This morning we're going to look at the persistent problem of idolatry. The persistent problem of idolatry. I want to read Romans chapter 1 verses 18 to 32 and then look specifically at the guilt of the Gentiles as given here to us by Paul in Romans chapter 1. Actually beginning in verse 16, 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 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 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 worshiped 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. Our Father, we thank you for the Word of God. We thank you that it's profitable for many things in our lives, and we pray that you would help us now to receive these things.

We pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to be at work in our minds and in our hearts. We know that apart from Christ we can do nothing and that means as well to receive with thanksgiving the word of truth. So please send forth the Holy Spirit to lead us, to guide us, to instruct us. As well we pray again that you would cleanse us from all sin and from all unrighteousness and everything that casts a darkening influence over our minds and hearts.

We pray, Father, that you would cause us to see your glory and to love you, to be devoted to you, and not to be drawn off to idols, not to be taken from the path by our own lusts, but help us, Almighty God, to resolve to pursue you with all of our strength. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Introduction

Well, in the Book of Acts, in the second missionary journey, we see the Apostle Paul goes to Athens. And it's very intriguing. As Paul is in Athens, it says that his spirit was provoked within him when he looked around the city and saw the idols. For Paul, it wasn't just a time to marvel at the accomplishments of men with their architecture.

I would imagine us today would go over to Athens and be somewhat marveled at or be marveling at the sorts of things that man can accomplish. But for Paul, it provoked his spirit. And interestingly enough, that word is often used of God in the Old Testament, where the children of Israel provoked him. They engaged in what the prophets called harlotry.

They turned from the true and the living God, and they went a-whoring after false gods. And that always caused God's anger to be displayed to the people of Israel. Very often, as you read the prophets, you will see that is the condemnation. That is what is in their crosshairs, so to speak.

So it shouldn't surprise us when Paul begins the book of Romans and he starts to address the universal condemnation because of sin. He starts with Gentiles. And one of the primary things that we ought to consider in this particular chapter is idolatry. See, very often we look at passages like these and we come down to, say, verse 29, 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. We read that list and we say, that sounds just like what we saw on CNN. We read that list and we say, that's just like what's going on in Canada. We read this list and we say, that's really what it's like there in the United States of America.

And we forget the emphasis of the apostle. These things are the result of previous idolatry. In other words, if we look at our culture, we don't necessarily have a homosexuality problem. We don't necessarily have a drinking problem.

We don't necessarily have a crack problem. We have a theological problem. We have an idolatry problem. Whenever man rejects the true and the living God, these are the sorts of things that then issue forth.

Now, I want to make sure you understand. I think homosexuality, crack, drink, all those sorts of things, are problems, but they are symptomatic of a much larger problem. The first thing Paul addresses in the chapter is idolatry. And I say that this is a persistent problem, not only for man the creature, but even for man the Christian.

John ends his first epistle Not with a celebration of love, not with a celebration of peace, not with a benediction of grace, but John ends his first letter with little children, keep yourselves from idols. He's speaking to Christians. He's talking to believers. He is speaking to those who are blood-bought by the Son of God.

And nevertheless, the believer has to take heed. The believer has to be on guard. The believer has to keep himself from idols. So let's look at Romans 1, verses 18-32.

It won't be a detailed exposition of every jot and tittle, but just the major categories. that we see. The first thing we ought to consider is the thesis of the book in verses 16 and 17 and then secondly the guilt of mankind in verses 18 to 32. Now specifically Gentile mankind because Paul will address moral people and Jews in the next chapter. But the overarching section beginning in chapter 1 at verse 18 and concluding in chapter 3 verse 20 is man's problem.

It is man's plight. It is the reality that man has gone astray from God. So Paul, before he sets forth the good news, which he starts in Romans 3 at verse 21, he shifts up. He says, but now the righteousness of God is revealed.

Romans 1.18, the wrath of God is revealed. Romans 3.21, but now the righteousness of God is revealed. Before he gets into the good news, he sets forth the bad news. We ought to remember this pattern in our evangelism.

So often we present Jesus as a help to a happier life. You know, believe in Jesus and you'll get some satisfaction. Believe in Jesus and you'll get some peace. Or worse yet, believe in Jesus and you'll get new cars or new houses.

Believe in Jesus and you'll enjoy health and wealth and prosperity. That is to strip the good news of its goodness. When we don't present the bad news, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. You are a sinner who stands in need of God's grace.

The good news is good because the bad news is so horrible. And we want to make sure that we emphasize that and be Pauline in our presentation of the gospel. So 118 to 320, the universal guilt of all mankind before the living and true God. Notice Paul's purpose in Romans 1.16.

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 the great." Paul has a conviction. God has demonstrated power and in this gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And that righteousness is that which God demands and which God gives by His grace through the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. And as I said, he begins with a presentation of the bad news And that leads us to consider the guilt of mankind.

I want to look at five things this morning. First, the revelation of God's wrath. Secondly, the reason for its manifestation. Thirdly, the descent into idolatry.

Fourth, the consequent practice of idolaters. And fifth, the judgment of God upon idolaters. So several things to look at this morning.

