They turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter one. Take a couple of weeks from the gospel of Matthew. We will return to our study in Matthew in April. Wanted to read from chapter one, verse 16 to verse 32.
Romans chapter one, beginning in verse sixteen, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written. The just shall live by faith for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his visible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions.
For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error, which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness. sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.
Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Father, we pray, guide us now by your Holy Spirit as we study this section of Scripture. We pray that you would give us understanding, God, and that you would give us again a fresh appreciation for what the Lord Jesus has saved us from. Cause us to reflect, cause us to rejoice, cause us to respond with heartfelt thanksgiving for the glorious gospel of free and sovereign grace, which Paul says here is the power of God unto salvation. We pray that others would know that gospel today.
We pray that others would come by the power of your spirit to taste and see that the Lord is good. And we ask in Jesus' holy name. Amen.
Introduction
You ever look at the news and ask yourself why? You read John 18 and ask yourself why? You ever look at your own conduct, your own life, your own heart and ask yourself why? Why do I have these bents?
Why do I have this inclination? Why is the world in the state in which it is? Why is it that the holiest man who ever lived in this world, the Lord Jesus Christ, was delivered up and wicked sinners asked for Barabbas rather than Christ? With reference to Christ, they say, away with him, away with him, crucify him.
Well, our answer is in Romans chapter 1. It describes for us in vivid detail the depravity of man, the wickedness of man, the sinfulness of man. And what we're going to look at this morning specifically are verses 18 to 32, and we're going to make four observations. But before we get to those four observations, we need to set chapter 1, verses 18 to 32, in its larger, broader context.
The book starts officially after his greetings in verse 16. The apostle says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. This is the conviction of the apostle declared. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
He then highlights that it is, in fact, the power of God to salvation. When we study chapter one, verses 18 to 32, when we move through chapter two, all the way up to chapter three, verse 20, we're going to realize that we need power to save us from our sins. We need the power of God to call us out of darkness into marvelous light. We need that great power of God to liberate us and to free us and to bring forgiveness and to bring righteousness.
So Paul says the gospel is, in fact, the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. He then gives this glimpse into what he's going to open up in the chapters to follow. For in it, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, that just as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Remember what Paul is speaking of here in terms of the righteousness of God is not necessarily the rightness of God, his moral attribute of righteousness.
But in the book of Romans and in Philippians chapter three, We find that this righteousness is the righteousness that God demands and that God provides. It is the righteousness of God that he demands and that he provides for his people on the basis of the saving work of the Lord Jesus. So, verses 16 and 17 in Romans 1 is the thesis statement. It is the direction that the apostle is going to take the remainder of the epistle.
So when he says in verse 17, For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. He will return to that theme in Romans chapter 3, 21. But to show why we need the righteousness of God revealed, to show why we need this power of God to say, to show why it is that it necessitated the very death of Jesus Christ to bring us into a place of acceptance with God, Paul sets first before us the bad news of sin. He sets first before us the universal problem of sin and depravity.
He does that all the way from chapter 1, verse 18, to chapter 3, verse 20. He deals with several categories of persons. In chapter 1, 18 to 32, he deals with man as man, man specifically here as the Gentiles, those not privy to special revelation. But it is a vivid description of all men everywhere at all times.
And then he deals with the more morally sort of an upright person and shows that they, too, fall short. And then he hones in specifically on the Jews. And then that brings him to his conclusion in chapter three at verse 19. Now, we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
That's his point. That's his purpose. He's setting the stage of bad news, and it's on the heels of that that chapter 3, verse 21 comes. But now the righteousness of God is revealed, apart from the law being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
So that's an overview of the section. As I said, we're going to confine ourselves to four observations concerning the guilt of mankind in chapter 1, verses 18 to 32. So I often say when we have a sermon on abortion, this isn't going to be a happy sermon. You might have thought on a beautiful sunshiny day like this, we would have spoken on creation and the joys of being in God's created earth.
It's important for us as believers to not forget the rock from whence we were hewn. It's important for us as well to realize the state of man apart from the Christian gospel. It's important for us to hopefully inculcate more thankfulness. You know that threefold pattern in the Heidelberg Catechism.
