The Shameful Perversion Pt 3 3-27-2022

WALK WORTHY THE SHAMEFUL PERVERSION Pt.3 Sunday March 27, 2022 Scripture Reference: Romans 1:24-27 (NLT) Intro. A. Let's get started by looking at these three verses we have been exploring the past two Sundays. "So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved." Romans 1:24-27 (NLT) B. Let's quickly review what we have learned for far in these verses. We spent the first week talking about the first four words where Paul says, "So God abandon them". You will recall that we spent that whole message dealing with the two theological positions of the Christian church which are Calvinism and Armininism. Then last week we continued in V.24 to see this next step in the downward spiral of perversion. We talked about how sinful man choses sin over God and the results of that decision. We talked about the damaging affects that this choice has not just on our lives but on the lives of those around us. 1. Today we will conclude our study of verses 24-27 and this shameless perversion. I. THE SHAMELESS PERVERSION. When man choses sin over God then we see that: A. Abandoning God Leads To Shameless Behavior. 1. The word "shameless" here means, impurity, filthiness, defilement, dirt, pollution, contamination, and infection. I have been saying all along since we entered V.18 that the things Paul is telling us here are not easy to read. To use the old expression, "This is a tough pill to swallow." Let me remind you of what Jesus told us about the Holy Spirit. He said in John 16. "But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the Advocate won't come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God's righteousness, and of the coming judgment." John 16:7-8 (NLT) When we chose to no longer serve the Lord, we begin this pathway to depravity and every step leads us further away from the Holy Spirit and this conviction that God so graciously provides. Let me say again, I am fully convinced that this conviction is an act of grace on God's behalf. It would be so easy and understandable, at least from my human perspective for God to just turn His back on us and condemn us to hell, but Praise God He does not give up on us easily. He is trying to lay down on that road that leads to destruction and stop us from making this horrible decision. He won't interfere with our choice, but He will provide every opportunity He can to help us make the right choice. 2. BUT, and this is another big but. If this is the choice, we want to make then God will allow us to wallow in this uncleanness. Look at these verses from Psalm 8. "Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you would only listen to me! 9 You must never have a foreign god; you must not bow down before a false god. 10 For it was I, the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things. 11 "But no, my people wouldn't listen. Israel did not want me around. 12 So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas." Psalm 8:8-12 (NLT) 3. Notice also that Paul tells us this is what their hearts desired. This means it is what they craved, what they were passionate about. This is the result of what Paul said in V.21 happens when our hearts become dark and confused. Then Paul gets more specific to tell us that these desires were to do things that degrade the human body. [] I remember when I was involved a lot in anti-abortion protests. Those were the days when I heard this chant a lot, "Our bodies, Our choice". This is another sad, but perfect example of the title of this message. It is a shameless perversion. It is what happens when our minds or hearts become dark and confused. Let me remind you of what Paul told us in 1 Corinthians. 19 "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." I Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT) Now I know this should be obvious, but when you reject God as your Creator, then you become your own creator and you think this body is yours to do with as you will. What Paul tells us here in Corinthians is that our bodies were designed to house the Presence of God. The purpose of these bodies is that they honor and glorify God. Once again, I have to point you back to what Paul said in V.21. "Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks..." V.21 But this also what Paul repeats again in V.25. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. When we do not submit to God, we think our bodies are our own to do with as we will. Now Paul gets even more specific here because he says the first thing we do when we think their bodies are their own is that we indulge in sexual perversion. Let me offer five reason why sexual sin is so wrong. 1) It lowers the person to the level of an animal. Instead of using this wonderful mind that God gave us we just act on instinct. The truth is we do not think at all, we just act on pure passion and urges and not on thoughtful reasoning. When we act like this, we are ignoring that moral instinct that tells us God is real and deserves to be followed, but now we are just living on this level of passion. 2) The second reason this is wrong is because it looks at the other person as thing to be used to satisfy our own passion and urges. When we are caught up in this perversion, we do not see that other person as the unique and valuable person God made them to be. 3) Thirdly, sexual immorality corrupts the temple of God, which of course is US. The Bible teaches that every person is a child of God's creation but understand this as well. We often hear people say, "WE are all God's children" that my friends that is absolutely FALSE! You and I and everyone else are God's creation, but we become His child when we decide to leave behind our self-centered lives of sin and follow Jesus. When a man puts his faith in Christ, Christ is said to dwell within him. This makes the human body the very temple of Christ's presence, which means that the body belongs to Christ. We are the body of Christ. Therefore, if a believer commits immorality, he is joining the very body of Christ to that act of perversion. 4) The true virtues of man's basic nature are deeply affected. For example, man's basic nature is ... • to love and to be loved • to give and to receive • to be loyal and trustworthy The list could go on and on. But note something: when a person has an immoral relationship and let me also add this because it goes back to something I said last week. Sin stirs up more sin. If we do not listen to that voice of the Holy Spirit, then it becomes easier and easier to walk that pathway of depravity. Sexual sin affects every one of the basic virtues of man's nature. Our whole body is affected. Our love, our loyalty, and our life cannot be focused on the one person we are supposed to be focused on. That one person will never again have our complete love, complete loyalty, or complete life. Now by the nature God gave us, we know this, and it causes reactions in our bodies: emotional, mental, and physical reactions-all to varying degrees. The varying degrees to which we feel these reactions I think will be based on how far down that road to depravity we travel. The further down that road the less we will feel the shame of what we have done. Now here is the last effect of the act of immorality. 