Downward Spiral Continued
Notes
Transcript
Mic
Prayer
We have been looking at the downward spiral of sin and how it affects us. It has been said sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.
1) What all this means is that
Once a person takes one small step into sin..... sin will then lead that person into situations they never intended to enter, often escalating beyond the initial desire or intention and this has proven soooooo true all to often.
2) and then once a person gets involved, sin can trap that person longer than anticipated, creating patterns that are difficult to break. It often becomes an addiction with what seems to be no way out.
3) Then we learn the hard way the ultimate price of sin—whether spiritual separation from God, relational damage, or personal regret—it is often far greater than the temporary pleasure it provides. and Ultimately it leads to death.
Slide
23 For the wages of sin is death...
My grandson turned 18 this last week… so what does he want to do .......now that he is 18.
He wants to go out and buy a lottery ticket…
I pointed out that the lottery on average pays out about 50 cents on the dollar. Buying a lottery ticket is like choosing to throw your money away.… in fact… if he wants to give me his birthday money, I would be glad to give him 1/2 of his money back right now.. I could have added… but I will throw a deck of cards up in the air and if the ace of spades lands face up on my right foot, I will give you double your money.
Why would someone want to prove they are now an adult by going out and doing something stupid? Does that prove that you are an adult or a foolish child?
Just like our text says…
Slide
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
As I was saying last week we left off with the downward spiral of sin.
1) First mankind refused to honor God or give Him the thanks that was His due.
2) Then rather that giving thanks they came up with all sorts of wild and crazy speculations - alternative theories about how all that is around us came into existence. They rejected God’s word and made up worthless fairy tales.
3) Then, they created idols and began to worship them rather that the all-power, all-wise, eternal God. They took a piece of wood or stone that was carved by man and actually claimed that this is our creator. A piece of wood or stone that can’t walk… it can’t talk… It can’t feed itself… and this thing created us???? Get real!
4) As a result God gave them over in the lusts of their heart to all sorts of sins so that their bodies might be dishonored.
With that, let’s take a look at our text for today.
9 Slides (ending vs 32)
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.
25 For they exchanged the truth of 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 over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;
32 and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts..… The phrase “lusts of their hearts.” generally refers to the cravings of their heart and so it could be applied to all sorts of addictions… but more specifically it applies to sexual cravings. It goes on to say “to impurity that their bodies may be dishonored.”
Impurity was a general term for uncleanness and was often used of decaying matter, especially the contents of a grave, which were considered by Jews to be both physically and ceremonially unclean. As a moral term, it usually referred to or was closely associated with sexual immorality.
and therefore our text would be referring to all sorts of sexual perversions.
Which brings us down to verse 26 and 27
2 Slides
26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity and ....
and now takes it a step further and says to “degrading passions.”
The next thing we know is women are exchanging the nature function for that which is unnatural and in the same way men abandon the natural function of the women and burn in their desire toward other men.
This a polite way of referring to homosexuality and lesbianism. Dr. Charles Hodges proposed that ladies were named first because usually women are the last to participate in sexual perversions. It shows how far they had gone in their perversions. Even most pagan societies recognize the clearly obvious fact that homosexuality is abnormal and unnatural. It is also an abnormality that is unique to mankind.
And I cannot describe how bad and gross are the things homosexuals do. It is far too gross to discuss in a Church setting.
In the United States it is NOT uncommon for homosexual males to have 300 partners in a year. Because of this and the corresponding increase in all sorts of sexually transmitted diseases, it has given rise to the saying that when you have sex with someone you are not married to … you are having sex with all their partners.
Dr. Milton Helpern (a forensic pathologist)… who makes no claim of being a Christian....
commented that, after having performed thousands of autopsies, he would warn anyone who chooses a homosexual lifestyle to be prepared for the consequences:
“When we see … brutal, multiple wound cases in a single victim … we just automatically assume that we’re dealing with a homosexual victim and a homosexual attacker.… I don’t know why it is so, but it seems that the violent explosions of jealousy among homosexuals far exceed those of the jealousy of a man for a woman, or a woman for a man.
A San Francisco coroner estimated that ten percent of his city’s homicides were probably related to sadomasochistic sex among homosexuals.
The city government of San Francisco has even conducted workshops to teach homosexuals how to avoid serious bodily harm while engaging in sadomasochistic sex—although by definition,
both sadism and masochism are destructive!
The very purpose of both deviations is to inflict pain and harm, sadism on others and masochism on oneself. They are doing something that intentionally causes pain and hurts one another. The fact is many mass murderers seem to be homosexuals.
Yet we have our schools trying to teach that this kind of behavior is just an alternative life style.
an alternative lifestyle that will kill you.
