Romans 1:18-23

Good morning, I do hope you have a copy of God's Word with you this day, and that you will join me in Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

We're doing it, and we're in Romans today.

Now, two weeks ago, we began our study of these six verses, Romans 1, 18-23.

But time prevented us from finishing, so I'm eager to progress through them with you this morning.

I really don't like it when our studies get disjointed like they have been over these past months.

But, I trust and hope that you trust in God's providential reign over even the smallest details of our church's life.

So, here we are. Let's begin by reading our text, and then I'll try to remind you what we have learned so far before we proceed together.

So, Romans chapter 1, verse 18-23.

Romans 1:18–23

Before I read it, let me remind you, beloved, that this is God's Word to us.

It was written for His glory and our good.

So, we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and to obey its commands.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,

who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature,

have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.

So, they are without excuse.

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.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

So, in verses 16 and 17 of this chapter,

Paul states that the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

For in it, the righteousness of God,

so the righteousness that comes from God,

is revealed from faith for faith.

As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

These two verses, I have told you repeatedly,

are the thesis for the entirety of this letter.

Paul tells us the specific case that he is going to make,

and then in verse 18,

he zooms back and begins his explanation.

In verse 18, he tells us why anyone would care that the gospel is the power of God.

Why does it matter that it's the power of God for salvation?

He begins telling us why we need the righteousness of God that comes through faith.

And the reason he tells us is,

the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.

He's going to spend a bunch of time making the case that every single person has been ungodly and unrighteous.

And therefore, apart from the power of God for salvation,

we will experience now and forever the wrath of God.

We thought some together about the wrath of God two weeks ago

from texts like Jeremiah chapter 7 and verse 20,

Jeremiah 7 · chapter mention

where Jeremiah records,

Thus says the Lord God,

Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place upon man and beast,

upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground.

It will burn and not be quenched.

And in the New Testament,

Colossians chapter 3, verse 5 and 6,

Colossians 3:5

Paul says there,

Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you,

sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness,

which is idolatry.

So he says in verse 5,

Put away the ungodliness and unrighteousness.

And then in verse 6, he says of Colossians 3,

On account of these, the wrath of God is coming.

God's wrath is a settled reality against sin.

He is a just God,

and he justly does and will punish sin.

We thought a bit about how we want this to be true.

We want the world to be set right.

We noted that God's wrath does not discriminate

as it is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

I told you that these two words,

ungodliness and unrighteousness,

are very similar in the Greek language.

They're almost synonyms.

The first stresses a severed relationship with God.

The second focuses on the activity that proceeds

from that severed relationship.

So both who we are in our sin

and then what happens out of who we are.

The one on whom God's wrath is revealed

is not living as an image bearer of God,

but in contradiction to that created purpose.

And in so doing, suppresses the truth.

Lives in contradiction to the truth.

We then considered verse 19,

which says,

for what can be known about God is plain to them

because God has shown it to them.

The four here is referring to the suppression of the truth.

This truth of who God is.

Sinful man denies or rejects the truth

that God has revealed to them.

And this is why, verse 20 says,

they are without excuse.

This is not an issue of what cannot be known,

but rather one of what will not be known.

Truth right there for the taking

that is refused to be taken up and understood.

Verse 20 says,

his invisible attributes,

namely his eternal power and divine nature,

have been clearly perceived

ever since the creation of the world

in the things that have been made.

So two weeks ago,

with a long quotation from a commentary,

we considered the two things

that can be clearly observed in the natural world.

First, that there is a creator God.

And secondly, that he is eternally powerful.

And so, mankind is without excuse.

This suppressed knowledge is enough to damn a person.

But it is not enough to save them.

They are without excuse.

But this is not saving knowledge.

This is why Paul is so eager to preach the gospel.

This is why he wants his original audience

and you and I to understand

that salvation comes by grace alone,

through faith alone,

in the personal work of Jesus Christ alone.

This is why he is not ashamed of the gospel.

