Society: Far From God

Society: Far from God

Recap – We are 3 weeks in (this is our 4th) in our expository adventure through Romans, and I believe that deserves a recap.

Week 1 we were first introduced to Romans with Pastor Terrys sermon “Welcome to Rome” and read Romans 1:1-7.

Week 2 we read through verses 8-17 where we got to here about God’s good news.

Week 3 we read vs 18-25 where we see God’s Wrath Revealed.

Now here we are in week 4

Romans 1:21-32 esv

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

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.

There are something like 24 different sins mentioned here in this passage. You may ask yourself “Why talk about sin? Its so negative, after all the Gospel is a positive message”.

Yes we did just go from The good news of God to the Wrath of God. This idea became popular a few years ago that we should only talk about the positive and not the negative. So popular that Dr. Karl Menninger wrote a book entitled “Whatever Became of Sin?”. Now why would a highly respected psychiatrist and cofounder of the world-famous Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, write about sin? An evangelist or a pastor might do so, but a psychiatrist?

Yet as he observed, counseled, and worked with thousands of patients who came through his clinic, Dr. Menninger became convinced that sin destroys. Consider hatred, for example. “The long-term consequences of hate are self-destruction. Thus, the wages of sin truly are death” he wrote. People try to rid themselves of sin by denying it, redefining it, or blaming others for it. But the ugly results remain. Unless we are confronted with sin’s devastating consequences, we are not likely to turn to the Savior. It’s for this reason Paul begins his exposition of the gospel by painting a dark picture of sin and of our inability to save ourselves. His overriding purpose is to introduce us to the Savior, Jesus Christ, who alone can deliver from the power of sin and set us free to live a godly life.

And so, I must ask, have you ever come to the place in your life where you knew you were lost, guilty before God? Have you ever experienced the convicting influence of the Holy Spirit, where you felt a great need for a savior?

Therefore Paul, in Chapter 1 is writing out the guilt of the gentile world, this non-Jewish, pagan world. Paul wasn’t just thinking about the idol worshipers in the Jungle, but the cultured Greeks and Romans as well. And I find it ominous as we read this how much it sounds like modern America. Although we boast about being a Christian nation, our nation does not live up to the that claim. We are becoming a nation like the verry one Paul is writing about.

This should cause a need in us to urgently change. Unfortunately, we live in a time of relativism, where we get to pick and choose what is right based on how we feel, or rejection of conviction. The idea that what is true for me is true for me and what’s true for you is true for you. But what happens if the intersection of these truths conflict. What if what’s true for me is against what is true for you, is my truth still truth. And what are the basis for these beliefs? Relativism falls apart when there is no basis for the belief.

With an open mind would you join me as we tackle this passage of scripture and in doing so I’d like to examine 3 truths.

1. MAN’S REJECTION OF GOD

John 1:11 Says, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” Jesus came into this world, His world, the one he created, but His own people rejected Him. This people, His people are guilty because, they or we, have deliberately rejected God. This rejection of God is often gradual and successive. You can see it, from generation to generation, it gets worse. Almost like each generation is trying to out do the last.

In vs. 21 Paul says, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God…” as Pastor Terry pointed out last week, something can not come from nothing. There is a creator. That very creation reveals the creator. This world reveals that there is a God, and it reveals Gods attributes, like His power and intelligence. But as a whole, mankind has rejected God and, in this passage, Paul shows us several ways we have rejected God.

A. THEY EXCHANGE THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR A LIE - People often exchange the true God for a lie, a religion of their own making. The particular lie that Paul had in mind here is in the last part of verse 25- “WORSHIPED AND SERVED THE CREATED RATHER THAN THE CREATOR....” how much more pagan can you get, there are many religions practicing this today. There is this tendency of sinful man to exchange the truth of God for the lie of a false god. To this day we are guilty of rejecting God in favor of false religion. EXPOUND!!! If you are worshipping any other God than the one revealed in the Bible, you have “EXCHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR THE LIE.”

B. THEY REJECT THINKING ABOUT GOD – Notice what Paul said in vs 28, And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God the NLT puts it “They thought it foolish to acknowledge God” literally, they think its dumb to acknowledge God. Sounds like the world we live in, doesn’t it? The examine the truth about God and rejected the knowledge of God. Why?

We don’t like being called out, having our conscience tampered with. So those that reject this knowledge of God devise means by which they can banish God from their knowledge. EXPOUND, SCIENCE!!!

These so called enlightened have expelled the knowledge of God from our public schools. Can you find a positive notion of God on TV? Other than taking His name in vain, God isn’t even talked about in normal conversation. People either stay away from church or they go to church where the preacher never talks about sin. We run from conviction instead of facing it.

John 3:20 reminds us, “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”

As this first truth “Mans Rejection of God” leads to consequences which are laid out in the second truth here.