We have guilt, grace, and gratitude. We need to express gratitude to our God for the fact that Jesus came into this world to save his people from their sins. Well,
The Revelation of God's Wrath
let's look at these four observations concerning the guilt of mankind. The first is the revelation of God's wrath. The revelation of God's wrath in verse 18. This comes right after verse 17.
In the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. Chapter 321, but now the righteousness of God is revealed. As I said, in between that, we need to deal with the problem that necessitated the very death of Jesus Christ. And that's where Paul turns his attention to the sinfulness of man.
It was Marvin Olasky who said, he didn't say the first part, the psalmist did, the heavens declare the righteousness and the glory of God. Olasky says the streets declare the sinfulness of man. And I think he's spot on with that particular observation, and we'll see that as we move along. But notice the revelation of God's wrath, verses 18 to 21.
Paul starts for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. Now, that's what we're dealing with in terms of salvation, in terms of Christianity, in terms of true religion. It is only in Christ. It is only by grace, through faith in the Redeemer King that we avoid the wrath of God.
So what does this tell us? That men who are outside of Christ are currently, right now, under the very wrath and fury of God. If you are here this morning and you are not a Christian, If you are here this morning and you're holding Jesus at arm's length, if you're here this morning, perhaps you're a child being raised in a Christian home or a teenager, a young person, and you haven't believed the gospel for yourself. Notice what Paul says is true of you right now.
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven in John 3. We read that he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but, and it's all in the present tense, the wrath of God abides on him. That's an interesting statement and an interesting concept.
I mean, when you walk down the street today, especially on a sunny day like this, you see smiles, you see happiness, you see joy. You might drive home past the park and you see people out there playing tennis. Or you see people out there playing frisbee or throwing the frisbee or with their dogs or with their little babies. And it looks like they're so joyful and they're so happy.
And yet what Paul says is absolutely true. What God testifies in 336 is absolutely true. At one of the same moment, enjoying temporal blessing and benefit, God's eternal wrath and fury hangs over their heads. See, this is what's at stake in the gospel.
The gospel isn't just something that makes me feel better and helps me cope with reality. The gospel isn't a pill that I take to make me forget all my woes and difficulties and trials. The gospel is that refuge. The gospel is that protection.
The gospel is that haven of rest that shields me and protects me from the very wrath and fury of God. Why? Because the mediator took the wrath and fury of God for his people. Paul starts his presentation, Paul starts his declaration with this vivid reality that
Wrath Against All Ungodliness
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. If every time you go to church, you only ever hear happiness, joyfulness, happiness and whateverness, you're not getting the truth. It's the wrath that we need to deal with. It's the wrath that makes clear everything else that we find.
Why would God send His Son? Why does it say the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief? Why would we read in Romans chapter 3 that the Father set Christ forth as a propitiation through His blood? Because God is angry with the wicked.
God isn't like us. God doesn't watch some depraved thing on the news and then go sip tea and forget all about it. God actually cares and he sees what's going on in the nations of the earth. And his wrath is poured out or his wrath is revealed from heaven.
John Murray describes wrath this way. He says wrath is the holy revulsion of God. You know what revulsion is. You may not use that word a lot.
But you're revolted by certain things. Might be a food item, might be a rodent, it might be some difficult situation that just causes you to react with anger and with vehemence. This is what Murray says, that wrath is the holy revulsion of God's being against that which is the contradiction of his holiness. You see, God is conscious about what goes on in the earth.
God doesn't take a holiday. God doesn't forget. God doesn't look the other way. He sees this earth for what it is, a bastion filled with wicked and perverse sinners that raise their fist at him.
And as we'll learn later on, they don't even like to retain God in their knowledge, let alone do what he commands. Should it surprise us? that God's wrath is revealed from heaven. The surprising thing in our Bibles, I submit to you, is not God's wrath. That should never surprise anyone.
When you kids do something wrong and your mom or dad get angry, are you surprised? Of course not. You expect it, right? When you do something foul or polluted or wicked or rebellious and your parents respond in anger, You realize that's coming.
