The Superiority of Scripture

Psalm 19:7-9 - “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.”

If God wanted to get a message to you, what would be the best way for Him to do it? If you ask the question, “how does a person hear from God?” Or “how does God speak to you?” The answers are many and varied. A poll from the Barna research group reports that 77% of American adults say that Jesus speaks to them. How does He do it? Around 40% said that the means by which God speaks to them is through written Scripture. That leaves about 60 percent who are claiming to receive messages from God by some other means. In this survey some said that God communicates with them by directly influencing or connecting with their mind, feelings or emotions. Others said that He communicates through some sort of sign, through miraculous circumstances and outcomes, or through an audible voice or whisper that they could hear.

When it comes to hearing from God there is undue emphasis on personal experience. There is a craving for the sensational, people want an experience, they want something exciting that is going to send chills up their spine. And for most people, the Bible doesn’t really fit what they’re looking for. When you say that God has spoken and He has done it through this book, that statement alone is enough to make people yawn. And though most of the people who are claiming to hear from God won’t dismiss the Bible completely, they do de-emphasize it. They say things like, “You know, the Bible is all well and good, but for me personally, I have my own way of hearing from God.” They’re looking for something more exciting, something sensational, and the Bible, for many, just seems too boring and old fashioned. So what do we say to that? How do we respond to that kind of thinking?

Well, first of all, this craving for personal experience is nothing new. In Isaiah chapter 8 God addresses this very thing. Early on in the Old Testament, before Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land, God warned the people not to listen to diviners and those who practice witchcraft. He said that those nations which surrounded them hold these people up as the source of spiritual authority, but instead of listening to these people, God said, He was going to raise up for them prophets to speak the Word of the Lord. Well, by the time we get to Isaiah’s day the popular thing to do is not to listen to voice of God through the mouth of the prophet, but to listen to these mediums and spiritists, to have some exciting personal experience as your source of truth. So God steps on the scene in Isaiah chapter 8 and He says in verse 19 - “When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,”” This is what people are going to say to you. Consult these people, it’s really exciting. God says “When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?”

Now, that’s a good point, isn’t it? God says, “Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?” That doesn’t make much sense. He says, “shouldn’t a people inquire of their God?” You want advice? You want to know what God thinks? Well then, why don’t you inquire of Him? Oh, okay, great idea. But hold on a second, where are we going go to inquire of Him? How are we to know what God thinks? How are we to get His truth in this matter? If we want to consult the dead we can go to the mediums and spiritists, but if we want to inquire of our God where should we go? Answer: Verse 20 - “To the law and to the testimony!” God says, go back to the written Word. Go back to the written Scriptures, the law and the testimonies. And then He goes on to say, “If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” “If they” the mediums and spiritists, the spiritual leaders, or anyone else for that matter, “If they do not speak according to this word,” What word? This word, the law and the testimonies, the written Scriptures. “it is because they have no dawn.” If what anyone says doesn’t match up with what the Scriptures say, it doesn’t mean that they’re more enlightened, no, just the opposite. If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They are not holding forth the light of the Scriptures. “No dawn” They’re still in darkness and have no light in themselves. That phrase at the end of verse 20, “they have no dawn.” reminds me of Peters words in Second Peter chapter 1 when Peter is writing about the origin of written Scripture and he says that we have the prophetic word more sure, to which we would do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in our hearts. Pretty poetic and flowery language for a fisherman, but he goes on to talk about the source of that light. The prophets, they weren’t making this stuff up as they went along. No, no prophecy of Scripture every had its origin in the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. It’s not their words, it’s His Word.

For some time now I’ve been engaged in a study on truth, and we’ve seen together from the Scriptures that truth originates with God, it comes from Him. He is the foundation and source of all truth. And last time we began to consider the question, “How does God communicate truth.” We recognize that truth comes from God, but we’ve never seen God, how does He let us in on His standard of truth? How does God reveal truth? And we considered what is often referred to as “general revelation.” That is, the natural or common ways in which God has made Himself known. We saw that God communicates through things like creation and conscience. But the message that God communicates in these general ways, it’s general, it’s natural, it’s common. In other words, it’s not very specific or detailed. So, while Psalm 19 starts off by saying, “The heavens declare the glory of God,” and “their voice goes out into all the earth.” It goes on to say that there is something better than that. “The law of the Lord,” the written Scripture, “is perfect.”

So now we’re going to move past general revelation and begin to consider together what is often called “special revelation.” If general revelation is the natural or common ways that God has revealed Himself then special revelation is the specific or detailed ways in which God has made Himself known, and there are several of these spoken of throughout the Word of God.

My goal is not necessarily to explore every facet of every way that God has revealed Himself through history, but rather to encourage us to think about the superiority of written Scripture.

If God wanted to get a message to us today, what is the best possible way for Him to do it? I’m going to suggest that the best possible way for God to communicate with us today is through written Scripture. And that may seem like an obvious statement to all of us, “Duh, of course the best for God to speak to us is through the Bible.” But that’s not an obvious statement to a lot of people. You ask the average person on the street, “If God wanted to tell you something what would be the best way for Him to get His message to you?” Most people would not say, “through a book.” Maybe by an audible voice, maybe with an angelic messenger, maybe something else, but I’m suggesting that the written Word of God is the best way for God to get His message to us. If there were a better way for God to pass His message down through time He would have done it that way. But the way that God has chosen to communicate His truth to us is through a written document. The question that we’re interested in is, “Why?” Why the Bible?