5) This follows what I just talked about. The emotional and mental makeup of a person is affected more deeply than by sins of the body than any other sin. When a person commits a sexually immoral act, he soon feels and senses guilt when he is all alone thinking about his life. The person may not call it guilt; they may say that they just feel bad. But the bad feeling or guilt is a natural result of that immorality. Why does immorality cause us to sense guilt? Because it is a violation of the law of God. God has built us to take care of our bodies, or families, our society, and to protect the bodies and families of others. If a person has sex outside the bond of marriage with another man or woman or the wife or husband of someone else, they endanger that person and that family. They damage: • the other person's body: His or her emotional, mental, and physical nature. • the family's unity and cohesiveness. He or she damages the trust and oneness the spouses have in each other, and he damages the security of the children. A sword of divisiveness sets in, and feelings of guilt and disturbance take over. Loyalty is weakened in the person, the family, and in society. Again, I think this is why Paul gets so much time and attention to these sins of the body. I realize that sin is sin, but these sins have a very board impact as I have just noted. Trans. There is so much here that I just don't have to share with you. I want to keep this to just three parts, so I want to us to finish up today looking at these last two verses, V.26-27. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved." 26-27 Here we see the words "God abandon them" again. This time we see that: B. God Gives Sinful Man Over To Sexual Immorality. 1. The word "shameless" that is used here is the same word used in V.24. It is also translated "vile". Again, it means something that dishonors, disgraces, and defames. What we are being told here is that these passions that God gave us, because of our choice to reject God and live our own way. These passions have now been perverted and they are completely out of control. They are running lose and wild. For me the really sad truth that we are being shown here is the fact that because this person has surrendered themselves to the control of sin, they are not even capable of controlling themselves. 2. Now we have to deal with this issue of homosexuality because the word of God deals with it. In my opinion, unless Jesus comes soon (whatever that word means) the things I am about to say to you could end up landing a person (like me) in jail. Now I must tell you that there are some who use these words to tell us that what Paul is condemning here is not Homosexuality itself, but uncontrolled sexual passions. In other words what some so-called biblical scholars are trying to tell us is that God is not condemning Homosexuality, but homosexuality that is not confined within a monogamous relationship. What you and I must understand is that there is absolutely No biblical support for such an argument. Nowhere in the Bible do we find God accepting or approving of Homosexuality as long as it is done in the confines of a monogamous relationship. What they are trying to tell us is that the act itself is not condemned just the way it is done. Again, there is no Biblical evidence for this. In my opinion it is just another assault on the word of God and a way to make sin more acceptable. 3. In V.26 and 27 Paul used the words "natural" and "normal". They are both the same Greek word and they both mean that we have a natural or normal desire to have sex with those of the opposite sex, but because our minds have become dark and confused, we are no longer thinking clearly or rationally, and the result is that we begin to do things contrary to the way God planned it. In V.27 Paul says that these people "burned with lust". Remember I just told you that these people because they have chosen to ignore and reject God, so their God given passions and desires have gotten perverted and out of control. We all know full well what happens when I fire gets out of control. There is widespread devastation. This is the picture we have here. Now I will address in a moment the more personalized punish God speaks of, but as I told you earlier, our sin does not just impact us it also impacts those around us. I think it should cause us to have righteous anger when we see how this, as the bible describes it, "vile affections" are affecting and impacting our society. Now just about every TV commercial now features homosexual partners, and it will not be long when natural desires get out of control (as Paul describes here) that we will see transsexuality promoted as completely normal. Friends I will confess that this is hard for me to make this distinction, but it is necessary that I do, and you do it as well. We must remember that we are to love the sinner and hate the sin. Sadly, those who are in this state have made this choice, but I would even use Paul's words from Romans 8 here. Nothing can separate us from God's love, not even homosexuality. God loves us perfectly, but we must make the right choices to be able to experience His love and dwell with Him forever in Heaven. 4. Now let me say a few words here about what Paul says as he concludes these verses. He said, "Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved." V.27b I know that some have used these words to say that AIDS is God punishment for homosexuality. I think that to make this sound like God singled out homosexuals for some specific kind of disease is unwarranted. I believe that AIDS is just the natural consequence of using our bodies in ways they were not designed to be used. AIDS is not some God created disease that He specifically formulated to attack Homosexuals. It is however the consequence for using our bodies in ways God did not design, nor does He approve. What is interesting to note in Paul's words here is that he says, they suffered within themselves. Yes, a disease like AIDS can be related here, but I think Paul is also showing us that when we turn away from God, we become enslaved to these passions, and as we will see in the next message, these passions go far beyond the sin of homosexuality. Conclusion A. I have been saying since we began V.18 that we are seeing a downward spiral in the life of those who suppress the truth of God. What I want you to think about as I close this message today is this. If there is progression here in Paul's words, we would have to conclude that there is even worse behavior than the perversions of lesbians and gays. In his analysis of unrighteousness, Paul is giving one illustration of what happens when individuals turn to self-worship and self-gratification. When Paul describes that exchange of truth for a lie in the area of human sexuality; he is not making statements about one class of persons who are more despicable than everyone else. We can only imagine what illustration Paul might have used in describing persons who center their lives on the things he is going to talk to us about in V.28-32. You might want to read those to prepare for the message I will share next Sunday. 2