You understand that that's the ebb and flow in this world. Should the wrath of God revealed from heaven surprise us in light of the fact that we've sinned against God, in light of the fact that what the apostle is going to describe? That's not the surprising facet in this presentation. What is surprising is that now the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
You see, we get surprised over all the wrong things. Wrath revealed from heaven is not a surprise in a moral universe governed by a thrice holy God. Notice the specific order that is indicated here, and I believe the chapter follows suit. This wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
What does that tell us? It tells us that a commitment to idolatry A commitment to the rejection of God, excluding him from our thoughts, leads to myriad applications of sinfulness in our lives. all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Paul follows that particular order. He highlights their idolatry.
He highlights the rejection from the Lord God Almighty. He highlights their embrace of the idol. And it's based on that commitment to whom one will serve in terms of an overarching principle that our lives follow suit. Again, I think as Christians, we sometimes miss this.
We see societies that look like chapter 1, 18 to 32, and we start groups to deal with particular sins. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't deal with particular sins, though I think the Puritan Owen was onto something. We try to convince men of particular sins when they're nothing but sin. You want to address the sin problem in a society?
Preach the gospel. You see, we live in a society full of idolaters, and idolaters do the sorts of things that are indicated in this chapter. Look at Israel's history when they went after Baal, when they went after Asherah, when they went after Molech. Did their society look good?
Did they get a Baal worship on Sabbath or did they worship Moloch during the week and then go love their neighbor as themselves? No. Their commitment to Baal, their commitment to Moloch, their commitment to idols issued forth in abominable activity. That's the apostles specific and conspicuous order.
God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And then notice the particular offense who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. God has made himself known, but sinners do all they can to reject that knowledge. OK.
Everybody with me, everybody trafficking, you may be in Christ. You may have been forgiven of all these sins today. Well, then I hope that you'll be stirred up to thank him that much more. And you'll be stirred up to sing with the hymn writer, pity the nations, oh, our God, and constrain the earth to come.
If God targets idolatry first, ungodliness, what ought we to think of Islam, Romanism, Hinduism, Buddhism? What ought we as believers to think? Well, you know, in the final analysis, all roads lead to heaven. That is simply not true.
We may live in a pluralistic society, but theologically we are not to be pluralists. We are to maintain with our Savior. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.
We're not to create categories of the noble heathen. We're not to create categories that general revelation can bring us into acceptance with God. We are to repudiate that. We are to come to Romans 1 to impress upon us the great need for evangelism and for missions.
Psalm 10, verse four, the wicked in his proud countenance does not see God. God is in none of his thoughts. Psalm 14, verse one, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. That's his precommitment.
That's his operating principle. That's how he's governing his life. It shouldn't surprise us what follows in Psalm 14. They are corrupt.
They have done abominable works. There is none who does good. When you take Romans 1 and you look at society and say, that's precisely what we have going on today, what is the answer? It's chapter 3, verse 21 and all the way.
But now the righteousness of God is revealed. Apart from the law being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Notice. We've seen his wrath, the specific order and view of the particular offense and then the reason.
Notice in verse 19 or 18, they suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world is invisible, attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. So that they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their heart or in their thoughts and their and their foolish hearts were darkened. You see what the apostle is saying.
When you drove here this morning. As Chilliwackians, you enjoyed the sun, right? A couple of people came back from holiday. Well, what have you been missing here?
It hasn't been like that for the last two weeks. I remember when I first moved here from Southern California. Oh, the rain's nice. Fifteen years later, God gave the rain and I praise him for it, but the sun is nice.
See, you're driving here and you're appreciating that sunshine. You're appreciating the mountains. This is a beautiful place. You see what Paul is saying?
The created order reveals certain truths about God. And because God has made man in his own image, God is inescapable. He can't get away from it. He tries.
He busies himself. He suppresses truth in unrighteousness. He writes books like Michael Martin's philosophical defense of atheism. He starts forums and chat rooms to try and argue that there is no God.
