Romans 1:24-32 (Missing Beginning)

Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. For those of you across the hall, that was Romans 3, verse 10 and through 12. Right. We can't separate from the course of the argument that he's making in the book. So Paul is here diagnosing the great common problem of all people.

Romans 3:10

This problem started in the garden and it proceeds in various form and varying degree to this day. Certainly at times in progressive ways. What I'm pressing hard to get us to see is that you and I need this text as much as anyone else.

It's not just a text for the other. We each and every one of us are found here before any of us encountered the saving power of the gospel. We were identified in some way in this text.

We should not make the tragic mistake of thinking that this text only describes other people. It does do that, but it also describes us apart from the power of the gospel.

This text is used again and again and again as a diagnostic tool to look at the culture around us. And it does that for us, but it also diagnoses our hearts.

If we treat it in that other way, we will entirely miss what Paul wants to lead our hearts to.

That said, we see in this text the resolute rejection of God.

Verse 25, the first part says,

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God.

Paul here is repeating in this text some things that he said in our previous text, which began in verse 18.

You recall the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and righteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

And he doesn't leave us wondering what that truth is.

He says in verse 19 that what could be known about God has been made plain to them in the creation.

Namely, verse 20, his eternal power and divine nature.

That there is in fact a creator who has the right to rule over his creation.

Later in the letter, we're going to see clearly that the law of God is written on the conscience of man.

Verse 21 says,

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.

Rather, they rejected him.

Resolutely, they set themselves against him.

In verse 23,

And exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images.

Resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

And this idolatry takes on many forms and leads to much unrighteousness.

Paul does not leave us able to say,

Well, I don't bow my knees to any graven images, so I must be okay.

No, he goes on to give us a list of sins that result from this kind of idolatry.

From this resolute rejection of God.

He leaves us unable to wiggle out of it at all.

Thomas Adams, who was a late 16th, early 17th century English Puritan, said,

That which a man spits against heaven shall fall back on his own face.

And so let's look at some of that.

What results there because of the resolute rejection of God?

And this is the second point.

The wrath of moral insanity.

You may recall us speaking briefly about the phrase found in verse 18.

For the wrath of God is revealed.

Which time I told you that our translations did well not to say will be revealed, although it will.

But the particular tense of this verb, it rightly says is revealed or is being revealed.

God's wrath is presently being revealed against the rejection of him in a startling way.

Paul says three times in today's text.

You'll see it in verse 24, verse 26, and verse 28.

God gave them up.

I hope that this phrase strikes fear in you.

It doesn't mean one who finds himself in Christ, accepted in the beloved before God.

The idea that God would give me up to myself is frightening.

Paul was saying that God abandoned them to their ways.

God says to a people who reject him.

OK, then go your own way.

And this is a form of judgment to give us over to our own moral relativism, which always concludes in a moral insanity.

Because, my friends, we are not qualified to call the shots.

If you think that you have the ability to set the direction for your life, you need a massive dose of humility.

I might just ask the question, how's that going for you so far?

Life working out the way it hoped that it would?

We're not qualified for the task.

Our creator, although, is.

And he's spoken a good word, not a burdensome word, a good word that we would obey it.

We are creation.

We need the creator.

Hierarchy, rightly recognized and applied, is a glorious gift to us.

Here, Paul says, God gave them up.

He allows the futile minds and foolish hearts of man to conceive and create all sorts of evil.

He begins his list, and I believe spends a bit more time at the beginning of his list,

with a sin that is so particularly contrary to creation order.

I think he starts here because the sin of homosexuality is an obvious rejection of God's design for humanity,

which, to be clear, was one man and one woman in lifelong monogamy,

and all variations, I'll repeat, all variations of this created design are rejections of God.

I think he starts here because it's just such a simple, it's an easy example of the rejection of God.

For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions.

For women exchanged natural relations for those contrary to nature,

and 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 of their error.

But let's be careful to note that Paul's list does not end there.

He goes on.

Again, avoid the temptation to think that this text is merely a text for some other out there.

Do not become his longest, which drives hard his point.

We need the saving power of the gospel.

Oh, that God would rescue us from our moral insanity.

Verse 28 says,

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.

God gave them up to thinking that they knew best for themselves,

that we might possibly know best for ourselves.

He let them do it.

And then he rattles off a list.

And I'm not one to hyperanalyze these types of lists.

