Romans 1:18-32

[00:00:00] Okay, so Paul here is writing a letter to the church that's in the city of Rome. You'd never been there and wanted to go there and someday would go there but at this point

[00:00:09] he's probably in the city of Corinth and he's writing a letter to the Roman church. We've taken two weeks now to look at the first 17 verses of this letter. And last week we saw the theme statement really of the whole book of Romans.

[00:00:25] Paul announced in verse 16 and 17 he says, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of this message, all right? So we still haven't studied the specific realities of the gospel but he says, I'm not ashamed of it

[00:00:40] because it's the power of God for salvation. In other words, it's through this message of the gospel. Whatever it is and we're going to discover it more and more as we go through it. But it's through this message and belief in this message.

[00:00:54] Faith in this message, trust in this message. It's the power of the gospel for salvation. So we acquire salvation through an understanding of the gospel and faith and trust and believe in this gospel message. All right?

[00:01:08] And then he says, I'm not ashamed of it because it's the power God for salvation for everyone who believes that you first and also do the Greek for in it. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith or for faith to faith for as it's written

[00:01:22] the just shall live by faith. So here's the way it works. We say, okay, so you're proud of the gospel because it brings salvation. How Paul does it bring salvation? Well, it brings salvation because it gives righteousness to the people who believe in it. What does that mean?

[00:01:41] What does that mean? What that means basically is that God himself is pure and holy and righteous and that we as people are not. But by believing in this gospel message, we become holy and righteous in the sight of God. Therefore we are saved.

[00:02:00] Now the big question that we have to ask then is, what are we saved from? It's cool that we're saved. But what is it that we are saved from? And that's where Paul begins his argument in verse 18.

[00:02:16] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. So what we are saved from specifically is we are saved from this thing, this element called the wrath of God.

[00:02:33] So here's what's going to happen over the next few weeks as we go through this section of the book of Romans chapter 1, to and on into really almost the end of chapter 3. We're going to see mankind's deep need for the gospel.

[00:02:48] And we're going to see it in three specific categories. We're going to see a category that we look at today just kind of the pagan world and just kind of a living just without God in the consciousness at all, that people like that need the gospel.

[00:03:06] But then next week we're also going to see the people who are fairly moral, who have an understanding about God. But also living by some kind of moral code they also desperately need the gospel.

[00:03:19] And then thirdly we're going to see the people who are religious who even have the law of God, the Bible. They are also in desperate need for the gospel and that all of us we're going to see that all have fallen short of the glory of God.

[00:03:34] So that's what we're going to look out over the next few weeks. Every single so if we're going through this, if there's one category they're like, yeah, that's right. They need the gospel.

[00:03:43] Well just wait because then you're going to get a part where it's like and so did you. All right. So everybody is sold under sin and that's why Paul will then announce when we get to the conclusion of this little section,

[00:03:56] he'll say for a righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law. In other words, what I need to be saved is the righteousness of God. I need to be righteous. I need to be clean. I need to be pure.

[00:04:09] I need to be holy, but I can't become that by any work of my own doing. And so the righteousness of God that has appeared is through the cross of Christ.

[00:04:18] And so that's where we're going to get into the specifics of the gospel and what it does to us when we believe in it. What it is and what it does to us when we believe in it. But the first thing that we come across here is verse 18,

[00:04:32] The wrath of God being revealed from heaven. I probably could have titled this message, The wrath of God, but that's kind of a discouraging title right off the bat. But the question of course is what is this?

[00:04:44] I mean throughout this letter so far, Paul has referred to a few things that belong to God. The gospel of God, the Son of God, the power of God, the righteousness of God. But now we have The wrath of God.

[00:04:56] Some of your bibles might say the anger of God. The word anger is a good word for what Paul is describing. But if you're anything like me, probably one of the first things that you think of when you think of the wrath of God,

[00:05:11] is you think of something, probably two things. You think of something that's future, like some kind of future judgment, the wrath of God. And then you also think of maybe something that's very visible, bolts of lightning, thunder, you know, stuff like that.

[00:05:26] Like the visible, tangible or future wrath of God. And Paul seems to be talking about neither of those things in this verse. Notice what he says. The wrath of God not will be revealed. But he says it is revealed. It's current. It's right now.

[00:05:44] It's apparent against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. In other words, God's wrath isn't really against mankind specifically. It's against the ungodliness and the unrighteousness of mankind specifically. In other words, there is this anger of God towards the ungodly evil towards God.

