The last couple of weeks we've been talking about
humanism. I'm wondering if this last few days
you've been listening to the television and the
radio to see if you can catch the lie. Have you
been doing that? I have heard a couple of interesting
news reports in the last 24 hours as a matter
of fact. One of them stated that the students
in a certain high school in Houston, Texas can
no longer sing the school song, because in the
school song it says, God bless our school. And
a court judge in Houston has ruled that that's
an unconstitutional song, and therefore though
it can be played by the band, the students are
not allowed any longer to sing their school song.
It violates the separation of church and state.
Graduates from a certain college in the East,
a Christian college, which prepares young men
and women to teach at a secondary educational
level, have been instructed how to teach biology
from a creationist viewpoint. They've also been
taught how to teach evolution, but of course
they will teach that evolution is fallacious.
It's not a truth theory. Therefore, a panel from
the State Department of Education that was reviewing
that college has stated that they will not recommend
that those teachers be certified to teach biology
because they will not teach that evolution is
true. Keep your ears open this week and you will
pick up the lie of humanism as is being spread
through the media in so many subtle ways. We
are looking at Romans chapter 1 as we have talked
about humanism and the lie Today we're going
to go back to the text. We took a couple of weeks
out to study the theme of humanism But today
we're going to look at verses 24 through 32 Therefore,
God gave them over in the sinful desires of their
hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of
their bodies with one another. They exchanged
the truth of God for the lie." And that is the
phrase there that started our thematic study
of what the lie is in the Bible. It is that man
can live independently of God. He is self -sufficient
and able to choose for himself what right and
wrong are. He exchanged the truth of God for
the lie and worshiped and served the created
things rather than the Creator, who is forever
praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them
over to shameful lusts, even though women exchanged
natural relations for unnatural ones. In the
same way, the men also abandoned natural relations
with women and were inflamed with lust, or literally
they burned themselves out with lust for one
another. Men committed indecent acts with other
men and received in themselves the due penalty
for their perversion. Furthermore, since they
did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge
of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind
to do what ought not to be done. They have become
filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed,
and depravity. They are full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
slanderers, God -haters, insolent, arrogant,
and boastful. They invent ways of doing evil.
They disobey their parents. They are senseless,
faithless, heartless, and ruthless. Although
they know God's righteous decree that those who
do such things deserve death, they not only continue
to do these very things, but also approve of
those who practice them. What an amazing paragraph
in light of our society today, wouldn't you agree?
Our subject today is when God gives up. Now God
does not give up in the human sense of that thought.
out of weariness or frustration or fear. But
he gives up or he gives over in a judicial sense.
Three times you'll notice in our text it says
God gave them over. It is an act of God this
giving up or giving over a society. Now we see
it used a couple of other times in the Bible.
Back in Psalm 81, it is used of Israel. And there
in the Psalm, verses 11 and 12 state, But my
people would not listen to me. Israel would not
submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn
hearts to follow their own devices. What a judgment
from God that He would allow any of us to do
that. But you'll notice that again Israel sinned
against the light that she had. Deliberate rebellion.
Refusal to obey led God to give them over to
their own stubborn hearts to follow their own
devices. That's judgment. It is used again in
the book of Acts regarding God's Old Testament
people. In Acts chapter 7, the magnificent sermon
by Stephen. before he was executed. And in this
chapter he outlines for us the history of the
nation of Israel. We're going to break into the
middle of that in verse 41, which says, To what?
To idols. The very same process as we see in
Romans 1 when it refers to primarily, they are
the pagan gentiles. It goes on to say, but God
turned away and gave them over to the worship
of the heavenly bodies. And this agrees with
what is written in the book of the prophets and
he quotes from the Old Testament. And so again
we see God judging a nation because of its refusal
to obey the light that it had. He gave them over
to idolatry. In this case, it was the worship
of the heavenly bodies or astrology. When men
reject the light that God gives to them, his
judgment is absolutely certain. He will give
them over. The idea in that means that he gives
them over to another's power. or use. It means
that he takes his hands off and allows the willful
rejection of himself to produce its own natural
results. The divine restraint of God upon mankind's
sin is lifted. That is God's judgment. And therefore
that sin begins to produce its own wickedness
and its own judgment. William Newell and his
commentary on Romans, which is one of those,
by the way, that we offer to you in the bookstore.