The Revelation of God's Wrath

Let's note first the revelation of God's wrath. Verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Now, I think the order is conspicuous. Some commentators disagree.

They say ungodliness and unrighteousness are just two things. There's no particular order, but the context demonstrates otherwise. Ungodliness precedes unrighteousness. In other words, what man thinks about God, whether he loves Him or rejects Him, affects the way that he lives.

That is simply to say that theology is practical. What a man considers concerning God affects the way that he lives, either for God or against God. So Paul says ungodliness and unrighteousness. Then he deals with ungodliness vis-a-vis idolatry.

And then he deals with all of the categories of unrighteousness in terms of particular vices. But note that word. He says the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. It's a lot different than some of the presentations of the gospel where persons come along and say, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

That's not necessarily the case. If you are outside of Christ and you continue impenitent and you continue to reject God, I would suggest that hell is not a wonderful plan for your life. It is a just and righteous punishment from a holy God. Paul does not begin by speaking of some undefined, nebulous sort of love that we have the prerogative to just cast upon whoever we want.

No, he starts with the wrath of God. God is angry with the wicked. Every day, Psalm 711. God hates the workers of iniquity.

Psalm 5-5. You say, well, those aren't popular verses today. It does not matter what is popular. It matters what is true.

We need to be honest and accurate and open in our dealings with sinners. As we present the gospel, if we come and just, you know, pronounce God's love upon everybody without any discrimination whatsoever, we are not honoring God. Paul begins with wrath. It is revealed from heaven.

Murray defines wrath this way, it is the holy revulsion of God's being against that which is the contradiction of His holiness. See, that's an important aspect of God. He's holy, He's righteous, He's just. The prophet says his eye is too pure to behold any evil.

We get it in our minds that, you know, God will just wink. God just understands. God just knows. God just, you know, He'll pardon me because, you know, He's nice and He's God and He's good and all those sorts of things.

God is full of wrath and anger and enmity toward those who continue and persist in sin. and in rebellion. That's why if you are at peace in sin, if you are at peace in rebellion, if you are at peace estranged from God, may the Lord Most High awaken you to see the danger that you find yourselves in. Remember John 3.36. He who believes the Son has everlasting life.

He who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but what? But the wrath of God abides on him. Present tense. Right now, even while you're enjoying creaturely comforts, you may have a good steak, you may have a good potato, you may have a good wife, you may have a good child, you may have a nice home, and that is what tricks you or deceives you into thinking that all is well.

But Jesus says in John 3.36, the wrath of God abides on him. You need to take notice of these realities. The Bible informs us. The Bible instructs us.

The Bible gives us the absolute truth concerning God, judgment, and the way of escape through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul tells us, wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Notice in verse 18, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. God made man in his own image and ever since the fall, man has sought to eradicate himself of God.

He suppresses truth and unrighteousness. Isn't that the case? Why do you think the sorts of culture wars we find against the Christian faith? Why do you think the sorts of things we see done to the people of God?

Man can't get to God, so he gets at his representatives on Earth. Man suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. Kids, that means he holds it down. And while holding it down, he somehow deludes himself into thinking that it must not be there.

I'll deny it, and that'll make it go away. Sort of like when I was a kid, if I heard a noise, I would cover my face. Never thinking through the implications of that. When I cover my face, it doesn't make the noise disappear.

It makes me more vulnerable. I never thought through that at, you know, five or six or whenever the last time I was. Maybe it was last week I covered my face because I heard a noise. Suppress the truth and unrighteousness.

Atheists say it's the problem of Christianity that we live by faith. They live by faith too. It's just a reversal. They suppress truth and unrighteousness.

They disbelieve in the living and true God. So they put faith elsewhere. You see, Paul's point is clear. The wrath of God is targeted against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. who suppress the truth and unrighteousness.

The Reason for Wrath's Manifestation

Now notice the reason for its manifestation. Because God has revealed himself to mankind. Have you ever met someone who said, I would believe in God if there were some evidence. There is no shortage of evidence.

God has made it manifest to man and within the heart of man, and yet man suppresses that truth in unrighteousness. Notice what Paul says, the unbeliever, the Gentile, those outside of the special revelation of God, notice what Paul says they know concerning God. In the first place we see that God's presence is inescapable. Verse 20a.

Such that it leaves men without excuse. You've heard the word apologetics before. It means to give up. Well, that's the precise word that Paul uses here in verse 20.

So that they are without excuse. The revelation that God gives to us through the created order is inescapable. Man can try to suppress the truth and unrighteousness. Man can write thousand page volumes on a philosophical justification for atheism.

Man can engage in the sort of wish mentality to just think God away. But he can't! This is why it's folly, brethren, to spend hour upon hour upon hour trying to prove the existence of God. Every person out there knows that God exists.

That's Paul's point. Their problem is that they're suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. We need to point that out to them. We need to encourage them to seek the Lord God through Jesus Christ.

Come to the scriptures and learn what the world is all about. Notice, he says that man knows God's eternal power. Verse 20, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen. And by that, invisible attributes being clearly seen.