[00:06:06] And the unrighteous evil towards one another acts that mankind engages in and gets themselves into. Now that's an important designation because for a lot of people when they think about the wrath of God, they would think that okay, then there is a spectrum, right?

[00:06:23] And on the other end of the spectrum is the love of God. You got the wrath of God on one end and then balancing out the wrath of God is the love of God. But that's actually not what Paul is communicating.

[00:06:36] He's saying it's the anger of God towards ungodliness, the anger of God towards unrighteousness. So the wrath of God, if you were to look at the other end of the spectrum, what it would be is the indifference of God.

[00:06:47] It would be God looking at ungodliness and looking at sin and saying I don't care. Do whatever you want to do. And the thing about God is that that is not possible with him because he, this is the thing

[00:06:59] that causes him to pour out this anger over our ungodliness and our unrighteousness is that he loves mankind so much. He sees the pain that it causes us, the agony that it causes us, the hurt and the emptiness

[00:07:13] that it causes us and his anger is towards that ungodliness and towards that unrighteousness. So this isn't the opposite of God's love. This is the opposite of God being left fargic or indifferent to or not caring about sin.

[00:07:27] But he cares about it very much because he cares about us so much. Right now here's what Paul then argues for after this sense. So the wrath of God, what is this wrath of God? Somebody described it like this.

[00:07:42] He said, the wrath of God is the tragic sense of life. He ever just kind of looked around and just felt like something is not working here. Something's missing, something's broken even in the most like beautiful things that this life can offer.

[00:07:59] You know, community or friendships or family, they're still his pain, they're still fear, they're still is worry and concern and sickness and trial. Even in the best moments in life, it's so far from perfect.

[00:08:14] Someone said it like this, the wrath of God is God resisting us in our wickedness or some 90 verse 9 and 10 said, all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh, the years of our life are 70 or even by

[00:08:30] a reason of strength 80, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. This wrath is God's settled in righteous antagonism to evil. His settled indignation is holy hostility to that which is unrighteous.

[00:08:47] All right, so God, he looks upon unrighteousness and he can't bear it and he's angry over it. His wrath is towards it. And he kind of willingly makes himself turn against it. So you just can't be in unrighteousness and have things really work and flow and all

[00:09:06] of that. So this is why the gospel is so beautiful because it transfers a person from this category, the wrath of God into what? The blessing of God, the favor of God, the kindness of God.

[00:09:18] He sees you now as righteous if you're covered by the blood of Jesus and there's this favor towards your life. So this is why we need the message of the gospel, what we're being saved from is the wrath of God according to Paul. Now what happens next?

[00:09:35] In Paul's argument, well let's look at it in verse 18, the end of it. He says concerning man, he says who buy their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. All right, so Paul announces, he makes a simple announcement, he says, here's what's happening in the world, people are suppressing the truth.

[00:09:53] There's a truth that's there and it's being buried and ignored and disregarded. So we would then say what is that mean? How is it that mankind or civilization society? How is it that mankind is suppressing or bearing the truth?

[00:10:11] Well let's look at what he says in verse 19 and following. He says, for what could be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. In other words, God has declared himself, he's made himself noble, he's shown himself to mankind.

[00:10:30] Now when Paul says that in verse 19, he's not talking about showing himself to mankind in the Bible. He's not talking about showing himself to mankind in the cross of Christ. Those are ways that God more explicitly and clearly shows himself to mankind.

[00:10:47] But that's not the revelation that he's talking about here. He says, verse 24, 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.

[00:11:07] So what Paul announces is he says, mankind is suppressing the truth. And the first level, I'm going to show you three levels of truth suppression that are flowing here. And the first level is simply this.

[00:11:20] There as we look at creation, it should be obvious there is a majestic God who designed and created it all. And the truth that is suppressed is that truth. He says, his eternal power as divine nature are clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world.

[00:11:37] And that is part of the truth that is suppressed. And you just think about it, it should be pretty obvious as we look around at the culture and the society that we live in.

[00:11:48] To hear people replace God's name and the concept of God to replace it with words like nature or destiny or fate or karma. Instead of recognizing that there is a majestic God who clearly designed and put together the galaxies and our earth and bodies and cells.

