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 from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:16-20, italics added)
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21, italics added)
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32)
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The gospel reveals the power and righteousness of God in saving those who believe in the One about whom it is written. The fallen nature of man will always rage against the reality of creation and attempt by all means to suppress what in his heart he knows to be true – the existence of a Divine Creator, whose invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature being clearly seen in the things that have been made. (DAL)
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“I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” (Jesus in John 8:24)
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt… (Psalm 14:1)
To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. (Titus 1:15)
Stephen Charnock, one of the spiritual and theological giants of 17th century England, one of the English Puritans, wrote extensively on the Existence and Attributes of God. In his great work of the same title he speaks of the fool (atheist) as having shaken off every sense of religion and in so doing “all kinds of wickedness is eagerly rushed into, whereby they become as loathsome to God as putrefied carcasses are to men. Not one or two evil actions is the product of such a principle, but the whole scene of a man’s life is corrupted and becomes detestable.” (The Existence of God, Volume 1, Discourse 1, pg. 25) In our own present culture we see all too clearly the effects of removing God and all moral restraints from society. The culture is turned upside down. Good becomes evil and evil becomes not only accepted, but good. We turn God’s moral and created order on its head and then wonder why society is in chaos. We are reaping what we have sown.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities will make you commit atrocities.” Francious-Marie Arouet – otherwise known as Voltaire – not necessarily a friend of Christianity. The manipulation of the heart of man not grounded in the Truth.
“When you don’t believe in God, you’ll believe everything.” G.K. Chesterton
“The simple believes everything…” Solomon – Proverbs 14:15
“Unbelief is a sin of the greatest malignity against God.” Stephen Charnock, English Puritan (discourse on John 16:9)
“Unbelief is actually perverted faith, for it puts its trust, not in the living God but in dying men. The unbeliever denies the selfsufficiency of God and usurps attributes that are not his. This dual sin dishonors God and ultimately destroys the soul of man.” A.W. Tozer
“The unbelieving mind would not be convinced by any proof, and the worshiping heart needs none.” A.W.Tozer
The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible:
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man, and crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried, and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; And He shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one universal and apostolic church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Learned Puritan 