Many would say that if you want truth, if you want God’s thoughts on a matter, certainly there are better places to go then to that antiquated book. If God were going to communicate with man, surely He would do it in some other way, something spectacular, something exciting. Certainly if God wanted to communicate with us in the 21^st century, in our advanced society, He wouldn’t use a book. There are much better ways of getting people’s attention, spectacular visions, or voices from heaven, but a book? Not only is that not spectacular, it’s also kind of old fashioned.    

We’re going to consider briefly 5 means of special revelation, that is, detailed or specific ways in which God has revealed Himself. This isn’t a comprehensive or exhaustive list by any means, but we’re going to look at 4 specific detailed ways that communicated with people in Scripture, and then we’re going to wrap it up by looking at the Bible as the written revelation of God.

Specific or detailed was that God communicates:

1) God Spoke:

God wants to communicate, how is He going to do it? God speaks. Examples of this:

-          Adam - Go back in your thinking to the garden of Eden, Genesis chapter 2. The Lord God has just formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had made. He also put in the middle of the garden a tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, we get into the middle of the chapter and we read that the Lord God commanded the man saying, “of every tree in the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.”

So God is communicating with man, and how is He doing it? He’s speaking. God is saying something specific and detailed to Adam. God spoke.

This is not the only instance of this in the Bible. But God speaking in an audible way like this is more common in the early parts of the Bible than the latter parts.

-          Noah - Another example of this is in Genesis chapter 6 God speaks to Noah. In Genesis 6:13-21 God is giving Noah specific detailed instructions concerning the construction of the ark. What did that sound like? Was it a booming voice out of heaven? Was it a whisper? We don’t know, we’re not told. But this is a specific and detailed message from God to Noah concerning His plan for the future, concerning exact measurements and plans for the ark, concerning the animals that are to be brought on the ark, and so on. And, by the way, this was not something that Noah could get through creation or conscience. This was something specific and detailed that God was revealing to him.

-          Abraham - We see God speaking to Abraham throughout his life, making specific promises to him, giving him specific guidance on where to go and what to do. In Genesis 18 God enters into a conversation with Abraham about the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and tells Abraham that He is going to destroy them. And that’s the passage where it’s almost as if Abraham is bartering with God, and they have a conversation back and forth. God spoke.

Well, though it’s more common in the Old Testament for God to speak in this way, there are a few instances in the New Testament where God thunders His voice out of heaven.

-          You have the baptism scene in Matthew chapter 3 when the Lord Jesus comes up out of the water there comes a voice out of heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.”

-          You have the mount of transfiguration in Matthew chapter 17 where God speaks out of a cloud and says “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased, listen to Him.”

-          And then there’s another instance in John chapter 12 where the Lord Jesus says, “Father, glorify Thy name.” And there came a voice out of heaven saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”

These are a few of the many times that God spoke. So, the first means of special revelation is God spoke.

2) Dreams and visions:

The second way that God communicates in the Bible is through dreams and visions. And if you want a non-technical distinction, a dream occurs when you’re sleeping and a vision occurs when you’re awake. God has communicated through dreams and visions. What are some instances of this?

-          Joseph - In Genesis chapter 30 Joseph has a couple of dreams where God reveals to him some of the events of the future, such as his brothers bowing down to him. God also enables Joseph to interpret the dreams of others, like the baker and the cupbearer in prison, and later on the pharaoh.

-          Joseph - When we come into the New Testament another Joseph is given specific messages in dreams surrounding the incarnation of Christ. In Matthew chapter 1 the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. He’s warned in a dream to take his family to Egypt. He’s instructed in a dream to return to Israel. God gives Joseph specific detailed messages through dreams.

-          Peter - In Acts chapter 10 we have an example of a vision. Peter is awake in the middle of the day, he’s praying on a rooftop and God gives Him a vision of a sheet coming down out of heaven with all kinds of animals in it and a voice says to him in the vision, “what God has cleansed no longer consider unholy.”

-          Paul - In Acts 16 Paul has a vision in the night of a Macedonian man appealing to him to travel to Macedonia and help them. This was the means of God leading him and his companions on the next step of their journey.

3) Angelic Visitation:

In the Bible there are instances of God sending angels with messages to certain people. Instances of this:

-          Lot - In Genesis 19 Lot is living in the city of Sodom, two angels come to him with the warning that God is about to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and that he and his family need to leave town. The angels end up having to grab the arms of Lot and his family and literally drag them out of the city. 

-          Zacharias - In Luke 1 the angel Gabriel appears to Zacharias in the temple and tells him that his wife Elizabeth, though she is advanced in years and barren, is going to conceive and give birth to a son who is going to be the forerunner to the Messiah.

-          Mary - Gabriel then appears to a young virgin girl a few verses later named Mary and tells her that she is going to conceive a son who is going to be the Son of the Most High, the Messiah Himself. An angel is bringing these messages.

-          Shepherds - You then come into Luke chapter 2 and you have angels announcing the news of Christ’s birth to a group of shepherds.

God is giving specific, detailed messages through these angelic messengers.

 So, ways that God has communicated, number 1, God spoke; number 2, dreams and visions; number 3, angelic visitation. Many of these are happening, by the way, before there is written Scripture. If Lot had had a Bible he would have known that he should get out of town. Actually he would have known that he probably shouldn’t be there in the first place. But he didn’t have a Bible.

4) The Lord Jesus:

A fourth way that God communicates is in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

-          In John chapter 1 the Lord Jesus is called the Word of God. What are words used for? To communicate. He is the communication of God to man. The idea is, if you want to know what God is like just watch Him and you’ll find out.

-          Hebrews chapter 1 says that God has spoken to us in His Son. The Lord Jesus is the incarnate Word, God in the flesh. He Himself is the revelation of the eternal God.