It means the Creator. As He creates this world, as He makes man in His own image, such that they are able to resonate with the creation around them, God is stamped all over the creation. You can't escape Him. That's Paul's point.

But notice in verse 20, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power. Man knows this. Man understands this. Man has this idea concerning God.

As well, man knows something of God's deity and his godhood, Paul says. And man knows something about the righteous judgment of God. Look at verse 32. 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.

They know that. It's righteous with God to judge. It's an amazing thing how we forget this, isn't it? You tell somebody that God has promised to send impenitent sinners to hell and people say, that's not fair.

And yet they'll see on the 6 o'clock news that a violent pedophile was released by a lenient judge. It is fair. It is righteous for the judge to punish the offender. And sinners, deep down in their heart of hearts, know this to be the case.

Paul tells us. So those are three things that the unbeliever knows about God. He knows his eternal power, he knows his deity, and he knows it's righteous with God to judge those who continue in sin. So man knows that God exists, he knows particulars about God.

Now notice what it says in verse 21, still continuing this theme of the reason for its manifestation. Note what Paul says, because although they knew God. Hasn't he just displayed this? Hasn't he just demonstrated this?

Hasn't he just said This is man's culpability? They knew God, and yet, this is how they respond. They don't glorify Him as God, nor are they thankful. You've met these people, haven't you?

You may be these people this morning, perhaps. You know God exists, but you don't glorify Him as God, and you're not thankful to Him. This is wretched. This is wicked.

This goes back to what we read in Revelation 15. God is worthy to be glorified. God is worthy to be thanked. God is worthy to be praised.

God is worthy to be adored and worshipped. You see, and yet, man knows that this God exists, man knows these particulars about him, but they don't glorify him, nor are they thankful to him. It's a wretched condition that man finds himself in Adam. We ought to be very thankful for the grace of God, because this certainly describes each and every one of us who are saved.

It's not we were smarter, we were better, we didn't suppress the truth as much, no. We were wretched, dead in our trespasses and sins, and God in His mercy and in His grace pulled us out of that heap of mess. We ought to praise God, we ought to worship God. But you see what Paul is saying, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.

Why? Because men knew God and they didn't glorify Him as God. Nor were they thankful. You see brethren, there is a lot of problems in society. or there are a lot of problems in society.

Abortion, sodomy, euthanasia, those are horrific things. But do we ever cry out to God and say, Lord, men don't glorify you. Men do not honor you. I mentioned this when we considered the Decalogue.

You know, we rightly read or preach or write or protest concerning murder. concerning the seventh commandment, concerning those things that just bring trouble to society. Where is our desire for that first table? Where is that desire for the glory of God? Where is the desire that men would thank the Lord and praise Him?

That men would bow the knee to the One who is worthy? Would it ever be our case, in the way it was with Jeremiah, to even pray, Who would not fear Thee, O King of the nations? For indeed it is Thy due. Jesus taught us to pray first and foremost with reference to the name of God.

We run into His presence and say, give me food, give me forgiveness, give me protection. Those are legit in their place, but the priority in the Lord's Prayer is theological in nature. God's name, God's kingdom, God's will before we get to us. You see, when we look at a society that looks like what Paul describes here in Romans 1, yes, we ought to be grieved about kids that hate their parents.

Yes, we ought to be grieved about the fact that we engage in some wicked, abominable sexual practices. We ought to be grieved when we see a homosexual pride parade. But we ought to be grieved that men are idolaters. Men have rejected God.

This is what happens to Paul when he stands in Athens and he sees the city given over to idols. His spirit is provoked within him. Certainly they had all sorts of sin in their city. I mean, we're talking Athens in the first century.

It was no bastion of holiness and righteousness. It's one of the faulty thoughts that we have. Oh, you know, our society is so bad. So was Paul's.

So was every age since the fall of man. We just hear about it a lot quicker because we have the internet. The same wickedness is out there, we just get better at doing it with our technology. But Paul sees a city given over to idolatry, and what does he do?

His spirit is provoked within him. So what does he then do? He stands up on the Areopagus and he preaches, God, God the Creator, God the Governor, God the Redeemer, through our Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't say, get rid of your idols.

He realizes that to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ means to get rid of your idols. You see the priority with the apostle. This is what happens. Men know God.

Men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Paul brings this implication in verse 21, 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. You see, if someone ever says to you, why is God angry with people? Why is there wrath at the end of history?

Why is there hell? Because men knew that God existed and they didn't glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful to Him. You get bent out of shape if you give a gift to somebody and they don't fawn all over you for years. If you're one of those insecure husbands, remember that, honey, I gave you that gift, I gave you that gift, I gave you that gift.

When she comes home, I did the dishes. Did you see? I did the dishes. What's the implication?

You need to thank me because I'm a dish-doer, right? We get bent out of shape if persons don't glorify us or they're not thankful to us. God is glorious. God is the only being in this.

He's not in creation. He's outside of creation. The only being worthy of worship and adoration and praise and glory given unto Him. It is perfectly consistent with His holy character to target all ungodliness and unrighteousness with His holy wrath because men knew Him and yet men did not glorify Him.

Men knew Him and yet they were not thankful to Him.

