Everything that I endeavor to preach from this pulpit is founded upon the scriptures, the Bible, the word of God. I'm not interested in what man thinks. I'm interested in what God said. It's all that matters. If the Bible is not the Word of God, then we have no true foundation for faith in Christ. But it is. Well, how do you know, preacher, that it is? The Spirit of God, His Spirit bears witness with my spirit that this is so. My text this morning is found in Romans chapter one, if you'll turn there with me. Romans chapter 1. Through the years of studying the Bible and preaching, many truths have become clear, but none more so than the fact that true preaching never ever exalts man and never ever diminishes God. It puts man in the dust where he belongs, and it lifts God to the throne where He already is. That's why I take issue with statements like, make Jesus Lord. Listen, I'm way too late on that. I don't make Him Lord, He is Lord. True preaching refuses to lift man up or pull God down. This morning I want to talk to you just for a few minutes about the oldest false god in the history of the world. As I mentioned last week, those of you that were here, this false god showed up in Eden's garden when Adam and Eve decided that their personal judgment outranked God's command. And this same false God shows up here in Romans chapter one, where he exchanged the glory of God, the honor of God, the creator for the worship of his own desires. Who is this God of whom I speak? He's called the God called self. The God called self. This imagined God is no God at all. The true and living God gave Adam and Eve one commandment, just one. They couldn't keep it. Well, that's you and I. People talk about keeping the 10 commandments. God gave Adam and Eve one commandment, and they were created in the image of God. This was before sin came into the world, and they couldn't keep that one. Just one forbidden task. Don't eat of the tree in the midst of the garden. If you do, ye shall surely die. And almost immediately, Satan, the serpent, challenged God's one commandment and accused God of lying. And he said, you shall not surely die. God told you you'd die? You shall not surely die. God knows that if you eat of this tree, you shall be as gods. And this lie, it still whispers in the hearts of many today. Satan hasn't changed his tactic. He still pushes the same lie. You can be your own God. You can be your own God. We live in a time when worship has taken on a new form. You know, the altar on which many seek God has become a mirror. And the God who men seek is the God called self. It's common anymore to hear expressions like follow your heart, Believe in yourself. Put yourself first. You can do anything you put your mind to. Well, the greatest love of all is learning to love yourself. Lies. Lies. And beneath the surface of such comments, lie the oldest sin ever committed, the desire to be God. It was the downfall of Satan. You remember what his theme was? I will. We live in a world today that men brag on their free will. That was the very thing that caused Satan to fall. I will. He said, I will ascend. I will exalt. I will be like the Most High. And God said, no, you won't. Only one God. I'm the living and true God, none beside me. How many times in the book of Isaiah alone does he say that? There's none beside, I am God, there's none beside me. None means none. The Lord Jesus said in Luke chapter 10, verse 18, he said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. That was God saying, no, you will not exalt your throne above mine. His sin was self-worship. And before he ever tempted Eve to be like God, he swallowed that lie himself. His fall began with a heart that said, God's not enough. I should be God. When you declare the simple gospel message today of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, people will say almost automatically, well, there's got to be more to it than that. It can't be that simple. And apart from God's grace, this is the same old poison that still fills the human heart today. It is pride in self that refuses to bow to the one and only creator. From the Garden of Eden to our modern age, mankind has always struggled with submission to the God of heaven, desiring to be their own God and to do their own thing. Common phrases like, just do it, and impossible is nothing claim two well-known tennis shoe manufacturers today in their advertising. Have it your own way, boasts the food retailer, fast food retailer. I did it my way was the song of a famous singer. Obey your thirst, encourages a soft drink creator. Be all you can be, claims the U.S. Army. And listen, I understand that these slogans in and of themselves are meant to encourage and to give confidence, but the God-called self takes them literally. And this is the heart of the problem. Men and women believe that they can do these things. Well, I can do anything I put my mind to. Can you? Can you? Can you live perfectly before God's law? Can you satisfy God's law and justice perfectly? Men and women start thinking they can take God's place. And we often think that idolatry belongs to ancient times, you know, when people bowed to stone images and carved tree stumps and all that nonsense. But here in our text, Paul shows us that idolatry is alive and well. It just wears a modern face. And this idol is not found in a temple, and this man-made God is found in the mirror. And this idol isn't made of gold, this God called self is made of flesh, blood, and pride. Modern day religion preaches self-exaltation, but the word of God preaches self-denial. Men today have ceased preaching the God of creation and are preaching the God called self. And until that false God is dethroned, the God of creation will never be preached, never be understood. Sadly, this God called self has taken the creator's place in the hearts of men and women. And men and women have convinced themselves that they can do just fine without God. They can do okay on their own. They can even save themselves. They make the decision to make Jesus Lord. They let go and let God. Listen, if you can let God do something, then you're God in your own mind. Our God is in the heavens. He's done whatsoever He pleased. In the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou? That's the God of the Bible. He's not trying to do something. He doesn't want to do