The Desolate Condition
Notes
Transcript
Intro
At this time, the children can be dismissed for children’s ministry ages 0 to 5. (Say a blurb about our view of children in the worship service.)
This week we arrive at a text that should fill our hearts with sorrow. Paul highlights the sinfulness of humanity and its totally depraved condition. Last week, Paul was highlighting the glorious and powerful Gospel of Jesus Christ which reveals the righteousness of God.
Now, Paul highlights the revealing of the wrath of God. While it would be easy and convenient to pass over this text, we cannot do so. We must be biblically faithful to God’s Word and preaching all of it even when it is not easy.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 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. 21 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. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 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. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 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.
Pray.
Main Idea: Sinful humanity exchanges the truth of God for their own incurring the wrath of God.
We will detail the wrath of God revealed along with three sorrowful exchanges and one glorious exchange.
The wrath of God revealed. (vv. 18-21)
The wrath of God revealed. (vv. 18-21)
As Paul continues writing to the Roman believers, he has finished his greeting or introduction to them. Now, he turns his attention toward his primary goal. He is seeking to outline for them a concise yet in-depth theology for the Roman church. He desired for them to know the Gospel thoroughly. It is my prayer that as we walk through the letter to the Roman church that we will do the same. In seeking to outline such a theology, Paul begins with the very first aspect of the Gospel. The sinfulness of mankind in verses 18-32. Likewise, he stressed the reality of God’s wrath and man’s lack of excuse.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Paul begins with the explanation that the wrath of God, the anger of God is revealed or made known from heaven to all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The sinfulness of mankind is worthy of God’s wrath. God being holy and just cannot allow for sin to go unpunished therefore, He has to bring about justice upon sin or wrongdoing. His wrath must be poured out. Notice what mankind does, they suppress the truth. We know from Scripture that God is the truth. Mankind in his sinfulness seeks to push down the reality of God’s existence. Mankind does not want for there to be any higher authority other than himself. That is why he suppresses the truth about God.
19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 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.
Paul reveals that God has made Himself known to humanity. He states that God has shown humanity Himself.
How?
God has made Himself known to us through the creation. This is known as general revelation. God has revealed Himself to us in a general way through the creation of the world. His eternal power is made known as someone had to create this universe in which we live. A universe where the earth orbits around the sun at just the right distance in order that we do not freeze to death or burn up. The universe where the animals are given to mankind to be eaten and by God’s grace they taste good. His divine nature is made known as man could not have created such a universe. Likewise, God graciously sustains the creation through rain and crops and trees that give breath. It is not merely here by happenstance. The creation has a creator and He is God. Every person is without excuse.
Even those in the remotest areas recognize that there is a higher power than themselves. All of mankind is without excuse. Every person born on the face of the earth will look at the creation and recognize that there is a Creator. The reality is whether or not they submit to the Creator.
21 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.
The unrighteous know God exists. It is evident in the creation. Yet, they choose not to honor Him or acknowledge Him in their hearts as God giving thanks to Him. Instead, they choose to honor themselves and reject the reality that God exists. This is a sad reality, and we see it even today. The rejection of God. Their hearts are foolish and darkened. They place their faith in theories and trivial hypotheses.
One commentator notes: (Calvin)
“…there exists in the human minds and indeed by natural instinct, some sense of deity, we hold to be beyond dispute, since God himself, to prevent any man from pretending ignorance, has endued all men with some idea of his Godhead, the memory of which he constantly renews and occasionally enlarges, that all to a man being aware that there is a God, and that he is their Maker, may be condemned by their own conscience when they neither worship him nor consecrate their lives to his service.”
To say that concisely: God has made Himself known to all mankind. In doing so, no one stands before Him with an excuse for their lack of acknowledging Him as the Creator of the universe. God’s wrath is poured out and being poured out upon those who suppress the truth that God is the Creator.