The Descent into Idolatry

Now notice in the third place this descent into idolatry. Verses 22 and 23, professing to be wise, they became fools. Legitimately, sophomores, right? That's what a sophomore is.

It's a wise fool. If you're a sophomore in school right now, that's what that means. It means a wise fool. At your age, that's what you are.

You're a wise fool. You say, well, that's offensive, Pastor, but that's just the etymology of the word. Sophomore. Blame whoever developed that word.

This is what Paul says. Notice in verse 22, "...professing to be wise, they became fools." Isn't this atheism at its core? Those reasoned arguments for the non-existence of God, they profess themselves to be wise, they write big books, they go on teaching tours, they are fawned over by the huddled masses, and yet they are fools before a holy God. They are foolish and engaged in folly as those who profess themselves to be wise." Notice what he goes on.

He says, "...and they change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things." You know, it's interesting. Paul is not innovative here. Paul is not creative here. Paul is simply applying scripture to a different context.

Psalm 106 describes Israel this way. They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped 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.

Paul is simply bringing to bear upon these Gentiles, in Romans chapter 1, what has always been the case. For man and Adam, to know that God is, and to suppress that truth and unrighteousness, to profess himself to be wise, all the while being a fool and exchanging the glory of the incorruptible God for some creature, to worship some thing, to worship something that is bound by time and space. Jeremiah 2, 11, has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods. But my people have changed their glory for what does not profit.

Isn't that ultimately what idolatry is? It is to exchange the glory of God Most High for that which does not profit. For those of you here who have engaged in this, you sought something else prior to coming to Christ. You saw it in sex, you saw it in power, you saw it in work, you saw it in family.

Some things are good things, but our attachment to them can render them into an idol. Or it might have been crack, it might have been who knows what. Do those things satisfy? Do you wake up after a night of that sort of debauchery saying, man, I feel fulfilled?

No, not typically. You engage in the walk of shame, you engage in the sort of guilt, you have all that pent-up emotion because you have spent yourself on an idol. This is what Paul is saying. They exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the creature.

You're not supposed to worship the creature. You're not supposed to give your time and devotion to the creature. That doesn't mean neglect your wives and kids, neglect your husbands and kids. That's not what that means.

Devotion in a religious sense. One man is well observed. We can see what we worship when we look at where we spend our time and our money. Those are two great indicators of that which we worship.

If you were to look at North American culture and you saw which sort of internet sites were most frequented, you would conclude that in North America pornography and sports are worshipped because of the time and the money devoted to them. It's an exchange of the glory of the incorruptible God. For what? Paul gives concrete expression to this, into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.

You say, who would ever do that? Israel, when they danced before the calf at Horeb? Persons today, when they dance before whatever it is, they love more than God? You see, this is nothing new, and it's nothing that is absent from our own culture.

Douglas Moos 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 famed their gods as for those who carved idols out of wood and stone. Thus, as verses 24 to 31 show, the whole dreadful range of sins that plague humanity has its roots in the soil of this idolatry. Does everybody get this? I want you to see this.

Ungodliness, unrighteousness.

The Consequent Practice of Idolaters

Notice. The consequent practice of idolaters. Notice in verse 24, Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness and the lust 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.

There is a priority involved. We reject God and then we end up abusing men. We reject God, then we're given over to all manner of wickedness. You could go through prophet after prophet after prophet to see this connection in the Old Testament.

When Israel's prophets came to condemn them, there's a close association between a rejection of the first table of the law and a rejection of the second table of the law. Jesus says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Upon these two, hang all the law and the prophets.

Guess what happens if you reject the first? You're not going to practice the second. When you look at a society that is filled with sex and violence and all the sorts of things that we have, again, those are symptomatic and they are problems, but the essence, the root, the problem as theological in nature is a rejection of God. Men do what they do because they did not glorify God as God, nor were their hearts thankful.

That's the progression, the consequent practice of idolaters. Paul indicates the practice of sexual immorality. You know what the best way to preach the gospel to a homosexual is? Preach the gospel to them.

Now, some say, well, you know, of course that's what we do. Not necessarily. We could preach moralism to them. Let's just take it down a notch.

Let's say somebody who steals candy bars. You gotta stop stealing candy bars. That's not the gospel. That's law.

The law prepares for the gospel. Just to tell somebody to stop doing what they're doing isn't gospel. Gospel is that God is in Christ reconciling the sinners to himself, reconciling the world to himself. The gospel is Jesus Christ paid it all.

The gospel is Jesus lived and died and rose again. The response to that gospel by the grace of God is to look and live. When that sinner looks and lives by God's grace, when he looks at that brazen serpent, when he is healed, when he is justified, then you tell him, stop stealing candy bars. Stop engaging in lewdness.

Stop engaging in that sort of heinousness. Now, I'm not suggesting we never tell somebody to stop doing bad things. But don't get it in your head that that's somehow evangelism. I shared the gospel with somebody because I told them to stop, you know, stealing candy bars.

No, you share the gospel with someone when you tell them that Christ lived, Christ died, Christ rose again, and all who look to Christ will have everlasting life. In essence, or in some, we are not preaching moralism. I would rather that you leave from this church saying, you know, Butler tells us to look to Christ, and then stop stealing candy bars. Not just go stop stealing candy bars.