Now, there’s much more that could be said on each of these, but I want you to think about God communicating in each of these ways. God really spoke in each of these ways; He spoke in an audible voice, through dreams and visions, angelic visitation, and through the human life of His incarnate Son. If you stop to consider these passages that I just referenced, and put yourself in the shoes of the one who is hearing from God it must have been pretty awesome, pretty spectacular. And since God can communicate in these ways and He has revealed Himself in these ways in the past, the question arises, wouldn’t it be better for Him to communicate with us in this way too?

I mean think about it, God thunders His voice out of heaven; that would get your attention, wouldn’t it? Or how about an angel appearing to you and bringing you a message from God? How amazing would that be? Often when people see angels in the Bible, the sight is so awesome that they can’t even stay on their feet, they immediately fall down. Or wouldn’t it be better for God to speak to us through dreams and visions? That would certainly be a lot less work on our part. If we want to understand a certain teaching of the Scriptures it takes a lot of work, a lot of time and study on our part. But if God could just give it to us in a dream while we’re sleeping, wouldn’t that be better? I need direction for my life, “I guess I’ll just go to sleep and see what God has to say.”

These methods of divine revelation seem really spectacular, but I am going to suggest to you that for God to communicate with us through His written Word is actually better than any of these other ways.

The Bible is better, the Scriptures are superior.

Although God has spoken in all these ways, the most common and the most significant way in which God has spoken is through a special group of guys called the Apostles and Prophets. And in their case He not only spoke His message through them, but He used them to write the message down.

5) The Bible - The most significant revelation of God to men.

- 2 Timothy3:16 - “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” The Bible is a God breathed book. The whole thing, “all Scripture,” is God’s Words, it’s breathed out by Him, and it’s profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.

- Psalm 19:7 - While Psalm 19 starts off by talking about the testimony of creation declaring the glory of God, it goes on to say that we have a better testimony - “The Law of the Lord is perfect.”

- Ephesians 2:20 says that we, the church are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself being the very cornerstone.

- Hebrews 4:12 - says the Word of God is living and active. It’s not like any other book. It is breathed out by God, so it has His life and power behind it. It’s not a dead book.

- Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible is all about the centrality of the written Word of God.

Now, this may not make sense to us at first, that God would speak through a book. Don’t you think that it would be better if God would come and talk to us like He did to Abraham? If God spoke directly to us like He did to Noah? Or if God came to us in dreams like He did with Joseph, that would really be something, right? Or what if He sent us an angel to talk to us? That would be pretty awesome, wouldn’t it? But my claim is that it’s actually better that God speaks to us through the Bible. The way that God has chosen to reveal His truth is actually the best possible way. If there were a better way for God to pass His message down through time He would have done it that way. But He has chosen to do it through a book. Now, that may not make sense to us. We may be tempted to think, “Boy, if only God would thunder His voice from heaven and speak to people, that would be really great. That would be a way for God to speak that would be undeniable. ” But I want to look at a time when God did speak directly from heaven and see the reaction that people had.

In John chapter 12 verse 28 the Lord Jesus is praying to the Father, and He says “Father, glory Thy name.” and the Father responds to Him out of heaven so that everyone can hear. He says “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” So God thunders His voice out of heaven; what do you think that those standing nearby thought when they heard that voice? Verse 29 says - ”The multitude therefore, who stood by and heard it, were saying that it had thundered;”  So even when God spoke out of heaven the multitude dismissed His voice as thunder.

On another occasion when God spoke from heaven, in Matthew 17, He said concerning the Lord Jesus, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” When God thundered His voice from heaven this was His message, “Listen to Jesus.”

Oh, okay then, I guess that makes sense, maybe we don’t need to hear a voice from heaven. But He said to listen to Jesus, so if only Jesus would come and speak to me, that would be better. When God spoke from heaven He said to listen to Jesus, so if Jesus came and appeared to us, that’s what I really need, right? Think about this, after the Lord Jesus died and rose again He appeared to two of His disciples who were traveling from Jerusalem to a city called Emmaus. When He came to them they didn't recognize Him. They didn’t know it was Him. And instead of saying to them "Look guys, it's Me!" What did He do? Luke 24:27 - "Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." He opened the Bible to them. He began to bolster their confidence in God's written Word. He deferred to written Scripture.

Furthermore, when you read through the gospels you discover that Jesus was always quoting the Bible.

The Lord Jesus was constantly turning back to the written Scripture as the source of authority. Think about this, as God Himself He could have simply answered people’s questions by saying, “Look, I’m God. This is the way it is…” But He didn’t do that. Time and again when people would question Him, He would respond by saying something like, “It is written…” Or “Have you not read the Scriptures?” And then He would quote the Bible. Every time that Christ was tempted in Matthew chapter 4 He met the temptation by quoting the Scriptures. In Matthew chapter 22 He is asked a question by the Sadducees about the resurrection, and He answers in verses 31-32 by saying - “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” He quotes Exodus chapter 3. And notice that in His response to them the Lord Jesus makes it personal. He says "Have you not read what was spoken to you by God?" And then He goes on to quote from the book of Exodus. Now, wait a minute. These things weren't spoken to these people, were they? Didn't God speak these words to Moses from the burning bush centuries before? And yet Jesus says "Have you not read what was spoken to you by God?" Jesus was always quoting the Bible.

We’re pretty good at forgetting things, or remembering things different than the way they actually happened. If God spoke from heaven, or in a dream, or sent an angel, it’s possible that I could forget what He said. Or maybe tomorrow I’ll think, “you know, I was pretty tired yesterday, maybe I was just hearing things. Or maybe it was that pizza I had before I went to bed, it’s giving me really weird dreams. Or maybe it just thundered and I thought I heard a voice.”

