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Romans 1:24-32When God Gives Us What We WantWREFC 7/08/18There are some messages that pastors find hard to preach. Today’s sermon fits into that category. It’s hard to preach because I know the subject matter is not going to be easy for you to sit and listen too.Some years ago Pastor Walter Luthi of Berne, Switzerland, was preaching to his congregation on Romans 1:24-32. He began his message this way: “In the words that we have just read we are told the whole truth about our condition. There may well be people among us who cannot bear to hear the truth, and would like to creep quietly away out of the church. Let them do so if they wish.” Pastor Luthi’s words ring true, because these verses by the apostle Paul are extremely difficult to contemplate. The theme is the judgment of God upon a world gone mad with sin. When we read this passage it’s like looking into the mirror of our soul to discover our true spiritual condition. It’s all dark and somber. Many of us would rather not think about that. I don’t blame anyone who would ratherprefer to be somewhere else this morning. Here’s a thought: Since we’re here, let’s just skip the sermon, go straight to the Narthex for fellowship. I hear there’s an anniversary cake to munch on!, and enjoy the Peterson’s anniversary cake! On second thought, But if we did that, I’d be guilty of failing to preach the whole counsel of God’s Word. I have no right to cherry pick those passages I think you might enjoy hearing. That’s the beauty of verse-by-verse, expository preaching from Bible Books. If we’re going to take the BibleRomans seriously, we have to let all of it speak to us. And that include today’s text in Romans.Romans 1:24-32 is just as relevant today as it was when Paul was inspired by God to wroite under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit 2,000 years ago. We need to hear these words because they tell us, as Pastor Luthi put it, they tell us “the whole truth about our condition and the condition of the world we live in.” We must not plug our ears to the truth—even the hard truths of Romans 1our text. As Jesus put it “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn.8:32). Last week we learned that there is a present day aspect of God’s wrath and judgment. While there is a future hell-wrath for all unbelievers, in Romans 1, Paul is talking about the present day current, ongoing wrath of God revelation of God’s wrath. In vv.18-20, God’s present day wrath is revealed when people suppress or hold down the truth in unrighteousness. People all over the world have a basic knowledge of God in creation, but instead of wanting to know more about their Creator they choose to remain in spiritual darkness. That’s why Paul says they will stand before God without excuse. Suppressing the truth is an ongoing manifestation of God’s wrath. But there’s more. In vv.21-23, God’s wrath is revealed when we pervert God’s glory with idolatry. Instead of worshiping the God of creation, people chose to worship what God created. They bowed down to images made in the likeness of man, birds, beasts, bugs and other lower forms of life. You don’t have to bow down to a statue of Buddha to be an idolater today. An idol is any person, object, or activity that gets between you and your devotion of God. Idolatry is another aspect of God’s ongoing wrath. That brings us to vv.24-32. It conveys 4-32 and another facet of God’s present day wrath. You might find this one surprising. It’s found in the phrase “God gave them up.” Notice v.24: “Therefore, God also gave them up…” “Therefore” connects us to the previous section we looked at last week. It was a discussion on the wrath of God. One of the guiding principles of bible interpretation is stated this way: Whenever, you find a “Therefore”, you find out why it’s “there for”. Therefore statements connect you to the prior context. In this case, “Therefore” takes you back to the discussion of God’s wrath. Therefore, since the ongoing wrath of God was revealed when people suppressed the knowledge of God in creation and perverted His glory with idolatry, “God … gave them up.” The statement, “God gave them up” is found two more times. Notice v.26 “For this reason, God gave them up…” Once more in v.28: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over…” We find a similar expression in Psa.81:12, where God responds to Israel’s disobedience by saying, “So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices.” In other words, God’s ongoing wrath is revealed by giving us what we want. If we want sin, then God gives us over to our sin. It’s as though God is saying “Al right. If you turn away from Me, that’s fine, I won’t stop you. But in the end, you’ll be sorry, because you’ll have to face the consequences of your decision. If you abandon Me, you’re forcing My hand to let you go to reap what you sow. If you sow the seeds of sin, you may enjoy it in the early stages, but sin always reaps a harvest of misery and death.” In other words, sin is its own punishment. The penalty for sin is more sin. Someone wisely said that sin would have fewer takers if the consequences were immediate. Do you remember the story of the Prodigal Son???A father provided his youngest son with everything he needed.?The boy wanted more.?He didn’t want to wait until his father died to receive his inheritance.?He wanted it now! The Father did not have to give the son anything.?In fact, he could have written him out of the will entirely. Instead,?He gave his son the inheritance knowing even though he knew he would squander it.?The son left town to “do his own thing”.?He wasted the money on worldly pleasures and ended up living with the the pigs.?Finally, after much misery, the Prodigal came to his senses. He repented after realizing how good he had it at home. Upon returning, he was welcomed joyfully by his father. Like the Father in the story, God gives us the freedom to do what we want even though He knows it will land us in the pigpen.?Thankfully, this present manifestation of God’s wrath does not have to be permanent. Like the prodigal, people who abandon God can come to their senses, repent, and return to