I mean, he does busy himself trying to suppress the truth and unrighteousness, but he can't escape it. He can't avoid it. I had a buddy, an evolutionist, would ask him, well, where's your proof of the creation? Where's your proof that God created?
He'd just go like this. See, if you didn't have a pre-commitment, if you weren't holding down or suppressing the truth and unrighteousness, if you weren't an Adam, you'd understand these things properly. So you see, they suppress the truth and unrighteousness. They know certain things concerning God.
They know His eternal power. Verse 20. They know his deity. This is what's called general revelation.
God reveals himself generally through the created order to image bearers that understand these truths. And yet they suppress them in unrighteousness. Notice how conspicuous verse 19 reads, because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them.
No True Atheist: General Revelation
I say on the authority of the Pauline epistle to the Romans, there is no such thing as a true atheist. There's not! He may argue for atheism. He may try and convince you otherwise.
But God has told us through his inspired apostle Paul that he himself has made it evident to his image bearers through the created order. The problem isn't a lack of evidence. The problem isn't logical consistency. The problem isn't whatever they fancy it is.
The problem is that sinners suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They are depraved. They are in Adam. Their eyes are twisted.
They reinterpret things according to their own assumptions that are governed by their sinful nature. But they not only know his eternal power and his Godhead, they know something of his ethical standards as well. Look at what verse 32 says, who knowing the righteous judgment of God. Sinners know that it's right. when they do something wrong to be punished.
Now, they don't like to embrace that reality. They don't like to revel in that reality. They want to try and escape that reality, but they cannot. They know the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death.
Cain understood this, didn't he? Cain understood that people would want his blood, want his life. for his act against Abel. Sinners know this. It's hardwired in us.
We have to fight the temptation to succumb to some namby-pamby approach to civil ethics. God has put it in us to want to see justice and judgment and righteously implement it. The sinner knows this. Notice his response.
He knows God. He does not glorify him as God. Verse 21. This is the cross.
This is the hub. This is where that ungodliness comes to comes to obvious fruition, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Just back up for a moment. As I said, I want to preach this sermon this morning because some of us, at times, don't always think about missions and evangelism.
I'm not blaming anybody. I'm not saying you terrible people. Notice I said some of us. We need to keep these things fresh in perspective.
Notice what general revelation does for a man. General revelation, God revealing himself generally through the created order to his image bearers, reveals God. reveals his eternal power, reveals his deity, reveals his righteousness in the judgment of sinners, but it does not save man. In fact, what we know of God through general revelation leaves us without a defense. It leaves us without an apologetic.
It leaves us on the day of judgment without the place to say, but I just didn't. No. Oh, yes, you did know, because God made it evident to you. You suppress the truth and unrighteousness.
You are left inexcusable. You are left without an apologetic. You have no defense before a thrice holy God. But this general revelation doesn't save men.
This is where sometimes people, oh wait, that doesn't seem fair. It is fair. We need special revelation. See, when you were driving this morning, you looked at Mount Sham and you looked at that sunshine and you look at the created order, you don't see blood atonement.
You don't see the principle of Hebrews 922, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. You don't see the reality of John 1, 29, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You see why gospel preaching is necessary. You see why missionaries and evangelists are necessary.
You see why we write checks and why we send money overseas? Do you see the necessity? We've got a world populated with six billion sinners that have enough knowledge of God to land them into the lake of fire. But not the knowledge of God that is redemptive and salvific in nature.
Of course, we pray, pity the nations, oh our God. Of course, we respond to Matthew 28, 18 to 20. Of course, we think in terms of gospel missions and evangelism. Of course, we pray for preachers on Sunday morning.
Of course, we pray for the Spirit of God to be at work in the midst of our assembling together. Because there are sinners there under the wrath of God who know enough about Him, but suppress that truth and unrighteousness to be in excusable and without a defense on the day of judgment. You see, Romans one ought to feed your prayer life. It ought to affect us.
It ought to move us. It ought to cause us to pray to God, Lord, in heaven, we ask and pray that you will raise men up, not to be great comedians or great entertainers. Not to be shysters that work the crowd. Raise men up with a burden for the glory of God and with a genuine desire to see sinners saved, to preach the truth of Romans 1-3.