It's a very fine commentary written about 50
years ago, and you can see that in some of the
comments that he makes. He was concerned about
the wickedness back in the 30s. If he were alive
today, he'd have to rewrite his commentary in
some spots because of the degeneration in our
society in the last 50 years. But Newell says
this, Notice that when man is delivered from
divine restraint, the lusts of his heart plunge
him into ever deeper bodily uncleanness and bodily
vileness. History backs up this fact with terrible
relentlessness. I believe that this is the wrath
of God spoken of in verse 18 when it says, The
wrath of God is being revealed from heaven. against
all the godlessness and wickedness of men. It
does not say God's wrath will be revealed, though
it will be in its consummating sense in hell,
in the eternal lake of fire, but it says that
God's wrath is right now being revealed, in the
process of time, in history, in the outflow of
human events. God's wrath is now being revealed
is a thought, and I believe that what he says
later in the chapter defines that. It is God
lifting His divine restraint over man's sin,
and then the results that take place serve as
God's judgment upon man. As we review the degenerate
and wicked condition of man separated from God,
let none of us think of himself self -righteously.
Because, folks, this is the same family, the
same race that we're all born into. These verses
are perhaps some of the most terrible in all
the Bible. They describe mankind abandoned by
God. I believe that these verses refer to that
civilization before the Flood, as I've said before,
but these verses can well apply to any civilization
since then. For every civilization goes the same
way when it turns against God. There is no mistaking
it that you see our civilization, the Western
civilization, in these verses today. Our text
gives us insight to help us understand the righteous
judgment of God upon such as these. Notice first
of all why God gives up, verses 24 through 27.
It is because men knew God, but as he says in
earlier verses, they suppressed the truth and
they rejected the knowledge of God. So in verse
21 we see, although they knew God, they glorified
him not as God, nor gave thanks to him. Those
are the first two steps away from God. Step three,
their thinking became futile and their foolish
hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to
be wise, they became fools and exchanged the
glory of the immortal God for images made to
look like mortal man, birds, animals, reptiles.
And so we see there are six steps away from God.
Why does God give up on a society, on a civilization?
Because it transgresses against him and takes
these six steps. We today are a nation of idolaters.
We are worshipping the most wicked idol of all,
and that is ourselves, and the name of the religion
is humanism. Man who turns from God always is
an idolater, whether that idol be the state,
or whether it be a philosophy or an idol of wood
or stone or money or material possessions or
oneself. A man who turns from God always becomes
an idolater. Man is a religious creature. And
when God is removed from his rightful place,
something must fill it. Regarding idolatry, There
are a couple of important statements. First,
a man will always become like what he worships.
So if a man worships money, he will become greedy.
If a man worships himself, he will become arrogant,
and so on. Of course, that's true of the Christian,
too. What we worship, we become like. If we worship
to God, then we become like the Lord Jesus Christ.
The second thing that I would note about idolatry
is that it inevitably leads to immorality. Now
we see that in our text. You perhaps have noticed
that there were three times that the idea of
exchanging something was mentioned here. It's
mentioned in verse 23 where it says, they exchanged
the glory of the immortal God for images. That's
the first exchange. The second one is in verse
25, and this is a step down. It says they exchanged
the truth of God for the lie. And then in verse
26, we see the final one. Even the women exchanged
natural relations for unnatural ones. And then
it says in the same way, the men also. And so
natural sexual desires are exchanged for unnatural.
sexual desires. Those steps are inevitably found
in idolatry. And you'll notice it says, because
of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.
Something that is honorable is something that
gets its proper respect. Shameful is just the
opposite of honorable. What it means is that
the lusts controlling these here caused them
to improperly value the sacredness of the body,
and thus to use it in an inappropriate manner,
in a way that God does not intend. And so there
is this perversion, this twisting, the exchange
of God for idols, the truth for the live, for
what God has created to be beautiful, and an
expression of love, and a consummating sense.
mankind exchanges for that which is unnatural
and shameful. That's why God gives up. As I've
said three times, it says, God gave them over.