their Heavenly Father who will receive them with joy. You see, this facet of God’s ongoing wrath can also be an expression of His grace. I found this comment helpful in my understanding of the grace side of God abandoning us to our sins: “It is only when a man comes to the end of himself that he is ready to think about Jesus Christ. But when that moment of emptiness comes, when he finally faces the "God-shaped vacuum" inside, when he discovers that disobedience only leads to pain, when he reaps the bitter harvest of his own sin, then and only then has he become a candidate for the grace of God! Unfortunately, some people never figure it out in time. They die without realizing the folly of their own behavior. But others come to the end and finally, after many mistakes, they begin to look up. When they do, they find that God is there waiting for them.” (2) Is God waiting for you dear prodigal? Have you become so sick with sin that you’re ready to repent, receive forgiveness in Christ, and return to a life of obedience? Then do it now. The Father wants to save you from His ongoing wrath. He wants He’s not willing that any should perishyou to but come to repentance and faith so He can and to receive you back with joy. Now, let’s examine each one of the three “God gave them over(s)” in our text. What sin did God give man over to in v.24:Rd Rom.1:24Paul is talking about sexual immorality. When people reject God, God abandons them to sexual immorality. Adultery, fornication, live-in lovers, wife-swapping, and group sex…they’re all expressions of God’s ongoing wrath. Abandonment to sexual gratification! Some think this is a dream come true. Actually, it’s a nightmare that leads to destructive consequences. Does it feel good at the moment? Of course it does, otherwise we wouldn’t do it. But once the passing pleasures of sexual sin s are ovesubsider, there is loneliness, emptiness, guilt, broken lives, and the potential for STD’s. Now, sex is a good thing. Sex is a gift from God. He created sex. But God clearly commands that that sex be restricted to monogamous, heterosexual marriages. In that context, the sexual union glorifies God as it expresses the love between a man and a woman. Sex in marriage is an earthly picture of the love relationship between Christ and His church (Eph.5:31-32).But if we engage in sex outside of a heterosexual, monogamous marriage between one man and one woman, Paul says we dishonor our bodies. In 1Cor.6, Paul states that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he defiles his body which is the temple of the indwelling Holy Spirit. He admonishes the CorinthiansRather, glorify God with their your bodiesy, don’t defile them it with sexual sinspromiscuity (1 Cor. 6:16-19).SinSexual sins begins in the heart (Mk.7:21-23). We think about it before we act upon it. If we do not guard our hearts and minds from sexual lusts, sooner or later we will defile our bodies with sexual immoralitymisconduct.Some might be wondering “How did Paul go from idolatry to immorality in Romans 1? When you think about the nature of idolatry, it’s easy to see the connection between the two. If man is his own god; if he takes the place of the one true God, , then he can do whatever he pleases. He’s free to fulfill his sexual fantasiesdesires without fear of judgment. Self-deification is just one short step away from self-indulgence. When mankind took that step from idolatry into sexual immorality, Paul says in v.25 “[they] exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…” When people suppress the truth in unrighteousness, they switch from believing the truth to believing the lie. The Truth in this context is that only God our Creator is worthy of worship! The Lie is that the creature (what God created) is worthy of worship.?As a created being, the devil tempted Jesus with this lie. H when he said "fall down and worship me" (Matt.4:9) Jesus answered the devil with the truth "You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve" (Matt.4:10). When man holds down the truth about God alone being worthy of worship, he invents his own god’s to worship—the chief god being self. When people dethrone God they become self-centered, self-sufficient, self-directed, self-absorbed, self-indulgent, and self-fulfilled. In practical terms, the lie is that you can ignore God and live the good life. The lie is that you can break God’s laws and still be happy. The lie is that you can act upon your sexual fantasies and create a heaven on earth through sexual immorality. But the outcome of this lie is quite literally, hell on earth.When people think they can find fulfillment through illicit sexual encountersin sexual immorality, God says, “Look, it won’t work. But you won’t believe me until you find out for yourself. So have at it!” God stands back while they rush headlong off the cliff of unbridled lust to be broken on the jagged rocks of rebellion and disobediencence. Only then will they begin to see their need for God. Before Paul talks about God turning mankind over to another vile sin, he inserts a doxology about our Creator/God “who is blessed forever. Amen.” It’s as though Paul was gasping for a breath of fresh air. He couldn’t resist clearing the polluted atmosphere of idolatry and immorality with the refreshing wind of praise to the One true God. The wrath of God is revealed when He gives sinners over to their God abandons sinners tsexual desireso sexual immorality. That’s the first abandonment. Let’s take a closer look at the second abandonment. In v.265, the wrath of God is revealed when He gives abandons sinners over to “vile passions”. He’s still talking about sexual immorality, but in this case its same gender sexual immorality—He’s talking about the homosexuality. sin of homosexuality—sex with the same sex; men with men and women with women: Rd Rom.1:26-27The ongoing wrath of God on sexual immorality is judgment on natural sex with the opposite sex outside of marriage—men with women, and women with men. But the ongoing ongoing wrath of God on homosexuality is judgment on perverted sex with the same sex—men with men and women with women. It shouldn’t surprise us that sexual immorality degenerates further