With God’s written Word that’s not going to happen. Why not? Because it’s there in black and white; it’s going to say the same thing tomorrow that it says today.

Isaiah chapter 40 verse 8 says that the Word of our God stands forever.” The psalmist writes in Psalm 119:89, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.” When you and I are dead and buried, the Bible is still going to be here, unchanged.  Some of the Scriptures that Jesus was quoting were 1500 years old. In all that time God’s truth hadn’t changed.

And another thing, how do we know that God has communicated in all these different ways? How do we know that God spoke? How do we know that angels brought messages to people? Because these things are recorded for us in the Bible. The Scriptures record that God spoke in all of these ways. We didn’t hear God telling Noah to build the ark, but we can read about it. We didn’t experience the angels bringing the message of Christ’s birth to the shepherds, but we can read about. Why? Because God has communicated His truth to us in writing.

The Defilement of the Conscience

Romans 2:12-15 - "For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them."

The claim of the Bible is that God has inscribed His moral law on people's hearts. He has given everyone a conscience which knows right from wrong. But when you read the newspaper or watch the news, look at the events that are taking place around the world, and an objection might come into your mind. When we hear the excuse about the man in the jungle, and your neighbor says things like, "I don't think God is going to be fair in judging people for not responding to a message which they never had." And you say, "Actually, they do have God's law, He has written it on their hearts. They do know right from wrong." Then the next anticipated objection goes something like this: Wait a minute, you're telling me that God has encoded every person with a moral standard of right and wrong; have you read the newspaper lately? Have you watched the news? There are people around the world who are committing blatant evil, and they don't seem to have any problem with it. Their conscience, if they have one, doesn't seem to bother them at all. In fact, in some cases they seem to think that they're doing the right thing. If God writes His moral standard on people's hearts, then it sure looks like He missed some people, doesn't it? And if He missed some people here in our enlightened society then certainly it's possible that He missed some of the people out in the jungle too, right? That's a good question.

I'm sure you can think of some examples, but here's just a few that I came across: A couple of weeks ago down in Florida there was a seventeen year old boy who broke into a woman’s home and began to steal her stuff. She came home while he was robbing her house, and she ended up pulling out a gun and shooting and killing him. Now, I don't know what was going on in this guys conscience as he robbed this lady's house, but as I heard this report on the radio I was shocked by some of the things that certain members of his extended family were saying. Some of this guys relatives were being interviewed, I think were cousins or something, I'm not sure, but when they were asked about the crime they said things like this, "How else was he supposed to get money to buy clothes for school?" And someone actually said, "Why did she have to come home when she did? Couldn’t she have waited until he left?" Now, again, I don't know what was going on in this guy's conscience as he was robbing her house, but they seem to think that there is nothing wrong with robbery. Stealing is completely fine. If you need a couple bucks to buy some clothes, why not just break into a house and take what you find? What are we to make of things like this? Don’t they have a conscience? Don't they know it's wrong to steal? 
Or take some other thing you've heard about, it could be blatant immorality or greed, somebody taking advantage of another person and seeing nothing wrong with it. You have people committing all sorts of crimes, from robbery to murder, they get caught. Some of them feel guilty for what they've done, they know it was wrong, but others don't seem to have any conscience at all. You have serial killers who have no problem taking the life of another person, and when they're caught and put on trial they don't have any remorse for it. They think it was the right thing to do. And we could go on and on. Here's a headline I read this week, "Florida man arrested for throwing an alligator through drive-thru window." Didn't he know he shouldn't do that? Granted, God didn't give us a verse for that one, but I don't think we need a verse for that.

Is the Law of God really written on people’s consciences, and if it is, what has to happen to their conscience in order for them to get to the place where they can approve what is evil?

The Bible has a lot to say concerning the conscience, and much of what it says it directed toward us as believers. We're given warnings to guard our consciences, to keep a pure conscience, keep a clear conscience. And just the fact that we're given these warnings tells us something, the conscience can be defiled. Why else would we be warned to keep it clean if we couldn't defile it? In First Timothy chapter 1 the apostle Paul writes about two guys named Hymenaeus and Alexander, and he says of them that they rejected faith and a good conscience, and as a result they had suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. In Titus chapter 1 and verse 15 we're told about the conscience of the unbeliever becoming defiled. And I think that the answer is somewhere along those lines. To those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. The conscience can be defiled. In 1 Timothy chapter 4 we read about the conscience being seared as with a hot iron. In Ephesians chapter 4 it talks about people being darkened in their understanding because of the hardness of their heart and becoming callous and as a result giving themselves over to things like sensuality and impurity and greed. See, God has written standard, His moral law on everyone's heart, He has given everyone a conscience, but we can choose to ignore it and suppress it. The conscience presents us with a standard, it shows us what is right, but it doesn't force us to conform to that standard. Right? The conscience tells me not to throw an alligator through a drive-thru window, but I can still choose to do it if I want to. And when you disregard that standard there is a pang of guilt, of conviction, at first. But it is possible to suppress the truth, defile your conscience, to sear your conscience, so that after consistently choosing to neglect the conscience it becomes defiled. So you're presented with a moral choice, and your conscience is saying, "Don't give in to that. Do the right thing." But if you ignore that, next time it becomes easier to neglect your conscience. Your conscience won't speak quite so loud next time. And it just becomes easier and easier to live with a lowered standard of morality. You can walk down the Las Vegas strip at eleven o'clock at night and just know this, every person and every expression of sin and debauchery at one point would have made all those people blush. It doesn't anymore, but it did at one time. But now they don't even bat an eye. Why? Because they've become used to sin. Oh, their conscience used to cry out against it, but they fought it, they suppressed the truth. To get to the point where your conscience no longer bothers you, you have to continually suppress it. And then it becomes defiled, and then it becomes seared and calloused. And before long the Law of God written on the human heart is muffled and we're comfortable with a lowered standard of morality.

