Because of Rebellion

God is so good isn’t he? Tonight, we will be in . Please turn there, with me. As you are finding your spot, I would like to give you a little refresher from last weeks passage. We saw in that the world is without excuse and that people have rejected worshipping the Lord for worshiping God’s creation which resulted in God giving them over to the lusts of their hearts. Tonight, we are going to see that there are two additional statements of “God giving people over” which leads to even further sin and destruction.

Last week we looked at verses 18-25 of , we saw how the world is without excuse and that people have rejected worshipping the Lord for worshiping God’s creation which resulted in God giving them over to the lusts of their hearts. Tonight we are going to be looking at two additional statements of “God giving people over.”

What comes after is the result of what is just prior to this statement. Paul explains that the World rejected God and became fools in their sin.

If you would turn to Romans 1:

IF you would look with me at

Romans 1:26–32 ESV

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.

Romans 1:26-32

Pray...

I. Because of rebellion, God delivers us over to sinful passions.

Romans 1:26–27 ESV

“For this reason”

What comes after this statement is the result of what was just said. Paul explains in verses 18-25 that the World rejected God and became fools in their sin because of their idolatry. Leaving the worship of God for the creation of God.

As a result of this idolatry, God gives them up. Literally meaning that God is active in giving the rebellious people over to their passions.

Another way of looking at this is that God gives them a gift of not mercy but just wrath by removing his restraints on their sin. It here that we see, in God’s mercy, that he protects us from our own sinfulness. It is only upon our continued rejection of God that he removes his restraints and says here is your hearts desire now live with your choice.

God is active in giving the rebellious people over to their passions. The idea is he gifts them their desire for sin.

The idea is he gifts them their desire for sin.

An example of this Paul tells us is, the perversion of our sexual desires. What does this mean? It says God gave them up to “dishonorable passions.” Essentially, the actions they are doing bring dishonor and disrespect to themselves. It means these acts are not only against God. They are also against oneself. The wickedness of this characteristic is significant.

Paul explains that the women exchanged the natural for unnatural. Instead of desiring to love a husband, the women have pursued relations with other women.

Women were not the only ones affected with the harmful perversion. The men like wise were handed over to their passions and were consumed with one another.

However, the women were not the only ones affected with the harmful perversion. The men likewise were handed over to their passions and were consumed with one another.

Literally, the actions they are doing bring dishonor and disrespect to themselves. It means these acts are not only against God. They are also against oneself.

Literally, they are inflamed with lust for the same sex. The word has a destructive understanding as well meaning that this inflamed passion is destructive and dangerous.

The word consumed literally means that they are inflamed with lust for the same sex. The word has a destructive understanding as well meaning that this inflamed passion is destructive and dangerous.

hey are inflamed with lust for the same sex. The word has a destructive understanding as well meaning that this inflamed passion is destructive and dangerous.

Why? Because it is not as God intended it. It is a rejection of God. It is sin!

Why is it dangerous? Because it is not as God intended it. It is a rejection of God. All sexual perversion is ultimately sin and a rejection of God.

God has established his standard for relationships. It is simple and easy to understand. His standard for a sexual relationship is for it to be between a husband and wife. One man and one woman together as one. There is no other sexual activity that is God honoring.

In fact, you might just call me crazy for this but this is what is appropriate behavior for a Christian who is in a dating relationship. You can hold hands and give a side hug, talk a lot, and hangout with friends, family, and each other. I’m sure there are a few other small exceptions here but really anything other than that is going too lead you to far away from God’s plans for you sexually. I would even say kissing on the lips should be reserved for the wedding day. I know what you are thinking, “But Ben who does this? Who actually can say this is how they live?” It is not about what others do or have done, it is about what is God’s standard! God said that sexuality was meant to be experienced between one man and one woman together in marriage. If we are sexually active, which includes making out, kissing lip to lip, we are not reserving ourselves for our spouse.

(Illustration: Tape not sticking very good.)

Furthermore, what we see here, is that homosexuality, transgender, bisexuality, queerness, sex outside of marriage, pornography, all sexual sin is a rejection of God's created order and desires for us. Therefore, when we commit sexual sin, we tell God we could careless for what he designed us for because we want it our way.

Therefore, when we commit sexual sin, we tell God we could care less for what he designed us for because we want it our way.

Ultimately, sexual sins that are practiced are birthed out of the sin of worshiping creature instead of Creator. Maybe, it is best said, that a nations tenacity toward sexual sin is the easiest sign a nation has fallen for the sin of idolatry.

What is

Instead of desiring to love a husband, the women have pursued relations with other women.

