Left to Ruin by God
Notes
Transcript
God created humans for fellowship.
To deny that intended purpose is to enter the darkness of paganism.
Either the Lord is God or people assume that role.
The Expression of Man’s Sinfulness vv 26-27.
The Expression of Man’s Sinfulness vv 26-27.
God’s anger against sin leads Him to withdraw from the sinner who willfully continue in wickedness.
The Penalty for sin is sin itself with all its inevitable consequences.
Because people failed to glorify God and give Him thanks, God gave them over to sexual impurity. (24)
Because they exchanged the glory of God for a lie, He gave them over to passions that bring dishonor. (26)
God not only abandoned them to idolatry, but also to dishonorable passions.
Which Paul defines in these 2 verses as homosexuality.
He calls it the ultimate expression of mans moral degeneracy.
Why is Homosexuality so bad?
It is so bad because it goes past perversion.
It becomes Inversion.
Perversion- the illicit and twisted expression of that which is God-given and natural.
Inversion- the expression of that which is neither God-given nor natural.
When man forsakes the Author of nature (God), he inevitably forsakes the order of nature.
The Old Testament specifically prohibits homosexuality. Lev 18:22
22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
It was such a forbidden act that both parties involved would be put to death. Lev 20:13
13 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
It goes even farther in the New Testament and says that people who actively practice this will not see Heaven. 1 Cor 6:9-10
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
These are not my thoughts or my opinions about this life style but it is what the Bible says.
To give you an idea of just how far the Romans have slid Paul mentions the women first, here is why that is important; Charles Hodge wrote: “Paul first refers to the degradation of females among the heathen, because they are always the last to be affected in the decay of morals, and their corruption is therefore proof that all virtue is lost” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983], p.42)
The homosexuals of Sodom were so passionately consumed with their lust that they ignored the fact that they had been made blind and “wearied themselves trying to find the doorway” into Lots house in order to pursue their vile passion. Gen 19:11
11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.
Both the OT and the NT condemn homosexuality in the strongest terms.
Under the Old Covenant it was punishable by death.
Paul declares unequivocally that while homosexuality can be forgiven and cleansed just as any other sin, no unrepentant homosexual will enter heaven.
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
These are the result of sinfulness where man is put into the place of God. These are not my words but Gods.
How do we help those caught up in homosexuality?
We see it the same as any other sin.
Sin is sin, no one sin is greater than any other
Sin is anything we think, say, or do that is displeasing to God.
We treat them just like we would any one else.
Jesus eat and hung around with sinners.
He was in the World but not of it.
We show them love and the path that God has laid out for us.
We love them, not the sin.
Love is not expectance
We need to create friends not enemies.
There is a path back: 1 Cor 6:11
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The Extent of Man’s Sinfulness vv 28-32.
The Extent of Man’s Sinfulness vv 28-32.
Because mankind did not acknowledge God He gave them over to a depraved mind.
The Godless mind is a depraved mind.
Its predetermined and inevitable disposition is to do those things which are not proper.
The meaning of depraved here is: adokimos which means “that of not standing the test”
during this time it was commonly used of metals that were rejected by refiners because of impurities.
The impure metals were discarded, and adokimos therefore came to include the ideas of worthlessness and uselessness.
In relation to God the rejecting mind becomes a rejected mind and therefore becomes spiritually depraved, worthless and useless.
Although godless people think they are wise, they are supremely foolish. (1:22)
No matter how smart they are of things in the physical realm, in the things of God they lack even the very basic beginning of knowledge. (Knowing there is a God)
Paul then goes into a detailed list of the sins he has in mind. in verse 29.
Paul is more concerned to bring out the truth that those who reject God give themselves over to all manner of evils than he is to tell us precisely what those evils are.
We come back to the thought that these sinners do not act out of ignorance.
Granted that no evildoer ever understands all the implications of the wrong he is doing, it still remains that he knows enough to know that he is doing wrong.
It is the point that Paul has been stressing throughout this chapter, namely that God has revealed enough of himself for people to know what is right and what is wrong.
Benedictions 009 Benediction
009 BENEDICTION
May our God who called Abraham when he was but one,
And blessed him and made him many,
Show you the incomparable riches of his grace,
That you might know you are His workmanship,
To do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.