For it is the power of God for salvation

to everyone who believes.

To the Jew first,

and also to the Greek.

Right?

It's a gospel that can save.

It's powerful to save.

Because mankind,

in our fallen state,

suppresses the truth.

The gospel is the powerful thing

that's employed by the Spirit

to break through our darkened hearts,

our foolish minds,

and bring us back to God.

It is why he will press at the church

in chapter 10,

where he says,

How then will they call on Him

in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in Him

of whom they have never heard?

And how are they to hear

without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach

unless they are sent,

as it is written,

how beautiful are the feet

of those who preach the good news?

And let me tell you, beloved,

that the preaching he's talking about here

includes what we do

on Sunday mornings from the stage.

It includes that,

but it is not only that,

it is also your gospel proclamation

in the world in which you live

and where you go

as you share the good news.

Now, I think this sufficiently brings us

to the last three verses of this text.

That felt real fast.

But I will read them one more time

to get our minds moving toward

the truth contained therein.

Verse 21 and following.

Four, 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.

Claiming to be wise,

they became fools

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God

for images resembling mortal man

and birds and animals

and creeping things.

There is in our text today

a lesson concerning the thinking of mankind,

the thinking faculty of man.

We've seen knowledge, language throughout it.

Look back up in verse 18,

who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

And verse 19,

for what can be known about God

is plain to them.

And then in verse 20,

having been clearly perceived.

And now, verse 21,

they knew God.

They became futile in their thinking.

And then verse 22,

claiming to be wise,

faculty of the mind,

they became fools.

There's a lot of thinking language

in this text.

Now, remember,

Paul is zooming back

and telling us why we ought to care

that the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

So, don't miss this.

Paul is talking about mankind in this text.

He is speaking in past tense

about a problem that began in the garden.

It is a problem that began with Adam and Eve

rejecting the truth,

acting on a lie,

and learning things that they could not unlearn.

Paul is referring to the state of mankind

ever since,

of which we are numbered apart

from God's intervening grace in our lives.

Paul is teaching that without God's intervention,

the way of man is a digression

away from the truth,

and sound reasoning not toward it.

Now, mankind is not altogether left

without the power to reason.

God in His common grace to mankind

has allowed us, mankind,

to think,

to order our societies,

and discover truth in creation.

And don't we as a people

do this with mixed success?

Sometimes we are improving upon our societies

and discovering amazing things,

and sometimes we move in the opposite direction.

Part of our image-bearing quality as humans

is our ability to reason,

albeit imperfectly.

So we still carry around the ability

to, in some measure,

be image-bearers of God.

Now, the study of how we reason

is called epistemology.

That may be your one big word for the day.

And represented in this room right now

is a mix of epistemological standpoints.

So, we have amongst us,

and probably embedded in all of us,

a little bit of the modernist.

Modernism is where we get,

comes out of the Enlightenment,

where we get things like

the scientific method,

measurable stuff.

We want to be able to have an idea

and test to see if it's true

or if it's not.

This, of course, has some strengths

and it has some weaknesses.

Beyond the modernists,

or the very cleverly called

post-modernists,

most defines my generation.

We think of things,

phrases like,

well, you have your truth

and I have my truth.

This is a post-modern way of thinking.

You can imagine an example for a moment.

Some of us were standing on a sidewalk

and having a conversation

and a car accident happened

just out on the street.

We would all have a different experience

of that car accident.

Some of us may have been facing it

and seen what happened.

Some of us might have been

particularly attuned to the noise

that it made as it wasn't in our sight.

Some might have really smelled the accident,

the screeching of tires,

things like this.

And we'd all have something to share

of our experience.

Yet, objectively,

there was a car accident

and something real happened

in that accident.

The post-modernist tends

to take up that truth

and make it the truth.

What I saw in that car accident

was the thing that absolutely happened

and becomes dismissive

of other experiences.

