unrighteousness. The Greek word is katiko from which we get catechism and it has a figurative meaning that is holding fast to something or holding it down. They're holding it down. It means to possess it in memory, or to stay, to retain, or to seize upon it. And the idea here is just that the Gentile world is not ignorant of God, but they suppress the knowledge of God which they have. And so with the earlier part of this verse, they have the information necessary to serve God. And as God's wrath is against both ungodliness and unrighteousness, the Gentiles are both ungodly, even without special revelation. So the problem with the Gentile world is not simply that they do the wrong things. The problem with the Gentile world is that they know God and suppress the knowledge of God so that they can do the wrong things, so that they can do the things that they want. And this is a lesson that is for us really about the world in which we live and something we can examine more perfectly. And then there's a broader question, how God reveals himself to men. Now, I like Matthew Henry's commentary on Romans 2. I think it's representative, a good representation of the way. And he says, three degrees of light are given to the children of men. The light of nature, the light of the law, and the light of the gospel. Now, that's a progression, and there's a progressive sense in which the knowledge of God is clearer on the basis of that. So let's turn to Psalm 19, because Matthew Henry is telling us something that the Scripture teaches more broadly, and so if we turn to Psalm 19, we'll get this progression in the words of the psalmist. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth the work of his hands. Day unto day uttereth the same, and night unto night teacheth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone forth through all the earth, and their words into the ends of the worlds. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoiceth like a mighty man to run his race. His going out is from the end of the heaven, and his compass is unto the ends of the same, and none is hid from the heat thereof." That has to do with the light of nature. We'll see exactly what in a minute. Number two, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisdom unto the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right and rejoice the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure and giveth light unto the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, and endureth forever. The judgments of the Lord are truth. They are righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant made circumspect, and in keeping of them there is great reward." Now you have discussion then of God's revelation, the word, the law, the written word of God. And then verse 12, who can understand his faults? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not reign over me. So shall I be upright and made clean from much wickedness. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of mine heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. And in that section, the psalmist is celebrating the redemption and the internal work of the Spirit of God in him, the light ultimately shed by the gospel, not merely as a word preached in fullness as if it's merely the New Testament, but the work of the Spirit of God in him. And those are the three degrees of light Matthew Henry is discussing. progressive in that orientation or in their effect upon men. Now these concepts are also expressed in theological terms, and you may be familiar with the two-fold division, general and special revelation. There's general revelation, it's the testimony of the creation. that is made to man. And there is special revelation that is God's word coming to the man. So general and special is a division that's held oftentimes by theologians. Then law and gospel, that's special revelation, the light which scripture reveals on the subject that we're dealing with. But there is in our day a problem with this first term, the light of nature. And because language changes over time, we have to be careful to define our terms. And because language changes over time, there's the chance that modern men don't really understand the language as it was written in time past. Because nature is, to the modern man, Mother Nature, you know, an evolutionary personification of the creation. You know, you turn the creation into a person, you personify it, and you have all the evolutionary presuppositions that stand behind it. And so when we think of nature, we think of this term in that way, the light of nature. Now, when it was used by the old theologians at the time of the Confession, it was human nature that they were talking about. They weren't talking about the cosmos. They weren't talking about the creation, the world around us. They were talking about human nature or the internal knowledge, what man understands inside of himself. So that's the light that human nature sheds on the topic, the light that human nature brings to the knowledge of God. There's a testimony there, and that's what they were saying. It's the internal reception of a witness by man who is the subject. And again, the light that human nature, that human understanding receives from the created order. that's out there. So our Confession of Faith uses the term in the opening chapter and in Article 1. In other words, you get, open up the Confession of Faith and begin reading, although the light of nature and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God as to leave men inexcusable, okay, and that's how it begins. But now if we ask the commentators in what way man is inexcusable, let's hear what they have to say. Now here's G.I. Williamson in his 1964 commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith for study classes. And he