II. Because of rebellion, God delivers us over to a worthless mind.

Romans 1:28–32 ESV

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.

Paul tells the Romans that because people have rejected God, “God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not be done.”

The word debased is from the Greek word,

adokimos- unqualified, worthless

Basically, what Paul is saying is that they are able to do these indecent deeds and reject God because they have been given over to their sin and their mind is totally worthless in doing the things of God.

It is this literal sense of not being able to do anything of good value in the mind of God. Let me be clear here this means that everything we do apart from God, is not good in the eyes of God but are wicked.

That means something that is good according to man can be evil in the eyes of God because it is not for his glory! Maybe this is even a better way to understand it, you could give a million dollars to help feed an orphanage and while it looks good to people, it is actual not good in God’s eyes because it is done from a sinful heart that is trying to rob God of his glory. Yet you have the exact same situation but given out of giving God the glory and it is good and valuable in God’s eyes! This means that anything we do apart from giving God glory and doing it for his name’s sake and worshiping him ultimately is sin and evil in God’s eyes because we are robbing God of his glory.

As lost people, we are incapable of doing good for God alone is good.

In fact, a life a sin is the only natural thing for the lost soul.

Out of the progression in this passage we see that Homosexuality, while given great focus, is not the sole result of the depravity of humanity. In fact, Paul goes through a long list of sins that are all equally damning.

Romans 1:29–31 ESV

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.

"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."

We aren’t going to spend just a whole lot of time on each of these but look at what these things are:

Envy- or Jealousy which is the desire for something we do not have as our own.

Murder- or Hate towards someone according to Jesus, a lot of people throw around hate and are murdering left and right with their heart and many don’t even realize.

Strife- or conflict, fighting, bickering sound familiar?

Deceit- or lying, stealing, etc.

Maliciousness- or mean-spirited also can be done with craftiness.

Gossips- spread rumors, talk about people behind their backs

Slanderers- you insult people either to their face or behind their backs.

We see it in how we live.

Haters of God- You don't want to live like God wants you to live nor do you want what he desires for you. You would rather have your way than God's way, all sinners.

Insolent- or violent just wanting to cause harm for harm sake.

Haughty- proud or arrogant constantly thinking about yourself, trying to steal the glory of God.

Boastful- a bragging spirit much like a haughty spirit.

Inventors of evil- idea of coming up with new ways to be bad, disobedient, godless.

Disobedient to parents- not respecting their wishes, not submitting to their authority.

foolish- senseless (what were you thinking? I wasn't dad or mom) Not thinking before doing something. Always examine what you are about to do.

faithless- no trust in God, placing your trust in anything other than God.

heartless- or hardhearted. Not sensitive to those around you are the things of God.

Ruthless- unmerciful literally without any care or sensitivity to what others are going through or struggling with.

If we are honest, every single one of us in this room would fall into one of these categories on any given day, sometimes multiple times in a given day. Yet all of these are hold the same damning power as sexual sin.

Often we enjoy our sin in the moment, some might even look on it fondly after. Yet, Paul tells us that those who practice these things deserve death. Even more powerfully, Paul states those who give approval of all these things of unrighteousness are equally deserve death.

These people see and recognize God's perfect judgement that those who practice these sins are deserving of death. Yet, these individuals not only do them but support, approve of the practice of the sin. Paul writes later in the letter:

(ESV)

21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

Not only do we know from this passage that those who practice them suffer consequences of death, but also those who give approval of them.

Paul writes in

20 And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’

Paul identifies himself as just as guilty for approving of the act of martyring Stephen.

Paul further explains in that:

"4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth."

If the love of God resides in us we cannot rejoice at wrongdoing. Instead, we must call it like it is, SIN. If we find ourselves with pleasure in listening, seeing, or participating in sinful deeds, God's love is not filling our heart, instead we are full of the flesh.

The reality is that God loves all sinners equally, he paid the price for all of to have the opportunity to respond to the Gospel message. The only question is will you?

Thus, if we are that person, we need to repent and turn to Christ. For some that means first time repentance and submitting to the authority of Christ in our lives, for others it means that we are going to be repenting and turning back again to Christ asking God to remove our sinful heart of stone so it might be warmed and softened by his love again.

Ultimately, we are a broken people and when we are born again through the power of God we are redeemed. Yet, we will not be perfect until the day we are present with the Lord. Thus, we must constantly choose to battle temptation and remain pure and holy before the Lord.

See, God loves sinners enough that he paid the price for us to have the opportunity to respond to the Gospel message. The only question is will you?

Invitation

The work of salvation is

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