And now, even more cleverly,

we find ourselves,

and really,

they're going to rename these

at some point, I'm sure,

the epistemological standpoint

of many particularly young people,

but we are not,

as older people,

immune to this,

is called,

ready for it,

post-post-modernism.

It's got to stop at some point.

We can't have post-post-post-modernism,

I don't think.

Many people today

do not believe

that the truth

can be arrived at.

Just pick an issue

and get on the internet.

There's a lot of swirling facts out there.

It's difficult to arrive at the truth.

And because

this is so unsettling,

and really is a result

of post-modernity,

so unsettling,

people who are functioning

in this post-post-modern way

will define the truth

by their feelings.

If it makes me feel good,

it must be good.

If it makes me feel bad,

then it must be bad.

As I said,

we are all a mix

of these epistemological viewpoints.

And we must be careful

because their ultimate end,

although they have some value,

their ultimate end

is a digression

from the saving truth

of the gospel.

Their ultimate end

of any of these ways of thinking

moves away from God

and not toward Him.

We must recognize

that we will not

reason our way

to heaven.

It will not happen.

We need

the revelation of God

to be saved.

We need Him

to speak the truth

to us.

We will not arrive at it

on our own.

We need the intervening grace of God

worked in us

by the power of the Spirit

in the illumination

of His Word.

Now in Romans 12,

beginning of verse 2,

as Paul turns his letter

to practical application,

he says,

Do not be conformed

to this world,

but be transformed

by the renewal

of your mind.

So if we have been saved

by the intervening grace of God,

then we are categorically different

than the description

being given here.

We are not those

who the wrath of God

is being revealed to,

but we are yet

to be fully

sanctified.

We are not arriving.

We don't have

perfect reasoning

yet.

This side of glory,

we still carry around

the baggage

of the curse.

Last Sunday,

I was sick.

I tried to push through.

I actually came to the building

at 8 o'clock.

I could just barely lift my arms.

And so,

I went home.

I still have this body

of death.

I'm still carrying

the burden

of sin.

And it doesn't just affect

my body,

it also affects

my mind.

Which is why

Paul says in Romans 12,

to be transformed

by the renewal

of your mind.

A thing that must be

pursued

to reason

properly

as God

reveals Himself

to us

in His Word.

But what does this

renewing work

look like?

If you look at

verse 21,

the first part of it

says,

for although

they knew God,

they did not honor Him

as God

or give

thanks

to Him.

So,

Paul here states

in the negative

that a renewing mind

will honor God

and will give

thanks

to Him.

The person who has

been saved

by Christ

will

not live the way

these people live,

will give thanks

to Him.

Do you find in yourself

a mind

that is bent

toward

the praise of God

as He has revealed Himself

in the Bible?

Do you thank Him

in all circumstances,

trusting Him

in joy

and in sorrow?

Beloved,

we ought to be

growing in these matters,

these matters of

honor

and

thanksgiving.

It ought to be

an increasing reality

in our lives

if we find ourselves

in Christ.

I think

that the Westminster

Larger Catechism

will help us

at this point.

I certainly

hope that it will.

I always,

with some trepidation,

read long things,

so I hope this will

serve us well

this morning.

Certainly,

we find in our text,

particularly in verse 23,

a breaking of the

Second Commandment.

But I want to draw

our attention this morning

to the First

Commandment.

In the Westminster

Larger Catechism

in the form of

Catechesis,

question 103 says,

what is the First

Commandment?

And the answer is,

the First Commandment is,

Thou shalt have

no other gods

before me.

This is Exodus

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20.

Thou shalt have

no other gods

before me.

So think in these terms

as Paul here is talking

about.

In the negative,

he's saying,

if people are

redeemed by Christ,

we will

honor

God.

And we will

give thanks

to

God.

So the

Westminster

Larger Catechism

follows question

103 with

question 104,

which says,

what are the duties

required in the

First Commandment?

So just listen to

these carefully

and think,

is this

the

bent?

Is this the way

my heart

tends

toward?

