

Those God has predetermined, and God is loving enough and gracious enough, kind enough, to not only give us the Revelation, but also to warn us if we don't believe. If we don't accept those facts, there are tragic consequences that we will incur. And that has been that way from the very beginning, from the time that he created Adam. He said to Adam, you can eat of everything and every tree that's in the garden. Only one tree you cannot eat from, and that's from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because God gives him a choice, obviously.

But God also gives him a clear definition of what the consequences will be if he does disobey God and eat from that tree. We're going to look at that later in this message. The principle is one that is taught in the word of God in the book of Galatians and chapter six. It's the principle of sowing and reaping. Galatians, chapter six and verse seven.

The word of God says, be not deceived. God is not mocked. For because whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. That's a principle in the word of God. What you sow, you will reap.

This comes from the agricultural world, and it basically says, if we sow corn, we are not going to reap grapes. If we sow seeds for tomato plants, we're not going to reap pumpkins. That's a universal, agricultural, natural principle. What you sow, you will reap.

If, in fact, we sowed and did not reap what we sowed, then we could mock God and say, he's a big joke. He doesn't mean what he says. He has no power, except that the consequences of our choices, having been warned about them, will always, 100% of the time, be true and be fulfilled. And that's the principle that we see in the word of God that we must be aware of. And so we find in Romans, chapter one, five choices that man makes and the consequences of those choices.

This principle of sowing and reaping is clearly displayed in the book of Romans and chapter one. The first choice that man makes here in Romans chapter one, verse 18. Man holding or suppressing the truth and unrighteousness, man choosing unrighteousness, choosing a life of sin and debauchery and depravity over the choice of believing God's word and God's truth. And so what man does, because he chooses to live the way he wants to, to please himself, he rejects the word of God and takes all of the evidence, all of it, in creation, in conscience, in the word of God, and suppresses it, pushes it down, doesn't want to know it, doesn't want to consider it, doesn't want to think about it. That's man's choice.

So man chooses to suppress, to reject, push away God's truth in favor of unrighteousness. What's the consequence? The consequence, according to verses 19 and 20, as we already mentioned, is that man is without excuse. Man stands before God, and man will stand before God. The Bible says that it is appointed and to every man, and when we use the word man, we mean all human beings, mankind.

It is appointed unto man once to die. That's an appointment that we will all keep. You will keep that appointment. You can push it away. You can try to extend your life. You can say, I'm going to live to 120. And what happens then? You have an appointment. It is appointed unto man once to die. And immediately after that, the judgment, God's judgment and the basis upon his judgment, begins with a recognition that he exists and that he has given us evidences of his existence and that he, in his word, has told us and warned us about the consequences of not believing in him and not accepting his provision for eternal life through the death of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who went to the cross to die for us in our place, in our stead.

We can reject that truth. We can suppress it. We can push it away. We have that choice. But the consequence is there is a day of judgment coming, and we man will stand before God without excuse.

You will not be able to blame anybody or anything else for your unbelief and your life of disobedience toward God and choosing unrighteousness instead of you without defense. No defense attorney. No defense on your part. No excuses.

You cannot blame your parents. You cannot blame the environment. You cannot blame your education. You cannot blame your friends, you cannot blame your church wherever you attended, you cannot blame anybody. You will stand before God without defense, without excuse. Especially tragic when what you've done is you've heard the truth of God's existence. You've been given evidence of his existence, you've been given his word to tell you what you need to believe, what you should believe, and you reject that and stand before God without excuse. That's the consequence.

The second choice that we find here in this passage is in verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. So there was a time when man knew of the existence of God. And suppressing that truth caused man then to make another choice. And that is not to honor him for who he is, not to glorify him for his great characteristics, his great attributes, his great works for who he is. And man refuses to glorify God. In addition to that, man refuses to be thankful, not recognizing that everything that we have, everything that we possess, everything around us, all of creation was given to us and is provided to us by his kindness. And he's put us in this environment where the earth produces the food that we need, where the air is there so that we can breathe it and continue to exist, where there's water to drink. People, just for the very basic things of life, having suppressed the truth of the existence of God, refuse to honor him as God and to be grateful to God for who he is and that he has made us. Not recognizing that we are so dependent upon God, totally dependent upon God, he could change things and snuff your life out in a split second. But we continue to live, we continue to have opportunities to believe in God, to trust in him, to obey him, to enjoy all that he's provided, and to have a relationship with him.

We're not talking about joining a religious organization. We're not talking about joining a particular church or denomination. There are myriads of churches and different belief systems. God is not calling us to join any of that. God is calling us to a living relationship with him. Will we acknowledge his existence? Will we accept the evidences of his existence? Will we accept the message that he has for us and our dependence upon him for life itself? And as we see later in the book of Romans, we are totally dependent upon him for our salvation, for our relationship with him. And we'll study that when we get to Romans chapter three. And so man made the choice here in Romans chapter one, verse 21. They refused even though they knew God, even though they had a basic knowledge of God. They refused to glorify him, to honor him for who he is, and refused to acknowledge their dependence upon God and be grateful for him and his provisions for him.

There are several consequences that we find, in verse 21, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. But what happened? The consequences. First of all, they became vain in their imaginations. Vain, empty in their imaginations, thought processes, philosophies, dogmas that were rejected, that were worthless, vain, empty. And thus man decides that since they do not accept the evidence that God has given of his existence by the creation of this world. And as man examines this universe, this earth, these planets, and as man examines and studies our own bodies, they come up with all kinds of crazy imaginations and philosophies about how we came into existence. Refusing to acknowledge God as the creator, they come up with ideas of some explosion in the distance past, millions and millions of years ago, we evolved into something which is absolutely vain. Man became vain in their imaginations.

The next consequence here is, their foolish heart was darkened. Men were thrust into complete, utter darkness, a spiritual darkness. And did you notice the word here? Their foolish heart was darkened.

So here we see twice in this passage, in Romans chapter one, this word foolish or fools. Which takes us back to Psalms, where the statement that man makes is, there is no God. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. And Romans chapter one tells us how man became so foolish as to enter into a state of utter and complete spiritual darkness. Their foolish heart was darkened. The light went out.

The third consequence here of rejecting God, of not glorifying him as God and not being thankful. Verse 22. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. There's the word of not only did they not believe and accept the Revelation of God and his word, but they began to accept their own vain imaginations and vain philosophies.

And they were puffed up in pride over all these great theories that they come up with. And they think that they are so wise. And scripture says, thinking themselves to be wise, professing themselves to be wise, they would not only believe that in their own hearts they would profess that to the world they're so wise, so intelligent, and thus became complete and utter fools. Foolishness. And there we see the decline of man. There we see the tragic condition of man, where he gets to the place, even though he's been given all this evidence, all of this truth, rejecting it, suppressing it. Man, in his infinite stupidity, declares there is no God.