And, by the way, when the conscience of an individual becomes defiled, the whole moral standard of a society begins to go downhill. Because as goes the individual, so goes the society. The human conscience, this internal moral standard cannot be accounted for apart from the biblical God. And that, in part, is one reason why, I think, the standard of morality in our society is being undermined. People are beginning to realize that in order for them to be consistent with their worldview they shouldn't be compelled to obey God's standard of morality, and they definitely can't impose a standard of morality on others. Of course, they won't completely abandon it, but there's no question that our culture as a whole is in moral decline. God has put this standard of right and wrong within us, but when man chooses to suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ignore their conscience and commend things that they know are wrong, we find ourselves in a place where we're comfortable with a lower standard of morality. This is what we see at the end of Romans 1, people are openly sinning and they’re walking around giving each other high-fives for their sin. “They not only practice such things, but they give hearty approval to those who do them.” So now, because of the defiled conscience of individuals the collective standard of morality is being undermined, and we've come to a place in our country where it's morally acceptable for men to marry men and for women to marry women. It's morally acceptable for mothers to have their unborn babies killed for the sake of convenience. It's morally acceptable for couples to sleep together outside the bonds of marriage. It's morally acceptable for you to divorce your spouse. It's morally acceptable to use profanity in our speech and take the Lords name in vain. It's morally acceptable for children to disrespect their parents. It's morally acceptable to be boastful and arrogant and conceited. And it’s even morally acceptable, if someone has something that you want, to break into their home and take it. “They not only practice such things but they give hardy approval to those who do them. What has happened to morality in our country? What has happened to our collective conscience? A century ago people knew that these things were wrong and they weren't afraid to say so. A century ago it was a shameful thing to have sex before marriage, now it's the norm. A century ago homosexuality was almost unheard of, now it's presented as a completely acceptable alternative lifestyle. A century ago in this country the average person believed in the sanctity of human life, now children are sacrificed on the altar of convenience. A century ago in the United States people recognized that the marriage covenant was a sacred vow before God, now if you want to divorce your spouse, no problem, sign on the dotted line.

In Jeremiah chapter 6 the Lord is predicting the captivity of Judah, and He is giving reasons why He is going to allow His people to be carried off. In chapter 6 verse 15 the Lord says of His people - "Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to blush."He says it again in chapter 8 verse 12 - "Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed, and they did not know how to blush." And eventually that's where a person, or a society, will find themselves. And that's where we are right now, our culture does not even know how to blush. We can become so used to sin that the things which we would have been uncomfortable with at one time become normal. We would have blushed about it at one point, but now our conscience has become so seared that we don't even know how to blush. But it doesn't stop there. It's bad enough to become so defiled in your conscience that you no longer blush at sin, but it gets worse. Because eventually, individuals, as well as society as a whole, get to a place where, not only do they forget how to blush, but the things that used to make them blush they're now applauding. "They not only practice such things, but give hearty approval to those who do them." They've exchanged evil for good and good for evil. It's not simply that sin no longer carries with it any shame, but when someone stands up for what's right they are slandered and ridiculed as though they were the ones in the wrong. The standard of right and wrong is slowly eroded until it is completely upside-down. This is what happened during the days when Isaiah prophesied. The Lord sent Isaiah on the scene during a dark period of Israels history. The nation as a whole had turned their back on God, and God was about to let them reap the consequences of their actions. He was going to deliver them into the hands of a foreign nation who would carry them away into exile. What was the reason given for this punishment? There are several reasons given throughout the early chapters, but one of the reasons, according to Isaiah 5:20 is that these people had turned the standard of right and wrong on its head. The Lord says - "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" It's bad enough to accept what is morally wrong, but you take it to a whole new level when you call sin "Good" and those who oppose it are labeled as "Evil." When you oppose abortion or homosexuality our culture labels you as evil. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.

Just as the Scriptures affirm, God has written His law on people's hearts, no exception. And as for the man in the jungle, God has given him a conscience too. He may choose to ignore it, he may choose to defile it, but he's born with the standard written on his heart, and God will be just on judgment day to say to anyone, whether they live in your neighborhood, or out in the middle of a jungle somewhere, "You broke My law, and you knew it was wrong." How did they know? Because He encoded His law into their conscience. And this is a serious warning for us as believers as well. We need to be careful to guard our consciences. And that's why Paul often said things like this in his defense, Acts 24:16 - "In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men." It's why Peter warned us to in First Peter 3 to "Keep a good conscience." It's important to protect it, don't defile it. Paul wrote to Timothy that one of the goals of our instruction is "a good conscience." And it's so easy, especially in a society like ours where sin is so acceptable, to compromise with it, to become used to it. But we need to watch out that our consciences don't get numb. And the good news for us is that we have the Word of God to correct us when our consciences begin to get defiled. We have the Word of God to correct us when we begin to forget how to blush. It realigns our conscience when it starts getting off track. God has endowed human beings with a conscience.

Romans 2:14-15 - "For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them."

Conscience

Romans 2:14-15 - "For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them."

