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Suppressing the Truth
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Everyone knows God exists. Those who try to conceal this knowledge face dire consequences. Today, R.C. Sproul speaks on the judgment and moral decline that result from suppressing the revealed truth of God. Get R.C. Sproul’s book Everyone’s a...
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God's wrath is directed against the whole world because he has manifested Himself daily and clearly throughout all creation so that every human being knows of the existence of God and something of the character of God, but together all mankind refuse to honor God as God, nor to be grateful because at the very beginning of our thinking is suppressing the truth of God.
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It's been said before that there really are no atheists. As the psalmist in Psalm 14 says, the fool says in his heart there is no God. People are either believers or, as R.C. sproul just said, they are suppressing the truth of God. And it's this suppression of the truth that is provoking God's wrath. Welcome to Renewing youg Mind on this Thursday as we continue a week considering the sanctity of truth. Don't forget that until tomorrow you can request lifetime digital access to this series plus a copy of RC Sproul's book Everyone's a Theologian and a Thin Line Bible. Request this resource package when you give a donation in support of the Truth Telling outreach of Renewing youg mind@renewingyourmind.org thank you. Well, here's R.C. sproul with a message titled Suppressing the Truth.
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One of the pastimes that I have in my life for my own personal amusement is working crossword puzzles. I try to do two of them every morning and after a while you get used to the various keys and you can almost read the mind of whoever put these crossword puzzles together. Rarely are there references to the Bible in modern crossword puzzles, but there is one that occurs frequently in these puzzles and the clue will simply be the name Ananias. Ananias. Four letter word for Ananias. What do you suppose it is? Liar? L I A R Because Ananias has gone down and in infamy for his lying to the Holy Ghost along with his wife Sapphira. We read the record of that in the book of Acts in chapter five beginning at verse one. Let's look at that text for a moment. But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold a possession and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself while it remained? Was it not your own? And after it was sold was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your Heart, you have not lied to men, but to God. Now, we don't get all of the details of what was going on here in this transaction, but presumably what Ananias and Sapphira sin involved was this. That they had taken a piece of their own personal property and divested themselves of it and decided to donate the proceeds from this sale to the work of the church, which in itself would be an extraordinarily gracious thing to do. And they came with their donation and gave it to the church. But presumably what their sin was is that they pretended to be giving the whole sum that they had gained from the sale of their property, when in fact they were only giving part of. Of that gift. The point of the Scripture is not that every Christian is required to divest themselves of their private property and donate all the proceeds to the work of the church. Now, it could be, although the text would seem to be against it, that this property that was sold was not ultimately their own, but was jointly held by other members of the Church. And perhaps what they were doing was skimming from the top. But I don't think that's the case, because the apostle indicates that it was their own and that they had control over it. And where the lie must have come in was in the deceitfulness of presenting the gift as being more than it actually was. But in any case, we are told that they lied to the Holy Ghost. And again Peter rebuked them, not only for lying to people, but they said they lied to God. And in verse five, we read the conclusion of the matter. Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all of those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out and buried him. And. And it was three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much? And she said, yes, for so much. Then Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out. And then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead and carried her out and buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. This incident in the New Testament is reminiscent of some of those striking events that are recorded in the Old Testament, where God's judgment is swift. We think of how God struck Uzzah dead immediately when he touched the Ark of the Covenant. How God punished the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu when they offered strange fire on the altar and God took their lives. How God opened up the earth and swallowed up Korah and his crowd that had rebelled against the authority of Moses in the wilderness. This is not the normal way of judgment that God manifests. Usually he is patient, slow to anger, and long suffering. But here we have this incident in the New Testament of this swift and decisive judgment where God executes two human beings on the spot for a grievous offense against him. And the offense was an offense against truth. It was an offense that involved lying, lying to God by giving false testimony with respect to an offering that was presented to the Church in the first century. Now, the point of this reference is to underscore how seriously God regards the sanctity of the truth. And we noticed that the reaction of the Christian community was fear. They weren't angry, they weren't offended that God would execute his judgment. Today, if that happened in the first place, we wouldn't even suppose that the judgment came from the hand of God. In the second place, if we did think it was God who raised his hand against people who lied before the Church, that this would have been unjust, severe and harsh on God's side to enact such a penalty against people