You can get that at the Lions Club, you can get that at the Moose Lodge, you can get that anywhere. The Christian gospel is not moralism. The Christian gospel, as Paul says in Romans 1.16, is the power of God. unto salvation for everyone who believes. Your problem isn't that you just need to stop stealing candy bars.

Your problem is that you're an idolater and you need the living and true God to save you from your sins. Owen says it this way, we really try hard to convince men of particular sins. And he says, but they're nothing but sin. The church can be good at this.

You shouldn't do this, you shouldn't do that. Again, there's place for the law. We should preach the law. Do not leave here saying, Butler says, go steal candy bars.

I'm not saying that. The gospel, the power of the blood of Jesus. in whom we have redemption through His blood, not through our moral reform, not because we stopped stealing candy bars. You're not going to go to heaven because you stopped stealing candy bars. You're going to heaven because Jesus Christ paid it all.

You're going to go to heaven because Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God for His people, because Jesus Christ did everything that the Father says so that we receive that righteousness when by God's grace we believe. So the consequent practice of idolaters, the practice of sexual immorality, notice in verse 28, the rejection of God. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. In some ways, this is one of the most offensive in this whole list.

They did not like to retain God in their knowledge. Isn't that described, man? We oftentimes think of the brazen sins out there, the crack and the this and the that. They didn't like to retain the knowledge of God in their minds.

You actually think that in a created universe, where God the Creator has made you and sustained you and gives you life and breath and all things, where God creates the food that goes down your gullet, where God creates the water that goes into your system, you actually think it's okay to not want the knowledge of God in your head? There's an instance in the prophet Jeremiah where God, through Jeremiah, condemns the people and he says, they turned the back to me. You understand the imagery, don't you? You're talking to your kid and you're mid-sentence and your kid turns from you.

That's turning the back. What does it do when you see that? Oh, I'm just so happy that my kid's an insubordinate, rebellious jerk. No, you see, turn around.

Show me the respect that is due to me. They turn to me the back, God says through Jeremiah. And here I think this is something of that. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, I've just got too many things on my plate, I've got too many things to think about, I've got too much going on in my own life to give any thought to this God.

It's like Psalm 10.4, the wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. You oftentimes think the converse of that, for the believer, those who have been saved by God's grace, God is in their thoughts. They think about God during the day.

They trace out scripture in their minds and in their hearts. I'm not saying they're not doing their work. Not saying that they sit on mountaintops and just meditate, but God is in their thoughts. If it is a characteristic of the ungodly to push God out of their thoughts, what ought to be a characteristic of the godly?

It is to have God in their thoughts. It is to live. Coram Deo, in the presence of God. It is to think through those things that are most important and to calculatedly live in light of this living and true God.

They didn't like that. They don't want that. Psalm 14, the fool has said in his heart there is no God. They are corrupt.

They have done abominable works. There is none who does good. And then notice the various vices are indicated in verses 29 to 31 and then in verse 32 we see that this is a universal problem. Calvin calls this the summit of evil.

Verse 32, 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. It's not enough that we are damning ourselves. We want to try and take everybody else with us. Murray says, 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.

I mean, how sick is this? How perverse is this? How bad is verse 32 in our society? It's not enough that I'm going to try and pave my way to hell.

I'm going to take as many people with me as I can. When I see them engaged in lawlessness and debauchery, I'm going to congratulate them. I'm going to approve them. Think about this as a parent.

If you are not fearing the living and true God, you are not worshipers of this God. You are not praisers of this God. You do not keep this God in your thoughts. What are you doing?

You're approving your children's activities. You are approving the same sorts of things that Paul is talking about here. We are bent not only on damning ourselves, but congratulating on others who are on that path with us. You hear it in the jokes of men.

You know, heaven doesn't want me and hell is afraid I'll take over. What are you going to take over in hell? What is it that you're going to take over in hell? The most pain, the most suffering, the most weeping, the most gnashing of teeth?

And look at the jokes of men. Yeah, I don't want to go to heaven. I want to go to hell where all my friends are and where there's going to be this big party. This is just folly and foolishness and wickedness and a celebration in ungodliness.

It's not enough that we damn ourselves. We want to fill hell with persons just like ourselves.

The Judgment of God upon Idolaters

Now notice fifthly and finally the judgment of God upon idolaters. You see this in verses 24, 26, and 28. God gave them over. It's terrifying, isn't it?

God gave them over. God gave them over three times. In other words, when we profess to be wise and we are in reality foolish, when we know that God is, but we suppress that truth in unrighteousness, and we don't glorify God as God, nor are our hearts thankful, what's God's response to that? God gives them over.

I would suggest when you see a society that looks like verses 29 to 31, you ought not to think liberty. You ought not to think freedom. You ought not to think sexual revolution. When you see a society that looks like verses 29 to 31, you ought to think judgment, God's judgment.

I marvel when I hear Christians say, do you think if we keep going like this, God's going to judge us? What do you mean going to judge us? Abortion, sodomy, euthanasia, again, just the big three. Let alone drive-by shootings, you know, drug use.

