True Love 4 (Romans 1:24-)

Introduction

I wanted to start tonight with that video of the late RC Sproul. What a treasure he was and one who greatly taught the book of Romans.

I am not going to lie. The three verses Brian so greatly expounded on last week and the verses that finish chapter one tonight are not “fun” to preach.

Do you want to know why it isnt fun though? Why that it is so dificult to preach at times.

It causes the reader and the preacher to wrestle with who God really is and how depraved man really is.

No one enjoys seeing the mess that they have become. When a burn victim has completely changed the way it looks no one likes to see the way they look. But it is the same truth we have talked about in understanding our need for the righteousness of God.

There are two bumpy roads we will hit tonight.

Last week Bryan talked about the why we have Gods wrath. The sin that begins in the heart of man. We replaced our truth and worship for the creator for what is created and we have done so by choice.

Tonight is the how his wrath is carried out as well as a soft topic in every church today with the topic of homosexuality.......sounds fun right

lets dive in.

Romans 1:24–25 NIV

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

First off we have a therefore / paul is saying they have clearly seen the evidence of a holy God yet they exchanged they echanged glorifying God (our purpose in life ) for the making of idols so therefore

God gave them up or over to their sinful desires.

This is dificult for us. We view this as mean or how could god do this or even some say God would never, but he does and he must because of His holiness it cannot be tolerated.

Passive: Allows them to Go their own way into their own desires.

There is grace in this. We can see what life is without him.

Parodidomi

Active: Noahs flood, sodom and gamhora and even Jesus on the cross

Whos fault is this?

Why do we think we can blame God for this?

Lets continue

Romans 1:26–27 NIV

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Make no mistakes about it, this verse is one that the church has wrestled with much. What I dont want to do is just say, this topic of homosexuality can really just be replaced with any sin that you have and move on. There was a reason this was mentioned then an a reason it should be mentioned today.

Im not putting this sin on a pedestal and that is not my place, but even the desire to downplay this sin comes from a place of evil within us that wants to justify mans sin and the created and downplay the Glory of the creator.

God has made things with a purpose.

My dads tools.

Even if choosing the glory of God is difficult, it is the right choice.

We are cursed with sin, but God’s grace gives us a way out. Dont you see that.

All we do is focus on the struggle and that is consequences to our action but God made a way for the homosexual, and the theif, and all the ones we are about to mention in the following verses.

Romans 1:28–32 NIV

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

We read this and sometimes think man those people are horrible who could do such a thing, we will find out next week in thew begining of chapter two that this is describing all of us and none of us are without excuse.

it would be hard to find a list worse than this yet at one point in time in our life we could point to at least one of these that has been a part of your life. As a believer, we still sin, but hopefully we shed these more and more as we grow closer and closer to God.

Its important to know this as well. Paul is not specifically discussing one person, but a society of people who are shaping their lives around the created rather than the creator.

This is the third time he says God gave them up. first to sinful desire, then shameful lusts, and finally a mind that is repropbate or marred by giving in to those desires and living in those shameful lusts of the heart.

One cannot view our country and not find the truth in these verses. We are a blessed nation with eveidence of God’s creation and goodness yet what do we see everytime we turn on the TV. Award shows that applaud homosexuality, channels and shows that uplift the idea of a world created by chance rather than a perfect and holy creator. Shows that applaud the idea that God is a myth and that man should be in cotrol of their lives. We should not be surprised. Sadly we are watching these verses being lived out by the world around us. People are choosing left and right their own desires and glorifying flesh and it is leading them to an eternity in hell seprated from their Holy creator and they will forever mourn the choices they made.

This could be a depressing way to end a sermon, and honestly it is for those who do not believe in Jesus and have not been justified by his righteousness.

For us though this passage should serve us in two ways.

Gratitude that God has allowed us to be saved by his righteousness. that list was us and we were on our way to be given up to those desires

motivation to share with others the path that they are walking to and what they are missing in the wonderful creator.