Romans Chapter 1:16-20

And one of the things that God gives you to overpower and be a victor over sin, a lot of you are holding in your hands right now, the word of God. It is God's truth. And it's God's truth. We're told in one passage that if we know the truth, there's an is there, if we know the truth and we're following the Lord, then the truth will set us free. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina.

We all need direction in life. And with God's word, we know we have the truth and therefore we can trust it. Find out more about this as David McGee continues in the book of Romans chapter one. But before we get into today's teaching, from beginning to end, the Bible shows the special nature of God's relationship with the nation of Israel.

But what does that have to do with you today? Romans chapter 11 tells us that God's covenant relationship with Israel has huge implications for you. To help you understand more, Pastor David wants to send you his teaching video recorded in the Holy Land called Israel, the Bible and You. This powerful resource will encourage and strengthen you as you learn how connected you are with God's chosen people. Israel, the Bible and You is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So visit crossthebridge.com to request your copy.

Again, that's crossthebridge.com. Now here's David McGee with his teaching, The Truth. Romans chapter one, verse 16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Verse 18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. What's happening in the next few verses is he begins to describe what happens in this slippery slope that any of us can fall down if we're not careful. The wrath of God, holding back the truth.

What does this mean? Suppress the truth. You know, these programs on Discover Channel, History Channel, stuff like that, I enjoy watching. I enjoy watching them, some of them that ask questions about spirituality, ask questions about Christianity, ask questions about the history of the church.

I enjoy those things. When I get disturbed is when I see that clearly there's agenda and they're not presenting well-known archaeological evidence. They're disregarding well-known historical and literary evidence in order to make their case stronger because what are they doing? They're not wanting to engage in debate. They have an agenda. They want to lead you to a certain truth, to, oh, well, you know, Jesus actually was married to Mary and Jesus was buried in this tomb and we still have his bones, or that Jesus was the son of a Roman soldier, all these things.

Guys, it's not anything new. That's suppressing the truth. That's where I have a problem in some of these discussions. Understand the wrath of God is an emotion he has towards sin and wrongdoing.

You need to understand that. Again, the New Living Translation says this, but God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. I know a lot of people when we say God loves the sinner but hates the sin. This verse kind of challenges part of that notion. Absolutely God loves people. Absolutely God wants to see people into the kingdom. But when somebody is messing up and suppressing the truth, this verse says it arouses God's anger. Now, again, this is God looking on and seeing things go wrong, people being mistreated, people being abused and all these things. That arouses God's anger.

And you know what, friend? It should arouse ours. If it arouses God's and we're following the Lord, then it should do something inside of us. Now, I'm not talking about necessarily having picket signs outside of abortion clinics and yelling at people and bombing them and all these sorts of things. I'm talking about loving people. I'm talking about talking to them and seeing the things that they're going through and being upset at the evil that's in the world, at the deceit that's in the world. Jesus said turn the other cheek.

He didn't say look the other way. And as I look on the landscape of humanity, I'll have to be honest, there are certain things that arouse anger in me. One of the things I'm passionate about is, of course, the way and instead of looking out at the world, looking inside and looking at the church as a whole and saying why are we not more effective in reaching people? Why are we not more effective in reaching the Jewish people? Why are we not more effective in reaching homosexual and lesbian communities?

Why are we not more effective in these areas? And I'm passionate about that. Apparently, John was passionate about it because when you read the book of Revelation, the seven letters to seven churches. Now, when we look at this and we look at our own lives, which is really, friend, if you want to get upset about sin, do you know whose sin you should be the most upset about? No. Yours. I'd rather be upset about somebody else's.

I'd rather look at the television and get upset. I really don't have to do anything about that. Right. But when you begin to see your activities and your behaviors not in line with scripture, there should be something in you that goes, man, Lord, help me in this area. Give me the power to be an overcomer in this area. And one of the things that God gives you to overpower and be a victor over sin, a lot of you are holding in your hands right now, the word of God. It is God's truth. And it's God's truth. We're told in one passage that if we know the truth, there's an if there, if we know the truth and we're following the Lord, then the truth will set us free.

So shouldn't we begin to know the truth? This book is for your benefit and your blessing. It's, you know, it's owner's manual, if you will, to how to live.