God’s Word condemns homosexuality in the strongest of terms in both the New Testament and the Old Testament.
Under the Old Covenant it was punishable by death.
Paul declares unequivocally that, although homosexuality can be forgiven and cleansed just like any other sin.… , no unrepentant homosexual will enter into heaven,
… in the same way that no unrepentant fornicator, idolater, adulterer, effeminate person, thief, covetous person, drunkard, reviler, or swindler will enter into the kingdom of heaven.
3 Slides
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
Those who participate in these things are not Christians and will not go to heaven unless they repent, change their behavior, and turn to Christ.
or consider Ephesians
3 Slides
3 But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints;
4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
In this passage, homosexuality is included in the term immorality and impurity. These are broad terms covering all sorts of immoral sexual behavior, including any sex outside of a marital relationship between a man and a woman.
or
Slide
7 Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
Now some false teachers will try and teach you… but homosexuals are” born that way”… yet there is actually no evidence that this is the case. There were some studies that they will try to quote which have now been highly criticized by the medical profession itself. The fact of the matter is these studies were highly biased and as such have been dismissed by more recent studies. All this evidence has been cited by Robert Jeffress in his recent sermon series.
The truth of the matter is that there are also all sort of diseases that are associated with homosexuality.
Sexually transmitted diseases including syphilis, AIDs, some forms of chronic bowel syndrome, Gonorrhea, Hepatitis A and B, HPV.
The number one problem John Hopkins Medical Center listed was Intimate Partner Violence, followed by substance abuse, and Body Dysphoria and depression resulting in body harm.
In fact since the fall, all people are born with an inclination toward sin… but we won’t let thieves get by with a claim “I was born that way.” or murderers with a claim I was “born that way.” The same is true with sexual sins whether child molesters, or rapists, or fornicators, or adulterers, or homosexuals. Sin is sin and the wages of sin is death.
Therefore verse 27 goes on to say receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
You can play today, but you will pay the cost tomorrow. Although the cost tomorrow may be 15 years later in the case of AIDS. and it will kill you.
and it does not stop there… it gets worse..
Slide
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
Finally they came to the point where they even refuse to acknowledge God… and so God gives them over to the depraved mind to do those things that are not proper. Welcome to 2026.
The word “depraved” means undocumented mind. Think of it has a computer that fails inspection.. it is faulty. It does not get the stamp of approval by the final inspector. It fails the inspection process and that is where we have come.
To do those things that are not proper is illustrated by the following list. This list is not a comprehensive list… but covers a lot of examples. The first two terms” righteousness and wickedness" are comprehensive terms which are then illustrated by the following examples.
4 Slides (ending vs 32)
29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;
32 and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Let’s think about some of these terms..… evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, ....
I find it hard to believe the amount of domestic violence that we have going on in our homes today… including childhood rape. It has been estimated that 25% of our young ladies have been subject to rape and incest in their own homes by their father, stepfather or stepbrothers.
We murder 22% of our babies… after all it is only a choice.… sure.… a choice to commit murder.
and then we have people “outraged” because of recent news like Lindsay Clancy, a mother who strangled her own 3 children up in New York. I couldn’t believe that all but one of the jurors found her innocent. After all…
“She didn’t know what she was doing.” Despite the fact that she sent her husband on an errand so he would not be there to stop her. That sounds like pre-meditation to me. but that is where our society is today.
Malice is holding ill-will toward others. We have a major political party that has made it their mission to actively promote hatred toward our President. but what does the Word of God say.… We are to honor our President and pray for him.
Slanderers - making false statements about someone to damage their reputation.
How about a whole fake dossier about Russian Collusion branded about against our President and promoted by the Democratic party complete with legal persecution and all published by the press without bothering to check out the evidence.
Friends … you cannot make this stuff up. We have coaches teaching their players how to fake an injury in order to get a foul penalty. That is not good sportsmanship or playing fair. It is cheating, lying, and slander.
They are haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil and disobedient to parents.
We have people boasting about their bad behavior. People openly parading through the streets to promote homosexuality. They want to silence anyone who dares to stand up for morality. Sleeping around is promoted on TV as normal. They add sex scenes to movies so that they will get a larger audience. .. but don’t you dare talk about God unless it is a negative way.
We act as though it is normal to have children who are disobedient. The only reason children are disobedient is because they have not been disciplined by their parents (or the schools for that matter.)
That is not to say that kids won’t be tempted to disobey. but if they are promptly disciplined and taught to respect their elders and those in authority......
99% of the problems would be done away with.
Instead we promote their disobedience. It used to be if a child was disciplined at school... when he got home there would be another session.. with a belt or a paddle.
