Romans 1:18-25
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What in the world is going on here? Hint this isn’t new.
What in the world is going on here? Hint this isn’t new.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
We will begin here, but you should know that there has been 17 verses prior to these.
In those first 17 verses, Paul has addressed the letter, established his apostleship, he has proclaimed the lineage of Jesus and Jesus’s resurrection.
He establishes his role as an apostle to the Gentiles.
He tells them how thankful he is for them.
He tells them his desire to come to them and preach the Gospel to them.
He wants to preach the Gospel to them to show his unashamedness of the Gospel. He desire to preach the Gospel to these people in Rome. He desires to see many in Rome place their faith in Jesus.
And Paul is going to do that in the book of Romans, He is going to boldly proclaim the Gospel and present the Gospel in the book of Romans, but before he explains just how wonderful salvation is, Paul in really the first three chapters, sets out to show those reading in Rome just how much they need this salvation.
In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul is going to establish the sinfulness of man.
If you read Romans chapter 1-3 and come away feeling good about your condition apart from Jesus, probably need to go back and read it again.
Those today who claim the humans are basically good, haven’t read or if they have they deny the contents of Romans chapters 1-3.
Paul will make it clear to us. That every single person in the world.
Jews, Gentiles, males, and females.
All people are are disqualified, because they do not meet God’s standard.
Sure many people meet our standard of good. This is why you will often hear people say of people.
“He’s a good ol boy. He just doesn’t go to church.”
“She’s a good person. She just isn’t a Christian.”
I would urge you this morning to correct that faulty way of thinking.
The Biblical understanding of the human condition is this: No one is good. No one.
And Because no one is good, they currently are at odds with the Good and holy Creator God.
That is precisely what he is saying in verse number 18.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Verse 18 is speaking about natural humans. In other words, verse 18 is speaking about those who are lost in sin.
And what does it say?
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
I want to be clear here this morning.
God is not passive when it comes to sin.
God is clearly, and decidedly against all evil, against all sin. he is firmly opposed to it. Sin is contrary to his character and it invokes his wrath.
So what this verse is telling us this morning is this. That those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness currently live under the anger of God.
God is angry at sin and he is angry at sinners for sinning.
We may not like to think of it in this way, but this is true.
God is not passive. He doesn’t wink at sin. He doesn’t whisper about sin.
Just think about the track record of our God and His dealings with sin:
He removed Adam and Eve from the Garden because they ate of the forbidden fruit.
He destroyed the entire earth and every one except Noah and His family with a flood because of sin.
He consumed Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire before the Lord. In Leviticus 10
He killed Achan and His family for stealing from Him. Joshua 7
He struck a man named Uzzah dead for reaching up to keep the ark of the covenant from falling. 2 Samuel 6
This is the same God who sent his own son to become sin for us and he punished him in the place of all those who will call upon him for salvation.
God has not ever and will not ever be passive when it comes to sin.
God has not ever and will not ever be passive when it comes to those who reject the truth of God.
And here is the reality this morning.
All people have rejected the truth of God.
All people are born sinners naturally rejecting the things of God.
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
No one is born spiritually neutral. Naturally we suppress the truth of God. Even the most basic things.
God has made it evident to every Created bring, every one born that he is the Creator, and yet everyone born rebels against him.
And we see from this, that no one has an excuse before God.
No one can plead complete ignorance
Look what he says in verse 19-20.
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
God has made it clear. The World God created testifies to his existence.
1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge.
Every one knows that there is a Creator God, and because every one knows, every one is accountable.
This is what is known in theology as Common Grace.
Its grace that is common to all people.
RC Sproul explains it this way:
God’s common grace is just that—common. Unlike the special, saving grace that God bestows on those whom He has chosen for salvation, common grace is indiscriminate. This grace is what leaves all people without an excuse. No one can stand before the Lord on the last day and claim that they do not owe Him thanks, for God has given even the basest sinner the gift of life. That human beings made in His image ignore and reject Him even after being shown common grace shows us just how desperate our condition is apart from His special grace.
This is why for believers, for us, it may seem irrational the way people act at times.
We may wonder why it is that some people in our lives: Why do they choose to live in rebellion against God?
Why did we, before Christ, choose to live in rebellion against God?
Why did I for 18 years of my life reject the God my dad faithfully preached and proclaimed Sunday after Sunday?
It wasn’t because I didn’t know.
Its because I didn’t honor him. I didn’t fear him. I didn’t give thanks to him. That was on ME.
Verse 19-20 tell us its not because they don’t know. Its essentially because they do not care.
Verse 21 tells us that humanity knows God, but it also tells us what humanity as a whole and generally does with that knowledge. Look what it says:
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Verse 21 tells us here that humanity’s problem is not ignorance of there being a God. It is fundamentally a problem of rebellion against God, a problem of dishonor of God, a problem of rightful acknowledgement of God and thankfulness to God.
And this rebellion is holistic. It involves both the mind and the heart.
“They became futile in their speculation.”
Rejecting God perverts the mind.
It perverts decision making. Its the only reason why someone would worship idols as opposed to the living God.
The word futile means pointless, fruitless, empty, purposeless.
Unbelievers are entrenched in mindless and fruitless activity. There is no point or purpose to their lives other than to expand and grow their own kingdoms.