[00:12:16] And so finally, tune them that we might live here and enjoy life here rather than making that recognition, there's this sense within man of suppressing that truth. There is no God, I do not believe in Him and refusing to regard a majestic God over

[00:12:32] all of it who created all of it. Now this is important because what we're going to see here is that there is a three-fold step downwards in suppressing the truth. And it starts right here saying, there's no singular God who created all that I see and

[00:12:50] all that I know. And then everything flows from there into idolatry and then God will give up society to various desires and pleasures and pursuits. But all of it is connected to this.

[00:13:03] You see so many of the sins that we're going to see mentioned if a person just acknowledges that there is a God and realizes his natural order that he has designed then they're saved from them.

[00:13:17] And so this is what is being restored to us by the gospel, is to recognize there is a God who designed us, who made us in his majestic and is over us. So that's the first truth that is suppressed.

[00:13:30] So you and I, many of us, we go out and we're in nature, we go down to the beach or we go on a hike or something like that, we look at the stars at nighttime.

[00:13:40] And for us we declare like the Salmist that the earth is filled with the glory of the Lord. We're blown away by Him and what He's done. And what He's designed and what He's created.

[00:13:52] We celebrate people that are artistic and stuff like that, but we say God you are the greatest designer who has ever existed. And we celebrate and praise the Lord. But when a culture begins to go downward, one of the first things is just a suppression

[00:14:07] of the truth of the reality of a Creator God. Now it gets worse than that, verse 21, it says for all though 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.

[00:14:27] This is actually another layer of the suppression of the truth that Paul mentioned in verse 18. And it's simply this. If the first level is we're going to reject the idea that there is a majestic God.

[00:14:42] And the next level is we're going to reject the idea that there's a majestic God. And we're not going to give Him honor or thanks. I'm not going to give Him honor or thanks. We're not going to put any praise towards Him, worship, towards Him.

[00:14:55] And so this is an attitude that says, God is not going to get my worship. He is not going to get my love and my devotion. This is how the human species began, according to the Bible. God created the heavens and the earth.

[00:15:10] And man was in love with God. He was enjoying God, He was experiencing God, He was satisfied. And then when sin entered into the world and he chose a life of sin, that's when everything was disrupted and disatisfaction entered in.

[00:15:26] That's why part of the renewing process of the gospel, the renewing your mind is that you would become someone who more than ever gives honor and praise to God. You worship God because that's where your satisfaction and your pleasure and your fulfillment actually will come from.

[00:15:44] And so Paul announces, he says, when this next level comes, then people, the result is verse 21, they become futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts are darkened. Now when you and me, when we talk about the heart, we're usually talking about the seat of emotion or feeling.

[00:16:03] But for Paul, when he talks about the heart, he's talking about that plus thought and intellect and will. So for us, what he's saying here is he's saying when somebody gets to this point where

[00:16:15] they not only say there is no God and I will not honor him but also I'm not going to give me any praise or devotion or you know, bow to him at all then this thing begins to flow.

[00:16:27] The very seat of their will and intellect and heart and emotions is darkened. In other words, it's impossible to even think straight forward lead us to even think clearly. And there will be thoughts that will come into the mind and will come into the heart

[00:16:42] that someone will actually live their lives based off those philosophies but they've come from a darkened place because they have an acknowledged God. You see, you can't even think clearly and logically and correctly about the universe

[00:16:55] in the world in your own life unless there is an honoring of God and a recognition of God and so that's what Paul is declaring. But in verse 22 he goes on and he tells us that there is another level of the suppression of the truth.

[00:17:10] He says 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 here's what happens to a culture or happens to mankind.

[00:17:28] But first say, I don't want to honor this majestic God. Then after that and their hearts close off to the reality of God because we're made to worship they have to find something to worship.

[00:17:43] And so what Paul announces is, they trade the glory of God and they exchange it for mortal man. Some of your Bible say men who are going to die. In other words, you were worshiping a God who had no beginning and has no end in mortal.

[00:18:02] Worth worshiping and you've exchanged the worship of him for worshiping images probably idolatry of mortal man and then it gets worse than that down into birds and animals and creeping things. Now when we think about this level of truth suppression where basically talking about idolatry

[00:18:22] here, we might think about idolatry as something that is very out there. We think about maybe other cultures throughout the world that are still entrenched in really old testament style idolatry. Actual idols sacrificing to actual idols, demons behind those idols.