And I know, you know, if you're a guy in here, you're going, big deal. I don't need owner's manuals. Right. You know, you, you got that microwave and you didn't need to look at the owner's manual.

We didn't need to look at the directions. Right. Who knew the cat was going to end up like that? Just kidding. Just kidding. I love cats.

I love cats. But a lot of times we don't look at the owner's manuals. But we should, we should be in this book.

We should look to the owner's manner because it is truth and it is for our benefit and our blessing. And the more time you spend in the word, the more benefit you will derive from the word. The more blessed you will be from the word. Let's run through some verses that talk about this Bible being true.

Psalm 1, 1943 says, and take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth for I've hoped in your ordinances. And I'm going to run through these quickly. We're taking notes.

You want to jot them down quick. Psalm 119, 142 says your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness and your law is truth. Psalm 119, 151, you are near O Lord. And all your commandments are truth.

119, 160, the entirety of your word is truth. And every one of your righteous judgment endures forever. And here's that verse. I just referenced John eight 31. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, that's kind of interesting because most of us believe that no Jews believed in Jesus. You see that right there during the ministry of Jesus, those Jews who believe in him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples.

Indeed. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Jesus plainly says here, if you know the truth, so I'm going to do everything I can to communicate the truth to you, then the truth and you follow Jesus abide in his word. Then you will begin to be set free.

As you give in to God, if you will, let go and let God, then your life begins to change as you're in this book. The washing of the word is what we're told. Now this verse uses ungodliness and unrighteousness.

Let's understand those terms. Ungodliness is an act or an attitude against God. Ungodliness is an act or an attitude against God. Unrighteousness is an act or an attitude against people.

Unrighteousness is an act or an attitude against people. See, and Jesus said something interesting. He said, all the laws wrapped up in this love the Lord, your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, love your neighbor as yourself.

Why? Because if you do those two things, you won't break God's law. It's interesting when you take a good look at the 10 commandments and you look at them, the first four have to do with our relationship with the Lord and go through them another time. We're not going to do it this morning, but the first four have to do with our relationship with the Lord.

The sixth, the next sixth have to do with our relationship with one another, not, not coveting, killing, stealing, those sorts of things. So being in right relationship, so ungodly, unrighteous, and those are ungodly relationship with the Lord and righteous. And so we see that the Lord has done all that he, he needs to do in order to free us up to have a relationship with him and having relationship with others. Now, occasionally you run into a Christian that has horrible relationships with everybody else, but proclaims he loves the Lord. Well, the Bible says that if somebody is like that or does that, they are a liar. They don't love God who they've not seen. And because the Bible says in those passages, you know what?

You say that you love God, you haven't seen God, but you don't like people that are gathered around you. So we see this in our relationships as we look at sin, hurting people, wounding people, it hurts and wounds God. A lot of people have the concept that, you know, the Lord created the earth and kind of sent it spinning and then just kind of now he sat down and he's watching it.

That's not correct. As a matter of fact, our sins so grieved the Lord that the plan emerged to give his son to die for our sins. Now it didn't just happen. It wasn't 2000 years ago that God all of a sudden had a light bulb moment and said, Oh, I know what I'll do. He knew from the beginning of time what he was going to do so that we could be free from our sins. And as he sees people in bondage, as he sees people hurting, he wants to reach out to them. And, you know, when people think, well, God, you know, why does God not do this? Why does God not do that? Why there's so much pain in the world? That relates back to what God is not doing.

Huh? That's an interesting concept, but let's look at that for a second. Has God given anybody the power or the ability to right some of the wrongs that we see in the world? Yes. Who did he give that power to?

All those people in Washington, DC. That's close, wasn't it? No, he gave it to us. He gave it to us to bring the kingdom of God, if you will. So you and I, actually, it would appear are responsible for these things. Of course, we look at this verse and we think, well, this unrighteous people, there's unrighteous people in this world. There is. But the reality is there's unrighteous people here right now. There's, let me, let me help you with this. Not calling anybody names.

There's an unrighteous person getting ready to sit in this chair. I'm not perfect. If you're looking for a pastor that's perfect, you're never going to find the perfect pastor.