notes, This section of the Confession teaches us, one, that God reveals himself in two distinct ways to man, in nature and in scripture. So there's general and special revelation. Two, that no man can evade constant confrontation and I'm adding emphasis, constant confrontation. You can't evade confrontation by that which reveals the living and true God, even without scripture. Three, that all men are without excuse for their ignorant and sinful condition, and that four, that scripture is necessary for true and saving knowledge of God because therein alone is revealed God's redemptive provision. It has long been the habit among Christians, even of reformed persuasion, to speak of the insufficiency of natural revelation, as if there were something defective in the revelation it makes of God. This may be seen in the traditional use of theistic proofs. One, from the world as a great effect, we may argue the possibility of a great cause. These are Aquinas' theistic proofs, if you recognize them. Two, from the apparent order and design of the world, we may argue the possibility of a designing intelligence. Three, from the apparent rule of the world by moral law, we may argue the possibility of a moral lawgiver. After these and similar arguments were developed and brought together, it was hoped that unbelievers might be convinced that a. a. God probably exists, and b. that if he does exist, he might possibly be the God of the Bible. Only when the possibility of the existence of God, quote-unquote, was thus proved, quote-unquote, it was expected that the unbeliever would admit further evidence might confirm the fact that God really does exist. Observe that in this scheme the creature fixes the terms under which God must present his credentials. Facts are not allowed to say the true God is, but only a God may possibly exist. What is wrong with such an approach? Simply this, every facet and the sum total of all facts proves the existence of the God of the Bible. And there is good reason. This God is. He always was. He existed before anything was made. And the whole universe exists only because he planned it. Every detail of the related aspects of existence has the precise character and purpose that God intended. It therefore has meaning that is God given's. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Everything in heaven and earth says that the true God is, that he is glorious, that he is creator and ruler of all, and that we are his creatures. Man was once God's true image. He alone among the creatures could think thoughts of his creator. Before sinless man, the whole creation, including man's own being, was an unclouded mirror in which God could be seen with clarity of vision. In the mind of man, God's revelation came to self-conscious reinterpretation. was the task of man to become conscious of all the meaning deposited by God in the universe. Man began his task. He used God-given powers of investigation to discover the true, that is, God-imprinted meaning of nature. When Adam named something in the world of nature, he was simply reading the name, meaning put there by God. We must observe, however, that even before the fall, God revealed himself in word as well as in nature. Nature revealed all that Adam needed for a right knowledge of the nature of God. Now, I like a lot of what Williamson says there, and of course he takes occasion to introduce the presuppositional apologetic. And so in one sense it has Cornelius Van Til written all over it. In fact, if you stuck that in the middle of a Van Til book, I wouldn't know it wasn't him speaking. It's that clear. But the claims here are not quite the same. No man can evade constant confrontation. Nature revealed all that Adam needed. And the question is, what does he mean by nature? Seems to me he's talking about the created order, about the world, the heavens, the sky, the earth, the trees. Not human nature. And that is where this error lies. Likewise, A. A. Hodge, whose work, The Confession of Faith, was first published in 1859. What else was published in 1859? Darwin's The Origin of Species. Hodge tells us, three generally distinct false opinions have been entertained with respect to the capacity of men in their present circumstances to attain to any positive knowledge of the being and character of God. He tells us many conclusive arguments for the existence of a great first cause who is at the same time an intelligent personal spirit and righteous moral governor, have been drawn by strict induction from the facts of nature alone, as they lie open to natural understanding." Then he speaks of the amount of knowledge attainable by the light of nature. And again, ignoring for a minute Hodge's evidentialist approach to apologetics, both men speak of nature as revealing what man needs for knowledge. Williamson says there's a constant confrontation by that which reveals. Hodge speaks of the capacity of men to attain. And it seems to me that these men are representative of what is taught broadly in the reformed world, in the modern reformed world. When modern teachers speak of the light of nature, they mean the testimony in creation. They're picking up the language of the modern world of Mother Nature and of nature walks, conceptually substituting what is meant by the Westminster Confession's phrase, works of creation, and using that as a working definition for the light of nature. Okay, go back to the Confession. The light of nature and the works of creation and providence Now, in that phrase, the works of creation stand for the external testimony. It's what you see around it. That external testimony, it is a testimony. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament, the earth, shows his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, night unto night teacheth knowledge. Okay, that is the work of creation, testifying. But then the psalmist in Psalm 19 says, there's no speech nor language. In other words, that testimony is not restricted by tongues. by the fact this guy speaks Swahili and this guy speaks English. None of that. There's no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. And what's the psalmist saying? It's perceived. It's known everywhere. So the problem here is that the light of nature is human nature. It's the receptive capacity of men to know. It is not the testimony of the cosmos. That's not what the confession of faith means, and our modern writers have picked up the spirit of the age in their conceptual framework, and they're speaking in terms of mother nature, or nature walks, or nature to them means the stuff that's out there, the creation, and they're not hearing or seeing human nature. It's human nature that we're talking about with the phrase, the light of nature. It's the created image of God in man perceiving and understanding the witness of the cosmos. The witness that the heavens make is perceived inside of the man because man has the light of nature. He has a understanding, a capacity to understand inside of him. So again, it's a subjective, it's not the objective testimony, it's the subjective reception of that testimony, the witness that God has made in man which is inescapable, not the mere existence of the external testimony made by the creation. Now that the created order does make an external and objective witness is evident. That's what the psalmist is talking about until he says there's no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. He was talking about their testimony. But man is the subject, man is subject to that testimony and he cannot escape perceiving its meaning. So man has the witness of God internal to him, and he cannot escape it. And the way I like to describe that is, look, we're here, and whatever radio station is downtown in Paris broadcasting right now, Those waves, the broadcast is passing through this building as we talk. We don't hear it. We have no idea. You'd have to have something tuned to receive it. Is it what, Froggy something or other? Froggy 93, 98, 200, whatever. Froggy radio is now passing through this building. We're not tuned to it. We would need a receiver tuned to the right frequency to hear it. You're tuned. All men are tuned. All men are tuned to the broadcast of the glory of God and the knowledge of God that is made in the creation. They're in tune to it and they can't help but hear it. They cannot escape it. And that's the point, then, of our text and verses 18 to 21. God is, in truth, perceived, known, in the Gentile world. The knowledge of God is captured, embraced, and then suppressed. The natural man, despite knowing God, is ungodly. For by this gospel that Paul's not ashamed of, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, which withhold or suppress the truth in unrighteousness." And that's the point. They're in suppression. They're suppressing the knowledge of God that is within them. so that they can go about their own ways. Ungodliness leads to unrighteousness. Ungodliness is the foundation of unrighteousness. And verse 19 restates the point positively, so there's no misunderstanding. For as much as that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. You know, what is it to manifest something is to make it seen, to make it openly appear, okay? The knowledge of God openly appears in them. God has shown it unto them. God has given them the receptors to hear what the cosmos testifies. He's shown man these things. And verse 20's statement is to the same effect. For the invisible things of him, that is, his eternal power and Godhead, are seen by the creation of the world, being considered in his works to the intent that they should be without excuse. So it's all there, it's all testified to them, it's clearly seen, it's clearly known, and this is the Gentile world, this is the world outside the church. This statement is to the same effect, but the translational subtleties are different, are interesting here. The King James Version says, for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Now in that rendering, the phrase creation of the world is a time stamp. the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world are clearly seen." So creation of the world means it's always been this way, from the beginning of the world. From the creation of the world, the invisible things of God are clearly seen. So creation of the world is a time stamp, it's like saying from the beginning this has been the case. In the 1599 Geneva Bible, for the invisible things of him, what are the invisible things? His eternal power and Godhead are seen by the creation of the world being considered in his works to the intent that they should be without excuse. So the timestamp is removed. Creation and the works of God are in parallelism. so that he chose to manifest himself through the created order, but with an intent, to the intent that sinners would be inexcusable. Now John Murray picks up on this second point. He says, the concluding clause of verse 20 may require the rendering given in the version that they may be without excuse, expressing purpose and not merely result. Let's dwell on that a minute. Purpose and not merely result. So result would be, You know, you have the Holy Bible in your home, and you don't read it one bit. You're a pagan, you live the way you want to live, but it's there, it's there on the shelf and so on. And in the day of judgment, God can say, well you had my word and you took no interest in it. And you can say, OK, that person being judged is certainly guilty. He had access to the word. He took no interest in it. So he's without excuse. That's one form of being without excuse. But Murray's taking this another way. He's