[00:18:44] But I think it's important for us to recognize that idolatry isn't just an out there in other cultures and societies kind of thing. It's also in our culture and society. In the form of worshiping at the feet of actual statues and idols and all of that, but also

[00:19:01] in a different kind of idolatry. Notice that it begins with worshiping mortal man. When we cease to worship God, who do we begin to worship? Well we start by worshiping people. We worship, I think in our culture we look around and it's pretty easy to see.

[00:19:21] There's the worship of celebrity. There's the worship of beauty. There's the worship of those who are highly intellectual. There's the worship of the artistic. There's the worship of the athletic. There's the worship of a lot of different people in this culture and environment that we live in.

[00:19:39] And then eventually it gets down into as the truth is suppressed down into the worship of even birds and animals, the creation rather than worshiping God. And so Paul is announcing to us what is happening as mankind suppresses the truth.

[00:19:57] And maybe for you as you just look at this if you just kind of think about it, you think, oh okay that explains a few things. I'm seeing why there's this attitude in the world that I'm living in, why there's

[00:20:09] such an infatuation perhaps with created things and why there's an overattention perhaps to create things. Or maybe you're seeing why there's like a dysfunction just in the world. It's the wrath of God that has come upon a world that is rejected, the consciousness

[00:20:25] of and the worship of God. Now verse 24, Paul goes on. So we've seen three ways, the mankind will suppress the truth. Now verse 24, Paul begins three ways that God, notice verse 24, gives people up. That's the phrase. Three times, Paul is going to say that. God gave them up.

[00:20:47] God gave them up. Now I'm sure for some of you this is like a very new concept so I'm going to try to just take you through it and explain to you the way that this works. But let's think about that first phrase. Therefore God gave them up.

[00:21:03] So what's happening here is the suppression of the truth leads God to say, I give you up. So the question of course that we ask is what does that mean? What does it mean that God gave them up? We're going to see this repeated three times.

[00:21:19] So what does it mean that God gave them up? Well, some would say all this means is that there's consequences to our actions. And those consequences are embedded into the things that God has declared over the universe. So for example, God says don't steal.

[00:21:42] So that's like a thing in the universe God is embedded into the moral fabric of mankind. Don't steal. So you steal and immediately it's affecting you. Even if you're not caught, we all know that theft even if we're not caught, it affects us negatively, right?

[00:22:01] It makes you someone who takes shortcuts, you've robbed a fellow human and it's degraded who you are. You've just been downgraded through your theft. But then if you're caught, you suffer even more consequences to your actions.

[00:22:17] So some people would say that when God says he gave them up, all it means is that there are allowed to experience the ramifications of their sin. But it seems like Paul is saying something much more than just there are consequences to your actions.

[00:22:35] It seems like Paul is saying that God is actually not just because kind of just to say here's what God says and when we don't do it, there are consequences. That's very distant kind of approach. And this is God actively involved giving a people up.

[00:22:51] So it seems like God is rolled up his sleeves and there's a decision now about this kind of society and culture that says there is no God, we don't want to honor him and we're going to worship at the feet of idols.

[00:23:03] God makes this determination to give them up. Now okay so we're still like what does that mean? Does it mean that God says I'm giving up on people? I think that all of us who are sitting here covered by the blood of Jesus this morning,

[00:23:21] we'd say praise God, that's not what it meant. Because he sent his son to die for us so there was a, it wasn't just a, okay this is where it's at. So now I give up the heavens melt away with a fervent heat, this is over with.

[00:23:37] I'll start over with a new galaxy or something like that. It's not the way that it works, all right. So I don't think that we would say it means that God has given up on saving people.

[00:23:49] It seems like what it means is God says this is what you want, this is what you long to pursue and you want a life without me. You don't want to regard me. You don't want to come under the design that I've given.

[00:24:08] You don't want to acknowledge me as the creator of all things. And you want to worship the nature that I made, rather than fit into the nature that I made and honor me and praise me along with nature.

[00:24:21] And since you don't want to do that, I'm going to allow you to experience that desire of your heart to the absolute fullest. In one sense, I think you could say it's God making the slippery slope a little more

[00:24:37] slippery and just saying this is the rabbit hole that you're flirting with and you want to go into it. And I'm going to let you experience it and it's going to be painful. Now the question that we would ask then is why God, why would you do that?

[00:24:53] Why would you give us up to that kind of level of pain and heartache and agony? And again, some people would say, well, the reason that God gives them up is because God wants to judge mankind.