I think there's some danger in that.

I do believe that he's being led by the Spirit to jot these things down.

I don't think it's just random.

But I also think we can overthink these types of things.

He's pressing this all-encompassing rejection,

this resolute rejection of God through this.

But it's interestingly broken into three sections.

Now, you can look, if you have an ESV like me, at the punctuation.

But our commas and our periods did not appear in the original text.

And so these have been added for readability.

And in this case, for us to more readily see the pattern.

But even without the punctuation, notice the phrases.

They were filled.

They are full of.

And they are.

These are all found in verse 29.

They were filled.

They are full of.

And they are.

Now, again, I don't think that there's some kind of hyperanalyzation that needs to go on about that categorically.

The point I want to press is that it's an all-encompassing thing.

If you resolutely reject God himself,

and you're given over to this kind of moral insanity,

it defines who you are.

You're filled with, full of, and you are.

You identify in these ways.

So let's look at some of them together.

Let's not just glance over them.

Also, many of them are very self-explanatory.

But verse 29 begins,

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.

All manner of unrighteousness and evil.

This is an all-encompassing phrase and word.

By all rights, Paul could have stopped at that point and moved on beyond it.

But he feels compelled.

He believes it's important to give us examples of this.

We're so quick to justify our own sin, to write it off,

to not put it categorically in this type of rejection of God,

this type of moral insanity.

So he doesn't let any of us off the hook here.

Covetousness, which is greedy, exploitive, consuming ambition.

Malice, which is a wickedness aimed at another.

They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

That's that next section.

They are full of, filled with the desire for other people's things.

To the degree that they might actually murder,

or as Jesus says, have hatred in our hearts toward another,

which is murder in the heart.

Full of strife, conflict, fighting.

Deceit, which is treachery for personal gain.

Maliciousness, which is a character that intends to do harm.

You might still want to wiggle a little,

well, I don't know that I'm all that bad.

In verse 29 he says,

they are gossips, slanders.

He goes big view again.

Haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil,

disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

To gossip is to speak about others with unconfirmed information.

To slander is to speak something false,

to damage another's reputation.

And I can just about guarantee you,

if you have liked or shared something on social media

this past couple of years,

you're guilty of both of these sins.

Insolent, haters of God.

Insolentness is an arrogant rudeness.

Haughtiness is arrogant disdain for others.

Boastfulness is arrogant bragging.

Inventors of evil,

coming up with new ways to sin against God.

Children,

Paul inserts here to not let you off the hook,

disobedient to parents.

foolish,

foolish,

faithless,

heartless,

ruthless.

None of us are wiggling out of this.

I wore a cardigan today instead of a jacket

to tell you how wicked you are.

Verse 32 says,

though they know God's righteous decree

that those who practice such things deserve to die.

And the Old Testament commanded death

specifically for many of these things.

I think Paul here has a higher view than that.

He's not talking just to those who know the Old Testament,

know the law,

but to Gentiles as well.

He's going to continue to make this case

on into chapter 2 and to 3.

I think what he's drawing back to here

is to verse 20.

God's eternal power and divine nature

because he says at the end of verse 20,

so they are without excuse.

They know that they're rebels against God.

They have resolutely rejected him

and therefore deserve the penalty due

an enemy of a king.

And yet they do them anyway.

Wholeheartedly participate

in this kind of sin.

And they not only do them,

but give approval to those

who practice them.

To justify your own sin is evil,

but here we see a digression

into the justification of others' sin as well.

To argue for the case

that people can live their life

however they might like.

Martin Luther,

this is the quote on your bulletin this morning,

once said,

iniquity consists in this,

that you fail to live up

to what you are bound to do

and do instead what seems right to you,

while uprightness, by contrast,

consists in this,

that you do whatever you ought to do

regardless of what seems right to you.

Beloved, we need to recognize

that we are all at times

guilty of letting our emotions

lead the charge.

Letting our emotions

define the truth.

This is the mantra of our day.

If it feels right,

then it must be right.

And if it feels wrong,

then it must be wrong.

And why is this the case?

It's because of the

resolute rejection of God.

What are we left with

if we reject God

and His good order

and design in the world?

With ourselves.

And the moral insanity

that ensues.

You must then assume

that you're the starting point

for what is good

and true

and beautiful.

And you are not.

You're not qualified

for the task.