saying, no, no. It's perceived. It's read. It's known by them. through the creation of the world his eternal power and Godhead are perceived, they're read by the man to the intent that that man would be without excuse. And so it's a little bit different, it's not just neglect over here, it's rejection here. And there's a There are shades of important difference between the two things. It's not a matter of neglect. It's not a matter of responsibility that comes from the idea that you've neglected what God has said, haven't given any attention to it, and therefore you're guilty. No, no. There was enough attention. There was enough knowledge in the Gentile world that makes culpable their turning away from God, the suppression of that knowledge. Back to John Murray. It would then be intimated that the design of God in giving so open and manifest a disclosure of his eternal power and divinity in his visible handiwork is that men might be without excuse. If men do not glorify and worship him as God, they have no excuse for their impiety. and that the impiety might be without excuse is the design of the manifested glory. So men's guilt is magnified by the testimony that God himself has designed. General revelation coupled with the light of human nature is an inescapable thing. Men, all men, know God and are without excuse. And that's what the apostle is telling us here. So that's an important concept and it's something that we can apply then if we turn to application. There are some points of application, first of all, that remain to be developed. First is the justice of God in holding man responsible for this duplicity. There is a direct line of connection between ungodliness and unrighteousness. direct line of connection, and God's judgment upon the first, God's judgment upon ungodliness, is what gives rise to unrighteousness in the hands of men. And he hands men over to unrighteousness because of their ungodliness. Now Paul will develop that, we're not going to go there. But let's take this related point is the question of diagnostics, okay? Do you have diagnostic problems? If I work on automobiles, I have, well, if I work on electronic automobiles, I certainly have diagnostic problems. Because it's all computer stuff going on. How do you even test it? How do you know what's going on? You've got to know what's going on before you can test it. How do you do that? So you've got problems with diagnostics. What is the problem with men? So this is a diagnostic question we can ask of our world. What is the problem with men? Is the problem of men what they conceive of as the problem? You know, shall the doctor allow the patient to make the final analysis and prescription? Okay, like you go to the doctor, or, hey doc, you know, I need some pain medication. Well, what's the problem? I've got this pain here. I've got this pain here, you know. So what I need is pain medication. That's what you get when you get the patient making the diagnosis and the prescription. And the question is, shall we allow the patient to make the final analysis and the prescription? And what that means is that when we're dealing with questions of ungodliness, we're also dealing with questions of unrighteousness. And if the problem is unrighteousness that we're trying to fix, we've got to find a root of it in the source, ungodliness, over here. So the power of Reformation must be sought in godliness and not in education, environment, medication, and various other impotent balms. You know, they want to fix this on their own terms. They want to maintain the ungodliness and say, well, I'm not going to have any effects of this thing. And this point should be clear to us. This is the apologetic issue that G.I. Williamson raised. I know more about the problem than he does. The reason I know is because I have God's word. He may identify symptoms. He may string a few of the symptoms together. Other symptoms he may not perceive or may choose to ignore. But at root, I have the manual on the disease. He cannot tell me better than I can tell him. And so when we look at our world, the man's unnatural affections, his addictions, his poverty, his obesity, his autonomy, his perversity, all come down to the alienation and wrath of God abiding on him. And that's the testimony, the daily testimony of wrath being revealed from heaven to which sinners are held in bondage, the only solution being the gospel of truth. And I'm not saying that there aren't shades of diagnostic procedures that should be run here. But what I am saying is it's all manifesting one particular issue, that they're suppressing the knowledge of God in unrighteousness, and that explains them being given over to all of the problems that we're trying to solve when we deal with them. Now, as these things are experienced by individual sinners, so they're operative in the society. And many corollaries can be drawn with this idea of the suppression of truth. You know, when a society suppresses the truth, the society is given over to perversity and degeneracy. And we see that going on all around us. And the solutions, then, are not political, despite the attempt to place hope in political solutions. And incidentally, the evangelical church shares much in the way of suppression of knowledge. You know, you ask these guys, did you ever read Romans 9 to 11? What's it mean? Tell me what it means. but they seek to explain the condition of nations as if they're innocent because they've never quote-unquote heard the gospel. They're innocent, they've never heard the gospel, God can't hold them accountable, and so in the minds of these I guess I should call them evangelicals. I don't know that they're even evangelicals, but they certainly want to preach the gospel in faraway places. But in their idea, God must have some other way of salvation because it's not fair to