[00:25:07] But I think you and I would say no, it might be partly the judgment of God but it is partly the desire of God for mankind to be restored. You see when you are released and God just gives you up to these things, eventually you

[00:25:23] discover that it's empty. The reason that it's empty is because we cannot be satisfied if we're not in connection to God. So at the end of it, when we're dissatisfied, we should be looking around saying, man,

[00:25:36] I chased that out all the way to its logical conclusion and there's an emptiness in my heart what can I do to be satisfied? And that's where the message of the gospel comes in and we learn how to be united to God and be declared righteous like God.

[00:25:53] So I think that's what Paul is saying when he says, God gave them up. All right? Now he's going to say that three times, three phases of God giving them up in a society. This will probably help explain culture to you a little bit.

[00:26:07] So let's look at phase one in verse 24. So therefore God gave them up in the less so they're heart to impurity to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie.

[00:26:23] And we're shipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever a man. So the first level of God giving mankind up is that he gives them up to impurity into the dishonoring of their bodies.

[00:26:42] So phase one what you could say is God gives mankind up to increased and widespread sexual immorality. All right, so some of you have been on the earth a little bit longer than other some of the rest of us and you've had a chance to watch.

[00:27:00] That's just my way of saying that you're older than me. And you've watched things progress. And you've, hopefully as you've noticed, you've seen an increase in the comfort level that society has in general with sexual immorality.

[00:27:19] I mean we live in a world now where it's almost comical for people when you even suggest that there is such a thing as sexual immorality. But of course there is.

[00:27:32] I mean when I was in school, the big thing was you know, should they be allowed to come into our sex education classes and teach us how to have safe sex or not.

[00:27:47] And the big argument there was, well come on these kids isn't there a chance that we could teach them how to just not have sex. And so I'm actually abstain but the predominant thought now of course is, well that's

[00:28:02] just once they go through puberty, they're going to begin to experience experiment sexually. They're just going to live out that kind of life. So we might as well just give them some instruction on how to do it in a safe kind of way.

[00:28:16] Just what our culture and society in general becomes comfortable with. We become comfortable with cohabitation or pornography or public displays of sensuality. What we watch on the screen provocative clothing. We become very comfortable with things like this and God just allows a culture to enter

[00:28:36] into that reality, that increased and widespread sexual immorality. So here's a question that I think we should ask. Why is it that when God is talking about things like this and the word of God is talking about things like this?

[00:28:52] Why is it that sexual sin always seems to be one of the first things that is mentioned? Why is that the one that is the evidence of God giving up a culture to their desires?

[00:29:08] I think in one sense, you have to remember the argument that Paul is building. He's saying there's a God he made us. We should honor him and we should worship him and love him. But when we deny him and we don't honor him, we worship elsewhere.

[00:29:25] But here's the thing, when God made us, he made us to be one with him. So when we're not one with him, you know what we have, we have a desire to be one with something or with someone.

[00:29:40] And I think that sexual desire a lot of times is just that. It's a desire to either be one with a person that you're engaging with, or it's a desire to be one with an experience that is bigger and more powerful than yourself.

[00:29:59] And so Paul goes after this and he says, no, this is one of the first things that God gives a culture and a society up to. That idolatry leads to rampant sexual immorality within a culture. And Paul's heart is broken over it.

[00:30:16] That's why he says, you know, God, the creator who is blessed forever, amen. He just, it's sad for him to see mankind turn their back upon the Lord in that kind of way. Now that's the first phase of being given up by God to our rebellion.

[00:30:36] Now in verse 26, we have a second phase. He says, for this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men, likewise, gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion

[00:30:56] for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. Here in verse 26 to 27, Paul obviously here alludes to homosexual activity, homosexual sex. So here's the thing to consider.

[00:31:20] Some of us think that when we're reading the Bible, we're dealing with a book that is very ancient and has no modern kind of thought or concept to it. And that we kind of maybe assumed that when Paul was writing this letter he was like in

[00:31:35] some place where they could never have dreamed of homosexuality existing. But Paul was writing to a church in Rome that in the Roman Empire and culture, they were very comfortable with and very conscious of the concept of homosexuality.

[00:31:53] It's probable that most of the early emperors actually practice some form of open homosexuality. So this is a very prevalent kind of thing. If even the supreme leader in the Roman Empire is practicing it, it's a very public kind of thing that is being addressed.

[00:32:10] And so Paul here announces phase two of God giving up mankind to their desires and the announces, and I think this is what I would have to call it because of the words that he uses in the text.

