Give Honor and Thanks to God!
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Paul begins his writing of the book of Romans with an overall theme. The theme for the book of Romans begins with Paul saying:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
In verse 17 Paul alludes to the fact that it is the gospel of Christ (the good news). What is the good news? The Good News is that Christ came to die for our sins, Christ came to liberate us from sin, Christ came to save us from the wrath of God and judgement. In order to save us, Jesus took on human flesh, offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins by shedding his blood and dying on the cross. The good news is that he rose again, he was resurrected, he was seen and handled by 500 plus followers, then ascended back to heaven.
This good news tells us how God makes us right in his sight and we are made right in the sight of God not because we attempt to do good, not because we come to church or give in the offering, we are made right not because we read our bibles, say our daily prayers, or because we were baptized. We are made right in God’s sight by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! We are made right because we heard the gospel and then we believed the gospel! This is why Paul says the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith or “In the Gospel (which is God’s power at work) the righteousness of God is revealed and God’s saving power is accomplished from start to finish by faith.”
Paul then quotes a portion of Hab 2:4 “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” That quote is as basic as it could be. A righteous man lives.....to live means to be alive. Therefore, through faith a righteous person has life. Thank God that when I believed the gospel, when I repented of my sins, when I was baptized in Jesus’ name.......my faith in the gospel produced obedience to the scriptures. What obedience? Mark 16:16
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Then my faith first and my obedience to the scriptures lead to life!
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Paul presents a portion of the good news at the beginning of Romans. But then, Paul deviates from the good news for about 3 chapters. Paul in verse 18 begins to announce the coming judgement of God.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
God’s wrath his anger, his indignation is revealed (shown); God’s anger is a holy anger, it is a justified anger. And the reason that God’s anger is shown is because his anger is revealed against ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness. Any actions that are against God, any actions that do not honor God, any actions that are unjust and unfair. His anger is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
Suppress the truth, press down the truth, hold back the truth, withhold the truth, resist the truth of God. How are they suppressing the truth.....by their ungodliness and unrighteousness! Dearly beloved, we too can suppress the truth of God by our lifestyle, by our actions, by our disobedience!
Paul says that mankind is without excuse, when judgement day comes, we cannot say that we did not know, we can not say that we did not know that God existed. Paul says that the truth about God has been made obvious to them by God himself. How? Because The LORD made everything, all of the elborate systems that came into being, not explosion has the ability to create systems within the heavens, systems within the earth, no one celled organism is responsible for creating your bodily systems and functions and we did not come from monkeys or apes. God made everything....and through his creation through the sky and the earth, we should be able to see his invisible qualities. So mankind is without excuse for knowing God!
Verse 21
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
This is the sticking point here:
At one point mankind knew that God existed, they knew that God was real, but they refused to glorify Him, they refuse to worship him as God (Elohim). You do not worship God to extort your will out of Him, you worship God for who He is, you ought to worship God and be in awe of his power! You ought to worship God, the one that created the heavens and the earth, the one who is all powerful, the one who is the sustainer of life, the one who has the power to kill both body and soul.
Look at your neighbor and tell them neighbor......We’ve got to give glory to God! Here it is Sunday after Sunday you gotta be pushed and motivated to worship God, here it is you can’t think of a reason to worship God.......but when you realize who God really is, when you know the power that God has.....it ought to cause you to bow your knee, it ought to cause you to bow your will, it ought to cause you to lift your hands in worship, it ought to cause you to submit to His will, it ought to cause you to live for Him! Look at your neighbor one more time and say “neighbor, let’s give glory and honor to God!” If you don’t bow now, I promise you.....you’re going to bow later......if you don’t honor Him, if you don’t glorify Him, if you don’t praise Him, He’ll put you in a spot where you’ll praise Him!
They knew God, but wouldn’t honor or worship Him as God and they wouldn’t give thanks to God!
Humanity since the beginning of mankind has fallen in to apostasy be cause they failed to honor God and give thanks to Him! Listen we have people today that are in the same predicament. They once knew God, they once served God, but then they got drunk with the world, they got drunk with the cares of life, they became smart in their own minds, they stop coming to church, they stopped reading their Bibles, they stop praying to God, they stopped witnessing for God, they stopped worshipping God, they stopped giving thanks to God. Now, they put jobs in front of God, they put houses in front of God, they put family members in front of God, they put school in front of God, they put money in front of God, they put relationships in front of God, they put alcohol in front of God, they put drugs in front of God and they’ve gotten so comfortable in what they do that when speak on it, they get mad, when you speak on it, it doesn’t bother them......on their way to the Lake of Fire.....but they love this life so much that their eternity no longer matters! IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP AND COME OUT OF THE WORLD.....WAKE UP AND COME OUT OF SIN......WAKE UP AND RETURN TO THE LORD!!!
When you fail to honor Him and give thanks you’ll find yourself in precarious situations:
When you fail to honor God and give thanks:
Your mind will darken and you’ll become foolish.
You will fall into idolatry, you’ll worship idol gods, you will begin to put other things in front of god.
You will begin to do degrading things with your and others bodies.
You’ll begin to worship everything but God.
You’ll become reprobate in mind, you won’t have remorse for the things that you do.
You’ll engage in same-sex sexual encounters (verse 26-27).
You refuse to acknowledge God.
Your life will begin to be full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
You’ll be backstabbers, haters of God insolent, proud boastful.
Creating new ways of sinning, disobedient to parents.
You’ll refuse to understand the things of God, you’ll break promises, you’ll become heartless, and have no mercy.
Then you’ll encourage others to partake in your sins!
Not listed: You’ll turn away from God, you’ll become proud that you will stop reading your bible, stop praying, stop coming to church. You’ll fall into hard times, you’ll fall into depression, you’ll fall into illegal relationships, you’ll fall into unforgiveness!
But if you learn to give honor and thank the LORD.....God will keep you! If you learn to honor the Lord with you life and be thankful unto Him......He’ll keep you, He’ll lift you, He’ll strengthen you, He’ll heal you, He’ll provide for you, He’ll protect you!
Give Honor and Thanks to God. We honor God by living for Him, we honor God by treating one another right and with respect! We should be thankful unto God and the best way to express thanks to God is not with lip-service, it is by living for him, we honor God and we thank Him by obeying his Word!
Your praise with your lips mean nothing to God if you are out his will. Your hallelujah and thank you Jesus means nothing to God if you are being disobedient to his word, if you are not loving your neighbor as yourself, if you are harboring unforgiveness in your heart, if you are willfully living in sin! You need to repent first......then you can really praise the Lord. When you don’t have interference on the line, there shouldn’t be a problem with you praising the LORD. When you don’t have interference on the line, you can open your mouth and praise the LORD, you’ll touch the LORD and the LORD will touch you!
Closing:
I refuse to be the one who won’t give glory to God. I refuse to be the one who doesn’t give honor to God. Is there anybody here that has made up in their mind that I’m going to “Give Honor and Thanks to God”, I’m going to honor him with my life, I’m going to honor Him with my talk, I’m going to honor Him with my walk, I’m going to worship and serve God.......I’m going to tell Him “Thank You” I’m going to show my appreciation to Him! Oh God........and if I find myself in a tight spot......if I find myself down......if I find my self in a rut.....in a bad mood.....discourage.....if I can just give God glory inspite of the hard times.......give God glory despite of the pain......Give God glory despite of the disappointments......my worship and praise to God.......will bring me out.......God will lift me, God will strengthen me, God will renew me, God will keep me!