God send forth laborers into your harvest. What's Jesus say? The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest to send men forth.
See, Romans 1 ought to be affecting us.
Failure to Glorify God
Murray says to glorify God here as God is not to augment God's glory or to add to it, it means simply to ascribe to God the glory that belongs to him in virtue of the perfections which the visible creation itself makes known. It's an amazing thing. God has shown himself. We are to respond by glorifying him.
But what Paul says is true, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.
The Descent into Idolatry
Now, let's look at the second broad observation, the descent into idolatry. See, we are religious beings, you can't escape it. We're going to worship something. Right?
God made us to worship. That's why much of what happens in terms of sin has the feel of religion to it. And you see a man committed with his time and his money to a particular vice. That's religion.
It's his God, it's his idol, it's the one he serves. Jesus in Matthew 6, as we'll see next time we're there, you cannot serve God in mammon. Mammon in and of itself, riches, money, resources, isn't necessarily sin. It's our approach to that mammon.
It's our approach to that object. It's how we view it. You see, man was created to worship and in defecting from the triune God, he seeks alternate means. He seeks alternate idols, not that God's an idol.
He seeks alternate places to vent his worship. And that's what Paul tells us here.
Professing Wisdom, Becoming Fools
Professing to be wise, they became fools. We don't need that religion, we don't need that God, that stuff for the Sunday school, that's good for kids, that's good for the masses, it's their opiate, it makes them cope, it makes them comfortable, it helps them. Look, you know, we've arrived, we've evolved, we've gotten to the place and the point and the time, but we just don't need that God stuff anymore. What is that?
They profess to be wise. If you don't think this is going on today, you don't get out much. What happens? They profess to be wise, but they become fools.
They're sophomores. I don't want to hurt any of the younger people that are sophomores in school, but you know what sophomore means, right? It means wise fool. Sophos and moros.
Put together, you're wise fools. You're not a freshman anymore, they're just fools. You're not a senior, they're just wise. Qualified wisdom there.
You're in between, you're a wise fool, you see? At one and the same time, you have some wisdom and foolishness. Paul says that man apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ is a sophomore. He fancies himself to be wise.
He fancies himself to have arrived. He thinks that the story of Noah's Ark was just a children's story. Which, by the way, just by way of an aside, we decorate children's Sunday school places with pictures of the Ark and all these little animals on it. What was the flood?
It was God's execution of wrath and fury and judgment upon the then world. And yet we put all these little animals in there and make it look cute. The sophomores come along and say, who would believe that stuff? Who would believe all those animals just hanging out with Noah, singing songs in the sunlight while the rest of society is outside?
Well, we believe it because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And at the time of Noah, the earth was exceedingly corrupt and filled with violence. So God sent that wrath upon earth to deal with sinners and their rebellion. That looks a little bit differently hanging up in the Sunday school room, doesn't it?
You see, there's sophomores out there. They profess to be wise. How could you believe that? How could you believe that?
Don't you know the Bible's filled with contradiction? Don't you know the Bible's written by men? Don't you know, don't you know, don't you know? They're professing to be wise, but in reality, they're fools.
Their hearts are darker. The idolatry of verse 23, they change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
Exchanging Glory for Corruption
Paul is a master theologian. Paul understands the scripture. Paul is working with creation in his mind. He's working through the Psalms.
He is bringing this argument to bear upon these people and upon us with all of the weight of God's holy word behind him. This is reflective of the creation account. Man, birds, four-footed animals and creeping things. We change the glory of the incorruptible God.
Instead of bowing in worship, instead of praising Him, we worship other people. We worship other things. We worship animals. You see this in Israel's history.
Exodus chapter 32. What is smack dab in the middle of this construction program for the tabernacle? It's gut wrenching. It's heart wrenching.
They're putting together the tabernacle where God is going to dwell with them. What do they do? They make a calf. They exalt the calf and they bow down to the calf and they ascribe the power of the exodus to the calf.
