No Excuses!

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The Kinsmen produced a song titled, Excuses, Excuses, You Hear Them Everyday!  The lyrics of this song include the following:
“Excuses, excuses, you’ll hear them every day.
And the Devil he’ll supply them, if the church you stay away.
When people come to know the Lord, the Devil always loses
So to keep them folks away from church, he offers them excuses.”

Then, the song lyrics include a multitude of excuses commonly used by people to avoid religion. Here is an example.
“Well, the preacher he’s too young. And, maybe he’s too old.
The sermons they’re not hard enough. And, maybe they’re too bold.
His voice is much too quiet-like. Sometimes he gets too loud.
He needs to have more dignity. Or, else he’s way too proud.
Well, the sermons they’re too long. And, maybe they’re too short.
He ought to preach the word with dignity instead of “stomp and snort.”
Well, the preacher we’ve got must be “the world’s most stuck up man.”
Well, one of the lady’s told me the other day, “Well, he didn’t even shake my hand.”

In over fifty years of preaching, I have heard many excuses just like these!
Twice in the book of Romans, Paul uses the Greek word anapologētos which is translated, “without excuse” in Romans 1:20 and “inexcusable” in Romans 2:1.
First, rejecting God is inexcusable.  “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.”   Paul affirms that the creation declares the power and glory of God.  The created universe is visible to all people.  “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (Ps. 19:1-3).  When the truth that God is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him is suppressed, the consequences are disastrous.  Paul mentions: ignorance (Rom. 1:18); ingratitude (Rom. 1:21); idolatry (Rom. 1:23); immorality (Rom. 1:24-32); and impenitence (Rom. 2:4-6).  Individuals who will not turn to the Lord and obey Him will have to face the indignation and wrath of God (Rom. 2:6-11).  They have no one to blame but themselves because they are “without excuse.”
Second, attempting to supplant God in the matter of final judgment is inexcusable (Rom. 2:1).  The Jews judged the Gentiles with regard to moral law, but the Jews practiced the same immoral acts (Rom. 2:21-23) condemned in the law.  They attempted to judge others from a hypocritical state.  Paul states that this is inexcusable because they knew the law and did not obey it.  Another thought on judging others relates to the final judgment of God.  Only God can judge a person’s final standing before Him.  God will render to every man according to his works (Rom. 2:6).  Only God knows everything a person has thought, said, or done.  Only God knows the secrets of the hearts of men.  God is no respecter of persons and His judgment will be according to righteous judgment.  Failure to fear God is inexcusable!
Third, failing to fully obey the gospel of Christ is inexcusable.  In Matthew 22:2-14, Jesus told a parable about the kingdom of God.  The Parable of the Wedding Feast contains a section where the king enters into the the place where the guests were located and sees a man who did not have on a wedding garment.  The king asked, “Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?  And he was speechless” (Matt. 22:11-12).  The man was not properly attired and was immediately cast out (Matt. 22:13).  Wearing the wedding garment clearly stands for our effort to respond to the king’s goodness, grace, and requirements for enjoying the wedding feast.  In order to be in the kingdom of God, a person must be baptized into Christ and put on Christ (Gal. 3:26-27); he must have his sins washed away by the blood of Christ whereby he makes his robes white (Acts 22:16; Rev. 7:14); and he must walk in righteousness and true holiness (Heb. 12:14).  God calls us to holiness by His Word (I Thess. 4:7).  There is no excuse for not obeying the commands of God.
If you haven’t believed in God, feared the judgment of God or obeyed the gospel of Christ, why not?  Be careful how you respond!