Another general way in which God reveals Himself to everyone is through human consciences. The human conscience, according to this passage, is the reflection of God’s moral law. The conscience is an interesting thing. What is your conscience? Where is your conscience? Where did it come from? The dictionary defines conscience like this: "The inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action." So the conscience is an inward standard or code that distinguishes between right and wrong. But here’s the thing, not only does it distinguish between right and wrong, it also compels you to do what is right and refuse what is wrong. It distinguishes between what is morally good and morally bad and then it prompts you to do the morally good thing and shun the morally bad thing. It commends one and condemns the other. The conscience is based on some seemingly unwritten standard, some universal moral code. But who determined the standard? Who wrote the code? C.S. Lewis writes about this in his book Mere Christianity, and he says that if you listen to two people arguing you'll hear them appealing to some higher standard, and they'll things like this, - ""How'd you like it if anyone did the same to you?" - "That's my seat, I was there first." - "Leave him alone, he isn't doing you any harm." - "Why should you shove in first?" - "Give me a bit of your orange, I gave you a bit of mine." - "Come on, you promised." People say things like that every day, educated people as well as uneducated, and children as well as grown-ups. Now what interests me about all these remarks is that the man who makes them is not merely saying that the other man's behavior does not happen to please him. He is appealing to some kind of standard of behavior which he expects the other man to know about. And the other man very seldom replies, "To hell with your standard." Nearly always he tries to make out that what he has been doing does not really go against the standard, or that if it does there is some special excuse. He pretends there is some special reason in this particular case why the person who took the seat first should not keep it, or that things were quite different when he was given the bit of orange, or that something has turned up which lets him off keeping his promise. It looks, in fact, very much as if both parties had in mind some kind of Law or Rule of fair play or decent behavior or morality or whatever you like to call it, about which they really agreed. And they have. If they had not, they might, of course, fight like animals, but they could not quarrel in the human sense of the word. Quarreling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong. And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are."

That’s what the apostle Paul is writing about here in Romans chapter 2. God has put a moral standard of right and wrong within us. And when you do something wrong your conscience either accuses you, "How could you do something so despicable? You need to go make it right." Or it defends you, "That was the right thing to do. I may not understand it but I know I did the right thing." Your conscience either accuses or defends you, based on what? Based on an internal standard of right and wrong.

We see an example of this back in Genesis chapter 42; this is when Joseph’s brothers went down to Egypt to buy bread. As they stood before Joseph, you’ll remember that Joseph disguised himself so that they wouldn’t recognize him and spoke harshly to them and accused them of being spies. As this was going on their consciences began to accuse them. Even though they had no idea that it was Joseph who was standing in front of them, even though it had been over ten years since they had sold their brother and lied to their father, this is what they said to one another, “Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.” They basically said, “what we did was wrong and now we’re going to suffer the consequences of that.” And Reuben said his brothers, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Now comes the reckoning for his blood.” Question: How did they know that what they had done was wrong? How did they know that it was a sin? How did they know that casting Joseph into a pit and then selling him into slavery and lying to their father was wrong? Well it’s obviously wrong. Yeah, I know it is, but my question is, why is it wrong? And how did they know? At this point there were no written Scriptures. The law of God has not yet been written. But, as we see here in Romans 2, the law of God was written on their hearts, they knew that it was wrong, and now they’re being accused by their consciences. They didn't need the Scriptures to know what they had done was wrong, their consciences showed them their guilt, and they didn't try to defend themselves because they knew instinctively that what they had done was wrong.

God has written His moral standard on the hearts of men. And, by the way, this is a moral standard, not a ceremonial standard. What do I mean by that? Suppose that you're invited to a dinner party. As you walk up and knock on the front door the host answers, and you can see over his shoulder into the living room, and you notice that everyone inside is wearing yellow, and you show up and you’re wearing purple. Now, the host says to you, “Oh, you know what? At my house, when I’m hosting the dinner party and I’m the one who paid for the food, we do yellow here. Sorry, you're not getting in.” You’re going to object, right? “Wait a minute, I didn’t get the memo on that! I never got that e-mail.” And you would have a case. You didn’t get the memo on the yellow clothes. Now suppose that as he invites you into his house and as you’re walking past him and his wife you take your knuckles and hit his wife right in the mouth. What, you didn’t get the memo on that? Now, there may be strange rules at dinner parties, but you don’t have to be told not to hit the host's wife. Why not? Because intuitively you know, you don’t do that. Maybe he can excuse you for the purple clothes, but you didn’t have to be told not to hit the host's wife. You knew that one was wrong.

And this distinction between a ceremonial standard and a moral standard is an important one, because where Paul is going in the end of chapter 2, he’s going to start talking about some of the ceremonial laws, circumcision in particular. Now, someone is not going to show up at God’s front door and have God say to them, “you didn’t have the circumcision, you didn’t have the Levitical priesthood, you didn’t have the right garments and the ephod, sorry, you’re not getting in.” Because someone could respond, “Wait a minute, I didn’t get the memo on that! I never received the e-mail about the priesthood and the ephod and the circumcision and all that.” And they would have a case. But you can’t show up at God’s front door having lied and stolen and committed adultery and murder, and say, “Wait a minute, I never got the memo on that.” Why? Because God has written His moral standard on people’s hearts, and when we break that standard we are culpable. When it comes to the moral standard of God, even the man in the jungle got the memo on that one. Why? Because God has written it on their hearts.

Think about this, you go into a jungle somewhere where they don’t even have a written language, they’re walking around with bones through their nose dragging boars behind them. You go up, take their boar, and run off into the jungle. Now, they’ve never read the Bible, they’ve never been to Sunday school, they’ve never memorized the ten commandments, and yet they know that it is wrong to steal. He just took something that wasn’t his. That’s not right. Now, they’re showing up to the dinner party at each others huts wearing the wrong color loin cloth, but they know it’s wrong to steal. They know, you don’t hit the host's wife. How? Because they have a conscience. And God has inscribed upon their hearts His moral standard of right and wrong. And when they break that standard, they know it. And God is just on judgment day in saying to them, “You violated the law of God and you knew it was wrong, and now you will be punished for your sin.” And all of this hinges on the truth that God has inscribed His law on the hearts of men, God has endowed human beings with a conscience.