If you're looking for the perfect church, you're never going to find a perfect church. I love the Lord. I want to follow the Lord.

I want to communicate the truth of God and the love of God. We need to understand that each one of us, there's that inner conflict in us. So before you get too upset at other people being unrighteous, keep in mind your behavior and the attitudes that you exhibit sometimes. The Bible in Romans chapter three, verse 10 says, as it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. Not one. And the only righteous one is Jesus Christ.

The rest of humanity is unrighteous. It leaves us in a desperate state for the Lord. And while we talked about that justification, understand when you come to the Lord, you appear to him to be righteous because you're covered by the blood of Jesus. Are you actually never going to mess up again? Well, you will mess up again. You will stumble. The Bible says that righteous men, even though we fall seven times, will get back up again.

So understand that when we talk about unrighteous, because, you know, you can look at other people and go, oh, he's unrighteous, she's unrighteous. But let's understand that's something that's in us that God is trying to work out of us in that sanctification process. You're listening to pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more powerful insight from God's word in just a moment. But first, God's grace and mercy is greater than any of us could ever fathom. That's why he's been so faithful to the nation of Israel throughout the ages.

And he's not finished. He's promised to remain true to them to the end. We want to show you what God's faithfulness toward Israel says about his relationship with you by sending you Pastor David's teaching video, Israel, the Bible and You. In this exciting teaching recorded in the heart of the Holy Land, Pastor David unpacks important truths from God's relationships with Israel that impact your life today. Israel, the Bible and You is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So visit crossthebridge.com to request yours.

Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Now back to today's teaching. Pastor David unpacks verse 19. Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. It's a great verse, powerful verse. Is manifest in them.

What does that mean? It means when you begin to follow Jesus, there's parts of your life that begin to change as that power of God emerges and your behavior change and your attitude changes and people begin to notice those things as God is being manifested in your life. That's part of the way that people come to know the Lord. I say part of the way because every now and again I come across a Christian and I encourage them to witness or whatever and they say, well, you know, mine is a silent witness and I just prefer to let my light shine before people and not say anything.

Well, the problem with that concept is, and I'll try to say this in love, your light ain't that bright. Okay. If you think you can go, if you think you can go into work and go, look, you want to pray the prayer now, don't you? That's not going to happen. Do you understand? Even Jesus used words.

So guess what? We need to use words. And as we do that now, if our words are without actions, then we're in trouble.

Our actions should be with words. It should be a combination of the manifestation of the word of God. And we look back a few verses and when you start talking about how to be saved, how to be forgiven, we're told in the Bible is the power of God.

That's unleashed at that moment. And whether somebody comes to the Lord or get saved or not, that is between them and the Lord. We're supposed to be telling and manifesting that power, but God has manifested his gospel in so many ways. It's an amazing, as you look at so many things in the Bible, as you look, we've talked before about the prophetic significance of the restoration of the nation of Israel. That's the manifestation of the power of God, the prophecies of God.

As you see, Jesus fulfilled so many Hebrew scripture prophecies. That's the power of God. As you read back through the Bible and you see Genesis 22, Abraham and Isaac, a picture of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It's the power of God revealing himself to us. As you look through the last 2,000 years of human history, you see the power of God emerging and how he kept the Bible and how the church, although so many, so many times tried to wipe it out, is still here.

There's an interesting thing. When you go back to Genesis, when Adam and Eve got kicked out of the garden, there's a verse in Romans that says, even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. What that means is why you were committing your deepest, darkest sin of your life, Jesus was still desiring to forgive you, reaching out to you. And when we see Adam messed up, God was reaching out to him. It says there in Genesis 3 that when they were kicked out of the garden, that God himself, it's interesting things in there people often miss. Do you understand that, do you know who planted the Garden of Eden? God planted the Garden of Eden for them, that they might enjoy it. And then when they were kicked out, God, it says, made them coats of skins of animals to clothe them.

There's a lot of significance in that. First of all, there was an animal whose innocent blood was shed because of their sins. There was the covering, which in the Hebrew is kophar, which means literally atonement is the way we translate that word. It pops up again, actually, when we look at Noah in the Ark, when he was covering the Ark with pitch, again, kophar, where we get our word for cover. So the gospel is just not in the New Testament, folks.