punish them if they've never heard the gospel. And again, this is groups calling themselves Christians. Again, the point here is the turning away from the knowledge of God of which these men are guilty and culpable as such, and that's the universal condition of the Gentiles, of human beings without the gospel of Christ. We as Christians ought to be concerned for human suffering in the world around us. but not as those who are blind to suffering being the judgment of God upon them and upon men. We're to be concerned but concerned out of pity because we ourselves are no better. And that's the other thing that you realize, you say, wait a minute, that's me, that picture, that one who has the knowledge of God and suppresses it in unrighteousness so that they can do their own will, that's you and I as well, apart from the grace of God. So our pity ought to see in them what we are naturally as well. That salvation is by grace, And that is the message that we can take to the world. But never can we minister to the effects of these sins, which are being manifested in men, without ministering to the root cause, man's ungodliness and unrighteousness. Now, if we take aid to men, we must take the gospel also. And again, you see that in the modern world of nominal Christianity. We're going to go somewhere and we're going to do all these good works, but we're never going to take them the gospel. We're never going to speak the gospel. And you ask some of these organizations, well, we're not allowed to. Are you good with that? Well, no, we try to do it on the side. Okay, well that's fine, but the idea is we can't save men by modeling God's kindness. We have to save men by preaching the gospel to them, preaching the truth. Then we who know Christ ought to be the more active than others who deny him. We've got people out there doing all kinds of good works as if somehow that gives them a badge of honor or something. We can't be like that. Charity begins at home as well, with our own families and neighbors. And so it's a big thing in the Christian world to go somewhere far away on a, quote unquote, mission trip. But charity begins at home. It begins with ministering in your own household to your own children. You know, and a guy that's on a mission trip that sends his kids to government schools, well, that's a contradiction, you see. And, of course, then that's the foundation, beginning at home and in our communities. If we're going to change the world, it can't stop there. It must go beyond. So again, it's with the teaching of our text that we are prepared to meet the situation with understanding. And that's the point. We know the diagnosis. We can look here and know the problem that we face. It's in the heart of the unregenerate man who has the knowledge of God clearly revealed to him, who suppresses that knowledge and turns away from it. That's the problem, a problem rooted in the hearts of men. And the only solution, the only thing able to break that problem is the regenerating power of God. And that's what we must avail ourselves to as the solution. So with that, it's a time that's interesting because then this week it was made known to me that there's a House Joint Resolution 803. Do you know anything about that? Tennessee House Joint Resolution 803. And it was a senator and a congressman, so it's the Senator Mark Potey and Representative Monty Fritz, who got this passed through General Assembly. And let me see if I can give you the text of it. by representatives Fritz, Raper, Love, Davis, Lamberth, Todd, McCalman, Cheryl, Karen, I won't read all the names, it goes on, there's a bunch of them. A resolution to seek God's hand of mercy healing on Tennessee. Whereas our state and nation suffer from violence committed upon our citizens by our citizens. And whereas our state and nation suffer from violence committed upon our citizens by non-citizens. And whereas acts of violent crime in our schools are unacceptable, and whereas human trafficking is an unacceptable and violent evil in our state, enslaving lives and violating the core values of our Creator-endowed rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, And whereas drug addiction overwhelms our families, our government finances, our workforce productivity, as well as our health care and our law enforcement resources. And whereas deadly fentanyl flows uncontrollably across our southern U.S. border, resulting in the deaths of Tennesseans. and whereas driving under the influence, drunk driving, results in great pain and injury for Tennessee families, and whereas we have approximately 9,000 children in need of foster care, indicating a brokenness of many Tennessee homes, and whereas evidence of corruption in our federal government stands to impact every Tennessean, and whereas our national and state founders trusted in the omnipotent hand of Providence to guide and bless our land, and whereas over decades these leaders called our people to seek out the Creator's favor by issuing proclamations like the one from John Adams, April 15, 1799, and they quoted, this day be observed throughout the United States of America as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting and prayer, that the citizens on that day abstain as far as may be from their secular occupation, and devote the time to the sacred duties of religion, in public and in private, that they call to mind our numerous offenses against the Most High God, confess them before Him with the sincerest penitence, imploring His pardoning mercy through the Great Mediator and Redeemer for our past transgressions, and that through the grace of his Holy Spirit we may be disposed and enabled to yield a more suitable obedience to his righteous requisitions in time to come. That he would interpose to arrest the progress of that impiety and licentiousness in principle