And, you know, I paint all those horrible things, but what about the self-righteousness? That's bad, too. God condemns self-righteousness. Polished people that show up at church, look like they have everything going on, and yet they are dead to the Lord God Most High.

When you see societies like this, the question is not, are we going to be judged? The question is, or rather the declaration is, this is evidence that God has given us up. He's given us over. Van Til describes hell as a soundproof exclusion chamber.

And it is, in a sense, similar to what we find here. God gives them up. You continue in your rebellion, you continue in your folly, you continue in your lack of glorifying God and being thankful, then God will judicially heart it. God will give them up to vile passions.

Verse 29, as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up. Back in 24, therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness. So we see the people exchange the truth for idols, God gives them up. The people exchange the truth for a lie, God gave them up.

The people exchanged the natural use for the unnatural. What happens? God gave them up. Again, Psalm 106.

Therefore, after highlighting the idolatry of Israel, Psalm 106 verses 40 and 41, 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, essentially, Paul is rehearsing what was true in the nation of Israel. This is true respecting the Gentiles. In his presentation of the good news, he starts with the bad news, that God's wrath is revealed from heaven. against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. He then gives specific detailed information as to what that ungodliness looks like.

It looks like men who knew God but rejected Him. It looks like men who profess themselves to be wise but they are in reality fools. They are men who have exchanged the glory of God for something that is creature. And then all of the unrighteous practices that follow as a result of their pre-commitment, or of their fundamental commitment to oppose the living and true God.

You see, I believe that the Apostle's argument here is impeccable, sets the stage for what he'll do in Romans 321, but now the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

Application: Responses to Idolatry

What are some things that we ought to learn as we enter into a new year? We wonder what to preach, you know, as we're entering into a new year. Should it be happy? Should it be peppy?

For me, it should be idolatry. This is a perennial problem. This is an issue. This is a reality.

Not just with your neighbors next door, but as we look through some concluding observations, I think it's a problem that all of us have to deal with. Where do we spend our time? What gets our energy? What is most special to us?

In the first place, we ought to consider the effect of idolatry. What effect does it have upon the worshiper? There's a great book by Greg Beal called We Become What We Worship, A Biblical Theology of Idolatry. And he points out, as we read in Psalm 115, that What you revere, you resemble, either for ruin or restoration.

Let me just repeat that. What you revere, that means what you worship, you resemble, you become like, either for ruin or restoration. Do you notice in Psalm 115 what it says concerning those who worship idols? Those who worship them become like them.

You ever think that's a curious explanation for idols? They have ears, but they do not hear. They have eyes, but they do not see. They have noses, but they do not smell.

They have mouths, but they do not taste. You ever notice the indictment, say, of the prophet Isaiah upon Israel? Hearing, you will not hear, and seeing, you will not see. Why is that?

Because they're committed to idols, they become like their idols, and as a result, they're going to reject the word of the prophet. This is a reality. What you revere, you will resemble, either for ruin or restoration. When we revere and worship God, what should be happening?

We should be being conformed under the image of his son. We ought to be growing in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. We spend time with God, we worship God, we praise God, we honor God, we love God. What should we look like as those who spend time with God?

When you spend time with Baal, guess what? You like to have sexual intercourse. outside of marriage. When you spend time with Baal, you're full of emotion. When you spend time with Baal, the center of operation is below the waist.

When you spend time with the idols described in the scripture, you become like them. What's another indictment of Israel through the prophets? And again, Beal teases all this out in beautiful detail. What's another thing that prophets often say to the children of Israel?

You stiff-necked. Use stiff neck. What else is stiff neck? Animals that need yolks, don't they?

Things like calves. Isn't that what Israel danced around in front of God at Horeb in Exodus 32? They became like what they worship. The man who's addicted to drugs or the man who's addicted to whatever the particular, we can actually see transformation coming over him or her.

You can see them becoming like that which they worship. The effect of idolatry is degrading upon the person. It doesn't have a remedial benefit. You don't worship the idol and become better.

You don't worship the idol and become more fulfilled, a better you. No, you become degraded by that thing which is false. You pour your efforts and your energies into that and you end up being like it rather than like God. The types of idolatry.

There's a whole bunch of different things we can worship, isn't there? I think of the types of idolatry formally. There's a theological rebellion, isn't there? What's the first commandment say?

You shall have no other gods before me. To worship anything that is not God is idolatry. To reject the true and living God for Molech, for Baal, for Asherah, modern state for comfort, for peace, for security, for family. To substitute the living and true God with anything else is theological rebellion.

Then there's theological innovation, and I think this is where churches need to be very careful. The second commandment forbids us from worshiping the true God in a false manner. You see, we are to worship the true God truly. We're to worship the one and only God the way that he describes in the scriptures.

We're not to be innovators, we're not to be creative, we're not to forsake those things that he has determined are acceptable worship and substitute in its place those things which bring me happiness. That's a problem, I suspect. And then there's theological utilitarianism. Worshipping a God to get what we want.