You say, well, we would never do that outside of Jesus Christ. We most certainly would. And never forget the admonition of 1 John 5, 21, after discoursing on love, on righteousness, on obedience. How does John sign off in 1 John?
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. We're prone to wander, prone to leave the God we love. We may not bow down to a totem pole, we may not bow down to a calf, but we'll bow down to our own lusts, we'll bow down to our own mammon, we'll bow down to our own family pursuits, we'll bow down to anything and everything other than Jesus. It's terrible.
It's horrible. So the guilt of mankind. The descent into idolatry, they change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four footed animals and creeping things. And so one of six verses 19 to 21, they made a calf in Horeb and worship the molded image.
Thus, they exchanged their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt. The prophet Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 11 has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods. But my people have changed their glory for what does not profit.
You see, there's a great exchange going on. We have the incorruptible God. We know by virtue of being created in his image and the general revelation that everywhere screams of his eternal power and his God and in his righteousness. And yet we suppress that truth and unrighteousness.
We exchange the glory of the incorruptible. for the for the for the wickedness of the corruptible. It's terrible. Douglas Moose says this tragic process of human God making continues apace in our own day, and Paul's words have as much relevance for people who have made money or sex or fame their gods, as for those who carved idols out of wood and stone. Thus is verses 24 to 31 show the whole dreadful panoply or the range of sins that plague humanity has its roots in the soil of this idolatry.
See, that's the issue confronting us in the 21st century. Yes, there's homosexuals. Yes, there's fornicators. Yes, there's crack cocaine addicts.
Yes, there's alcoholics. Yes, there's wife beaters. Yes, there's child abusers. Yes, there's all these dastardly things.
The root, the core, the sum, the substance is idolatry. When men exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image of man or for a beast or for a creeping thing, then all manner of wickedness proceeds.
The Unrighteous Practices of Idolaters
And that brings us, thirdly, to the unrighteous practices of idolaters, verses 24 to 32. You see the progression, brethren. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Why?
Because they suppress the truth and unrighteousness. What may be known of God is manifest in them because God has made it manifest to them. And yet what they have done is they have thrown that out. They've given their religious worship and homage to another, and as a result of worshiping that thing, you become like it.
G.K. Beale has a wonderful book, if you're so inclined, to a biblical study of idolatry. It's called We Become What We Worship. And he shows that when a man bows down to an idol, he resembles that which he worships.
It's a fascinating study. Israel is called stiff-necked at times, right? Isn't that a mark of calves? Mark of cattle?
They're stiff-necked. They're recalcitrant. You have to put a yoke on them and break them and bring them over to you. They become like that which they've worshipped.
We read it in Psalm 115 verse 8. What happens when a man commits idolatry? He becomes like the idol. This is why Israel is indicted for having ears but not hearing, eyes but not seeing.
They're like their idols, right? You read that in Psalm 115. The language, at least in terms of the translation, seems a little bit funny almost. Noses they have, but they do not smell.
You see, when that was read in worship in the temple, The people of God were realizing there's a stark contrast here. Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. He sees everything.
He hears everything. He knows everything. The idols of the nations, the idols of the heathens, are futile. They're useless.
They have eyes they don't see. They have ears they don't hear. They have noses they don't smell. Well, what happens when Israel goes a-whoring and follows them?
They take on those particular characteristics. The prophet Isaiah indicts the people in his day, in chapter 6, because seeing they don't see, hearing they don't hear. What Beal's thesis statement is simply this.
We Become What We Worship
What you revere, you resemble, either for ruin or redemption. What you revere, what you give religious worship and homage to, you resemble, either for ruin or redemption. What are Christians supposed to be doing? Conform to the image of Christ.
We are to be godly, right? Because we worship, we revere the God of heaven and earth. We must resemble him. We must be like him.
We must take on his characteristics. I mean, you think about some of the idols of men. They leave an imprint upon the worshipper. Prolonged drug use starts to affect the body.
You can usually tell a meth user. You can usually tell who has a habit in that way because the idol is affecting them physically. It's terrible. What we revere, we resemble either for ruin or redemption.