In verse 24, it seems to mean that God gave them
over to cultic immorality. In other words, to
immorality mingled together with their religion.
You'll notice it's in the same context with idolatry
that he says, therefore, God gave them over in
the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual
impurity. Particularly in that day, there was
immorality in connection with the cult, the cultic
pagan worship. There were fertility cults, for
example, in which sexual relations with temple
prostitutes without to encourage the gods to
do the same, and therefore to cause an increase
in the families and crops and herds of the mortals.
Paul wrote this book of Romans from the city
of Corinth, and there they worshipped Aphrodite
or Venus, the false goddess, and part of the
worship of her were these temple prostitutes.
And that's the reason that it was a part of it.
It was a fertility cult, and they felt that in
this way they would encourage the gods to give
them increase. No wonder it says that their foolish
hearts were darkened. God gave them over to that
kind of immorality. And then in verse 26, another
step, God gives them over to perversion and general
immorality. D .H. Gifford has said, the sin against
God's nature entails as its penalty sin against
one's own nature. In other words, they turned
away from the true God and here they turn away
from the true use of the creative ability that
God has given us sexually to that which is false
and unnatural and perverted. It goes on to state
here in verse 27 that they received in themselves
the due penalty for their perversion. That suggests
that the punishment is in keeping with the offense.
E. F. Harrison states in his commentary, sexual
deviation contains in itself a recompense, a
punishment for the abandonment of God and his
ways. And I believe that can be illustrated well.
For example, there are some unique diseases and
viruses associated primarily with immorality
and particularly with sodomy. VD, in its most
recent form, is almost uncontrollable, except
by the new penicillin that man has put out to
try to control it. In recent days, there's been
a lot of talk about the new herpes virus, which
is associated primarily with immorality, but
not entirely. You see, God has built into these
very sins their own judgment. And though man
may attempt to control them, that is these diseases,
he only controls them for a while until a new
strain that's more powerful appears and man's
medicine no longer controls. And that will keep
happening. Man will never be able to control
these judgments from God. Of course, in addition,
There are certain kinds of cancers that appear
predominantly with those who practice this kind
of immorality. So God has built right into the
very physical makeup of things judgment when
man becomes perverse and immoral in the sense
that these verses are talking about. And then
this does not even speak of the emotional and
mental problems that come because of these sins.
And again I repeat, let no one tell you that
these sins are committed because people have
no control over themselves. They're just born
that way. That's an attempt for people to escape
responsibility. But this kind of perversion is
a choice. It is a choice that's made more natural
because men turn away from God. but it nonetheless
is a choice, and connected with it is its own
judgment. And then finally in verse 28 it says,
God gave them over to a depraved mind. The idea
is that eventually men are unable to distinguish
between right and wrong. They lose that sense
of conscience, that ability to discern what is
correct and what is perverse. and so that after
a while everything becomes the same. Wiest in
his commentary on Romans says, the human race
put God to the test for the purpose of approving
him should he meet the specifications which he
laid down for a God who would be to his liking.
In finding that he did not meet those specifications,
the human race refused to approve him as God.
to be worshipped, or to have Him in its knowledge.
The human race put God on trial, and because
it rejected Him after trial, God gave it a trial
-less mind, a depraved mind in other words, one
incapable of discharging the functions of the
mind with respect to the things of salvation.
Virtually they pronounced the true God disapproved.
and would have none of him, and he gave them
up to a disapproved mind, a mind which has no
mind and cannot discharge the functions of one,
a mind in which the divine distinctions of right
and wrong are confused and lost, so that God's
condemnation cannot but fall on it at last. into
his commentary by Dr. Alfred. Because they reprobated
the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a
reprobate mind. That's why God gives up. That's
why God gives over. Because men turn away from
him. Let us think in verses 28 through 32 about
this idea of when God gives up. I think it's
important to understand that not until a certain
point of reprobation is reached does God give
up. God is a patient and merciful God. He is
long -suffering towards sinners. It is not until
a certain point is reached, I suppose, which
only He knows, that it then becomes too late.