The answer,

the Westminster

Divines wrote,

the duties required

in the First

Commandment are

the knowing

and acknowledging

of God to be

the only true

God and our

God and to

worship and

glorify Him

accordingly by

thinking,

meditating,

remembering,

highly esteeming,

honoring,

adoring,

choosing,

loving,

desiring,

fearing,

believing,

trusting,

hoping,

delighting,

rejoicing in

Him,

being zealous

for Him,

calling upon

Him,

giving all

praise and

thanks,

and yielding

all obedience

and submission

to Him,

with the whole

man,

being careful

in all things

to please Him,

and sorrowful

when in anything

He has offended,

and walking

humbly

with Him.

And I know

that you can't

see it,

but there's a

footnote for

every single

one of those

words where

they have

seen this

in the

Scripture.

These are the

duties required

in the first

commandment,

right?

To have no

other God

before God.

God,

if you do not

find in

yourself a

mind that

is bent

in this

way,

then it is

possible that

you may be

counted among

those who

are futile in

their thinking

and have

foolish,

darkened

hearts.

Westminster

Larger

Catechism,

question 105.

What are the

sins forbidden

in the first

commandment?

The answer,

the sins

forbidden in

the first

commandment

are atheism

in denying

or not having

a God,

idolatry in

having or

worshipping

more gods

than one,

or instead

of the true

God,

the not

having and

vouching Him

for God

and our

God,

the omission

or neglect

of anything

due to Him,

required in

His commandment,

ignorance,

forgetfulness,

misapprehensions,

false opinions,

unworthy and

wicked thoughts

of Him,

bold and

curious searching

into His

secrets,

all profaneness,

hatred of

God,

self-love,

self-seeking,

and all other

inordinate and

immoderate setting

of our mind,

will,

or affections

upon other

things and

taking them

off from Him

in whole or

in part,

vain credulity,

unbelief,

heresy,

misbelief,

distrust,

despair,

incorrigibleness,

and insensibleness

under judgments,

hardness of heart,

pride,

presumption,

carnal security,

tempting of God,

using unlawful means

and trusting in lawful,

sorry,

using of unlawful means

and trusting in lawful means,

carnal delights and joys,

corrupt,

blind,

and indiscreet zeal,

lukewarmness and deadness

in the things of God,

estranging ourselves

and apostatizing from God,

praying or giving any

religious worship

to saints,

angels,

or any other creatures,

all compacts

and consulting with the devil

and hearkening

to his suggestions,

making men the lords

of our faith and conscience,

sliding and despising

God and his commands,

resisting and grieving

of a spirit,

discontent and impatience

at his dispensations,

charging him foolishly

for the evil he inflicts on us,

and ascribing the praise

of any good we either are,

have,

or can do

to fortune,

idols,

ourselves,

or any other creature.

Again,

a scripture reference

for every single one

of those phrases

or words.

Did you know

there was so much

packed into that

first commandment?

You see,

if you find

that you are

a transgressor

of the first commandment,

my plea with you

this day

is that you would repent

of your unrighteousness,

an unrighteousness

that suppresses the truth,

an unrighteousness

on which the wrath

of God

is being revealed,

and that you would

throw yourself

on the mercy

of intervening grace.

The offer

of the gospel

is made

to you

this day.

Having already

found yourself

in Christ,

praise be to God,

we are counted

as righteous

before him,

justified before him,

and now being sanctified,

we get to repent

and believe afresh

again

and again

and again.

The righteous

shall live

by faith.

Renewing our faith,

renewing our faith,

renewing our faith.

Finding yourself

this day

outside the grace

of God?

The gospel

is powerful

to save.

The gospel

can save you

if you would

just believe

that it will.

So we see

this digression

of mankind,

a digression

that we have all

once been

or possibly

are this morning

guilty of.

Verse 22 says,

claiming to be wise,

they became

fools.

God's declaration

in this inspired text

written by Paul

is that the people

who think they're wise

in this world

are fools.