The Only Wise God

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Who has known the mind of the LORD? (Rom. 11:33-36).  Let us begin in an attitude of humility.  Humility is lowliness of mind and heart before God.  Humility is an attitude of submission before God whereby we recognize His greatness and glory.  O the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and knowledge of God! (Rom. 11:33).  How unsearchable are His judgments.  His ways are past finding out.  The finite mind fails when attempting to probe the infinite mind of God.  Who hath been His counselor?  Paul quotes from Isaiah 40:13.  Isaiah 40 is devoted to affirming the superiority of the LORD and the sovereignty of the LORD. Isaiah declares boldly for Israel to “Behold Your God! (Isa. 40:9).  The LORD is the incomparable One.  “To whom then will ye liken God?” (Isa. 40:18).  We must know God.  The goal for us is to know something of the wisdom and knowledge of God so that we can live our lives in full view of that wisdom and knowledge.  Knowing God is the beginning of knowing ourselves in relation to Him.  This is the reason we begin with the deepest and heartfelt humility.
What is Wisdom?
The wisdom of God tells us that God will bring about the best possible results, by the best possible means.  Wisdom is based upon knowledge and God is omniscient (all-knowing).  God knows the past, present and future.  He knows the intricate details of the entire universe including our own human nature and physical and spiritual being.  Isaiah asks, “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?” (Isa. 40:12).  Each probing question emphasizes the limits of human knowledge and ability.  But, what human prowess cannot do, God can do!  Isaiah mentions that God created the stars and knows them all by name (Isa. 40:26).  God is the creator.  Human beings are His creatures.  The error of  modern man is to humanize God and deify self.  This act of arrogance attempts to invert the relationship between ourselves and the one, true, and living God.  When we give up our knowledge of God, we will plunge into the darkness and corruption that has been created by the god of this world–Satan himself (Rom. 1:18-32).  Humility of heart recognizes the superiority of God and produces the fear of the LORD that respects God’s wisdom over the wisdom of this world.  Wisdom is not only knowledge, it is know-how.  Wisdom entails the skillfulness to formulate the best plan and to carry it out in the best and most effective manner. Wisdom sees the end from the beginning.  Only God can do this.  Thus, the need to guess or conjecture is eliminated.  This makes God’s knowledge and wisdom absolute.
Characteristics of God’s Wisdom
God is naturally wise.  This means that wisdom is part of His nature.  Wisdom is the essence of His being.  God is wholly, completely wise.  Nothing God does fails.  Nothing God does is self-defeating.  Nothing God does is NOT the BEST!  God’s wisdom represents the best of the best when it comes to guidance and instruction.  God’s wisdom is unsurpassed.  God is invariably wise. God never makes a mistake.  His judgments are perfect and right altogether.  Consequently, human beings are not in a position to correct God.  We might ask, “Why did you create me thus?” Or, “Why do you permit suffering?”  These types of “why” questions must be resolved in absolute trust of God’s superior wisdom.  We ask these questions because we do not know the answers and, in these instances, only God does.  We began in humility and we must continue in humility.
The Manifestation of God’s Wisdom
There are four areas where we can readily see God’s wisdom.  The first is creation.  Everything that God created was very good (Gen. 1:31).  God created human beings male and female.  God created human beings in His image (Gen. 1:27).  God is the ultimate reality.  God’s created order is part of our reality.  Any attempt to change God’s created order is foolishness.  When people rebel against God there is going to be a clash between God’s wisdom and the wisdom of this world.  Instead of humility, we become arrogant and desire to supplant God’s will with our own will thus making ourselves into a god (Ps. 104:24-26; Proverbs 3:19-20).  The second is God’s commandments.  The LORD giveth wisdom (Prov. 2:6).  Out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.  God gives us sacred knowledge through the revelation He has given us in His Word.  This knowledge is the only basis for salvation.  God’s Word is unique because it comes from Him and instructs in righteousness.  It gives guidance and direction for our own lives.  The Bible fool is the one who rejects the wisdom from above for the wisdom of this world (Matt. 7:24-27).  Those who hear and obey God’s Word are truly enlightened and characterized as wise. The third is Christ Jesus our Lord.  Paul declares, “But we preach Christ crucified, not the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (I Cor. 1:23-24).  Through Jesus Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself (II Cor. 5:18).  Through Jesus Christ, the resolution of man’s sin dilemma (condemnation before God) is accomplished.  Jesus makes justification possible (Rom. 5:8-9).  “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”  The fourth is the church of Christ.  In Eph. 3:10-11, God’s Word teaches, “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  The church of Christ is made up of those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28).  The church is the spiritual body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23).  The church is the spiritual sphere where all spiritual blessings are to be found (Eph. 1:3).  The church is comprised of the saved (Acts 2:41,47). The church makes spiritual union with Christ and all of those of like precious faith possible.  The church has the grand spiritual purpose of guarding the truth and proclaiming the truth to all nations and tongues.  The church is glorious, spotless, and holy (Eph. 5:27).  The church strives to imitate Christ. The church is comprised of those who are God’s children (Gal. 3:26-27).  When we are baptized into Christ, we are baptized by one Spirit into His spiritual body–the church (I Cor. 12:13).
The wisdom of God is unsurpassed!  It is the best of the best.  It is set in strong contrast to the wisdom of this world (James 3:13-18).  When we humble ourselves in the sight of the LORD, we will walk in His wisdom.  We will walk in His love, truth and righteousness. We will follow the wisdom from above and reject the wisdom of this world.