into homosexuality. If you never get enough adultery and fornication to satisfy your lusts, you can always imagine new and different perversions. You keep pushing the limit to see how far you can go. But there is a law of diminishing returns. You have to do more and more to quench your sexual thirst. Eventually sexual immorality crosses the line into homosexuality. Homosexuality is part of the wrath of God’s abandonment. God says, “Ok, if that’s what you want, then I’ll give you what you want. But don’t blame Me for the consequenceswhen the bill comes due. There’s a price to pay for your perverted pleasures.” Notice how Paul describes lesbian women in v.26: “For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature”. Notice how Paul describes gay men in v.27: “the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one anotherHomosexuality is a deliberate “exchange” of the natural for the unnatural; the normal for the abnormal; the moral for the immoral. How do we determine what is natural or unnatural, normal or abnormal, moral or immoral when it comes to sexual relationships? If you reject God and deify yourself, you determine what’s right or wrong. But if you accept God and submit to His standards, He determines what’s right or wrong, normal or abnormal, moral or immoral in the realm of love, sex, and marriage. In Matth.19, Jesus respondeds to a question about divorce and remarriage. He said responds by saying “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’”? (Matt.19:4-5) Kata Christ, the proper standard for sexual relationships goes back to the beginning. The beginning is a reference to Genesis 2, which He just quoted from. What we find in Genesis 2 is normal, natural, and moral. Anything that deviates from what God instituted in Genesis 2 must be considered as abnormal, unnatural, immoraland immoral. In the beginning God did not bring a man to Adam or a woman to Eve. It was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve or Eve and Genevieve.?It is also quite obvious physically and sexually that men are not made for men and women are not made for women. Just looking at the design of how men men’s and women ’s bodies are designed should prove that point! Research claims homosexuality is determined by genetics.?But I’I am not aware of any conclusive proof that there’s a is some sort of genetic link predisposition to homosexuality.Years ago there was a study based on the autopsies of six homosexual men who had an area of their brain larger than that of heterosexual men.?But who’s to say that the hypothalmus got larger because of their homosexual lifestyle??Other studies have shown that our brains adapt to our activities.?This is why children are encouraged to take up certain musical instruments at an early age. That way, the brain will develop in a way to increase their musical ability later in life. (3)Whether or not a homosexual gene exists is irrelevant, because homosexuality in Scripture always refers to an action, not a feeling or desire. Like any sin, Scripture condemns the act, not the temptation. You can talk all you want about genetics, the size of the brain, about absent fathers, over-protective mothers, about early sexual confusion, and even sexual abuse. Some of those things may indeed create a predisposition to this particular sin. But the fact remains: HEvery act of homosexuality whether in word or deed or in lustful thought—every single act is a sinful choice for which God will hold gays and lesbiansyou accountable.You can’t blame your homosexual behavior on your hypothalamus! You can’t even blame it on your absent father, your overprotective mother, or your abusive uncle. Gays and lesbians choose to engage in homosexual activity. The Bible says homosexuality is an abomination (Lev.18:22). It’Homosexuality is not an alternative lifestyle. It’s a perverted lifestyle. And it’s not a hate crime to say so. In fact, ; it would be an injusticesin not to say so.; if we’re followers of Christ, we must say so—homosexuality one of theis sins for which Christ died to save us from. . But let’s remember to speak the truth in love. We must be careful to not suggest that gays and lesbians are more depraved than adulterers and adulteresses. Both need forgiveness and deliverance. We must point them to Christ who alone can set them free from sin’s bondage to serve the living God.The good news is that Jesus came to deliver us from all our sins. That’s Paul’s point in 1Cor.6. Paul includes former homosexuals in Corinth when he wrote these words: “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1Cor.6:9-11). What happened to those former homosexuals? They were “washed” in the blood of Jesus. They were “justified” by the grace of God. They were “sanctified” by the Holy Spirit. Jesus forgave them, God declared them righteous, and the Holy Spirit changed them from the inside out.Back to Romans. In v.27, Paul That can be your testimony, too, if you will trust Jesus Christ who died and rose again to save you from your shameful lifestyle. Emphasis on the word shameful. That’s what Paul calls homosexual activity in v.27—it’s shameful thing that comes’ with a price:. Not only is it shameful, there’s a penalty that comes with it. Paul says “committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.Paul error.” Paul doesn’t specify the penalty for the shameful behavior of of homosexualsity. But the context seems to suggest that the judgment for homosexuality is God abandoning ’s abandonment of homosexuals to their homosexual lifestyle. That means homosexuality is a self-punishing sin. It punishes those who practice it. In v.27, Paul says the penalty for their error is received “in themselves”. He may be referring to the gnawing, unsatisfied lust itself. And let’s not forget, as well as the destructive physical and social consequences of sexual promiscuity. It’s a misnomer to call homosexuals “Gay.” There’s nothing gay about the way they live. Their life is a long trail of tears, heartache, anger, frustration and guilt. They are locked in the chains of sexual lust. Kata a 2010 study by the Family Research Council, those who live in homosexual relationships have a three to four times greater break