something. He does it. The God of self never saves, he only destroys. When self becomes God, truth becomes an option. When self becomes God, sin becomes normal. When a man bows to self, he attempts to dethrone God and self-worship turns the heart into its own idol factory. Paul doesn't begin this epistle to the church at Rome by describing a list of sins. He starts by showing them and us where sin begins. It begins in the heart. That's right. A heart that refuses to glorify God. Before man ever bowed to an idol, he first bowed to himself. Self became the center, and self became the authority. I remember in my arrogance as a young man, my dad telling me one time, he said, you know what your problem is? And I said, what? He said, you think the world centers around you. And I did. I did. Some would say I still do. In a lot of ways, it does. Let's just be honest. Self became the object of worship. Men's idols become subservient to them. The ones who we set up our idol. We can make anything an idol. Now let's begin reading here in verse 20 of Romans chapter one, and pay close attention to these words. It says, for the invisible things of him, that's talking about God. The invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, from the very beginning, are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made. I read on, it says, speaking of all that God created, even his eternal power and Godhead. That's talking about the power that he had that created the heavens and the earth. And it says, so that they, speaking of every man and woman born, are without excuse. This verse declares that God has made himself unmistakably known throughout creation. This world, its beauty, its complexity, its order, how we have the cycles of day and night and the seasons. It all just works perfectly. It's not, what did man have to do with that? And because of these things, everyone is accountable to the God that made these things that lives in this world. No one can truly claim ignorance of God. We say, well, what about these tribes over in Africa or somewhere that don't even know civilization apart from where they live? Without excuse. Why? Because they can look at the stars in the sky at night and the sun rising and going down and all the beauty around us and know in their hearts and in their conscience that there is a God. Without excuse. God proves his existence and his power through the things that he's made. Look at verse 21. Because that, and this is why they're without excuse, when they knew God, when they knew God by the power of His creation, they glorified Him not, they honored Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain. That word means idolatrous. They became vain in their imaginations and their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. Though it's true that people know there is a God just by observing creation and have a conscience within, folks still fail to glorify Him as God. They become vain. That word means wicked in their imaginations. And their foolish hearts are darkened. And the Hebrew word for foolish means without understanding. I've often said to say someone's ignorant is not a derogatory term. It just simply means without knowledge. Just don't know. And the reason is, when it gets right down to it, they're spiritually dead. Mankind truly died spiritually in Adam, their representative. When God said, thou shalt surely die, he died spiritually and so did all those that he represented, mankind in general. All of us are born dead in trespasses and sin. The scriptures are very clear about that. Adam and all his descendants surely did die, just as God said they would. And here we see why men and women by nature cannot trust in and on God on their own or believe in Christ through their own wisdom. They're dead. Spiritually dead. And many people acknowledge God's existence. How many people do you know that just flat out claim to be atheists? I don't believe there is a God. Most everybody says, oh, I believe there's a God. I believe in God. I love Jesus. Yet they live as though He doesn't exist or matter. Their lips say, Lord, Lord, but their lives and their hearts say, me, me. When a man stops worshiping God, he starts worshiping himself. And the human heart is just an idle factor. We make gods out of everything, whether it's homes or careers or money or children. What about grandchildren? Oh, my. They're grand, ain't they? And if we ain't careful, we'll make idols out of them. Every thought not centered on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, eventually resolves around self. This is the god called self. that we're talking about. And that's why the world says ignorant, unlearned things such as be true to yourself. Listen, don't do that. Don't do that. How about this one? Trust yourself. Oh my God. I don't trust myself. But the scripture tells us a different story. The Bible says, deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow Christ. That's what the scriptures say. That's why the wise man Solomon said, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. He said, in all thy ways acknowledge him, God, and he shall direct your path. I want God directing my paths. I don't want to direct my own path. Can one who is dead direct their own path? And that's why the prophet Jeremiah said, curse be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departed from the Lord. Jeremiah 17, five. And that's why the psalmist said, it's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Psalm 118, eight. And that's why the apostle Paul wrote, we have no confidence in the flesh. Verse 22, professing, claiming themselves to be wise, they became fools. Human pride brings self-reliance. People who judge themselves according to their own understanding become fools. True wisdom is found in recognizing God as the ruler of all things, the creator of all things. And apart from Him, all men and women are fools. Salvation and true wisdom are not achieved by human effort, not by human intellect. only by faith in Christ. And you can't muster that up. You can't create that in yourself. It's a gift of God. Saved by grace through faith. It's not of yourself. It's not of yourself. It's not of yourself. And man's foolishness and what he did and still does is revealed to us in verse 23. And speaking of mankind, humanity by nature, they changed the glory of the