Romans 2:14-15 - "For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them."

The Testimony of Creation

Romans 1:20 - "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."
 
If you’ve ever shared the gospel you know that people are pretty quick to come up with reasons, or excuses, as to why they are not going to buy into believing it. And one of the most well-worn excuses, which you’ve probably heard, is the excuse about the "man in the jungle." You know what I'm talking about. You're sharing the gospel with your neighbor or co-worker, telling them that the wages of sin is death and that Christ died on the cross and bore the punishment for our sin, so that whoever repents and puts their trust in Christ will be saved from the consequences of their sin, and they respond, essentially, by asking, "If what you’re telling me is true and there’s only one way of salvation, then what about the man who has never heard this gospel? It doesn’t seem fair to me that God would send someone to hell for not believing in a gospel which they have never heard." This excuse is really an assault on the justice of God. “I don’t think God is going to be fair.” Is what they’re essentially saying. And the logic, I suppose, goes something like this, "If the God you're telling me about doesn't live up to my standard of justice, and if He seems unfair to me, then I don't have to respond to Him. I don't have to obey Him. I have the right to ignore Him if He's not fair according to my standard." Now, I don't think that the concern about the man in the jungle is as sincere as people make it out to be, because while they're quick to put their arm around the man in the jungle and reject the gospel, they're not real concerned about the guy in the next apartment or the guy down the street. It‘s just a convenient excuse to brush you off and go about their business. But it is a good question, and it's a question that the Bible addresses. How can God hold someone accountable to keep the rules when they never had the rules to begin with? And how can God be just in punishing someone for breaking rules that they never had?

In the book of Romans the apostle Paul outlines the gospel for us pretty clearly. He says in verses 16-17 of chapter 1 - “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed” (Right off the bat he maintains the righteousness or the justice of God.) “from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”” That’s the banner, if you will, at the top of the page. And in verse 18 he begins to go in to his presentation of the gospel.

Romans 1:18-20 - “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

Since God is the foundation of truth and all truth originates with Him, then it follows that in order for us to know truth God has to reveal it to us. Since God is true, truth is that which corresponds with His nature and character. So the revelation of truth begins with a revelation of God Himself. And according to Romans 1:18-19, one of the ways that God has revealed Himself is through creation. “The wrath of God” it says, “is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.” That’s revelation. That which is known about God is evident, why? Because God made it evident. Well, how did God make it evident? How did God reveal Himself? Verse 20 - “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” The creation that we see around us is a revelation of God. The things which are seen tell us something about the one who is unseen. Nature itself tells us something about the goodness, the order, the beauty, the wisdom and the power of God. It’s not a perfect revelation, it’s not a complete revelation, but it is a revelation of God nonetheless. God is invisible, and yet He has made Himself known through what is seen. In creation things like God’s eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen. That’s revelation.

In Psalm 19 the psalmist speaks of how God has revealed Himself through creation. He says in verses 1-4 - "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun."

The heavens, and what that’s referring to is the place where the birds fly and the place where the stars hangs out, the observable heavens, are speaking of the glory of God. Not necessarily in audible words, it's not as though you walk outside and hear the air speaking around you or go out at night and hear words being spoken by the stars, but in a way the heavens are speaking to those who see them.

That’s not to say that stars don’t make noise, in fact, they do. I was reading some articles this week about the sounds that stars are making, not that we can hear them, but if sound could travel through space and if we could hear much higher frequencies, we would hear, as one author put it, a symphony in the stars. And there are people who are studying these things to find out what the stars can tell us. There was one person I was reading who suggested that perhaps the song of the stars can tell us something about their origin. And I wouldn't be to quick to refute that. Because the stars are speaking to those who have ears to hear. And what are they saying about their origin? “He made the stars also.”

The intent of this passage, though, is not whether or not the heavens make a literal noise, but clearly it is saying that the heavens are speaking to everyone who sees them. Even though we don’t hear an audible sound, “Their voice goes out into all the earth.” When you consider the heavens there is something that goes on inside of you, you begin to consider the vastness of the universe, the sheer magnitude of space, it will make you feel really small. And this tells us something about God. If indeed there is a God, He must be bigger than, or wholly outside of, His creation. His eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen through what has been made. And not only that, but the heavenly bodies work on a very consistent course. The movement and rotation of the planets, the cycle of comets, all the movements of the cosmos are precise as clockwork. In fact, verses 5 and 6 of Psalm 19 go on to talk about that. In speaking of the sun it says - "Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; it rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit to the other end of them; and there is nothing hidden from its heat." It has a specific course and circuit. There's nothing random about this. The movements of the universe are so exact and consistent that we can travel back in our thinking to hundreds and thousands of years ago and determine the exact placement of the constellations. We can look forward and know with specificity the placement of the stars and planets, and know when comets are going to pass by where we can see them. We have the phases he moon marked out for us on our calendars, but how could we know something like that? It’s because God has set all of this up to work consistently and orderly. This isn't random. The design and order of the universe are speaking of the glory of God, and this is something that you can hear regardless of location or education. You could go out into the most remote, nomadic tribe which doesn't even have a written language, step out of your hut at night and the heavens are standing there declaring to you the glory of God.