up rate than that of heterosexual married couples. They also experience much higher rates of domestic violence than heterosexual couples do. (4) . (4) And what about AIDS? Is AIDS God’s judgment on homosexuality? The fact is, if there was no sexual immoralitypromiscuity and especially, if there was no homosexual activity, there would be virtually no AIDS. There is an obvious correlation, direct correspondence between practicing homosexuality and AIDS. So in that sense, could be it is God’s judgment against that sin.Beware! Not all of God’s wrath is future and eternal. God’s wrath has a present and temporal application. When we choose idolatry, sexual immorality, and homosexuality as a way of life, God says “Ok, have it your way! I’m going to let you romp in your sinful lusts.” What’s true of individuals is equally true of nations. This was Paul’s main point. As a society moves away from God, one mark of its drift into judgment is widespread homosexuality. This is the argument Edward Gibbon made in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Rome fell for many reasons, not the least of which is that it rotted from the inside. Long before the political decline there was a moral decline. Homosexuality was not just accepted in Roman culture, it was championed. Of the first fifteen Roman Emperors, fourteen were homosexuals. This has been the story of the collapse of every great civilization. They rot from the inside out.The tragic fact is that this is exactly what is happening in America today. On every front we are told that homosexuality is normal, good, and right. Those who oppose it are called hateful homophobic gay bashers. In 2015, the Supreme Court legalized same sex marriage in all 50 States. Transgenderism is on the rise among our teens. We live in a Caitlin Jenner World. When sexuality is misunderstood, the sheer power of unrestrained sexual drive will produce all kinds of deviant sexual behavior. Bible scholar, S. Lewis Johnson sounds a prophetic warning for America based upon this passage in Romans. He says “The civilization of the western world, including … the United States of America, is not a civilization in danger of contracting a fatal disease. That civilization has already contracted a malignant and fatal cancer through its unbelief of the message of God in Christ…Civilizations do not die because of violence, crime, immorality, and anarchy. These things are evidences that death is already at work, a death brought on by disobedience to the revelation of God.” (5)It is an immutable moral law. When nations willfully choose evil over good, God says, “If you want evil, you can have it. But you’ll have to live with the consequences.” In the end, the nation itself collapses because no nation can long survive that calls evil good and good evil. (YoYo illustration)If you’re a believer, this should motivate you to draw close to Christ so that you (in the words of Phil.2:15) “may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” But if you’re not a believer, this should to drive you to saving faith in Jesus Christ. The salvation of America is not President Trump. The salvation of America is Jesus Christ. Three times Paul repeated the haunting phrase “God gave them over.” We’ve seen two of them: God gave them over to heterosexual immorality; God gave them over to homosexual perversion. If Paul had stopped after verses 24-25, many of us could think, “Let em have it preacher! Hit all those sexually immoral people! I’m glad that I’ve never fallen into adultery or fornication!” And, if he had stopped after verses 26-27, many more could say, “Give it to those homosexuals, Paul! They’re long overdue for some wrath from heaven.” But Paul doesn’t stop there! He keeps going. He moves from the area of sexual sins to a catalogue of other sins. That takes us to the third mention of the haunting phrase “God gave them over”. God gave them over to heterosexual immorality; God gave them over to homosexual perversion; and now, God gave them over to depraved thinking and sinful living:Rd Rom.1:28As we learned last week, people had the knowledge of God in Creation. They could look at their created world and see that their Creator is a self-existent all powerful deity. But they suppressed that knowledge. Here, in v.28, Paul says that they “did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” In other words, they pushed God out of their minds; they shut Him out of their lives. And God’s response was to give them over to a debased mind. A debased mind is a depraved mind, a worthless mind, a mind incapable of making good moral judgments, a mind that imagines diving headfirst in a cesspool of sin. That cesspool of sin can be found in vv.29-31. It’s the most comprehensive list of sins in the N.T. so let me warn you that the stench may be a bit overwhelming. V.29:“being filled with unrighteousness—a general term for sin. Sexual immorality. We covered that one with some detail.Wickedness—a word often used to describe Satan.Coveteousness or greed—a selfish desire to have more.Maliciousness—this person has evil intentions. He takes pleasure in causing harm to others. Envy—a desire to take something away from another person. Murder—the premeditated slaughter of human life—and that include abortion, the premeditated slaughter of preborn human life. Pray for the next Supreme Court Justice. Pray for the reversal of Roe V Wade.Strife—a competitive spirit that manifests itself in quarreling and arguing.Deciet—any deliberate attempt to mislead someone for your own advantage.Evil mindedness or malice—thinking the worst about other people. It’s the opposite of love. Love thinks the best of others until there’s solid evidence to prove otherwise. Whisperers—spreading malicious gossip about others behind their backs. Backbiters—a person who slanders someone in public with the intent of damaging their reputation. Haters of God—people who see God getting in the way of their carnal pleasures. God is out to spoil their fun.Violent or insolent—the person who is sadistically insulting and cruel. Is the stench getting to you? Ok. Let’s step back from the cesspool for a moment. Take a deep breath. Ready? Here we go:Next on the list is