incorruptible. That word means undying. The undying God into an image made like to corruptible, dying and decaying things. Dying man and the birds and the four-footed beast and creeping thing. Well, some of the idols of Egypt, when Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh and God sent the plagues, some of the gods they worshiped were just, I mean, they were birds and, you know, an idol with a man's head and a fish body or a fish's body and a, I don't know, just, I mean, crazy looking thing. And people would rather trust and worship something like that because they have control over it, see? That's the thing behind it. That's the God called self's motivation to create a God that He can manipulate. You can't manipulate the God of this book. He has His way every time. By God's grace, learn to bow to Him, trust Him, depend on Him. And this is what reveals the human heart's corruption. Idol worship isn't just about bowing to a carving, it's the misplaced worship of anything that is finite in the place of the infinite God. Man's pride leads him to distort reality, treating the corruptible, the evil or morally depraved as divine. And in most cases, it's us making ourselves our own God. Look at verse 24. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Friends, God's wrath is often nothing more than God just stepping back and letting men and women have their own way. That's all he has to do. God gave them up. That's a terrifying statement to me. It means that God removes restraint and that he allows men to do what they want. Men cannot perceive what they are capable of doing if God would leave them to themselves. God has to show that to you. That's what God says about men and women by nature. And what do I mean when I say by nature? I say that a lot, by nature. I mean that we are apart from the grace of God. We're spiritually in a spiritually dead state. The condition we were born in because of Adam's fall. And if we're honest with ourselves, we know it's so. We can pray. Genesis 6 verse 6, excuse me, verse 5 says, and God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every, every, every imagination of the thought of his heart was only, only, only evil continually all the time. Only a spiritually enlightened man or woman, one that God's given eyes to see. That's what I mean by spiritually enlightened. Only one that God's given eyes to see who and what they are will agree with that verse of scripture. Now, when we compare ourselves with other men and women, we always base our goodness and evil by how we ourselves differ from them. I say Shelly is a very good piano player. Well, I'm basing my opinion of her as a piano player on my ability to play. If she didn't play as well as I did, I'd say, man, she's an average piano player. You see what I'm saying? We compare to one another. We compare ourselves to one another. And we base our goodness and evil by how we Ourselves differ from them. Compared to a murderer, a child molester, I may seem good and righteous. But compared to a Christian martyr who gives themselves for the sake of others, I may seem selfish and evil. But here's the truth of the matter. All of us, Every single one of us are wicked compared to a holy and righteous God. And that's all that matters. How we stand before God. God have mercy on us. When we fell into sin, we just didn't stump our toe. Man ain't just walking around limping a little bit. Fell to the bottom. How many times have you promised yourself you wouldn't commit a particular act? You know, like, I'm not going to do that anymore. It has brought so much pain and heartache and conviction. I'm not going to do that anymore. Only to do it again and again and again. After you swore you would? That's what I'm talking about. Jeremiah 17, nine tells us that, that our hearts by nature are deceitful above all things. That simply means there's nothing more deceitful than this heart of ours. Not just this organ that pumps the blood in our bodies, but our thoughts and our intentions and our sin. And that word desperately means incurably. We're incurably wicked. That's what God says about us. Only one who can give us life in a new nature can save us, and only God can. And verse 25 tells us what men and women with hearts that are deceitful and incurably wicked have done. Look at it. They have changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the what? The creature. the God called self, more than the creator who is blessed forever. Men and women by nature would rather believe a lie instead of the truth. Some of the things, the far-fetched things that men will believe instead of just believing the simple truth is amazing to me. I had someone tell me not long ago that they believed that aliens from outer space came and told some man, you know, the truth about God and he based everything he believed upon that. Wonder how that's going to work out for him. They changed the truth of God into a lie. They worshiped and served the creature more than the creator is blessed forever. How can something or someone that the creator created be more worthy of worship than the one who created it? But friends, that's why the biggest idol is self. And that's the only way religion in our day can be explained. Men change the truth of God into a lie. They reject what God has clearly revealed. His power, His rule, His glory, His authority, His sovereignty. The people don't want that God. They just don't want that God. They don't want to be under His authority. They do not want to be held to that high of a standard. They don't wanna be accountable to that degree of holiness, so what do they do? They refuse to receive what He's clearly shown us, even in His creation. Someone told me one time, well, this world was created by the big boom, and I asked him, I said, who lit the fuse? God lit the fuse, if that's the case, but God spoke this world into existence. That's the God with whom we have to do. He's sovereign, He's almighty. What He says doesn't ever return into Him void. It accomplishes that which He sent it to accomplish. Men rewrite God to fit their desires. They desire to push God off His throne and crawl up on it themselves. They want to reshape God into something manageable. A God who doesn't rule doesn't judge, and a God that doesn't judge doesn't find any right or wrong. He doesn't interfere with man's personal lifestyle. That's the God that most people want. The God called self elevates the created, the creation, and demotes the creator. And Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3, verse 2, about the perilous times in these last days. We're in the last day. He wrote, now listen to this, for men shall be lovers of their own self. Covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. without natural affection, truth breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. It didn't stop there. Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness. Listen, you don't find these folks in the bars and the brothels. You find them in the churches. having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. And Paul says, from such turn away. Those days are here. And this is the God called self. So where, so okay, brother David, where's salvation found in all this? Where do we see Christ in all this? I'm glad you asked. These verses do not mention his name. But Paul lays the groundwork here that makes Christ essential for self. In order for us to be saved, now pay close attention, I'm gonna finish up. Give me five minutes. In order for us to be saved, this God called self's got to be conquered. And the true God, must be glorified, and that can only be in and by and through Jesus Christ. He's the answer to all our problems. Sin is our problem, and He's the answer to sin. First, Christ is displayed in these verses by the revelation that we rejected. We saw in verse 20 that His eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen in creation. Creation is where God's glory is on display. But the natural mind of man refuses it. We see the glory of this creation. We know God did it. This brings the truth to life. Jesus Christ is the perfect visible revelation of the God whose glory is ignored. And where creation reveals God generally, Christ reveals God personally and in a saving way. The Lord Jesus said in John 1, 18, no man has seen God at any time except the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared Him. You know what it means to be in the bosom of the Father? It means He is God. Jesus Christ is God. He's God the Son, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all three God, God in three persons. Colossians 1.15, Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Jesus Christ is God. Hebrews 1.3, who being in the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, Speaking of Christ, when He had by Himself purged our sin, sat down on the right hand of God, the right hand of the Majesty on high. The right hand is the position of authority and power. Jesus Christ is God. Romans 1 shows mankind telling God, we don't want to see you. We will not have you to rule over us. You remember that parable? The gospel of Christ tells us that God came anyway. We don't want this man to rule over us. Well, he's going to, whether you bow to him or not, whether you quote, accept him or not. He's gonna rule over you. He came in the person of Christ, God did. The question is, what do you think of him? Secondly, Christ is displayed in the scripture as the righteousness that we lack. We see the downward spiral of man and humanity in verses 21 through 23. They knew God. They refused to honor Him as God. They loved darkness rather than God's light. They exchanged His glory for idols. And here Paul points to the picture of humanity's absolute moral corruptness and bankruptcy. Why? To show us our desperate need for Christ and His righteousness that we might be reconciled to God. But now the righteousness of God is revealed, how? Through faith in Jesus Christ, Romans 3, 21. Romans 1 shows us our disease of sin. Romans 3 shows us the cure, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the righteousness we don't have and that we can't produce. Thirdly, Christ is seen as the truth that we exchange for a lie, verse 25. That lie being our self-rule instead of God's rule. Let me tell you something. You're not in control of anything. We think we are, but we're not in control of anything. The Lord Jesus came and he said, I am the truth. I'm the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me. Where man traded truth for lies, Christ is the truth that came to set us free. This is all about Him. Fourthly, Christ is revealed to be the rightful object of worship. Faith is not random. Faith has an object. Faith is in someone. Who is that someone? We worship and serve the creature rather than Creator. Christ is the Creator. All things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything made that was made. You know what that means? That means He's the Creator. Christ is the only one worthy of worship. In the name of Jesus, heavenly should bow. Things in heaven, things in the earth, things under the earth that every tongue should confess. He's Lord to the glory of God the Father. Our worship was the worship of self. The gospel of Christ redirects us and reveals to us the true object of our worship. And lastly, Christ is displayed as the mercy that God gives to idolaters. That's what we are. By nature, we're all doctors. And our biggest idol, self. The God called self. Verse 24 shows us God giving sinners over to their own choices, but in Christ, God does the opposite of that. He steps in. He intervenes. He butts in. I know most of us don't like people butting into our business, but let me tell you something. I want Him to butt in. I want Him to butt in in my life. I want Him to divinely intervene in my life. If not, I'm going to hell. Romans 1 shows us the wrath we deserve, and Christ displays the mercy that we don't. We rejected God's revelation. Jesus Christ is God's revelation. We lost righteousness. Christ is our righteousness. We traded truth for lies. Christ is our truth. We worship the creation, that being self. Jesus Christ is the creator that we must worship. We earned wrath, Christ took our wrath, and he gives us grace. Listen, Darwin mentioned it Wednesday night, Christ is all and in all. All means all. He's everything that matters. Without Him, we're nothing. Without Him, we have nothing. Without Him, we can do nothing. You know what that means? We are nothing. Jesus Christ is all that I have. Jesus Christ is all that God requires. And so Jesus Christ is all that I need, right? Because of Him and only Him, I no longer serve the God called self. How about you?