Sermon Tone Analysis

An Inconvenient Truth

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.

Romans 1:28

Here is the last of three occurrences where God is said to have given man up or over to his own pursuits.

The first occurrence is in verse 24, where it says, God gave them up to uncleanliness, the second in verse 26, where it says, God gave them up to vile passions, and the last in verse 28, where it says, God gave them over to a debased mind.

Of this giving over we observe:

1.

That it is consequential.

Mankind warrants this act of reprobation on account of their sin.

Let us not be confused or deceived in any way, God's wrath and retribution are due to the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

It was man that willfully allied with Satan in open rebellion against God, and it is man that continues in ungodliness and unrighteousness.

2. That it is judicial.

God's holy justice requires retribution.

Justice is an attribute of God.

Charnock reminds us that "God is oftener styled Holy than Almighty."

Pink says, "Because God is holy He hates all sin.

He loves everything which is in conformity to His laws, and loathes everything which is contrary to it...It follows, therefore, that He must necessarily punish sin."

With God, sin is personal.

You can hear His indignation as He says, I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand.

For I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, I live forever.

If I whet My glittering sword, and Mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to Mine enemies, and will reward them that hate Me (Deut 32:39-41).

His vengeance burns against men, as we read, The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity.

You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man (Ps.

5-6).

God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day.

3.

That it is cumulative.

God's successive acts are cumulative.

The more God gives men up, the greater sin abounds, and the greater sin abounds, the more God gives men up, and the angrier God becomes.

Here is found a cumulative consequence of man's wickedness, greater and greater ungodliness, greater and greater unrighteousness, so that God's wrath compounds and His retribution grows.

Out situation is more dire than we thought.

4. That it is reprobative.

It is not a passive work of God, but an active work of delivering us up to the bondage of our wills.

Adam and Eve were driven from God's presence to the barren world their sins had corrupted, to serve Satan all the days of their lives, and to reap the consequences of their sin.

Likewise, God once led Israel into captivity for her vile and godless pursuits and handed her over to punitive masters.

In this fashion God leads us into the hands of the devil himself, to enslave us unto unforetold evils.

With insatiable glee we fly headlong to our own destruction, wantingly laying hold of all the evil designs of our wretched wills.

Like a lamb led to slaughter we willfully advance to our own demise.

In no way is God, who foreordains our path, culpable in our desserts, they are wholly ours to pursue.

Haldane says, "It proceeds from His justice, and it is this view to be considered as punishment."

Or, as Luther says, "He permits the perverse sinner to break His commandments all the more viciously in order that He might punish him the more severely...But this takes place according to God's righteous judgment, for it is His most severe punishment to give up a sinner to him whom He hates most, (Namely the Devil)."

Luther clarifies this by saying, "The punishment, however, is not properly the sin itself, but the reprobation which is connected with it."

If we were to ask, "What is the purpose of this text ad what is the point of this sermon," we would answer, "To convince us of our helplessness and grieve us over our own culpability in our reprobation, so that we might rightly understand God's justice, and clearly see Him as the worker of goodness."

A subordinate consequence of this text is to explain the world we live in and the utter futility of men to escape it, to show that apart from the power of God in the gospel, man cannot escape his condemnation.

So, we say:

Doctrine.

Apart from God's powerful grace, men are led by God to their own worthy demise.

God's wrath has led the nations to their own desired, inescapable ruin.

Getting what we want is the worst thing that can happen!

That God would give us what we desire, and thrice over hand us over to the consequences of our vile pursuits, is the most punitive end of our rebellion.

Bondage was the consequence of God's wrath.

Salvation the consequence of His mercy.

So, we affirm two truths:

I. Man is in inextricable bondage.

We are hopelessly enslaved.

The previous passage showed us to be inexcusable on two accounts, one, Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them, and two, Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, the conclusion being, that we are without excuse.

On account of our condemnation for our foolishness and idolatry, God has judiciously acted to reprobate all men.

Our sin and God's wrath have led us into captivity.

Man cannot break free.

The power of sin and Satan are too great.

God's wrath cannot be expunged.

We cannot escape nor can we ever desire to do so, because our vile passions are our pursuits.

We are therefore led by God down the labyrinth of divine retributive justice.

There is no way out.

There is no one on earth that can settle our debt.

There is no one amongst us that can set us free.

See how this is proven by these three ominous statements of the text, that show the emphatic result of God's wrath for our crimes, as we are led into the bondage of our wills, noting that God's wrath:

1.

It leads us to be ruled by a covetous heart.

We are governed and controlled by our lusts, our desires, and what we insatiably covet.

Man's passions rule his reason.

Despite the injury we bring to ourselves and others, with unrestrained lust we pursue our selfish wants.

We are ruled by our blind passions.

God sets us in the hands of this world's vile master, who delights in fueling these vile desires.

So, we lust for this life and its worthless wares.

We take what we want and we want what we take.

Is there anything more vile or repulsive?

Our culture is the consummate example of such lusts.

It champions such pursuits.

We glorify sin and the criminals and rebels that commit them, anarchists are our heroes, the rich and powerful those we long to immulate, this is our entertainment and what we find intriguing.

ἐπιθυμίαις τῶν καρδιῶν speaks to a strong, a controlling power, which bind our darkened hearts.

But, as if that is not enough, we find that God's retributive wrath also:

2. It leads mankind to lustful passions.

These are instable lusts for that which is convenient, or rather, that which is not.

Look around us.

Everywhere.

The internet is fueled with every vile lust and practice.

Like unrestrained beasts our lustful hearts yearn for the unspeakable.

We hide these vile lusts, but they drive us and flood our minds.

The devil with his minions fuel ruthless, lascivious, unrestrained lusts, driving men like the demons did the swine to their own destruction.

We are ruled by our lusts and passions.

Is there any wonder that our entertainment contains every foul form of unspeakable deviant sexual act?

And our culture is the worst!

Once men did it at night, in private, hidden in the recesses of the most wretched corner.

But now?

Now it is celebrated!

And if that were not enough, we find that God's retributive justice: Lustful passions are those uncontrolled, blinding lusts that drive men everywhere to unspeakable acts, so that none are ever surprised.

As if our hearts being ensnared with uncontrollable, covetous desires were not enough, add to this vile passions that drive us, and we find that this bed of our misery is our just desert given by the hand of an angry God.

You want it?

Here, you can have it, it will drive you and consume you till you die as Israel did with the vile flesh of your desires between your very teeth.

Then, we find that God's retribution also:

3. It leads mankind to futile minds.

ἀδόκιμον νοῦν, the King James calls it a reprobate mind.

But it is worse than it sounds, for our minds are steeped and filled with futility.