And so you do

what feels good to you

or you don't do

what feels bad to you

rather than asking the question,

what should I do?

And recognizing that you

cannot be the source

of such information.

God has condescended

to become an author.

The maker of heaven

and earth

has spoken to us

for our good.

Never miss it.

For our great good.

His commands are good

for us.

Even when they don't feel good,

they are good

for us.

I used to sit

at the dinner table

as a child,

stubborn as I could be

to not eat

my vegetables.

They were good for me.

They didn't feel good

for me.

My mom would

threaten,

there's people in the world

who would love

to have this food

and I would say,

box it up

and ship it to them.

On a couple of occasions,

I sat until bedtime.

That's how stubborn

I was

as a child.

Thinking I knew best.

I just should have

ate the vegetables, right?

I just should have

ate them

and moved on.

There's a higher

and a greater

good for us

and it is defined

not by us

but by our God.

He tells us.

He shows us

lovingly,

compassionately

how it is

that we

should walk.

Now,

a brief but related

aside.

I think it deserves

some of our attention

particularly because

of the place

in which

we live.

We have

in our very own

backyard

not far

south of us

a pastor

who has

great influence.

And it is always

with a heavy heart

that I name names

but I think

we ought to be

cautioned

and we ought to be

prayerful

about Andy Stanley.

We've watched

for some time

a slow digression

that seems to have

picked up

some speed.

So some of you

may know

a little bit about

a conference

that was held

this year.

I believe it was

in May.

It was put on

by their church.

The 2022

Drive Conference

in which he said

some rather

scathing

things.

So I want to

read to you

just a bit.

This was from

an article

written by

Denny Burke

in World Magazine

a publication

I would commend

to you.

Denny says this

and I quote

Stanley contends

that churches

must adapt

and learn

how to include

gay people

in the life

of the church.

After all

we should be

in awe

of the self-sacrifice

of gay people

whose prayers

God did not answer

and yet who still

love God

in spite

of the clobber

verses

from the Bible

that condemn

homosexuality.

That's

Andy's

term

clobber

verses

one of them

Romans chapter 1

Romans 1:26

verse 26

and 27.

Now to be fair

to Andy

that kind of

attitude

he may be

speaking about

is the kind of

thing I want

to condemn

as well

where we don't

see ourselves

in the text.

It's always

about another.

It's always

about pointing

our finger

someplace else.

It's always

done

self-righteously.

We're all

in the text

everybody.

We're all

in the text.

Christians

have a lot

to learn

from gay

men and

women

quote

says Stanley

who love

Jesus

that much

and who

want to

worship

with us

end quote.

If churches

want to have

a future

then they

must be

more like

Jesus

who

when ministering

to sinners

never

quote

started

with

theology

but

started

with

the

people

in

front

of

him.

Furthermore

Stanley

argues

that

quote

if your

theology

gets in

the way

of

ministry

like

if

there's

somebody

you

can't

minister

to

because

of

your

theology

you

have

the

wrong

theology.

Stanley's

message

comes across

as a

straightforwardly

affirming

position

on

homosexuality

in

the

church.

He

valorizes

the faith

of

homosexuals

as head

and shoulders

above the

faith

of

straight

Christians.

He

says

quote

the

men

and

women

I

know

who

are

gay

their

faith

and

their

confidence

in

God

dwarfs

mine.

So

not only

is there

room

there's

plenty

of

room

for

them

in

the

church.

Now

hear me

very

carefully

there

is

always

a

place

for

people

who

wrestle

with

sin

to

come

and

gather

with

God's

people

to

hear

the

truth

of

God

proclaimed

boldness

and

with

an

invitation

to

flee

to

Christ.

There's

always

room

for

that.

There's

never

room

to

call

someone

who

identifies

as

their

sin

a

Christian.

If I

were to

go around

and say

I'm a

slandering

Christian

you would

say

that is

the

dumbest

thing

I've

ever

heard.

Have

I

at

times

spoken

something

untrue

about

somebody

in

order

to

damage

their

reputation

to

my

shame

I

have

which

is

the

thing

I

should

repent

of

and

flee

to

Christ

for

his

righteousness

as a

result.

This

kind

of

language

is

anti

gospel.

