Sermon Tone Analysis

A few quick reminders:

A quick look back so we can look forward.

The power of the Gospel originated from God (Rom1:16)

The outreach of the Gospel is to reach all men (Rom1:16-17)

The power of the gospel will produce faith (Rom10:17)

The power of the gospel will produce fruit (Col1:5-6)

The gospel reveals the righteousness of God (Rom1:17; 1Cor15:1-4)

The gospel reveals the method of receiving God’s righteousness (Act2:36-38)

Paul paint’s an ugly picture of the unrighteousness of man

Here is the plan for this morning:

Look, glean from the text

Look at reason for the wrath- Intelligence (vv.18-20)

Look at the reason for the wrath - Ignorance (vv.21-23)

Look at the reason for the wrath - Indulgence (vv.24-27)

Look at the reason for the wrath - Impenitence (vv.28-32)

Our text, let me read it today for it is long, but if you want me to stop along the way, let me know.

Some general questions we should ask of the text before getting to our points.

Who are the a characters noted in this passage?

What is the purpose of this section (in general)?

How does Paul describe the ungodly, the unrighteous?

They suppress the truth (v.18)

They do not honor God and became futile (v.21)

They claim wisdom, but are fools (v.22)

They exchange the glory of the incorruptible God (v.23); they exchanged truth for lie, creator for creator (vv.25)

Then further descriptions given (vv.29-32)

(Transition) now time to go back and look at our points.

Intelligence

You have heard the term “dumb down” right?

Let me prove it through the scripture through Paul’s ugly picture.

Man knew God, walked with God, heard from God, was taught by God, yet

How did man suppress the truth (v.18)?

They suppressed God, suppressed truth in wickedness (unrighteousness) (v.18)

To suppress something, means they had it in the first place.

They are now rejecting what they had.

Human history is not the story of a beast worshipping idols that evolved into a man, but a man knowing and worshipping God but turned, rejected the Creator and His creation that had been made known.

How did God make himself known (vv.19-20)?

By His creation, by his invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature

Because of what was made known what is man left without (v.20)?

Without excuse! - Luke records in Acts for us (turn to Act17:29-31)

Act17:29-31 “29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.””

Clearly you can see the wrath of God revealed and the wrath of God to come.

Suppressing the truth means they are not allowing the truth to accomplish its work in them.

They choose to live how they want and are not convicted by truth.

They are refusing the truth (vv.21-22) and are turning the truth into a lie (v.25) - we will get to those verses shortly.

Before moving on may I stop just for a minute and paint a good picture vs. the ugly picture.

Stop, think, how does the heavens declare his handiwork, can you describe some of it?

Now according to (v.18) men knew the truth about God but suppressed it in order to live the way they chose to live. .

They were refusing the truth, and that leads us where we are now

Ignorance

This kind of ignorance is intentional.

They knew the truth and are suppressing it.

This is also associated with hardness of heart.

Man was ungrateful and foolish (v.21)

Man was willing to use God’s gifts, but not give glory to God for the gifts

What gifts?

How should they give God honor and glory?

The results, well, it was not good, it resulted in darkened heart and and empty mind.

Man the worshiper became man the philosopher.

This just revealed man’s foolishness (Ignorance).

And those times are past - Act17:30 “30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,”

you may consider looking at 1Cor18-31 too on your own, but in summary

The word of the cross is foolishness to the perishing.

The Jews asked for signs, the Greeks for wisdom, but the message of the cross is what was being preached for that is what was needed.

And I need to bring in some hope for us.

1Cor1:27 “27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,”

Man became foolish (v.22)

Man was born to worship, and has traded true worship of true God to self made god’s idols

Such things as man worship, which is secularism (worshipping self)

or Covetousness (worshipping money or possessions)

when man ceases to thank God the giver of all things and esteems the creation more than the Creator then God is angry and ready to reveal His wrath from heaven.

Foolish by trading incorruptible for corruptible; from Creator to creation (v.23)

(Transition) this leads to our next one.

Indulgence

Indulgence is the act of indulging, allowing one self to enjoy the pleasure of something.

So from idolatry, to immorality.

God gave them up (v.24)

This is not God giving up on them, but giving them up, leaving them to their own desires.

They traded truth for a lie (v.25)

They have traded worshipping the Creator to worshipping the creation, self.

God gave them up to vile passions (v.26-27)

Commentator Wiersbe says “The climax of man’s battle with God’s truth when man exchanges the truth of God for ‘the lie” is that man is his own god, and he should worship and serve himself and not the Creator.”

The result is self-deification and self-indulgence.

Paul then examples something rampant then and is homosexuality.

Paul uses such words as vile, unnatural, against nature.

And this was not confined to men, women were doing it too.

(Transition) This now leads us to our last point for this morning, an uncomfortable list, one of a few we find in the scriptures and we want to look briefly for:

Impenitence

God does not hand over without reason and making the reason known.

Paul is not saying “guilty” without giving causation.

So, that is where we are at now.

Again we see “God gave them over” (v.28)

They then were filled with unrighteousness (vv.29-31)

Wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness

Envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness

whisperers, backbiters, haters of God

Violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, and disobedient to parents.

Wait there is more

Undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving and unmerciful

They know the truth, traded the truth, know they are worthy of death yet they still do it and encourage others to join them.