Paul writes

in 1 Corinthians 1

and verse 18,

for the word

of the cross

is folly

to those

who are perishing.

But to us

who are being saved,

it is the power

of God.

And in Philippians 3,

Philippians 3:18

verse 18

and following,

for many of whom

I have often told you

and now tell you

even with tears

walk as enemies

of the cross

of Christ.

Their end

is destruction,

their God

is their belly,

and they glory

in their shame

with minds

set on earthly things.

But our citizenship

is in heaven

and from it

we await

a Savior,

the Lord

Jesus Christ.

Claiming to be wise,

right,

glorying in their

shame,

they become fools.

words.

In this past week,

I feel like I was

just bombarded

with the foolishness

of the world

trying to be

framed as

wisdom.

we do a program

on Fridays

with some boys

from our church

and in partnership

with Grace Community Church.

We call it

Corum Deo,

which is Latin for

before the face of God.

And we've got

10 11-13 year olds

and when we begin

the morning

we ask if they have

any prayer requests.

And I will tell you

that young boys

ask for prayer

the way many

old men do

because they have

twisted ankles

and people they know

who are sick.

And I often try

to add

something

of

more eternal

substance

to

our praying.

And this past Friday

I just couldn't

open my mouth

because everything

that was going to

come out of it

was going to be

terribly depressing

to 11-13 year olds.

And so as we prayed

with them

and for them

for toes

and ankles

and parents

with sniffles

I said

come Lord Jesus

this world

is just

falling apart.

And Paul here

is not teaching us

that there's this

progression

that we're experiencing

that progression

but that it has

been this way

since

the fall.

Adam and Eve

in the garden

verse 22

claiming to be wise

they acted

and they became

fools

and all of

mankind

ever since.

Verse 23

says

and exchange

the glory

of the

immortal God

for

images

resembling

mortal man

and birds

and animals

and creeping

things.

Turned from

the praise of God

to idolatry.

and we will

talk at length

about this

in the text

that will conclude

chapter 1

Lord willing

next week.

Beloved

we ought not

to be surprised

when the world

rejects the ways

of our God.

I see so many

Christians

so shocked

when the world

acts in contradiction

to our God.

This text

makes it clear

why they do.

Their ungodliness

and unrighteousness

suppress the truth.

It is the natural

way of the

fallen man

to bend

away from

God

and his ways.

Now it is

good for us

to reason

in the marketplace

so don't

hear me

asking you

to disengage

from the world

in which we live.

By all

means

reason

with people.

By common

grace

the world

has reasoning

faculty.

We want to

labor for

an equitable

society.

But

what this

world needs

most

is the

intervening

grace of

God

found in

the powerful

gospel

of Jesus

Christ.

Paul doesn't

go on his

missionary journeys

into cities

and have

political

dialogue

with people

in that city.

What does he

do?

He goes to

the synagogue

a place

where people

would have

come for

the worship

of God

and he

reasons

with them

from the

scripture

that Jesus

is the

Christ.

This should

be the

primary

thrust

of what

we do.

Knowing

that

we cannot

reason

people

politically

into heaven.

It's not

going to

happen.

God is

going to

make this

world new

one day

and we

as the

church

are meant

to be

about

making

disciples

of the

Lord

Jesus

Christ.

It ought

to be

the

central

thing

that

we

do

in

everything

that

we

do.

So I

pray that

as the

world

assails

us

with its

warped

thinking

we will

respond

with the

truth

that we

were once

like

them.

That we

have been

saved by

a loving

kind

God

and that

we will

extend

the

saving

offer

of the

gospel

to them.

And I

pray that

we would

not just

be

theological

heads

but

transformed

people.

So in

closing let

me just

read the

entirety of

Romans 12

2 for

our benefit.

Do not

be conformed

to this

world but

be transformed

by the

renewal of

your mind

that by

testing you

may discern

what is the

will of

God what

is good

and acceptable

and perfect.

Let's pray

together.

Let's pray

together.

here.