The exchange of worship. (vv. 22-25)
The exchange of worship. (vv. 22-25)
The root of man’s unrighteousness and sin is idolatry. Mankind has sought to prop himself up since the fall. Mankind’s sinfulness leads to rejection and exchange.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Sinful humanity in seeking to boost themselves up as wise ultimately submitted themselves to be fools because of their rejection of God. In their supposed wisdom, mankind exchanged the glory of God for images or idols of man, birds, animals, and creeping things such as insects.
Humanity in its sinful state seeks to suppress the truth regarding the existence of God. What happens is that mankind ends up lowering itself. Humanity was given dominion over the animals; however, in seeking to deny the worship of God, they make themselves lower and end up serving animals as their god.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Because of their rejection of God, God who is sovereign over all gives them over to their lusts or desires. He hands them over to their sin. They exchanged the truth about God and decided to serve the creature rather than the Creator. What a sad state. The choosing of animals over God.
Application: While it was animals here in Romans 1. Many aspects of the creation and other things have become idols in the lives of many. We must be certain to revere God above all else. Today, we have become to casual in our addresses and deals with God. We have entered into a point in time where God is viewed as our friend or our understanding always approving confidant. Our culture has shaped God to be a god of approving our sin and saying that it is okay because He is love. We come to church thinking that it will appease God and make us feel better about our standing with Him. Over time, our worship has seeped into singing songs that neglect to reveal and praise God in splendor and holiness. Over time, our music has become hyper-emotional and focused less upon God and more upon ourselves. We have seemingly forgotten that HE IS HOLY. God’s holiness sets Him apart. He is our Father. The Creator of the universe. We do not approach Him casually. We approach Him in humility. We approach Him in worship. Whenever we come to church, we are coming to worship and our worship must be anything but casual. It must be worship. What I mean is that whenever we gather together on Sunday morning, we are not coming to simply sit and be entertained. The church was never intended to entertain. We gather to worship the Creator. We come with our hearts prepared to sing praises to Him. Our hearts prepared to hear His Word preached. Our hearts prepared to exalt Him in how we fellowship with one another. We gather for His glory putting aside any and every single distraction possible. Worship is not defined by how loud or up-to-date the music is. It is not defined by how well the pastor makes his points rhyme. Worship is to be carried out in spirit and truth. We worship God through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and the truth of His Word. We must come to worship without hearts prepared and our minds ready to glorify the King.
The exchange of the creation order. (vv. 26-27)
The exchange of the creation order. (vv. 26-27)
The exchange of worship was seen first. Such an exchange has rippling effects such as the exchange of natural relations. Paul does a great job of playing on words in this passage of Scripture and presenting realities of sin that have direct ties to the worship of God or idolatry.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
In humanity’s sinful exchange of the worship of God for idolatry, God gave them over to their lusts. Now, in their exchange of the creation order, God has given them over to their sin once again.
While this is not a popular thing to say in our current cultural climate, the reality is that idolatry has a direct link with homosexuality. Notice the order in which Paul writes these handing overs of God. First, humanity decided to worship the creation instead of the Creator. This idolatry resulted in God handing them over to that desire. Now, God hands them over to dishonorable passions. The women exchanged natural relation for those contrary to nature. God’s design was for a man and woman to leave their father and mother and cleave to their spouse in marriage.
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Marriage was instituted by God to be between one man and one woman for life. Likewise, this was the natural creation order as God gave the command for Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. In other words, God told them to have children. The natural creation order is for a man and woman to marry one another for the sake of having children. This is the creation order as God ordained it.
Yet, sinful humanity when given over to idolatry faces the wrath of God. The wrath of God is poured out as God hands sinful humanity over to their sinful desires. This results in the practice of homosexuality as men and women give up the natural relations for those contrary to the creation order. Likewise, Paul points out that they receive in themselves the due penalty. There is penalty for such sin.
Homosexuality is directly related to idolatry and the wrath of God being revealed. It is an exchange of the creation order that God instituted.