Their minds are bent on speculation rather than the truth of God’s Word.
Thats what unbelief does.
Not only that, Their foolish heart was darkened.
Unbelief darkens the heart.
When I look at the world around us today in our country at the godlessness, the celebration of sin, the hatred of the church and God, the ongoing active war against the biblical values of the family and the church, this seems to be the only rational explanation.
That hearts have been darkened in unbelief.
And we know from Scripture that the heart is the home of every desire. It controls the actions.
23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.
If the heart is dark, the actions will be.
This is why abortion is legal, and celebrated.
This is why crime is rampant.
This is why racism exists.
This is why according to the APA, that in 2019, the divorce rate was 50%.
Statistically, marriages are just as likely to end than they are to remain together.
This is why drug and alcohol use is out of control.
This is why adultery is common. Premarital sex is normal.
STDs are normal.
This is why women are identifying as men, men identifying as women.
This is why homosexuality is being normalized.
This is why profanity is the common language of most people.
This is why materialism has become the predominant religion of most Americans.
This is why churches are falling apart and closing daily.
This is why denominations are moving away from biblical principles.
This is why the churches are empty, and the rivers, the beaches, and ball fields are full.
Foolish hearts are darkened.
But we are civilized. We are in a 1st world country. The most civilized country in the world some would argue.
But in light of every thing we just said, it seem that the more we grow in civility or what we call “wisdom,” we are becoming more and more foolish.
In other words look at verse 22 and 23
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
We see this in the learned and educated in our culture today. Most of the professors in most universities in our country are not believers. In fact, the majority are decidedly against Christianity.
High School students and those entering college, you should know that you are about to enter a world, where the Bible is not celebrated. Its often mocked.
The majority of your professors if you go to a secular university will not fear God.
And the temptation is to see these men and women in academics as people who are more intelligent.
But Scripture makes something very clear.
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.
Those who the world would often and readily deem wise, if they do not acknowledge God and believe, then they are not wise when it comes to God.
Rather verse 22 is about them.
While they profess to be wise, they are fools.
And the height of their foolishness is that they have exchanged worshipping God in all His glory and splendor for something that has no glory.
Look at verse 23
23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
The exchanged the glory of something incorruptible, for things that are corruptible.
Corruptible means perishable
Incorruptible means unable to perish
Let me see if I can illustrate this:
How many of you have ever lost something in the back of the refrigerator?
About a year ago, I went fishing, and brought home some catfish. I cleaned the catfish, salted it, and placed it in a covered bowl in the outdoor fridge. My plan was to cook it that evening. Well something happened and we were not going to be home for supper that night, so I forgot about the fish.
About a month later, I opened that refrigerator and immediately I said oh no.
The catfish had gone bad. real bad. Gag a maggot bad. I wasn’t happy to find that the catfish. In fact I threw the whole bowl out. I was tempted to burn the fridge.
It was corruptible.
On the other hand, when Lauren and I got married, my mama asked me to come and clean out my room so she could turn my room into something useful. Previously, all it did was house me.
While I was cleaning, I found my high school class ring that I had lost. I had misplaced it, and it was just as I remembered it. I was excited about it.
It didn’t go bad. Some might say it was incorruptible.
Now where that illustration falls apart is that the ring will one day burn up as well.
The point here is what would you rather find? A gold ring or month old catfish.
of course, all of us would rather find the gold ring. The catfish is worthless.
Here the point he is making is this:
People followish their own worldly wisdom have exchanged God who is incorruptible, for things, for images, for things that will eventually rot, burn up, or be destroyed.
John Piper says this:
“Don’t exchange God for anything. Exchange everything for him.”
Most in the world today exchange God for anything. The problem is its corruptible.
Here’s evaluative question:
For what thing or person are you trading God?
You should know, that whatever it is, that is the worst possible trade.
It would be like trading a bowl of rotten catfish for my solid gold high school ring. It doesn’t make sense.
Its foolish.
But worldly wisdom says this is worth it.
You should know that if you do that, there is consequences. Now and later, if there is no repentance.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
Verse 24 tells us that God in justice, actively removes the restraints from their lives.
He gives them over to the lust their hearts.
Its as if God is saying this: This is what you want. Here you go.
There is a judicial hardening here.
God gives them over.
Now you may say, Well why would God do that?
I would say that is the wrong question to ask.
This is what they want. This is the lust of their hearts. They have exchanged God for this.
In fact in another place Paul says this:
19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
Romans 1:24 is saying God lets them have what they want.
And this leads to the degrading of their bodies.
Why?
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.
Because they exchanged the truth of God.
For a lie.
The gave up the truth for a lie.
Not only that.
The worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.
God, the true God, the maker of heaven and earth deserves worship. Nothing else.
And God will not sit back passively.
If we choose to exchange him for other things, he will give that to us, and allow us to experience the pain of its emptiness when ever it runs dry.
(Sports, Sex, Drugs, Alcohol, Money, Things, Work, Worldly Esteem, A Degree, a Job, your image. etc.)
If we exchange these things for God, God will allow us to experience the pain of its emptiness whenever it runs dry and it will.
8 “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.
Let me remind you of verse 18
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Flee from that wrath.
Place your faith in Christ and worship the one worthy.
Leave everything worthless behind and grab hold to the God who is incorruptible.