The unrighteous practices of the idolaters. We're not going to go through every jot and tittle here. Sexual immorality, verses 24 to 27. Sexual immorality.
We look at that today or we hear it said, boy, this is a sign of a liberated society. This is the sign of freedom. This is the sign of revolution. Yes, a revolution against the living and true God.
When sexuality is vaunted the way that it is in the world, and unfortunately in the church today, it's not a sign that God is pleased with us. It's a sign that God has handed us over. Romans 1 ought to scare you, too. Nice sunny day.
You come in here and you get scared. This is what it's about, brethren. God gave them a Rejection of God, I already alluded to this in verse 28. This is terrible.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, as if we have the choice. Would you like the soup today? I don't think so. We treat God that way.
Yeah, I don't think I want to keep him on my knowledge. He doesn't serve me. He doesn't help me. He doesn't do anything for me.
So I'm just not going to think about God. We heard this a lot. Where was God on September 11th? Where He was on September 10th?
Where He was on September 12th? Where He has been from everlasting to everlasting? The problem isn't, where was God? The problem is always, where are we?
We don't like to retain the knowledge of God. There's a section in the prophet Jeremiah where God, through the prophet, says, they turn to me the back. They don't want to retain God in our knowledge. He doesn't do anything for me?
Forget it. Various vices. Some of you young people or some of you children, you might be saying, well, I'm not a homosexual. This passage tells us homosexuality is horrible.
I'm not that atheistic kind of a person that just throws God out of my mind. I mean, I'm in church after all. Look at this vice list. Is there anyone he doesn't cover?
Seriously, brethren, just think to yourself. Let's just read through this category of vices and answer the question. Are you found out? I'm not going to say every head bowed and every eye closed, raise your hand when you hear your sin.
I'm not going to do that. You just look at the exhaustive and comprehensive character of this vice list. being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil mindedness, they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things. Notice this one, disobedient to parents. You're a viceless there with the homosexual.
You're a viceless there with the murderer. You're a viceless there with the wicked and the sexually immoral. What's Paul doing? Paul is showing and Paul is proving his point that all men everywhere are liable under sin.
Undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. And then if that isn't enough, notice verse 32. He says that men in sin have a solidarity. They're in union with one another.
It's intriguing. In Psalm 2, the rulers, the kings of the earth, take their stand against the Lord and against his anointing. Can you get two kings or two rulers from competing nations in the same room together? Not usually.
But when they oppose God, the Lord, and his Christ, there's an interesting account of that in the Gospels. Pilate and Herod weren't buddies. In fact, it specifies they don't like each other. But when it came to opposing Jesus, they were like this.
Aggression against God makes some interesting bedfellows, doesn't it? Rejection of Christ makes some interesting bedfellows.
The Summit of Evil: Approval of Sin
Notice what he says in verse 32. Calvin calls this the summit of evil. who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. The approval here means hearty consent. It's not just I approve that they're heartily consenting, and interestingly enough, the very word that Luke uses when he describes Saul of Tarsus looking on as Stephen is stoned to death.
What's it say of Paul? He gave consent. He gave approval. He was right there with them.
He may not have been throwing the stones, but his heart was certainly joined with theirs. I don't think it's any accident it's the same word. John Murray says it this way, to put it bluntly, we are not only bent on damning ourselves, but we congratulate others in the doing of those things that we know have their issue in damnation. We not only damn ourselves, but we congratulate those who do those things which have their issue in damnation.
You've seen the revelation of his wrath, the descent into idolatry, the unrighteous practices of idolaters.
The Judgment of God upon Idolaters
Fourthly and quickly, the judgment of God upon idolaters. The people exchange the truth for idols. God gives them up. Remember, we read in Psalm 106 verses 19 to 21, they exchanged their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass.
They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt. That same psalm goes on to say, therefore, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against his people so that he abhorred his own inheritance. And he gave them into the hand of the Gentiles, and those who hated them ruled over them. You see the connection?
When we reject God, when we cast off God, God then hands us over. God then gives us up. In this particular instance, they exchange the truth of God for idols, for the image of corruptible man, for four-footed animals, for creeping things. And as a result, God gives them up.