proud or arrogant—it refers to the haughty person who considers himself superior to others. Boasters—boasters are braggarts. They exaggerate their accomplishments. It’s a form of lying.Inventors of evil things—people who come up with new ways to sin—they push sin to the limit.Disobedient to parents—means contempt for family authority. Rebellious children are vulnerable to all sorts of sin.Undiscerning means without understanding. This person lacks wisdom. He refuses to bring together facts and make sense out of them.Untrustworthy—people who don’t keep their word. They make excuses for breaking their promises.Unloving—these are people without natural affection. It refers to parents who do not love their children or children who hate their parents or siblings who can’t stand each other. Unforgiving—it refers to people who can’t let go of a hurt. They’re not willing to bury the hatchet and make peace.Unmerciful—means a lack of compassion or kindness for others. This list of sins reflects a society with all the restraints removed; it represents a culture where people do what is right in their own eyes, it highlights a nation of degenerates who push the knowledge of God out of their lives. But we haven’t hit bottom yet! Paul continues:Rd Rom.1:32What a description of our godless society! People who have a general sense of right and wrong cast off all moral restraint. They don’t care that the wages of sin is death. They thumb their noses at God as they revel in their depravity. And they’re not content with their own sins; they encourage participation. The whole “gay pride” movement is an example of those who not only practice homosexuality in private, but they flaunt it in public and welcome others to join them.Pastor John Piper?refers to this section of Scripture as Committing Spiritual Suicide and Taking Others Along ... In other words, the goal of depravity is not just the suicidal love affair with sin, but the desire to bring others with you to destruction. People don’t just choose [spiritual] death for themselves in the passion of sin … they become Dr. Kevorkians…at the spiritual level, and assist others in eternal self-destruction by approving their sin." (6) The danger for all of us is to think “I’ve got my faults, but thank God I’m not?that?bad!” But these verses should cause us all to examine our hearts. If we’re guilty of any sin on this list, we need to repent, ask God for forgiveness and pursue holiness. If all we had were these verses, it would be a hopeless and depressing picture. God’s wrath is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (1:18), but, thank God, Christ came to die for the ungodly and the unrighteous. HYPERLINK "javascript:%7b%7d" Rom.1:18-32 shows that God’s wrath is justified. We are without excuse. We all deserve God’s judgment. But these verses also lead us the good news—that God will give us the righteousness we need through Jesus Christ our Lord (3:21-26). And so I conclude by asking, “Have you trusted Jesus Christ to save you from God’s wrath? Do you believe that He died on the cross and rose again to set you free from sins bondage? And, are you living out the gospel in such a way that your daily life is set apart from these sins that characterize a decadent society and a world without God?si.The temporal physical, emotional, and mental effects of this idolatrous sin cannot compare with the eternal judgment that awaits those who have rejected the truth of God for a lie. So, the warning is an act of divine mercy. The present judgment warns of a future judgment that never ends.In either case, the consequences are severe. HYPERLINK "" \l "P71_33831" 52When we sin God says, “Have it your way.”?Beware!In either case, the consequences are severe. HYPERLINK "" \l "P71_33831" 52When we sin God says, “Have it your way.”?Beware!We live in a time when the homosexual community has so strongly influenced our godless culture that if you stand against it and say that it is sin, you are labeled as an intolerant bigot. They have skillfully portrayed it as a “human rights” issue, so that those who oppose it seem anti-American. But God’s Word is not tolerant of homosexuality or ambiguous about it: it is clearly sin ( HYPERLINK "javascript:%7b%7d" Gen. 19:4-5;? HYPERLINK "javascript:%7b%7d" Lev. 18:22; 20:13;? HYPERLINK "javascript:%7b%7d" Judges 19:22-23). Paul elsewhere includes it in lists of sins ( HYPERLINK "javascript:%7b%7d" 1 Cor. 6:9;? HYPERLINK "javascript:%7b%7d" 1 Tim. 1:10).But why does Paul focus on homosexual relations here?? Thomas Schreiner (Romans?[Baker], p. 94) explains,Probably because it functions as the best illustration of that which is unnatural in the sexual sphere. Idolatry is “unnatural” in the sense that it is contrary to God’s intention for human beings. To worship corruptible animals and human beings instead of the incorruptible God is to turn the created order upside down. In the sexual sphere the mirror image of this “unnatural” choice of idolatry is homosexuality.Paul says (1:27) that homosexuals receive “in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” The error is not an inadvertent mistake, but rather the rejection of the true God for idols (Schreiner, p. 97). Paul may mean that being delivered over to homosexuality itself is the penalty. Contrary to the word “gay,” homosexuals are disproportionately unhappy people. Those who attempt to live in committed homosexual relationships have a three to four times greater dissolution than that of heterosexual married couples. They experience much higher rates of domestic violence than opposite sex couples do (these statements documented in an email from the Family Research Council, Aug. 10, 2010).?The Journal of Human Sexuality?