It

doesn't

say

that

people

are

set

free

from

their

sin

that

they

might

walk

in

the

truth

that

Jesus

Christ

perfectly

fulfilled

the

righteousness

that's

demanded

of

God

and

we

can

have

our

righteousness

found

in

him

and

therefore

put

off

these

sins

it

does

quite

the

opposite.

It's

devoid

of the

bad

news

and

beloved

we

will

never

grasp

the

good

news

as

we

should

if

we

don't

first

understand

the

bad

news.

Verse

18

the

wrath

of

God

is

revealed

from

heaven

against

all

ungodliness

and

unrighteousness

of men

who

by

their

unrighteousness

suppress

the

truth.

This

is

moral

insanity.

God

defines

what is

good

and

best

regardless

of how

we

feel

and if

we are

breakers

of God's

commands

which

we

are

it

is

here

in

this

text

every

single

one

of

us

have

broken

God's

law

we

have

rejected

God

as

king

then

we

have

to

have

a

solution

we

must

have

some

way

of

fixing

this

grand

problem

which is

why I'm

very pleased

to come to the

third point

I'm glad

that we

get to

end

here

before

we

talk

about

the

glorious

solution

of the

gospel

people

so

desperately

need

to

hear

let me

just

say

one

last

thing

about

Andy

Stanley

I

don't

know

what

to

do

with

a

man

who

teaches

things

falsely

other

than

to

call

him

a

false

teacher

and

we

do

well

to

warn

people

away

from

such

men

the

gospel

matters

too

much

the

souls

of

people

matter

too

much

for

them

to

be

deluded

away

from

their

sin

and

the

rescue

that

is

found

in

the

cross

of

Christ

so

thirdly

the

glorious

solution

of the

gospel

we

have

to

step

outside

the

text

just

a

bit

for

this

one

but

not

far

and

we

can

start

with

the

last

part

of

verse

25

God

gives

them

up

verse

24

in

the

lust

of

their

heart

to

impurity

to

the

dishonoring

of

their

bodies

among

themselves

because

they

exchanged

the

truth

about

God

for

a

lie

and

worshiped

and

served

the

creature

rather

than

the

creator

who

was

blessed

forever

!

reading

John

MacArthur's

commentary

he said

perhaps

Paul

in talking

about all

of this

vileness

just needed

to pick

his head

up for air

for a

moment

I think

even more

than that

I think

that Paul

in the midst

of writing

about such

betrayal

against God

does not

lose sight

of the fact

that regardless

of how

humanity

regards

God

he is

blessed

forever

whether

or not

our

society

rejects

God

as

God

he

remains

God

God's

worth

is not

changed

by our

recognition

of his

worth

and praise

God

that he

works

for us

in spite

of us

we have

great reason

to praise

God

just as

Paul did

because

he has

made a

way

for us

to be

delivered

from

our

rejection

of

him

this

is

why

Paul

says

he's

not

ashamed

of

the

gospel

for

it

is

the

power

of

God

for

salvation

to

everyone

who

believes

this

righteousness

he talks

about

in

verse

17

the

righteousness

of

God

Luther

called

it

the

alien

righteousness

that

we

need

a

righteousness

that

needs

to be

granted

to

us

that

was

fulfilled

!

in

Christ

we

desperately

need

and it

is

this

gospel

message

this

good

news

that

tells

us

that

by

faith

in

Christ

it's

ours

it's

granted

to

us

and

all we

have to

do

is

repent

and

believe

all we

have to

do

is

turn

our

minds

away

from

sin

to

recognize

that

it

is

a

rejection

of

the

most

high

God

to

recognize

that

he

has

a

more

excellent

way

to

recognize

that

there

is

a

just

condemnation

for

our

sin

and

that

we

would

want

to

be

rescued

from

such

wrath

to

flee

to

Christ

his

completed

work

his

once

for

all

sacrifice

on

our

behalf

many

weeks

ago

as we

spent

our

first

week

on

verses

18

through

23

I

stated

this

I

copied

And

pasted

this

out of

my

notes

at

the

conclusion

of our

study

of this

chapter

you

ought

to

either

feel

a

great

condemnation

for

your

lost

state

and

I

pray

will

flee

from

the

wrath

to

come

to

the

mercy

of

Christ

or

you

ought

to

feel

an

abundant

overflowing

gratefulness

having

already

received

Christ's

mercy

in the

salvation

of your

soul

so join

me as

I

pray

to

that

end

to