It goes on to say again, they exchange the truth of God for the lie. What does God do? Well, you know, it's a pluralistic society. Believe whatever you want.
He gave them up. Those vices take over. The wickedness multiplies. The sinfulness just gravitates.
And what does God do in response? He gives them up. You see, when you look at a society like ours, you don't say, wow, aren't we doing great? Aren't we evolved?
You look at a society like ours, you should say, God have mercy. You should pray with the prophet in your wrath, remember mercy. I'm not a prophet, I'm not the son of a prophet. You can YouTube any guy that's going to say, this is the end, this is the time, this is this, this is that.
Based on Romans chapter 1, we can't avoid at least the thought that society today bears the marks of having been given over by God Most High.
Application
Well that's exposition. I just want to close. Actually we'll close tonight. I don't want to sort of snip this off.
Say Amen. But I want to close on a positive note. Can't forget Romans 1.17 and you can't forget Romans 3.21. This is the problem.
You look at your own heart and you say, why? Romans 1. When you see some man who sexually abuses little girls, Romans 1. When you see political orders built on lies rather than truth, Romans 1.
See, the Christian in this world has the answers. We really do. And as far as the depravity of man is concerned, it's all right here in vivid detail, 1.18 to 32. But you mustn't forget what brackets Romans 1.18 to 3.19 or 3.20.
But now the righteousness of God is revealed. You are here this morning and you find yourself in this particular list, this vice list, where you find yourself as an idolater, where you find yourself as a whatever kind of sin is in this particular chapter. I'm not talking about remaining corruption. I'm sure that even as we read through that list and every eye is closed, every head is bowed, we can raise our hands at something there that we struggle with in terms of remaining corruption.
We're talking about remaining corruption, we're talking about reigning sin, the orientation of your life, the disposition of your heart, the commitment of your soul. If it's to an idol, if it's to these vices, if it's to those things that are ungodly and unrighteous, you need to listen to Romans chapter 3 and verse 21. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. That means you We're not talking about the Armenians right now, the Pelagians.
We're not talking about the Muslims. We're not talking about the Buddhists or the atheists or whoever's out there. We're talking about right now. If you have not come to Christ, you are in Romans chapter one.
The good news is, is there's a Romans chapter three, twenty one and following. There is a but now. There is an answer. There is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Because in the Gospel, the righteousness that God demands is supplied, not by your works, not by your doing, not by your moral reform, not by your trying harder, but because God set forth His Son Jesus as a propitiation by His blood. to demonstrate his own righteousness, to show us that God is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. You see, this bad news makes the good news that much more precious. So I've always thought if you just tell people, hey, Jesus will make you a little happier. OK.
All right. But when you say Jesus reaches down into the cesspool of sin and misery and wickedness and evil and idolatry and vile practices that we find here in chapter one, and he brings you out of it, cleanses you with his blood and puts on a garment that avails with God. Praise be to God. That's why when Paul finishes his exposition of the gospel, he says this, for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever.
Amen. You see, a fresh appreciation of sin and of the Savior should cause us to be worshipers. should cause us to stand amazed at the cross of Jesus Christ. And if you are not saved this morning, believe on him. That's the instrument.
That's what God's grace uses. It is in the right in it. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith by grace. You've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves believe and you will be saved.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you and we rejoice that there is good news. We thank you and we rejoice that there is the power of God unto salvation for sinners in such a position. God, we thank you that you have dealt mercifully and kindly and graciously with us. And we pray that even today, God, as this gospel is proclaimed throughout the earth, more and more and more people would come to know Christ as Lord and Savior.
Do this, God, for your glory. Do this for your praise and for your honor. Do this, God, in our own midst with those who do not know you. We pray that they would not reject and not suppress.
And as they hear the gospel, they would believe by the grace of God to the saving of their never dying souls. We pray that today would be the day of salvation, the day to come out from under the very wrath of God and to enjoy that blessed righteousness that you give in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do this, Lord God, we pray in Christ's holy name. Amen.