[00:32:23] He says the women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations. So I think probably a great way to describe this is that the second phase of the first

[00:32:43] phase is taking natural sexual desires and then operating them outside of the confines of covenant marriage between a man and a woman for life. If that's the first phase, then the second phase that's natural desires perverted, this

[00:32:59] would be unnatural sex that is being unleashed here in this second phase because he talks about natural relations, contrary to nature, and natural relations being traded in. Now the important thing to designate here is that when he says that, he's not talking about

[00:33:19] what is natural to you or me or anybody's impulse or desire or feeling. He's talking about what's unnatural to the one who made nature. In other words, it flows from God. So even if a person says that's my desire feels unnatural, it doesn't feel unnatural to me.

[00:33:39] It feels natural to me and that's a reality that many believers have come out of that feeling and that impulse but even if that's the case, the better recognition is to say, even if it feels natural to me, it is not natural to God.

[00:33:56] It's created us, male and female. This is the way that he has designed us. So what you're seeing here is unnatural sex that begins to become more prevalent as a culture goes on this downward spiral, this downward trend and experiences the wrath of God.

[00:34:15] Now obviously, in looking at this second phase, I'm not ignorant of the fact that this is a really big deal in the culture and in the environment that we live in and is really a constant topic and something that people are talking about thinking about and stuff like

[00:34:32] that. So I want to make a couple of comments about this just looking at the text. I don't know that I'll be able to give the most fully robust thing but to help you, some

[00:34:43] of the pastors knowing that I'd be looking at these verses on this day, they put together some resources online for you. So if you just go to calvary.com, if you want to study this out further, then you can go there

[00:34:54] and get those and books, answers to questions and some ways to just have a good philosophy and perspective about these particular elements. But I just want to say a couple of things at this point.

[00:35:07] First of all, notice what he says at the end of verse 27, they receive in themselves the dupe penalty for their error. So the question is, what is that? What does the dupe penalty for this unnatural sex that begins to become more prevalent on the world?

[00:35:26] What does that dupe penalty mean? Well, it's going to be more than just the natural consequences of sin, right? Because that goes without saying. There's going to be consequences to sin. So what is the dupe penalty of this sin in particular?

[00:35:43] I think in one sense, it is a, did you notice the phrase there? It's consumed with passion for one another. I think that part of the dupe penalty of this unnatural sexual desire is that it swallows up a person's identity. You're no longer you, your sexual appetite.

[00:36:05] You're no longer identified by who you are and who God has made you to be, but you're identified by what you want to do sexually. And I think that's a very negative thing, that penalty that comes upon a person's heart when they live in that kind of way.

[00:36:22] So I think that's part of what the dupe penalty that Paul is mentioning is. Also, verse 27, when he does mention that consumed with passion, I think it's worth mentioning that a lot of times, this second phase is a phase that is so strong and filled with desire

[00:36:42] that is almost out of control. It's highly addictive in nature. There's a need there and an inability to escape from it. So for a Christian or for the church, what really should be an attitude that we have inside the body of Christ?

[00:36:58] Well first of all, I think on one hand, we would just simply say, well, Paul is saying we agree. Okay, you have to look into God's word and say, I'm going to have my mind shaped by the

[00:37:12] Word of God and I'm not going to have my mind shaped by my feelings, my emotions or culture or anything like that. My mind is going to be shaped by the Word of God.

[00:37:22] And for some of you, that's going to be part of the process of the gospel getting inside your heart and inside your mind and renewing you and restoring you. Is it you come to a place of conceding to what God's word declares? Okay, so that's part of it.

[00:37:37] But I think probably for a lot of us, there needs to be this sense because there might be a temptation with some people to be like, that's right, Paul, go get them kind of thing and that really isn't an accurate or healthy feeling or perspective

[00:37:55] for us to have either. Because first of all, that's unhelpful. It's not going to save or redeem or reach anyone because it's unattractive. So you say that it's sin and you agree that it's sin. But then what do you do beyond that?

[00:38:10] What does love actually look like in and from the body of Christ? So I think Jesus has a great example of this in his life in John chapter 8. There was a woman caught an adultery.

[00:38:24] They bring her to Jesus and they say this woman, the law says she's deserving of death. What do you say? And Jesus says, well who you without sin let him throw the first stone and he went down on the ground and he began writing on the ground.