Let's do the whole book. As a matter of fact, when you go through and you look at the names of the men starting with Adam, let's go through some of those names. Adam, Seth, Enoch, Kenan, Mahaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.

Now those are some of the first people who occurred on planet earth. But what's interesting is when you go back and you begin to look and define what their names mean in Hebrew, because when you look at Adam, you see Adam means man. When you look at Seth, you see it means appointed. When you see Enoch, it means mortal. When you see Kenan, it means sorrow, Mahaleel, the blessed God.

Many of these definitions are given for us in the beginning of the Bible. It makes you curious, why are we told what this means? Jared means shall come down. Enoch means teaching. Methuselah, his death shall bring. Lamech, the despairing. Noah, rest or comfort. So what happens when we put all these names together? Is there any sort of message to humanity there?

Most definitely. It says man, appointed, mortal, sorrow. The blessed God shall come down teaching.

His death shall bring the despairing rest or comfort. There in the names, in the beginning of the history of humanity, the gospel itself is revealed. The gospel is not a new plan. It's one that constantly is being proclaimed. It's constantly being revealed, if you will, through our lives, through the word of God, through the proclamation, through radio, through television, through internet. It is the power of God being manifested. Verse 20, for since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. These are significant verses.

What is this verse literally saying? Well, friend, you can look at creation and know there's a God. Now I know there's some discussion and some debate, but when I look at creation, when I look at a mountain, when I look at planets, when I look at the sky, when I look at the earth, when I look at plants, I believe God created them. We're told that in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. I take that literally.

Now was it a literal six days? We could discuss that, but the fact God did it. And some of the concepts that we've come up with to explain away God are very interesting, aren't they? I mean, really, if you think of them in a logical fashion, it always amuses me when the people proclaiming the theory of evolution, the theory of the big bang, when you really, they accused Christians of not engaging in science. When let's just the big bang theory, let's discuss that for just a second.

Okay. There was nothing and then it exploded. There's kind of a major scientific flaw there, isn't there? Because I've never in my life seen nothing explode.

And I have seen some explosions, but I've never seen anything explode and really produce something of order. Now, if you're an evolutionist, I'm not going to call you dirty names or yeah, I would just encourage you to research it and understand that evolutionists are leaving the theory in droves now, as they realize it doesn't work, as they examine DNA and they go, no way this evolved. The theories that we come up with so that we deny the truth, friend, this verse says it leaves us guilty because it takes a lot more faith to believe in the big bang theory and the theory of evolution than it does to look at nature and say, you know what? Obviously there was a creator. Obviously, this is of intelligent design and somebody, someone was constructing this. Now, if somebody wants to admit that and say, we don't know who he is. I'm not sure he's the God of the Bible.

Okay. That's I can go with that, but understand our bodies are just a testimony of the creation of God, the earth itself. If it was, it was a half degree difference, we would be in polar ice caps.

If it went a half a degree the other way, the temperature of the earth would be over 200 degrees, but it was just right. What a coincidence. It's not a coincidence. It's, it's creation. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days in Jesus name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said He would not turn anybody away who comes to Him.

And He came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can call us toll-free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

You know each day comes with its share of stresses. So what better way to wake up than with an encouraging word from the Lord? Visit crossthebridge.com and sign up now for David McGee's email devotionals. Each devotion includes scripture and a message from the heart of David McGee.

It's easy and it's free. Sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Before we go, we want to encourage you in your faith so that you can experience more of the grace and love of God for you. That's why we'd like to send you Pastor David's teaching video recorded in the heart of the Holy Land called Israel, the Bible, and You.

This encouraging look into the history of Israel and God's covenant faithfulness to His chosen people will help you take bold new steps in your relationship with God. Israel, the Bible, and You is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So visit crossthebridge.com now to request your copy. Also, if you're not able to make it to your home church, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. If you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 9 a.m. and 11 30 a.m. Eastern. Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There you can watch Pastor David teach from his home church, The Bridge, in Kernersville, North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. And be sure to join us next time on Cross the Bridge with David McGee to hear more from the book of Romans. We'll see you then.