and practice so offensive to himself and so ruinous to mankind. that he would make us deeply sensible that righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." Okay, now that's the quote from John Adams. Whereas we hold that our founders correctly acknowledged truth in their words, And whereas we hold that except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain, therefore be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the 113th General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, the Senate concurring, that the period of July 1st, 2024 through July 31st, 2024 be recognized as a time of prayer and fasting in Tennessee. Be it further resolved that we recognize that God as Creator and King of all glory has both the authority to judge and bless nations or states. Be it further resolved that we, as public servants in the Tennessee General Assembly, seek God's mercy upon our land and beseech Him not to withhold His hand of blessing from us. Be it further resolved that we recognize our sins and shortcomings before Him and humbly ask His forgiveness. Be it further resolved that we ask the Lord Jesus to heal our land, remove the violence and human trafficking, addiction, and corruption. Be it further resolved that we ask that the Holy Spirit fill our halls of government, our classrooms, our places of business, our churches, and our homes with peace, love, and joy. be it further resolved that we call upon all those who are physically able and spiritually inclined to do so to join in a 30-day season of prayer and intermittent fasting as we begin a new fiscal year as a means of seeking God's blessing and humbling ourselves to receive His grace and mercy, transforming ourselves, our communities, our state and nation. And that was adopted April 10th. It's signed by the Speaker of the House, Senate, and the Governor. So, you know, it is interesting that it's a cry along the lines of the very point of application that we are talking about. And then we have this, let's see, this would be a cover letter from Potey and Fitz. He says, Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, on April 16, 2024, and of course I'm just hearing about this, so, Governor Lee signed H.R. 803, H.J.R., it's joint resolution, 803 into law. This House joint resolution calls those who are physically able and spiritually inclined to do so to join in a 30-day season of prayer and intermittent fasting for the month of July as a means of humbling ourselves to receive God's grace, mercy, and blessing in Tennessee and in our nation. This document embodies a bipartisan recognition that the issues we are facing cannot be effectively addressed without the intervention and favor of our Lord." Okay, that's a testimony. We can't solve these problems. Now, I don't like some of the language, okay? I don't fast to receive his grace and blessing, I fast to humble myself and repent of my sins, you know, and pray that I might receive, but I don't put the two. But nevertheless, you get the idea here. We are respectfully inviting you to join with us in leading the people of God across Tennessee into a time of humbling ourselves, praying, seeking God's face, and repentance during July. Let us model for those who are not called by his name a better way to bring about the positive changes we so desperately need. How do we do this? And then they wanted this read last week. examine our lives in light of God's word and confess our sins, acknowledge that we as the church have failed to stand for the principles of God, ask for his forgiveness and mercy, and commit to stand firmly on those principles going forward. For those who are able, join in prayer and intermittent fasting as a means of demonstrating our desire for repentance. And then on July 1st, we plan to begin a journey to all 95 counties in Tennessee, visiting courthouses and places of worship in order to read the resolution, profess the need for repentance, and join in prayer together. We are convinced that this resolution must be more than a legislative act and a piece of paper." And then they're looking for somebody to host. Well, I understand now, I've been told, Couldn't find a schedule, but I'm told that this Tuesday at 2 p.m. I think it's Monty Fritz will be at the courthouse in Paris. So if you're able to participate, if you can go down there and you want to go down there, that would be a good thing. So anyway, I think that's an application of the kind of thing that we're talking about. And here it is in Tennessee, out of nowhere comes a couple of Christian legislators, no doubt. And the other thing about this, this is not just general call upon God language. This is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. It's a Trinitarian confession that's being made. So what God is it? It's the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that in an official way is being called upon in our state. And so for that reason, I think we ought to be intent on this and participate in it. And it's one more point of application we can make to our text. Let's pray. And Father, we do pray that we would understand these things clearly as we are called to speak to men, that we would have the diagnosis that your word gives and the explanation for the judgment and your wrath as it's daily revealed and abides upon men. And we pray that you would use us and use circumstances like this resolution. to turn men, to call men to yourself, to lead them to the knowledge of Christ and repentance, and that they might learn from your word in a more perfect way how to repent of their sins and how to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and truly find the salvation that is in him. And we can join with this in praying for it in our state and nation. We pray that your power, your spirit would do a work. In Jesus' name, amen.