Sunday Morning Service

Romans 1:18-32 (Click scripture reference for audio access)

"Good News & Bad News!"  •  3.4.12  •  Sunday Morning Service, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- Paul has lifted our minds high above the rain cloud, where the sky is still clear and rang out a declaration of God's salvation and righteousness being available to all who believe!

- It is the gospel, the good news, the announcement of God's victory over sin, through Jesus Christ alone, who is God's only accepted sacrifice.

- He provides that wonderful perspective for you and I to hold onto, because he must now spend a good deal of time on the bad news, which is the doctrine of universal condemnation.

- Today, we will examine the first part, even though this section will continue until 3:20. There are two large sections before us, which detail

I. Causes Of Condemnation  (v.18-23)

II. Consequences Of Condemnation (v.24-32)

Text

I. Causes Of Condemnation  (v.18-23)

•  Romans 1:18,19  :  "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them."  : God has given power for men to be saved. We begin to understand what they are saved from in this section. Those who believe are saved from God's wrath.

- Consider this phrase in context: "The gospel is the power from God for salvation to everyone who believes, for the wrath of God is being revealed, unveiled from heaven!"

- We are prone to shy away from this biblical concept. Human wrath displayed is generally out of proportion with the given crime. This is not the case with God.

- His wrath, unlike ours, is not impetuous. It is measured and in perfect proportion to the offense to His holy nature.

˚  "Wrath is the holy revulsion of God's being against that which is the contradiction to His holiness."   John Murray

- The word "wrath" comes from a Greek word family that was used to describe plant life. The idea is a teeming or a swelling, as a fruit swells with juice when it is fully ripe.

- There is an inward motion swelling to the surface. That is the wrath of God. It's an internal motion that is swelling toward a natural and justified release.

- God's wrath is in a constant state of being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. These words speak to two general categories of sin.

- Ungodliness speaks toward a lack of a reverance toward God or sacred things, while unrighteousness speaks toward a lack of right actions toward men.

- When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He said that loving God was the first and greatest commandment and that loving our brothers as ourselves was like it.

- What we are about read is Paul's commentary on human history. When one considers Genesis 3 and following, one can see a logical progression in Paul's flow of thought.

- At the same time, Paul's comments were a reflection of life in the streets of Corinth and just as easily identifiable today. Why is that the case?

- In this first section, Paul will deal with the ungodliness of men and their two sins against God.

- Those under the wrath of God are guilty, first of actively "suppressing" the truth regarding God by their unrighteous deeds.

- The word "suppress" speaks to holding back the progress of something, detaining it.

- The Holy Spirit is striving with the wicked, convicting of sin, righteousness and judgment, but they are actively working against God's word in their life.

- They are keeping the truth regarding God at bay, not allowing it to build into what God intends. They are ignoring God's obvious truth that is in them and revealed to them.

- What is it that they are ignoring? First, every person has an inward witness of the reality of God. They know right from wrong. They believe in consequences.

- There is an inherant understanding of right, wrong, justice and injustice. That is the witness in them, but God has shown His truth to them as well.

•  Romans 1:20  :  "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse," : The witness of creation, since it's beginning, has stood day and night, as a constant advertisement of God's invisible attributes.

- Whatever we cannot know due to our human limitation, ie. His power and divinity, is known clearly by that which we can understand!

- His power is evident through the vast expanse of space and the super organization of the smallest molecule. His authority, His Godhead, is seen in their sustained motions and viability.

- God's existence is stamped all over the human genome and with every modern technological advance, science stumbles upon another marker, confirming God's reality. 

- These men who deny God are without excuse, literally they have no defense! Those who conclude otherwise betray their presupposition not to believe in God!

•  Romans 1:21-23  :  "because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things." : Paul asserts that all men have been blessed with an eternal footprint in their conscience.

- Looking back at the early chapters of Genesis, the ancient world knew God from Adam and Eve, Seth and Noah.  They knew that God but they did not glorify Him as God!

- That is, God was not assigned His proper value nor given His proper place.

- By the way, understand that knowledge of God and knowledge of His Word demands a response to that which is discovered. It's not enough to know about God. We must honor him as God!

- We honor God by thanking God for His blessings. The ancients and the ungodly do not consider Him in any way. They consciously made a decision not to let God be God in their life.

- One may choose not to believe in God, but that choice is hardly innocuous! Look at what happens: Their thinking became empty or vain and then is covered with darkness!

- By their insistence that God either does not exist or has any claim of authority upon their lives, they break a rule of life, which begins to lead them to their ruin!

- Listen to the Authorized version: "became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened." This speaks to a spiritual darkening resulting from a refusal to obey God.

- They have so worked God out of their theories and beliefs, that they are completely in the dark and grasping for straws to hold their systems of illogical thought together!