I speak here in the sense of a society, not of
the individual. I do think there's a point at
which the individual's salvation is impossible
because he hardens his heart and hardens his
heart against God until it's too late. But here
we're thinking of God's turning over of a civilization,
of a society to judgment. When that certain point
comes, God is finished with it. I think we can
illustrate the fact that God is patient. If you'll
turn back to Genesis with me, to chapter 15.
As you're turning there, I would remind you that
in those days before the flood, God was patient.
He sent Enoch among them to preach. God was patient
for them an extra 120 years. Long suffering with
them, and then finally judgment came. They went
beyond the point of no return. But in Genesis
chapter 15, God is speaking to Abraham. He talks
to him about the land that he's going to give
to his descendants. It says in verse 13 of Genesis
15, then the Lord said to him, know for certain
that your descendants will be strangers in a
country not their own, and they will be enslaved
and mistreated for a hundred years. What was
that? But I will punish the nation they serve
as slaves, and afterward they will come out with
great possessions." Read the early chapters of
Exodus to see this fulfilled. And notice why
God does not give it to Abraham now, at least
in part. For the sin of the Amorites has not
yet reached its full measure. God was patient
with that pagan group, the Amorites. He was long
suffering toward them. At this point that he
speaks to Abraham, the point of no return had
not been reached. And so God says, in four generations
the time will be up and I will allow you to come
in and massacre them, which they did when they
conquered the land. And they did that by the
command of God. We might think that the Amorites
deserved judgment at that time, and in a sense
they did. The pagan religions of the Amorites
were disgraceful and shameful. Not only was their
immorality involved, but they actually had human
sacrifices. You can go to Israel today and they
will point out at least one altar on which humans
were sacrificed thousands of years ago by these
people that were there in Abraham's day. Not
only did they offer human sacrifices, but they
offered their babies up in worship to their gods.
And we wonder why God's patience waited, but
I tell you something, before we judged the Amorites
too strongly, we had better look upon the pagan
altars of our own society and see the millions
of babies that have been offered up in the altar
of humanism since the Supreme Court decision
of 1973. We have human sacrifice in our society,
too. The bodies are not found on altars. They're
found in garbage bags, be thrown in trash heaps,
and burned. We are as guilty as the Amorites
ever were of false religion and human sacrifice
as a part of that. And just as surely as God's
judgment ultimately came upon the Amorites, so
God's judgment will come upon our society. And
I believe that we are seeing the beginning of
that today in the increase of immorality and
in such practical things as our economic distress.
God does ultimately give up on a civilization.
What we have pictured here in Romans chapter
1 is the chaos in a society due to man's rejection
of God and God's rejection of man. It begins
with a condition of the mind. Notice in verse
28, they did not think it worthwhile to retain
the knowledge of God. He gave them over to a
depraved mind to do what ought not to be done.
So it begins with a mindset that cancels out
God. This verse, as well as some others in the
Bible, prove to us that sins are not the result
of environmental conditions or poverty, but sins
result because of the darkness of the inner man.
It's out of that inner darkness that all the
vile things in our society comes from. It begins
with a mindset, with the inner person, and then
it proceeds to actions which are not fitting
in God's universe. especially not fitted to man
who's created in the image of God. And notice
that he says that this kind of a society that
God gives up on is filled with these things.
There's no limit to it. Now what he says does
not mean that everybody does all of these things,
but that all do some of them and that all are
capable of all. He begins to list in verse 29,
specific sins that are found in a society that
rejects God and which God rejects. The first
word is wickedness. That refers to injustice.
It's like the unjust decisions that a trial judge
would make, for example. It means self -centeredness.
It is the claiming of one's own rights and refusal
to allow the rights of others. It is absence
of justice. Because man is wicked, laws in society
are essential to counteract and to contain the
wickedness so that disruption in society is minimized.
But when the laws begin to be diminished, and
the effect of them, the penalty of them, begins
to be diminished, then man's wickedness begins
to be expressed more, and that's what we're seeing
these days. The second word is evil. They've
become filled with every kind of wickedness and
evil. The word here is that which is vile and
sinister. It's the word that describes Satan
in Ephesians chapter 6 when it calls him the
evil one. Sinister. And then the word greed.
That is the urge for acquiring more. The claiming
of more than is one's due. Gaining from another's
loss means to defraud and to take advantage of
other people. And then the word depravity. Dr.