merely for lying. After all, at least they weren't stealing God blind by refusing to tithe at all. We know that only 3% of people who profess to be evangelical Christians tithe. And according to the evaluation of the prophet Malachi, this involves theft not from our fellow human beings, but the robbery of God himself. When we withhold our tithes and offerings from the Lord, we are robbing him of what is his possession. And at least Ananias and Sapphira made a significant donation. But they claimed that it was more than what actually was being taken in. And God killed them, beloved for the lie. Now, we don't think that that's such a big deal. That's why we sort of cringe in horror at such a story that God would execute these people on this occasion. But the playing loose with the truth of God is one of the most basic foundational elements of the sin of the human race. To see that even more clearly, let's turn now to Paul's letter to the Church at Rome in the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans. And you know that the Epistle to the Romans is considered Paul's magnum opus. This is his great work in theology. Some call it his systematic theology, where he gives us a profound and deep exposition of God's plan of salvation. And we also know that the vast majority of commentators on the Book of Romans find the thematic verse for the entire epistle in the first chapter, in verses 16 and 17, where we read 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. Here in the first chapter of Romans, Paul introduces the grand theme of this epistle, namely the way of salvation or justification of by faith. And Paul is declaring now this revelation, the righteousness of God that is being revealed to us by faith. And so what we would expect after this thematic statement that introduces this subject matter in Romans 1, we would expect that in verse 18 and following, Paul would then begin to expand on the theme that he has just introduced. But he doesn't. He shifts gears so abruptly that we wonder if he lost sight of the subject he was attempting to expound. But again, if we look and give the apostle the benefit of the second glance, we'll see why he shifts gears. Because now what he is going to do is give us the underlying reason why. Why the gospel is the gospel, why the gospel is good news, and why it's so important that we understand that justification is by faith. What he now begins to do is demonstrate the universal need of the human race for salvation. He's going to do this by demonstrating the universal sinfulness of humanity, whereby in chapter three, he brings the entire population of the world before the tribunal of God and comes to this zenith utterance. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I was told that in one sermon on one occasion. I believe that Billy Graham quoted that verse like 56 times in one sermon. I don't know. That must have been a long sermon or he must not have had time to say anything else. But. But all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now Paul has to build that foundation because there is no good news, there's no gospel, until we're first confronted by the bad news or by the law, and understand that we need this gracious action of God to redeem us. Now, here's how the gears change quickly. He's just said that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. And in verse 18 he continues to talk about God's revelation, but in this case it's not about the revelation of the Gospel, it's the revelation of his judgment. We read in verse 18 these words, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Comma, let's just look at that first introductory statement. He makes the statement that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. Let's just stop there for a second. The word that is used in the Greek here is the Greek word orge. Now, there's an English word that derives directly from that Greek word, orge, and it's the word orgy. But when we think of the word orgy, we don't think of divine anger or wrath. We think of some wild, unbridled sexual party. And there's a reason for that, because in the ancient Greek world and in the Roman Empire, people would frequently combine religion with these wild orgiastic parties. Those who worship the God of the vine, Bacchus, the Bacchanalia or Dionysius, they would come and get themselves drunk so that they are in a stupor where they're so uninhibited that they would engage in all kinds of wild sexual escapades. All, all in the name of religion. That's why they had temple prostitutes and all the rest. Now, what the idea that is contained in that word orge is the idea of strong passion, something that is unrestrained. But in this case it is with respect to God's anger. We wouldn't be stretching the text too far, I think, if we would say that what God is revealing here is, is an orgy of divine wrath. Now, the force of that is that whatever it is that God is angry about has not simply mildly annoyed him, but rather his anger is raging. His anger is unbridled fury. Now, I stress that for this reason we live in a day where it's extremely unpopular to talk at all about the wrath of God. We leave that to the hellfire and brimstone preachers. And that may have been in vogue in the 18th century, where the scare theology was paramount in the churches and in the pulpits. But today we have a more sanguine view of God. And sometimes we reject the idea of the wrath of God altogether. But if we're going to take the New Testament seriously, we have to take this seriously. Because what the apostle is announcing at the very outset of his exposition of the Gospel is the manifestation and revelation of the rage of God. Now, it's not that God is flying off the handle and having a temper tantrum for no reason. There is a reason for his wrath. And we are told here that this revelation of his wrath is. Is being manifested or revealed against what? Not against innocence, not against purity, not against virtue, but against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Now, at first glance, we see these two words that are used here connected by the word and ungodliness and unrighteousness. Now, these are both somewhat general terms. And sometimes we would look at this text and say, well, God's angry about two different things. One of them is a moral issue and the other one is a religious issue. But if we know something about the structure of the language, I think we will recognize here in the text the presence of what's called a hendiatus, where two separate terms, two for one is what a hendiatus means is that two separate words are used to describe one and the same thing. And I think that's the correct understanding of what Paul is saying here, is that there is one action that people are guilty of that in God's view, is considered both an ungodly sin and an unrighteous action. These are two words that describe the same sin. And it is this particular sin that has provoked the unmitigated wrath of God. Now remember, when I read that text, I read it only up to a comma. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. Now, the question for us today is, what particular sin has so provoked the wrath of God? Well, we don't have to guess. We aren't left to surmise. The answer is given. If we come back to Romans 1, we see at the end of the comma against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. So that this sin that is so basic and so provocative for the wrath of God is a sin against truth. It is a sin that my version translates by the word suppress. There are other translations of this. If you look in English, you'll find the word that is used here translated by repress, suppress, hinder, stifle, or the old King James holding the truth in unrighteousness. It comes from the Greek codecaine, which is found in the New Testament, for example, in descriptions of people's situation in prison, where they are incarcerated, where they are held captive. And what Paul is saying here is that God is furious because there's some truth that is being held captive that is being held down, that is being repressed and suppressed, so that it can't be open and manifest. Now again, it's not truth in general, it is the truth of God. It is God's revelation of Himself. It is that truth that is being repressed, as we read in verse nine. Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them 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, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were they thankful. Do you get the picture? God's wrath is directed against the whole world because in nature itself God has manifested his eternal power and deity, not obscurely, not in hiding esoteric clues only for geniuses to discover, but that he has manifested Himself daily and clearly throughout all creation, so that every human being knows of the existence of God and something of the character of God, but together as a group of people, all mankind. It is our nature as fallen sinners to refuse to honor God as God, nor to be grateful. Because at the very beginning of our thinking is the holding down, the holding captive or, or suppressing the truth of God. It's no small thing for us to move from this universal infection of the human race to God's response to Ananias and Sapphira, because at the root of our alienation from God rests an estrangement that goes profoundly deep into our bones from the truth that God has revealed. Have you ever suppressed the truth of God? When we think of repression or suppression of truth, we think of dictators, we think of Pravda in the Soviet Union and those who hide and conceal truth and replace it with propaganda. And sometimes we've had credibility problems with our own government and we wonder if our politicians are telling the truth or whether they are in fact holding it in captivity and suppressing it, covering it up. And we react negatively when we discover that there have been cover ups of truth. And so I ask you, have you ever been part of a cover up? Have you ever been part of an action to suppress vitally important truth? Well, I don't know how you answered that question, but I know how Paul answers it for you. The answer the apostle gives is yes, that that is not just something that you have done rarely, but that that is our nature as human beings to suppress the most important truth of all, the truth of God himself. And it's when the truth of God is suppressed and hidden and held captive that there's no knowledge of God in the land and the people perish.
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That was R.C. sproul on this Thursday edition of Renewing youg Mind. And may God help each one of us to not suppress the truth of God from those around us, but instead to be proclaimers of that truth and the good news of the Gospel. To help you know the truth until tomorrow, we'll send you a copy of the bible along with R.C. sproul's book Everyone's a Theologian as our way of thanking you for your generosity in support of Renewing youg mind and Ligonier's global outreach at renewingyourmind.org or by using the link in the podcast Show Notes. In addition to those two resources will also unlock lifetime digital access to the entire series that you're hearing messages from this week. So that's a series, a book and a thin line Bible. When you donate at renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800.435.4343. Thank you for helping the truth of the Gospel reach more people in more places and in more languages. The Teaching Series library of Ligonier is vast, with hundreds of video and audio teaching series, but did you know that Ligonier's ministry partners can stream every one of those series right from the Ligonier app? As one of the benefits of being a partner, ministry partners receive a monthly copy of Table Talk magazine, an exclusive monthly message, discounts to various events, free resources, streaming access to our entire Teaching Series library, and more, all while fueling the spread of this teaching into the world's top 20 languages and and to the next generation. If you'd like to learn more about becoming a ministry partner, how your support can help and the benefits your monthly support will unlock, learn more@renewingyourmind.org partner.
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All.
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Week we've heard of the importance of truth, but is it important enough to divide over? Join us tomorrow to find out here on Renewing youg Mind.
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It.