- They claim depth and wisdom by questioning everything, but for all their "enlightenment" they became fools! How did this manifest? This is the second cause of their guilt: Substitution!

- They exchanged God's glory for the glory of themselves! They glorified themselves!

- They traded in the majesty of God, for images of that which was made by and for Him!

- Paul is talking about idols that they worshipped, which were made after that which was perishing. It extended from the birds of the sky to insects. Man's worship covered it all!

- Unbelieving men made gods that suited them, that they could understand and more importantly, would "understand them!"

- Idolatry, far from being a neutral activity, is an offense to God. God prohibits images of Himself for the purpose of drawing men into a relationship with Himself.

- He wants to be known as He is, not for what we think of Him! But when someone embraces an image representing a deity image, that person is on the road for judgment.

- In essence, he has made his thoughts and opinions his own god! What kind of a person puts more value on his own thoughts than those of God? One who has become a fool!

- This is a poignant thought regarding men's religions. He has cut God out of his life, but still needs to worship, so he builds an altar to something, anything to satisfy that part of him.

- But instead of elevating himself, he defiles himself! Religion, far from being an improvement upon his life, is just a lower rung on the latter of God's judgment!

II. Consequences Of Condemnation (v.24-32)

•  Romans 1:24,25  :  "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." : How did God respond? He gave them up!  God delivers them, abandons them to their desire. This is a punitive action by God demanded by justice!

- Part of the wrath of God is His allowing one to rush headlong into that which one would think is their greatest joy! God takes His protective hands off!

˚  "The lost enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded and are therefore self-enslaved."                C.S. Lewis

- They would choose in their minds and hearts to honor something that was perishing more than the eternal God! When the mind and heart is compromised, the body follows.

- God delivered them over to the slave master "uncleanness" referring to physical impurity, in shameful forbidden desires, to mistreat their bodies together with one another.

˚  "Clement of Alexandria called it an unreasonable reaching for that which will gratify itself."      On the word "epithumia," quoted by Barclay

- These took God's truth, suppressed it, disregarded it for what? For the lie. Notice the definite article. The lie is that there can be true joy outside of God.

- The lie is that the only way to be satisfied in this life is to disregard God's rule over you!

- Whether He is worshipped or not, He is still the Creator, and He is still blessed forever! The world's best hope is thwarted, as their life is wasted and ruined, and God is still to be blessed forever!

•  Romans 1:26,27  :  "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due." :  For this reason, because of their worshipping at the god of their own image, God abandoned them to vile passions or disgraceful desires.

- The difference between lusts and vile passions is one of consistency. This word speaks of a constant burning passion for evil.

- Other translations use the words "degrading," and "shameful." What the world looks at as the glory of their freedom, God looks at as vile!

- In the case of homosexuality, this is not merely a sin, but Paul says that it is against nature itself! Paul's argument here is not difficult to understand.

- Physiologically, people are made a certain way and intimate relations are set by God. Homsexual behavior is at the top of Paul's list because if man can go against nature, all bets are off!

- Someone can say that they are willing to enjoy their natural desires and if their desires go against nature, how can they stand against anyone's desires?

- Then, consider Paul's words here. Even their women. Paul considers the societal slide that much more low, as women, often more sensitive to God's voice and rational about God.

- Even THEY began to exchange the natural use of their bodies for that which was against nature. Homosexual thinking led to committing shameful acts with one another.

- Men followed in the same way, kindling their fire with shameful acts one with another.

- Consequently, their acts left them recipeints of the promised penalty, sexually transmitted diseases and much worse historically, for their behavior. That is their compensation.

•  Romans 1:28 : "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;"  : God abandoned them to a debased or "reprobate" mind when they refused to give Him a second consideration! The concept comes from the inability to stand proven.

- Those in such a condition have no ability to make or to discern moral decisions.

- It was used to speak about the testing of metals which were used to prove their viability. These people are unable to stand solid. Therefore, they do things which are forbidden.

- What sort of things is he referring to? Take a look at this epic list which finishes chapter 1.

- Paul has detailed man's sin against God, their ungodliness. In this last section, he details man's sins against each other in unrighteousness.

•  Romans 1:29,30  :  "being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,"  :  These are people who are "being filled." They are filled to the full with these things.

- They are filled full of all unrighteousness, or injustice. The word "righteousness" means to give God and man that which is due to them.

- Unrighteousness then is to rob God and men of what rightfully belongs to them.

- They are filled full of sexual immorality, fornication. The word used is the word where we get our word "pornography" from.

- The word is broad, covering everything. Fornication or sexual immorality is anything done outside of the marriage bed!

- The wicked are full of wickedness or villainy. This refers to intent or pre-meditation. Somebody who was "wicked" was not merely wicked on their own.