(Vol. 1, p. 93, National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, 2009) concludes with regard to homosexuals, “No other group of comparable size in society experiences such intense and widespread pathology.”Is AIDS God’s judgment on homosexuals? If you mean that each person who has AIDS got it from sexual sin, the answer is no. Babies get it from their mothers and patients get it from tainted blood transfusions. But when God sends a temporal judgment due to a nation’s sin, such as war, famine, natural disaster or disease, the so-called “innocent” suffer along with the directly guilty. The fact is, if there were no sexual promiscuity, especially homosexuality, there would be virtually no AIDS. There is an obvious, direct correspondence between practicing homosexuality and AIDS. So in that sense, it is God’s judgment against that sin.II. V. 26-27?THE SYMBOL OF MAN'S SINFUL REBELLION(Ill. Because man has chosen his sin over God, man is given over, v. 26, to vile affections. The depths to which man can sink are represented here. These next 2 verses describe the absolute bottom of the pit of iniquity. The basic idea here is that this is where societies always end up when they choose their ways over God's ways. It has been the case in every major society throughout history, and we are seeing the same trend in America tonight.)A. V. 26-27a?Man's Attractions Are Sickening?- In these verses, the Apostle describes the sin of homosexuality. Yes, I said sin! He uses it to picture the absolute depths of depravity. Why this sin and not any of the thousands of others? I think the answer lies in the fact that homosexuals are typically given to more promiscuous behavior than heterosexuals. One statistic has found that many homosexual males have as many as 300 different sexual partners a year. The sad thing for us is that the homosexual community in America is estimated to be about 1% of the population. However, they are given special privileges and are promoting their lifestyle in the open, demanding that people like you and me endorse them, accept them and affirm them in what they are doing! Even those at the highest echelons of our government are extending special favors to homosexuals and promoting the homosexual agenda. Yet, I still find the thought of same sex relationships revolting, abominable and utterly sinful and depraved. And, I'm in good company because God does too!(Note: Paul tells us in v. 26 that "even their women" were involved in this insidious lifestyle. The emphasis here is that women are usually the last bastion of morality in any society. Men are more given to sin, especially sexual sin, than are women. However, Paul is describing a people who are totally given up to a sinful standard of life. He might as well be writing about America!)(We need to be much in prayer for those who are in the forefront opposing the onslaught of the sodomites. As the days go by, the battle cry will be for "tolerance". The day is coming when being labeled "intolerant" will be result in a conviction for a crime. There are already initiatives underway that would try to force people like myself from condemning any lifestyle, but especially a homosexual one.)(Ill. What strikes me as being really sad is the fact that certain mainline so-called Christian denominations are seriously considering accepting, ordaining and marrying homosexuals. That some groups are all for declassifying homosexuality as a sin! Even the fact that it would be debated at all is almost beyond my comprehension!)B. V. 27b?Man's Addiction Is Settled?- This choice of lifestyles, and it is a choice, brings its own judgment! When God gives a man up to his choice of lifestyles, that man will find that his attraction to and addiction to his sin will become stronger by the day. They are literally overcome by their vile affections. What used to bring a twinge of shame when committed, now doesn't phase them at all, opening the door for them to sink to ever deeper levels of sinful depravity. That is the "recompense of the sin". Being abandoned by God enslaves a man to His sin fully! It is as though God had been actively restraining them and now He takes away His hand and gibes them fully to their sin and its ultimate end!(Ill. This judgment is also evident in the physical realm. AIDS is one of the first thoughts that comes to mind. Instances of sexually transmitted diseases are becoming rampant in our society, and it isn't just affecting the homosexual community. They bear the brunt of AIDS, but it is swiftly spreading to all corners of society. Ill. When a man like Magic Johnson is diagnosed as HIV positive and admits to having had sex with as many as 20,000 women, you begin to realize the depths to which human depravity can sink!)S Lewis Johnson?sounds a prophetic warning for America based upon passages in Romans 1?writing that…The Pauline answer is plain, and? HYPERLINK "" \t "_blank" Romans 1:24?expresses it most impressively and succinctly. When man rebelled and sinned, God "gave them up" to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts that by their own activities their bodies might be dishonored. In other words, sexual rebellion, license, and anarchy is the retributive judgment of God. The civilization of the western world, including the particular civilization of the United States of America, is not a civilization in danger of contracting a fatal disease. That civilization has already contracted a malignant and fatal cancer through its unbelief of the message of God in Christ. It is now hurrying on with increasing speed to final climactic destruction. Civilizations do not die because of violence, crime, immorality, and anarchy. These things are evidences that death already is at work, a death brought on by disobedience to the revelation of God.?3.?????????Homosexuality is a judgment from God against sin.?That is taught here in this passage.??When men turned away from God and refused to worship Him, God gave them over into the sins of their flesh.??One of those sins into which God gave them was homosexuality.Stage # 2: Open HomosexualityBut this should not surprise us. Whenever men turn away from God, terrible things begin to happen in society. Long-held standards disappear. Things once considered incredible now become commonplace. Evil no longer seems evil. The basic distinctions between male and female are obliterated. No one knows the difference between right and wrong. In such an atmosphere, homosexuality is first tolerated, then accepted, then praised, and finally enshrined as the ultimate freedom.In thinking about this issue from a biblical perspective, three facts come into very clear focus:2. Widespread