Trench says that it is the evil habit of mind.
In other words, it is a mindset that is evil
and it attributes evil motives to others without
a cause. It simply leads into others' actions,
that which is evil. Jefferson wrote to Madison
this interesting statement. Maris will always
find bad motives for good actions. That's what
he's talking about here. Seeing evil everywhere.
Reading into even good actions, bad motives.
We had a phone call yesterday from someone who
was quite upset about a person from this church
coming to her door to deliver any literature
about our church and accused us of all kinds
of evil motives in that. Well, that's the kind
of thing he's talking about here, depravity.
And then he says they're full of envy. Envy is
hate that is aimed at those who possess what
we do not have. It was out of envy that the Lord
Jesus Christ was turned over to Pilate for a
crucifixion. Pilate knew that. The Jews hated
him. They were envious of his power, of his position
with the people. The Oxford dictionary says it
is to feel displeasure and ill will at the superiority
of another. in happiness, success, reputation,
or the possession of anything desirable. That's
envy. And then, full of murder. A society that
turns from God is one that is full of murder.
That means to take the life of another, and that
often goes with envy, doesn't it? You remember
the first murder that took place? Envy was a
part of that, wasn't it? And then, full of strife,
that is wrangling or contention. No peace. People
just constantly at one another. Deceit is the
next word. Learn what it means to bait a fish.
So much of our commerce in our advertising these
days is based upon this concept of baiting. The
old bait and switch plan used by some people.
Advertising is very sophisticated in our day
so that our subliminal thoughts are affected
by it. In very subtle ways advertisers get their
message through. I noticed this last week in
one advertisement for independent insurance agents
and the gentleman who does the commercial while
he is talking has a pair of handcuffs and by
what he does with the handcuffs suggests to you
subconsciously that one who is not an independent
insurance agent is locked in to his company and
can't give you the best deal from another company.
That happens all the time in advertising. The
idea of deceit here is more than just trickery,
it's the idea that we just talked about. And
then malice is the next word. Full of malice.
The idea is bad character. Depravity of heart
and life. Then in the last part of verse 29,
he says, there are gossips. To gossip means to
speak in one's ear, literally. The idea here
is secret slander, the peddling of evil reports.
Christendom said, slander is worse than cannibalism.
It's very similar to cannibalism. Jeremy Taylor,
great preacher, one of the sermon said, slander
renders in pieces the very heart and vital parts
of charity. It makes an evil man party and witness
and judge and executioner of the innocent. If
there's anything that we ought to flee from is
these kinds of sins. He goes on to talk about
slanderers, and here the idea is not secret slander,
but open slander. those who speak out blatantly
against others. It is the public flaunting of
false charges. So often I fear that the media
gets caught up in this, in accusing, convicting,
and sometimes even executing a person before
he's found guilty by the courts. And then the
word God -haters, a word that is used only here
in the New Testament. Barnhouse says it means
to be hateful to God, but you get the idea. Instead
of loving God, it's hating God. Insult means
to take pleasure in insulting. It's to shamefully
do another person wrong. This is the real Don
Rickles, this kind of a person. They say he's
a nice guy. But you've heard him. And there are
people, you know, around where you work that
are just like him in real life, aren't they?
Constantly insulting others. And then the word
arrogant, haughty in attitude, despising others,
treating them with contempt, and then boastful
or braggarts. The idea here is like a wagon that
rattles along because it's empty. Our society
is so filled with this kind of thing, people
who brag and boast about what they can do. He
says they invent ways of doing evil. Again, Barnhouse
says, man turns to evil even the inventions that
are full of potential good. And that's true.
When man is finished with one toy, he invents
another by which to fulfill his evil. And then
he says they disobey their parents. The idea
here means that they are unable to be persuaded
by them. They reject parental authority. It is
rebellion against any kind of control. The same
thought is used in 2 Timothy chapter 3 in describing
the last days, the attitude toward parents. I
tell you humanism encourages and promotes this
idea. It says they are senseless. The word means
that they are undiscerning morally. They have
no spiritual insight or appreciation. Then it
says they are faithless, number 19. They are
bound by no promise. The wickedness that does
not intend to carry out its pledged words is
in view here. It is the breaking of promises.
and of confidences. There are people who will
use a credit card to pay for something and yet
never intend to pay for it with cash, to pay
the credit card company back or to pay that store.