Thomas Schreiner writes, “The disgrace that has invaded human relations is a consequence of rejecting God… Idolatry is unnatural in the sense that it is contrary to God’s intention for human beings… Human beings were intended to have relations in marriage with those of the opposite sex. Just as idolatry is a violation and perversion of what God intended, so too same-sex relations are contrary to what God planned when he created man and women.”
Paul makes certain to reveal this to the Roman church in Romans 1. Likewise, it comes to us today fresh and ready to be applied today.
Application: We see marriage under attack in our current culture. It is not a simple thing that is happening. Marriage is under attack because of idolatry and the suppression of the trust about God. In seeking to take God out of everything and suppress Him, our society is being handed over. This is why perversions are taking place such as cohabitation and homosexuality. Marriage is not revered and held in high regard as instituted by God. Marriage is not given by the state. It is given by God. For the Christian, we must be in submission to the Word. Submission to the Word calls for us to revere the creation order. We marry the opposite sex. We are to be faithful in procreation. In other words, having children and raising them under the instruction of the Lord. Submitting to God is obedience to His Word and design. One of the greatest ways that we can evangelize and be a Christian witness is through following His design in marriage. That sets us apart from the world. I do not say this just to say it. Marriage is a blessing, and I praise the Lord that I got married young. It has not always been easy because of our age, but I believe it is God’s design for marriage to be building block for the rest of life and the establishment of the family.
Furthermore, marriage is sacred and must be protected. This includes your marriage. God has given us the right viewpoint on marriage.
21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
As we have been redeemed, God has called for us to have redeemed marriages. Husband leading their families spiritually and loving their wives sacrificially. Wives submitting to their husbands as they follow the Lord.
The exchange of right thinking. (vv. 28-32)
The exchange of right thinking. (vv. 28-32)
When mankind suppresses the truth about God. God reveals His wrath as He gives them over to sin. We see the last handing over in the closing verses.
28 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.
Paul emphasizes this last handing over. Since mankind did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to a debased mind to commit sin. This debased mind leads to all sorts of sinful actions.
29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 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.
Paul makes known that those who are handed over to a debased mind are full of evil thoughts. They think on things such as murder, deceit, gossip, arrogance, disobedient, and foolishness. The debased mind has so suppressed the truth about God that it constantly inclines itself toward sin. The debased mind has no room for God or for the right things to think about or focus upon. Not only are they focused upon sin, the debased mind celebrates sin. It marches in parades centered upon sin. The debased mind rejects God and celebrates sinful behavior against God.
Application: The debased mind is evident within our culture by the things that are on our TV and cell phone screens. The practices that we see carried out. For the Christian, our mindset must be different.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
The Christian is to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We must think on the things of Jesus Christ and not give approval to the things of this world.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Our mindset as believers must be the things of Christ. If our mindset is on jealous, we must put it away. If our mindset is strife or gossip, we must put it away. The believer in Jesus Christ is no longer the depraved person in sin. The believer in Jesus Christ is the redeemed person from sin. Now, the life we live must reflect our new life in Christ Jesus. Our thinking must align with the Word.
Conclusion
With all of these sinful exchanges, we may be asking: What is our hope?
There is another exchange that is glorious. It is the gracious exchange. God gave up His Son for you and me.
The gracious exchange: Jesus Christ for Me.
The gracious exchange: Jesus Christ for Me.
As Paul has pointed out the ultimate depravity of mankind, we can turn to the ultimate redemption offered in Christ Jesus. (John 3:16-21, 3:35-36)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
God loves us so much so that He gave us Jesus, His very own Son to die on the cross for our sins. He gave Him up for us to have ever lasting life. He gave Him up to die on the cross for our sin and be buried. He raised Him from the grave victorious so that we would be saved through repent (turning from sin) and faith in Jesus’ finished work.
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
The Bible is clear. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not, the wrath of God remain on him.
Preach!
Will you believe today?
Pray.