Today the parents are suing the schools and so the schools tell the teachers you have to put up with it. Don’t you dare lay a hand on moms little baby.
Disobedience and disrespect are running high in the homes. Friends this is not the way it has to be and I can assure you that it was not that way in our home. Furthermore,... for those with homes of mixed marriages,.....
both mom and dad should support one another and either parent should be able to freely discipline the children. There should be no “his kids” or “my kids” and the same should be true for any adopted children.
continuing with our text.…
without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving and unmerciful.
The term for unloving means without family affection. Children who hate or dislike their parents or their brothers or sisters. and parents who have no natural affection for their children. and so we have parents killing their children and babies. Children killing their parents and euthanasia.
and then the final straw… They are not only not ashamed of their behavior…
Slide
32 and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
They give hearty approval to those who practice such things.
Friends this is a long list of sinful behavior and anyone who has done any of these things is worthy of death. In fact we are told that even though they know the ordinance of God… the laws of God and that those who behave in such a way are worthy of death. Yet, they not only do the same… but they give hearty approval to those who practice them.
When your friend tells you that she is thinking about getting a divorce do we say oh no! you can’t do that! Or do we sympathize with them.
We can see by this downward spiral of sin that things are not getting better, they are getting worse. Paul continues pointing out just how bad it is. We are not getting better, but getting worse.
Sin is a slippery slope and once we get on the sin train it is all down hill. and so when we get to
Romans 3.23 we will find that....
Slide
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and we will learn that we are all under a curse of condemnation for our sins.
You will ask me then...
Is there any hope? Is there any way out?
and that is where the grace of God steps in .
Slide
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
God sent Jesus, His only begotten son… to earth. He came in the form of a man.… born of a virgin… born of Mary. He lived a sinless life. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He walked on water and turned water into wine. He took a few loaves of bread and a couple of small fish and fed over 5,000 men not counting the women and children. He lived a sinless life.
Jesus was the only person who ever lived that committed no sin.. and then because he was sinless and had no sin of his own… He chose to die for us so that we could be forgiven of our sins.
The scripture says
2 Slides
11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
Later in Romans 5:8 we will learn.
Slide
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ paid the price for our sins on the cross at Calvary so that we could be forgiven for our sins.
But we do need to recognize that just knowing that we are sinners and under a sentence of condemnation for our sins will not save us.
Nor will knowing or even recognizing the truth that Jesus is God in the flesh... and that He came to earth... lived a perfect life .....died to pay the price for our sins ....and even that he rose again on the third day .... save us from our sins.
We must repent or turn from our old sinful ways , place our faith in Jesus and follow Him if we want to truly be saved.
Peter spoke of the need for repentance...
Slide
37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
38 And Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; ...
Paul speaks of this when he says...
2 Slides
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;
10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
The word “confess” means to agree with God that Jesus is Lord. “Lord” means He is boss. He has the authority to rule over my life.
When you put these two verses together it means that I quit doing what “I think is the right thing to do” and I start doing what God says I should be doing.
We become imitators of God as it says in Eph 5.1.
Slide
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
or in Gal 5.24.
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24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
We crucify… we put to death our passions and desires and we walk in love just as Jesus walked in love.
Slide
2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
and what do I get out of this besides the forgiveness of my sins?
Slide
9 but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
or consider
Slide
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
Have you placed your complete faith in Jesus? Have you truly repented from your sins and have you made Jesus number 1 in your life?
Do you love Him with all of your heart, and all your soul, and all your might? If not why don’t you do that now. You will never be sorry.
It is really easy… (yet it in a way it is hard,,, because you have to surrender your will to His.)
and I do have to warn you that just saying some words will not make you a Christian. God reads our heart… our motives… and not our words… But if you truly mean these words… Then God will hear you and he will answer your prayer.
and how does that prayer go.
Father..… I admit that I am a sinner.. I have sinned against you and I disserve any punishment you give to me including an eternity in hell. and you would be perfectly just in condemning me to hell. But Father you said that you sent Jesus to save me from my sins. and so I ask... please forgive me of my sins. Please come into my life and change me. Please give me your heart of love and take away my old selfish heart. I surrender my will and my mind and my actions to you … to do with as you wish. I want to be your servant. I want you to be the Lord… the boss of my life not only for this moment but forever.
I will do whatever you ask me to do.
and then because God will hear and answer this prayer if you mean it… you can say.
Thank you God for hearing and answering my prayer.
In Jesus name I pray
Amen.
Is that you hearts will?
Then I invite you to come forward and pray it.
The altars open…
and while some are praying lets sing.…