homosexuality is a specific sign of a godless society.This is undoubtedly Paul’s main point. As a society moves away from God, one mark of its drift into judgment is widespread homosexuality. The tragic fact is that this is exactly where America is today. On every front we are told that homosexuality is good and right and normal. Those who oppose it are called homophobic, gay bashers. All across the country gays and lesbians are coming out of the closet—not to the opprobrium they deserve but to the cheers of the crowd, even the approval of many people in the mainstream. It’s good, they say, to come to grips with who you really are. It’s time to get rid of the strictures of the past which treated homosexuality as a sin. It’s time we all accepted gays and lesbians as decent, upright, law-abiding, God-fearing, moral people.What’s worse, the churches of America have largely caved in on this issue. Not a week passes that I don’t hear about another church that is ordaining gays and lesbians to the ministry. The situation is so bad that the mainline denominations no longer know what they believe on this issue. The issue of whether or not to condemn homosexuality is up for debate in the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church and the Episcopal Church. What’s tragic is that the Bible-believers in those denominations are slowly being squeezed out. Anyone who dares to challenge the status quo is ridiculed for his fundamentalism. To my great sorrow, I read this week about a Southern Baptist church that has ordained a gay man as a deacon and is considering him for ordination.It’s happening in churches across the country. It’s even happening here in Oak Park. Not far from Calvary, another local congregation has joined the “More Light” movement. That’s a group of apostates who have reinterpreted the Bible in order to justify admitting practicing homosexuals as members of the church. Such a thing is as evil as evil can possibly be. It is not Christian; it is a truly godless position. What’s sad is that so many church leaders have said, “We don’t know whether homosexuality is right or wrong.” Paul would call that a sign of a depraved mind.Where are the churches and the pastors who will stand up and proclaim the truth of God on this issue? Why are so many pastors ready to preach the love of God and slow to preach the judgment of God? Are they afraid of losing their jobs? Are they afraid the gays and lesbians won’t like them? Or are they so committed to compromise that they no longer know the difference between right and wrong?For too long the churches have been silent on this issue. We’ve held our peace while the militant gays have taken the battle to the streets. And they’ve been winning in city after city. It’s time for the people of God to fight back against evil. This week Pastor Bob Boerman gave me a telling quote from Martin Luther. Ponder his words carefully:I find it impossible to avoid offending guilty men, for there is no way of avoiding it by our silence or their patience; and silent we cannot be because of God’s command, and patient they cannot be because of their guilt.Now the Bills Come DueDid you notice the little phrase at the end of verse 27? Paul says that homosexuals receive in themselves “the due penalty for their perversion.” That means that homosexuality is a self-punishing sin. It punishes those who practice it. First there is the emotional penalty of confusion, self-hatred and sexual uncertainty. Then there is the physical penalty of Sexually-Transmitted Diseases, especially AIDS. These diseases are a reminder that God will not be mocked. Those who break his laws will eventually pay a high price.There is no greater misnomer in the English language than to call homosexuals “Gay.” There’s nothing gay about them or about the way they live. They are anything but gay and their life is a long trail of tears, heartache, anger, frustration and guilt. Each day is evil because they have chosen to do evil. Tomorrow holds no promise except the promise of more pain. They are locked in the chains of sexual lust, chains they hate but seem unable to break.Stuart Briscoe puts the issue of homosexuality in its proper biblical perspective:The logic of Paul’s argument should not be missed. Those who reject what they know of God in so doing divorce themselves from truth and reality. This means, among other things, that a person out of touch with the reality of God is out of touch with reality, period, including the truth about humanity. To be out of touch with the meaning of humanity means a crisis of identity which is demonstrated in many ways, not least in confusion about sexuality. When sexuality is misunderstood, the sheer power of unrestrained sexual drive and uneducated sexual insight will produce all manner of aberrant sexual behavior. In short, confusion about God breeds confusion about man, which breeds confusion about sexuality which produces sexual confusion and chaos. Far from being, as was fondly imagined by many, an enlightened age of sexual freedom, Paul showed his contemporaries that they lived in a dark day of divine wrath. (Romans, The Communicator’s Commentary, pp. 50-51. Italics mine.)That’s our world today. Paul’s words are for us just as much as for the first-century Romans. We too live in a dark day of divine wrath.But to leave the matter there would be incomplete and misleading. The Bible does more than condemn homo-sexuality; it also shows the way out.3. Homosexuality is a sin, but it is a sin that can be forgiven.Paul spells it out very plainly in I Corinthians 6:9-11. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolators nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Paul specifically says that homosexuals will not go to heaven. That’s what “inherit the kingdom of God” means. Those who persist in choosing that lifestyle will eventually end up in Hell.But they don’t have to end up that way. Paul says, “Such were some of you.” Meaning, some of you were homosexuals. The tense is crucial. “You were,” not “You are.” The entire difference between Heaven and Hell is found in the difference between “were” and “are.” What happened to those former homosexuals? They were “washed” in the blood of Jesus. They were “justified” by the grace of God. They were “sanctified” by the Holy Spirit. Jesus forgave them, God declared them righteous and the Holy Spirit changed them from the inside out.That’s what the gospel can do. It can take a man or a woman mired in homosexuality, forgive them, change them, redirect their desires, give them a new heart, a new mind and a new disposition. It can take a person bent on sin and replace that desire for sin with a new desire to please God in everything.It’s true. You don’t have to stay the way you are. Homosexuals can change. Newsweek doesn’t believe it, but it’s true. All over the country—and I dare say even at Calvary—there are men and women who have been set free from this sin by the power of Jesus Christ.Having said that, we must not miss the main thrust of this passage. As any society turns away from God, it first displays widespread sexual immorality followed by open homosexuality. From there it is only a short step to the final stage of social decay.Judgment evident in homosexualityThe further denigration that comes in sexual impurity is shown by lesbian and homosexual practices. Paul explains this in verses 26-27. They exchanged the glory of God for some corruptible image, and that further leads to “their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural.” Natural function implies the distinct way that God made a woman to correspond sexually to her husband. She does not correspond to another woman. Similar language is used for men; in this case abandoning the natural function of the woman and burning with consuming passions toward other men. That is “unnatural” or against nature. Very simply, Paul explains that there was never in God’s purpose in creating male and female even a hint of homosexual practice to take place.Some argue that their homosexual practice is natural for them. But this is an argument that begins with experience or feeling rather than beginning with Scripture. You don’t start building the building on the second floor but on the foundation. The biblical ordinance of one woman and one man in marital fidelity is the foundation. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). To branch off from this or to distort this in any way wrecks those involved. One need only take a look at every occasion in the Old Testament where homosexuality is practiced. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their widespread practice of homosexuality (Gen. 19). Israel, though certainly lacking godliness at this point in their history, recognized the wickedness of the Gibeonite homosexual practice. They consequently destroyed the Gibeonites (Judges 19-21). God called homosexuality “an abomination” and “a detestable act” (Lev. 18:22; 20:13). He further condemns it and calls it contrary to the gospel in 1 Tim. 1:8-11.The language is striking: “the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts.” To abandon or to leave off implies bailing out or roughly cutting off what God intended for blessing. It is a spiteful abandonment, choosing what God will never honor. Burning in desire conveys the idea of degrading passions or disgraceful passions; losing control over one’s inward passions and giving them over to that which will always be disgraceful.The inevitable consequence is stated: “men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” The word “due” implies a necessity; it has to be done because it is morally reprehensible and dishonoring to God. The penalty affects the person. Any study of the homosexual community shows a higher rate of suicide, lower tolerance to disease and sickness, a shorter life-span by 25-30 years, the likelihood of infections and debilitating and deadly diseases, and the decreased likelihood of a stable, nurturing, family life [cf. Ligon Duncan, ibid. p. 6]. Is that worth the risk to pursue such a lifestyle? Yet, Paul’s point was not to campaign against homosexual practice but rather to demonstrate that suppressing the truth of God in unrighteousness leads to this type of sin and this time of judgment.This doesn’t mean that homosexuals have no hope. Thank God, many have been delivered from this sinful practice as well as other perverse practices. Remember that some in the church community at Corinth were former effeminates and homosexuals. They were delivered by Christ. So there is hope through Christ to be delivered from worshiping and serving the creature so that one might worship and serve the Creator. This also doesn’t mean that the Christian community must shun homosexuals. More than any other, we must reach out to them with the compassion of Christ. Probably, most all of us have friends that are homosexuals. Let us treat them with the love and compassion of our Lord. Let us point them to Christ who alone can liberate them from bondage into the freedom of being a child of God.But this warning does serve as a reminder of eternal judgment. The temporal physical, emotional, and mental effects of this idolatrous sin cannot compare with the eternal judgment that awaits those who have rejected the truth of God for a lie. So, the warning is an act of divine mercy. The present judgment warns of a future judgment that never ends. That’s bad news! That’s very bad news! But the good news is that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Sexual impurity and homosexuality and any of its wide-ranging practices are not unforgivable. The power of the cross of Christ sets us free from the bondage of sin and liberates us to worship and serve the Creator as our Eternal Father. God has revealed His wrath (1:18) but more importantly for each of us, He has revealed His righteousness in the gospel of His Son (1:17).(1) (2) (3) HYPERLINK "" (4)The Family Research Council, Aug. 10, 2010). (5)? (6) ibid: HYPERLINK "" Romans 1:28-32? HYPERLINK "" Doing and Endorsing EvilCONCLUSION: If we insist on living an immoral life that we know is opposed by God (or if a society does so), we are in danger of God abandoning Illust: society operates like a Yo-Yo; we drift down and then recover for awhile; danger is God might cut the string. ................
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