The word lays out the gospel, the world engenders desperation.
Condemnation comes from being honest with ourselves
Of course, the scriptures also engender desperation. There, we learn about the depths of our sin and the white hot holiness of God. We are told flat out that without God's saving intervention, we are without hope. But this message can also be understood to some degree by those who do not know the Bible. While the gospel cannot be discerned from observation of the natural world, our need for it can be.
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 1:18-20
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 1:29-32
And it is not only the book of Romans which demonstrates the hopelessness which comes from natural revelation. This is what the book of Ecclesiastes is all about.
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 1:2
Desperation leads us to the gospel
Non-desperate non-believers are often those who are intentionally unthoughtful. They do not want to think about the biggest problems in their lives and the world because they know that they do not have the answers. But when we have an eye on the world and what is going on around us, the despairing realities we see leave both us and those we teach seeking answers in the word of God.
There is ultimately no intellectual road to God. That's why apologetics can only unsettle the worldview of those with whom we talk. It cannot lead a person to Christ. Only God does that.
Alistair Begg