In looking at the heavens we can perceive something about the glory, or the goodness, or the beauty of God. But, as this passage goes on to say, yeah, the heavens declare the glory of God, not completely and not perfectly, but the Word of God is perfect. Verses 7-9 - “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.” Yeah, the Word of God is better, it’s specific, it’s detailed, but make no mistake, creation is testifying about our Creator. In fact later on in the book of Romans Paul quotes Paul quotes from this passage. In Romans chapter 10, a passage that is familiar to us, Paul is still writing about the gospel, and he writes this, starting in verse 13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?" There's our question, what about the guy who hasn't heard? He continues, "And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say, surely they have never heard, have they?" Here it is again, we're back to the question we started with; what about the man in the jungle? "Surely they have never heard, have they?" How does he answer? "Indeed they have;" What? What do you mean? He answers by quoting Psalm 19:4, "“Their voice has gone out into all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.”" Creation is preaching to the ends of the earth. And back in Romans 1 he makes it clear, the things about God are clear to them because God made it evident to them, how? Through creation, to what end? “So that they are without excuse.” Yeah, we can make excuses about the man in the jungle, but God makes it clear that the testimony of creation is enough to leave us, and them, without excuse.

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, in the context of Romans 1, because they did not respond to what they understood about God through creation. And even though they knew God they did not honor Him as God or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Rather than turning to God, they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. And all the responsibility to respond, in this passage, hinges on the testimony of creation. In Acts chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas were preaching the gospel in Lystra, and while they were there God gave them the ability to raise a paralytic from his mat and he began walking. Now, after they had done this the people of the city began to gather together and wanted to make a sacrifice to them, thinking that they were gods. But this is what Paul and Barnabas said to them, Vs. 15-17 - “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” God didn’t leave Himself without a witness. They had the testimony of creation.

So, what about the man in the jungle? Romans 1, Psalm 19, Romans 10, Acts 14, he has creation that speaks to him about God. Creation is a common, worldwide language. Though we can't see God, God has made Himself known through His creation. Things like His eternal power and His divine nature are clearly seen, clearly seen, through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. God did not leave Himself without a witness, even in the case of the man in the jungle. This is one example of General Revelation.

Revelation Through Creation

Romans 1:20 - "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

Since God is the foundation of truth and all truth originates with Him, then it follows that in order for us to know truth God has to reveal it to us. Since God is true, truth is that which corresponds with His nature and character. So the revelation of truth begins with a revelation of God Himself.

What does it mean for God to reveal Himself? In order for us to know God and His truth we must have it reveled to us, but what does that really mean? What is Divine Revelation? Revelation, to put it simply, is the act of God disclosing to people that which would otherwise be unknown. The word 'revelation' has the idea of unveiling something. The picture is, I'm holding a box and I tell you that inside the box I have something so magnificent, there's really nothing else like it in the world. "Well," you say, "how great is it?" "It's so great that a description really can't do it justice. You would have to see it in order to grasp the shear magnitude of this thing." So in order for you to experience the greatness of this thing, whatever it is, a revelation is going to have to take place. I'm going to have to lift the lid off the box and show you what is inside. If I don't take the lid off and show it to you then you really can't appreciate the greatness of whatever is contained inside. In God's revealing of Himself He is giving to us something that we couldn't know unless He revealed it. In other words, if God didn't reveal Himself there is no way we could ever possibly know anything about Him. God could have chosen to conceal Himself in order that we would never know anything about Him, never even know He exists; but in His love and kindness for us God has revealed Himself in many different ways, so that even nature itself would tell us something about the goodness, the order, the beauty, the wisdom and the power of God.

There are many ways in which God has revealed Himself, and they all fit quite nicely into two categories. The first category we'll call General Revelation, and the second, Special Revelation. And just to give a quick definition of these two so that we better understand what we're talking about, General Revelation is the natural or common ways in which God makes Himself known; these are thing that are seen and experienced by everyone, they're universal and intrinsic. Special Revelation is the specific or detailed ways in which God makes Himself known.

So what are some of the natural and common ways that God has revealed Himself? What are some of the intrinsic and universal ways in which God has made Himself known? In Psalm 19:1-4 the psalmist speaks of how God has revealed Himself through creation. He says - "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun." The heavens speak of the glory of God, not in audible words, it's not as though you walk outside at night and hear words being spoken by the stars, but in a way they are speaking to those who see them. When you consider the heavens there is something that goes on inside of you, you begin to consider the vastness of the universe, the sheer magnitude of space, it will make you feel really small. And this tells us something about God. If indeed there is a God, He must be bigger than, or wholly outside of, His creation. And not only that, but the heavenly bodies work on a very consistent course. The movement and rotation of the planets, the cycle of comets, all the movements of the cosmos are precise as clockwork. In fact, verses 5 and 6 of Psalm 19 go on to talk about that. In speaking of the sun it says - "Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; it rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit to the other end of them; and there is nothing hidden from its heat." It has a specific course and circuit. There's nothing random about this. The movements of the universe are so exact and consistent that we can travel back in our thinking to hundreds and thousands of years ago and determine the exact placement of the constellations. We can look forward and know with specificity the placement of the stars and planets, and know when comets are going to pass by where we can see them. This isn't random. The design and order of the universe are speaking of the glory of God, and this is something that you can hear regardless of location or education. You could go into the most remote, nomadic tribe which doesn't even have a written language, step out of your hut at night and the heavens are standing there declaring to you the glory of God.

In Romans 1:19-20 the apostle Paul is writing about the wrath of God being revealed against those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, and this is the reason that he gives for God's wrath being revealed - “Because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Creation is a common, worldwide language. Though we can't see God, God has made Himself known through His creation. Things like His eternal power and His divine nature are clearly seen through what has been made. This is one example of General Revelation.