[00:38:39] And one by one they all departed. Apparently they were convicted by some kind of sin in their own hearts. But then Jesus got up when he was alone with the woman and he didn't just then say, all right, see like all these self-righteous people they couldn't condemn you.

[00:38:54] And so it's all good, you know. No he said neither do I condemn you but go and sin no more. So there was a recognition that what she had done was sinful, but he wanted to restore this woman.

[00:39:05] He wanted to bring her back into reconciliation and back into health and that attitude and that heart needs to exist inside the body of Christ. Nothing we'd also have to recognize that the whole seat of this passage is God created

[00:39:25] and God is on the throne and God is sovereign. I mean, I hope you're even seeing this in as you look at culture and you see what Paul is describing is what we're living.

[00:39:37] And the reason that is happening is because not because Paul has some kind of great predictive power, but because Paul knows the one who's in control of all things. And so you see that God's on the throne, that's the seat of this whole passage and it

[00:39:52] helps us understand no matter what anybody might say, God will not change his laws. What he has decided with he has decreed, that's the way it's going to be. And so you have to confess that and believe that.

[00:40:08] I think also when we see that God is giving them up to this, it probably would be helpful to us in understanding why maybe it feels like there's an increase of this kind of practice

[00:40:21] these practices in our modern world because it's like the sway of an occurenant of the society and culture that we're living in. So that should help you have more compassion, I think, because there's this strong current

[00:40:35] that is flowing and to be able to say, people are just getting caught up in this current. And thinking about things and doing things that maybe they would have never done but now

[00:40:46] that current is just pulling them towards it and so our heart is a hard of compassion toward that. But I think also, and this is one reason why it's so important for the body of Christ

[00:40:59] to stand firm and say, no, what the Bible teaches is accurate. This is actually sin. And part of the reason that that's important is because God is describing something that is destructive and at the end of something that's destructive is real depression and sadness.

[00:41:20] So when the church, because so many portions of the church have done this, when the church comes to a place of saying, it's all good. You can do whatever you want and that's

[00:41:29] not a sin. When a church comes to that place, God doesn't change his mind. And at the end of it, there's destruction and depression but for a church who said, just go for it and persist in it.

[00:41:40] When someone is destroyed and depressed at the end of this lifestyle and they turn to Christians like that, then those Christians have to just simply say, well, just keep going. You have to keep

[00:41:51] pursuing that lifestyle. You have to keep pursuing that sin because of who you are and you need to go for it. And so for us, we'd say at the end of that sin, well, here's the reason why there's that depression

[00:42:03] and why there's that brokenness because this is how God has made us in where a world that's under sin and under the wrath of God and the gospel can cause you to escape out of that and into

[00:42:16] his marvelous light and righteousness and life and all of that. So, that's an important thing. I think for the church to be conscious of. So, just some things that I wanted to mention out of that

[00:42:29] particular section, it's just one of the three phases but it's the second phase and Paul makes mention of it and so I think it's important for us to have a good perspective concerning homosexuality

[00:42:41] because, like I said, it's very prevalent in the culture that we're living in. Now, first 28, he goes on and this is really phase three of that God giving them up. When he says in sense,

[00:42:54] they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, they are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossip, slanderers,

[00:43:14] haters of God, insolent, hotly, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient appearance, foolish, faithless, heartless and ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who

[00:43:36] practice them. So this is the third phase of God giving up a culture and this is basically what it is. The first phase is you're going to see an increase in sexual immorality, then second phase you'll

[00:43:49] see an increase in a desire for unnatural sex and then thirdly you see an increase in not only all of these sins but you see an increase in all of these things becoming practiced and

[00:44:02] here's the key at the end of verse 32 approved. That's what you begin to see more than anything is the approval at the end of all of this, the third phase. So not just widespread practice

[00:44:15] but the notable approval of all types of sin. Isaiah 5 verse 20 describes this exact thing when it says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light

[00:44:31] for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. So when you see in a society or a culture not just an increase in some of these things but an increase in public approval and

[00:44:45] support of and being excited about and interested in and even encouraging children, you should think about this, kind of thing, you should really figure out who you are and encouraging that in a

[00:45:00] societal kind of way. When you see that and you discover that, you know exactly according to Paul. I mean this is the biblical way of thinking about things that God has released that culture and

[00:45:13] society up to these things and he's released them to that given them up to that that they might come to the end of it and repent of their sin, see the emptiness of it in their own heart, see the