- The Greeks called the Devil "Ho Poneros." Like the Devil, those who are wicked seek to express wickedness, but also seek to make others as wicked as themselves!

- They are full of all covetousness, the greedy desire for more at whatever cost and at whatever loss another may incur. It is the trampling on of every moral standard that stands in the way.

- They are filled full of all maliciousness which is a desire to injure or harm others. This word refers to a degenerancy that is a conscious turn toward the worse course.

- They are full of envy or jealousy. The dictionary defines this as discontentment at another's advantage, but this word adds a sense of resentment.

˚ "It looks at a fine person, and is not so much moved to aspire to that fineness, as to resent it. It is the most warped and twisted of human emotions."

           William Barclay

- The wicked have murderous hearts, which Jesus asserts includes wrongful hatred in their heart toward others and then extends toward actual murder.

- Strife is the outworking of jealousy. Envy, like other sins, do not remain hidden in the heart.

- They are full of "deceit" meaning that they are unable to act in a straightforward way. They are always acting with an ulterior motive.

- They are full of evil-mindedness. They are those who conclude every thought in the very worst way about another person. They presume the worst at every turn.

- They are whisperers. The word means "secret slanderer" or one who detracts from another. Backbiters is a related term which means to bring dishonor upon. What is the difference?

- The whisperer is one who looks at your face and acts a certain way, but then speaks another way behind your back secretly!  9A slanderer does this openly, telling tales at another's expense.

- The wicked are haters of God, meaning that they wish that God would get out of their way so that they could express their actions with impunity.

- The idea of God causes them to express hatred, leading to the word "violent" which seems to be a poor translation. The word refers to one who hurls insults simply to hurt another person.

- These people are proud, the word referring to esteeming themselves and promoting themselves over another by finding ways to denigrate others.

- This is the person who just loves to make other people feel small and insignificant.

- In this way they are "boasters," which can also be translated "pretender." This person is always out to impress others with their claims, name dropping and speaking of "deals in the works."

- They are inventors of evil or destructive things and behaviors. There is not an evil that can content him. He must find new wicked ways to excite himself.

- They are disobedient to parents, shunning their first authority. The reason for including this here is the most common of decencies was put on the shelf in this environment.

•  Romans 1:31,32 : "undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." : Paul continues by saying that they are undiscerning, or unintelligent regarding spiritual things regarding salvation. This is a man who will not learn his lesson.

- No matter what pain he causes himself and no matter how often he experiences the negative impact of his own action, he never puts the pieces together.

- Paul calls them untrustworthy or "covenant breakers." Listen to this quote from Barclay.

˚  "This word would come with particular force to a Roman audience. In The great days of Rome, Roman honesty was a wonderful thing. A mans word was as good as his bond. That was in fact one of the great differernces between the Roman and the Greek. The Greek was a born pilferer. The Greeks used to say that if a governor or official was entrusted with one talent, even if there were ten clerks and accountants to check up on him, he was certain to succeed in embezzling some of it. While the Roman, whether as a magistrate in office or a general on a campaign could deal with thousands of talents on his bear word alone and never a penny went astray. By using this word, Paul was not recalling the Romans not only to the Christian ethic, but to their own standards of honor in their greatest days."     William Barclay

- Paul assesses the wicked world as ones who are unloving, literally without natural or family affection.  To speak of the Roman belief regarding children would be abominable.

- It was widely asserted that the Romans at this time, had little regard for their children. If a child was frowned upon by the Father, for any reason, that child would have been drowned.

- Certainly, one cannot ignore the atrocity that happens every year in the United States, where children are murdered within their Mother's wombs, mostly to avoid inconvenience!

- These wicked people live in a world without forgiveness or mercy! Life was as cheap as any tool that could be purchased. The slaves that were listening knew this well.

- Men would routinely kill slaves without any thought of recompense!

- They know that these behaviors subject them to God's righteous judgement, but they do them and approve, literally applaud of any who practice the same!

Conclusion

- As we close, the wicked is in dire straits every day, precariously straddling the fence of their destiny. They are condemned because they are suppressing the knowledge of God.

- They are condemned because they are creating a substitute to take His place, which leads to a violation of other men in the works of unrighteousness that we saw are a consequence.

- They are condemned, but we were condemned as well! We were "such as them!"

- I am sure that for at least a moment, you realized that as I was reading and explaining, that you were included somewhere in this section.

- You had engaged in some of the things Paul described, if not in action, certainly in attitude and if not for great periods of time, certainly for some period of time.

- You are a sinner that God has shown mercy in Christ, if you have believed in Christ! Because He stood in the place of the condemned, the condemned that believe can now walk free.

- It goes without saying that our burden for the condemned must lead to action, but because we have been where they stand, it must also lead us to a great appreciation of Christ!

- Make this a day of thanksgiving for His salvation is greater than we can ever fully understand!