2. MAN’S ABANDONMENT BY GOD

The true child of God will never be abandoned by God, but those who reject God will be. They will face the consequences of their unbelief and sin. As Pastor Terry expounded on Hell last week, we know that the sentence of eternal death is of the convicted persons choosing. But the consequences spoken of here are of the physical, of the here and now if you will. Paul repeats the consequence three times in the same phrase in vs 24, 26, and 28. “GOD GAVE THEM UP.” Or it could be translated “GOD GAVE THEM OVER”. God gave them over to their sins, the sins that would destroy them. The repeating “God gave them Up” is of the sound that a shovel full of dirt make as the hit the coffin. How terrible a thing to reach a point where God turns you loose to be destroyed by your own unbridled sin! There is a point where your rejection of God will lead Him to a point of saying “Enough, I will leave you alone”. In Genesis 6:3 God said, “MY SPIRIT WILL NOT ALWAYS CONTEND WITH MAN.” You can reach a point where God just leaves you alone. When that happens, you will be destroyed by your own sin. There is no doubt that there is a natural law of consequence operative in sin; it intensifies and aggravates itself when there is no restraint placed upon it. This sound harsh and many don’t want to believe that God would hold people responsible for their own sin in this way, but it is the truth of the word of God. We’ve seen this in the Bible, the story of the prodigal son. EXPOUND!!!

So notice what happens to the person that rejects God, What such people are given over to:

A. TO THEIR SINFUL DESIRES & PASSIONS– in vs 24 Paul says, 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.

Then in vs 26 He says, 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. And notice that a little further down the passage its says that they “BURNED IN THEIR LUST FOR ONE ANOTHER.” The word here translated from the Greek “BURNED” (EKKAIO) IS INTENSIVE. IT WAS AN ALL-OUT ENDEAVOR TO SATISFY THEIR TOTALLY-DEPRAVED NATURE. These people will never find lasting satisfaction. EXPOUND!!!

In an attempt to satisfy their lust for sex and other desires, even though it leads to the disgrace, disease, and broken homes. So God punished their sins by giving them over to the desires of the their flesh.

Those who reject God, according to this passage, will also be given over:

B. TO A DEBASED, DEPRAVED, DEGENERATE MIND – in vs 28 Paul says, 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.

“Debased” refers to something that is rejected as worthless after being put to the test. So the complete thought is, They rejected Him, as they thought God to be worthless, God delivered them up to a worthless mind. Paul says in vs 21 that when people turned from God, “They became futile in their thought, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” They developed a mind incapable of reason and drawing proper conclusions, especially when it came to moral wisdom and spiritual truth, & the distinctions between right and wrong. Their conscience no longer worked properly but grew insensitive. The depraved mind is well described in Proverbs 14:12, which says “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” If you follow your own way of thinking instead of the word of God, you will end up doing some rather foolish things. When you reject God, you will be given over to burning, unfulfilled desires. You will be given over to a depraved, foolish mind. Finally, if you reject God, you will be given over:

C. TO MORAL DEPRAVITY– in vs 24 Paul says God gave them over to “IMPURITY.”That would include things such as bestiality and homosexuality, sins that “DEGRADED THEIR BODIES.” In vs 26-31 Paul gives a catalog of sins that were common in the pagan world of his day. As we read this notice how these sins are so prevalent today. :

HOMOSEXUALITY – Paul says in vs 26-27, 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.

STOP AND ADDRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM!!!

We should notice the evaluation of homosexuality given by Paul here. In v 26 he indicated that homosexual passion is dishonorable and shameful. Then he points out in v. 26 and v. 27 that its unnatural “WHY”. That these acts are shameful but they some how feel no shame for what they are doing. Receiving in themselves “THE DUE PENALTY FOR THEIR ERROR.” When God gives people over to moral depravity, they become enslaved to many other sins, in fact Paul goes on to mention at least 21 additional sins that prove the guilt and sinfulness of man. Now I know we broke this scripture up a bit and grouped this in not so ascending order, but you can see the escalation of God’s anger here at sin. The terrible consequences of rejecting God are here on display and should motivate us to do the opposite. We should seek to know, worship and serve God. Are you doing that? We should do what Paul says in Romans 12:9 “HATE WHAT IS EVIL, HOLD TIGHTLY TO WHAT IS GOOD.”

NOW IN V.32 WE REACH THE CLIMAX IN PAUL’S ARGUMENT. HERE WE SEE:

Now in v 32 we reach the climax in Paul’s argument. Here we see:

3. THE FINAL PROOF OF THE GUILT & CONDEMNATION OF MAN

Paul says in v 32, 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.

NOTICE THE 3 STATEMENTS THAT PAUL IS MAKING HERE:

A. MANKIND KNOWS GOD’S JUDGMENT AGAINST SIN – Paul affirms that the unbelievers know full well “THE RIGHTEOUS DECREE THAT THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS DESERVE TO DIE.” The “death” referred to here is not restricted to physical death. Even the pagans of the time believed in some sort of divine retribution against evil, including after death. We all know deep inside that we are guilty before God. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death…” People know they are guilty before God, and that sin condemns them.

B. YET, THEY KEEP COMMITTING SINS – in spite of the fact that we know deep inside our consciousness that God is righteous and judges sin, we read in the of v 32 that they “DO THE SAME.” This knowledge does not prevent these same persons from indulging the sins which they know merit the judgment of God.

SO…WHY IS IT THAT PEOPLE KEEP DOING THINGS THEY KNOW ARE HARMFUL?

IT’S BECAUSE SIN IS A TERRIBLE MASTER. IT CONTROLS US, AND CONDEMNS US. WE NEED SOMEONE GREATER THAN OURSELVES TO SAVE US.Romans 1:21-32

English Standard Version Chapter 1

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about 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 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.