Garden variety utilitarianism. What brings me the most joy, the most happiness, and the most pleasure? I saw this with Ahaz recently in 2 Chronicles. You don't need to necessarily turn there, but king of Israel, Ahaz.

He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which had defeated him, saying, Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me. Seems a logical position, doesn't it? The gods of Syria help Syria, so I'll throw some sacrifices their way, so I'll get a little bit of that help. It has the semblance of a logical coherence to it, but it's theologically wrong.

It's wicked. It's utilitarian. It's seeking to get things, and whichever God promises, I will be right there with my hand out. I love what the chronicler says concerning this practice.

He says, because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me, but they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. In Paul's words, God gave them over.

Responses for Believers

What are some responses by the believer to this perennial problem of idolatry?

Know the Truth

In the first place, we need to know the truth. I wonder how many people out there are worshiping an idol under the name of Yahweh. You say, well, that could never happen. That's precisely what happened at Horeb.

See, people say, I love Jesus. Well, someone has to ask the question, what Jesus are you talking about? Because the Jesus that is oftentimes depicted out there, and I don't just mean at that neighbor's house, I mean out there and can be entertained in here, is not the Jesus that has any resemblance to the Jesus of the Bible. This is a reality.

If we don't know God, we're not going to worship him. If we don't understand Him, if we don't know Him in His being, in His attributes, if we don't understand the scriptural presentation of God, and I'm not saying you need to be John Owen before you can worship. You need to pass a 300-question test and write 10 essays before you come in here and work, and I'm not saying that. Brethren, when did the church adopt the mentality that it's the least amount of information that we need?

What's the fewest propositions I can believe and be okay? That's the wrong question. Don't I get to grow in this knowledge? Don't I get to learn?

Don't I get to get into the scriptures and understand this God so that I can love Him and worship Him accordingly? We need to exercise caution.

Exercise Caution Against False Religion

This is how John ends his first epistle. I've already pointed it out. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. There is false religion out there.

And when John says that in 1 John 5.21, we think heathen idols, we think pagan idols, we think totems or sticks or stones or whatnot. But John in 1 John is dealing with the anti-Christian heresy, dealing with anti-Christ. John's point is probably more doctrinal. Little children, keep yourselves from the idols of those who deny that Jesus has come in the flesh.

Keep yourselves from the idols of those who deny that Jesus is the Christ. Little children, keep yourselves from the idols of a preacher who goes up and makes up lies about Jesus. As well, the idol of Mammon. You know, if we were in Ethiopia or in the Sudan or somewhere else, we'd still need to preach against the idol of Mammon.

Sin is sin no matter where you're at. But in an affluent North America, we gotta guard our hearts here, brethren. It's not wrong to work hard. It's not wrong to be compensated for hard work.

The Bible puts that upon the people of God. Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings. What's Paul's point to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6?

Command those who are rich in this present age. He doesn't say, tell them to get rid of all their money, divest themselves of all their loot and shave their heads and go sing at the airport. He says, command them not to be haughty, not to trust in uncertain riches, but to share with those in need. So there's a doctrine of hard work, there's a doctrine of recompense in the Bible that God is pro But there's also within us that tendency that C.S.

Lewis spoke of. You see a man, and he's making his way in the world through hard work and prosperity and diligence. Lewis says, what is imperceptible, though, is that the world is often making its way in his heart. So be careful.

You cannot love God and man. The third place is response by believers, necessity of exercise and caution, The idol of self.

The Idol of Self

We saw this in 2 Timothy 3 too. Men will be lovers of themselves. Beal quotes David Wells on this point concerning self. So I think this is the last idol to die for all of us.

You say, I don't worship sticks, I don't worship stones, I don't worship money, I don't have any, I don't worship sex, I don't worship drugs, I don't worship all those things. But there's something very fond about that person looking back at you in the mirror. There is something in us that is devoted to that person in the mirror. There is that attachment, and certainly there ought to be this love yourselves sort of mentality, not, you know, I'm great and selfie sticks and the whole spiel, but this devotion and narcissism that oftentimes entangles up souls is something that is idolatrous.

Listen to Wells. Much of the church today, especially that part of it which is evangelical, is in captivity to this idolatry of the self. This is a form of corruption far more profound than the list of infractions that typically pop into our minds when we hear the word sin. We are trying to hold at bay the gnats of small sins while swallowing the camel of self.

It is idolatry as pervasive and as spiritually debilitating as were many of the entanglements with pagan religions recounted for us in the Old Testament. That this devotion to the self seems not to be like that older devotion to a pagan god blinds the church to its own unfaithfulness. He says, the end result, however, is no less devastating because the self is no less demanding. It is as powerful an organizing center as any god or goddess on the market.

I think he's nailed this. The contemporary church is whoring after this God as assiduously as the Israelites in their darker days. It is baptizing as faith the pride that leads us to think much about ourselves and much of ourselves. I love what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 in terms of Christ and his gospel. and he died for all that those who live should live no longer for, not Baal, not Asherah, not Mammon, but should live no longer for themselves.

This is a perennial problem, brethren, for all of us. As well said, it is as pervasive as reading through a 1 Samuel, or reading through a Judges, or reading through Chronicles, and seeing Israel going a-whoring after these false idols. We are wrapped up in ourselves. We are narcissistic.