It is the breaking of commitments that are made,
faithless. Then he says they're heartless. And
the idea is they're without a natural affection,
particularly for the family in that sense. A
desertion of love and care and concern. And finally,
he says, they are ruthless. It means without
mercy. There is no tenderness, no compassion,
hard -heartedness, cruelty, abuse. All of these
things are in view here. Harrison says, instead
of repenting of their own misdeeds and seeking
to deter others, They promoted wrongdoing by
encouraging it in their fellows, allowing themselves
with rotten sinners in defiant revolt against
a righteous God. You'll notice in verse 32, it
says, that although they know God's righteous
decree that those who do things like this deserve
death, they continue to do them and they approve
those who practice them. And so you see three
things there. First, they know what they're doing
is wrong. Secondly, nonetheless they continue
to do them. And finally, they also approve those
who do the same things. Warren Horsby, in his
little book on Romans, another one of those that
we have available called Be Right, says, How
far man fell. He began glorifying God but ended
exchanging that glory for idols. He began knowing
God. but ended refusing to keep the knowledge
of God in his mind and heart. He began as the
highest of God's creatures, made in the image
of God, but he ended lower than the beasts and
insects because he worshipped them as his gods.
The verdict? They are without excuse. And that
is God's verdict of man. No excuse. When does
God give up? When that point is reached, which
only he knows, that a society has gone too far.
Has our society reached that point yet? I can't
say. I don't know. But this I do know, that the
whole process is seen in our society, as it is
revealed in this chapter. Everything is here.
that God says was in that other generation, he
refers to, when judgment came. And he says, they
are without excuse, they are worthy of judgment.
He says, therefore, the wrath of God is being
revealed from heaven against them. My friend,
if you're here today in Jesus Christ, let me
tell you that we have no reason for thinking
ourselves to be so far above these others. because
of the sin that lives in us, we are capable of
any of these things. But by the grace of God,
we are saved from that. And instead of now being
under God's condemnation, we are under God's
blessing. Instead of being harassed and darkened
in sin, we have the light of Jesus Christ and
his eternal life. we have so very much for which
to be grateful. We have so very much for which
we can rejoice and thank God, and we should.
But since we live in a society like this, we
have all the more responsibility for being faithful
to Christ. And as Paul said there in verse 16,
not being ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because
it is God's power. Let us this week be faithful
declares of that message and to be burdened for
those who are lost in the darkness and the degeneration
that we see in these verses. Let's not be conceited
and pompous and wash our hands of these people,
but let us with burdened hearts out of love as
extensions of God's long suffering and his mercy.
reach out to people we work with and we live
with in our neighborhoods, and let us share with
them the message by which they can be saved from
this idolatry that will lead to God's condemnation.
If you're here today without Jesus Christ, then
my word to you is to flee from God's wrath. God's
wrath that is coming upon you right now in this
life, and God's wrath that is to come. Be saved
from it. Be rescued from it by placing your faith
in Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, as we look
at these verses, they are terrible in their impact.
They leave us burdened and heavy. Not only because
of the content of the verses, but because as
we compare what is said in your revelation to
the world we live in, we see our world described
here. We're concerned because judgment is deserved.
We're concerned because your wrath is now being
poured out upon our civilization. God, we would
dare pray that there may be a spiritual awakening.
a genuine and deep moving of the Spirit of God
in our age, which will see us spared from the
judgment which our civilization deserves. Lord,
it has been over a hundred years since we've
had this kind of a moving in our nation. Oh,
how we plead with you that we may see it again.
Lord, out of your long suffering and your mercy,
deal with us. and bring us to repentance. I pray
that you will do work in us here in Grace Church
in the lives of each of us that will make us
on the cutting edge of this spiritual movement.
Give us the courage and compassion to speak out
for the truth and to seek to win the lost. God,
accept you do this work. our nation will fall,
and the freedom we now enjoy will be lost. There
will be no excuse if you choose to do that. It
will be a righteous judgment. We plead with you
today for your mercy. In Jesus' name, amen.