[00:45:25] emptiness of it in their own lives. Now I realize I'm fully aware that this is not you know Romans one verse 18 to 32 although incredibly contemporary and has a lot to say about our modern culture,

[00:45:39] I realize that this is not going to be the way that most people view the world. And I'm fine with that. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God for salvation. So it's delicate though

[00:45:54] because on the one hand I want to stand firm for the truth and on the other hand, I don't want to you know what I'm not trying to do this morning. Maybe even picked it up

[00:46:03] on the way that I'm saying these things. My tone. The last thing I'm trying to do is like rally a base you know like you watch these political debates and it's like when it's in the primary

[00:46:14] kind of time everybody is like trying to get their base excited you know and what I'm interested in is I'm interested in those who need to come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And so

[00:46:28] I want to believe these things and hold these things and make sense of the world through the grid of Romans 1, 18 to 32 but then also to be able to reach into the lives of people which

[00:46:40] of course Paul was just absolutely expert at doing. Now when this happens in your life and you receive the message of the gospel what I want you to see is that it is the power

[00:46:55] of God for salvation and that salvation means that yes you're born again and you're changed but all of these things that we just read about they also sometimes progressively will be reversed

[00:47:08] in your life. So you use to approve and celebrate and eventually you get to a place where you realize those things are not healthy those things are not right I don't want to approve of them

[00:47:20] and celebrate them. Used to have sexual tendencies and desires of where out of bounds of what God has designed and slowly but surely maybe for some of you there will be the process of restoration

[00:47:32] where God by the gospel is restoring your mind and your heart and your body is your connected to him to come in line with his desires for your life. And then the idolatry and the worship of

[00:47:46] idols and images and all of that it slowly but surely goes away as you through the power of the gospel worship the Lord more and more and more. But I hope that as you just think about this

[00:47:58] passage you're able to just kind of get a better grid for just humanity. This is how Paul saw the world this is how the Holy Spirit inspired him to write of the world that we live in and

[00:48:12] I was tempted to take three weeks or so to kind of go through it but I just wanted you to see the flow of argument there that it's suppression, suppression, suppression giving up,

[00:48:23] giving up, giving up and all of that is designed to lead us into the truth of the gospel and our need for salvation we'd say why do we need to be safe? Well here's part of it. Now if you're

[00:48:35] feeling really good about yourself after this text which you shouldn't I mean this is mankind is sold under sent but if at the end of this you're feeling really good well at least I'm not if you're

[00:48:45] feeling that way then come back next week because the next couple of weeks there's something for every one of us to be hammered over and we're going to feel and understand the great guilt that we

[00:48:59] have before God and our great need for the message of the gospel. Alright so let me pray for you and for our hearts and minds Lord we thank you so much for your lucid, clear, declaration about this

[00:49:13] world, Lord that we live in and Lord our heart definitely is to have an ability, Lord to be in the world yet not of the world and it breaks our heart Lord along with yours as we you know we we see

[00:49:28] the Lord just this stream, this current that is so strong and it seems like it just can so easily just take anything that's in its path you know and just young innocent people all that and then

[00:49:40] boom just this desire for maybe like in that first phase sexual impurity and and just pulls them in and it seems that's such force to it Lord but we're seeing now here Lord your sovereign hand

[00:49:55] being involved and even that process and we pray Lord that what that would lead to our eyes that are open to see the great need for the gospel, eyes that are open to see our desperation for salvation,

[00:50:11] our desperation for this message. So Lord we pray and we ask that you would Lord by your holy spirit work within our hearts and with our minds and Lord for any of us who are just I mean we really all are

[00:50:27] but at various degrees and different places on the timeline so wherever we're at Lord in our need for your message the gospel renewing our minds and helping us to see the world in a more biblical kind of way

[00:50:44] from your vantage point and perspective we just pray Lord that you continue that process Lord in our lives and that our minds would be renewed Lord that they wouldn't be darkened but that they

[00:50:57] be renewed Lord God so we ask Him pray that you do it by your holy spirit and that you'd strengthen us Lord for that task and that you just grow us in that kind of way but we thank You Lord for

[00:51:09] reaching into a world like this and making a way for us Lord to be saved so we acknowledge You Lord this morning we want to go back to You and say you're the creator you made all things by your word they

[00:51:25] exist and we thank You and we honor You as the God of all flesh we love You Lord and we praise You and Jesus name, amen.