We love ourselves. We tend to ourselves. We pamper ourselves. We cater to ourselves.

The glory of the Christian gospel tells us it doesn't have to be that way. You see, to worship this creature is as bad as worshiping any other creature. There is this fine line between a biblical estimation of oneself and a healthy care for oneself and the devotion that is condemned by God. Little children.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. We need to be careful in this area. Of course, we can mention the idol of pleasure, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. That kind of goes hand in hand with self, doesn't it?

We love ourselves, so we love pleasure. We love ourselves, so everything has to go well for us. We love ourselves, so we sort of manipulate life and control everything to bring mass pleasure to ourselves.

The Cross as the Only Antidote

The only antidote to idolatry for the believer is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, keep me near the cross, sought to be our daily plea. God, I feel this tendency. I sing it when we sing 400.

I'm prone to wander, prone to leave the God that I love. It's a Christian who wrote that particular hymn. Prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love. Lord, in heaven, in 2016, at the throne of grace, we're going to pray, Lord, keep us from this.

Keep us from this devotion to self that is unholy and ungodly and unrighteous. Lord, keep me from this devotion to pleasure. And certainly, God, keep me from Baal. Keep me from Asherah.

Keep me from Molech. Keep me from that which is not God. Brethren, we need to be as prayerful about these sorts of things as we are for all the other sins in our lives. Lord, help me not to look upon a woman alas.

Lord, help me not to be proud in my heart. Lord, help me to keep the Sabbath day holy. Lord, help me to be subordinate to governing authorities. Why do we pray those things but we'll never pray, God, keep me from idols?

Keep me from those things which are determined to bring me down. That ought to be our plea. So the antidote for the believer is the cross of Christ. The antidote for the unbeliever, guess what the answer is?

The cross of Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. This is the most certain way of killing idolatry in your life, is to come to the Lord. I love what Paul says in Thessalonians.

We have, by the grace of God, Turn from our useless idols to the true and living God. Isn't that beautiful imagery? We have turned from our useless idols to the true and living God. The only way to make that turn is by grace, looking unto Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of faith.

Believe on Him. The Bible says you will be saved. Do not persist in rebellion. Do not persist in idolatry.

Do not continue to revel in that which is not God. This is a sad and pathetic picture that Paul paints concerning man. This is man in Romans 1. He's not describing dogs.

He's not describing animals. He's not describing oxen. He's not describing beasts. Sure, I've told you before, when R.C.

Sproul said something on KKLA concerning the wickedness of babies. He said, babies are worse than a viper, worse than a rat. And everybody freaks out and says, what do you mean, R.C. Sproul?

How could you say my little baby's worse than a rat? You know that a rat does what God made rats to do? Rats do not reject God. Rats do not sin against God.

Rats do not rebel against God. But of babies, and I'm not picking on babies this morning, I'm trying to illustrate a picture here. Psalm 58, they go estranged from the womb, speaking lies as soon as they are born. It is terrible that we are described in Romans 1.

This is us. This is how we look. This is what we're about. Suppressing truth.

Rejecting God. Pursuing wickedness and evil. This is terrible. This is, in many respects, the cesspool of the entire scripture.

And that's because it describes man and Adam. Man and sin. Romans 3.21. But now the righteousness of God is revealed.

Through the cross of our Lord Jesus, the scripture says, believe and you will be saved. This bad news precedes the good news, but the good news is most blessed, most wonderful, and most glorious. God takes the degraded bale worshipper, God takes the degraded drug worshipper, whatever worshipper it was, and he delivers them. He frees them.

He gives them life eternal. He sets them on a new path. Do you remember this? You people here that are converted, that have been by grace saved?

What were you before? What have you become? What has God's grace in your life done for you? It has set you free.

It has brought liberty. It has brought peace. It has brought joy. It has brought contentment.

It has brought safety, stability, security. All the stuff we tried to fetch from the idols before and we came up wanting. Only in Christ is peace given. Only in Christ is peace secure.

Only in Christ is peace provided. And it is by grace through faith in Him. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our Father, we thank you for the word of God. We pray that you would go with us now. We pray that you'd watch over us as individuals, as families, as a church in this coming year. Let us take John's admonition to heart.

Let us keep ourselves from idols by your grace and for your glory. We pray the gospel would be proclaimed throughout the earth today. We pray that many would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And we pray this in his most blessed name.

Amen.

Scripture References

• Exodus 32
• Psalms 5:5; 7:11; 10:4; 14:1; 58:3; 106:19-20; 106:40-41; 115:8
• Jeremiah 2:11; 10:7
• Matthew 22:37-39
• John 3:36
• Romans 1:16; 1:17; 1:18-32; 1:20; 1:21; 1:22-23; 1:24; 1:26; 1:28; 1:29-31; 1:32; 3:20; 3:21
• 2 Corinthians 5:15
• 1 Thessalonians 1:9
• 1 Timothy 6:17
• 2 Timothy 3:2
• 2 Chronicles 28:23
• 1 John 5:21
• Revelation 15