THE REGRESSION OF REBELLION
Romans 1:23-32
18For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that
which is known about God is evident to them; for God made it evident to them. 20For
since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine
nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that
they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as
God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart
was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory
of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and
four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24Therefore God gave them over in the
lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.
25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. 26For this reason God gave them over
to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which
is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the
woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing
indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28And
just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a
depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29being filled with all
unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice;
{they are} gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of
evil, disobedient to parents, 31without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving,
unmerciful; 32and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice
such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty
approval to those who practice them.
Introduction:
All men want wisdom. No man wants to be known as unwise. Paul is speaking
of men who declare themselves to be wise. The Bible says that the wisdom of man is
foolishness to God. In truth, apart from God, there is no wisdom. What Paul is doing
here is exposing the irony of the situation. He was speaking of people who knew of
God. They knew of his power. They knew of his terror and might. Still, they shut
him out of their lives.
They became so disillusioned that they saw their rebellion against God as a
mark of wisdom. They knew God, but still did not honor or thank him. In the process
they proclaimed themselves to be men of understanding and wisdom. Their move
towards self exaltation exposed their utter foolishness.
I.
The Insanity Of Man’s Sinfulness
22Professing
to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the
incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and fourfooted animals and crawling creatures. 24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts
of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.
a. Man attempts to understand his world apart from the Lord
There is an old saying we men know well. “If all else fails, read the
instructions.” When we buy a new gadget, we will often throw the instructions
away before we even get it out of the box. We’re smart. We don’t need anyone
telling us how to do it!
This is how man approaches God’s Word. We look at it then we
throw it out. We don’t need God to tell us how everything works! We’ll
figure it out for ourselves. We think we are so wise.
b. Man attempts to explain his world without the Lord
Perhaps the greatest example of this is the myth we call evolution. It
is amazing that not only has the world embraced this nonsense, but many within
the church have. Many theologians are too intimidated to take on evolution.
Therefore, instead of defending God’s Word, they water it down and attempt to
fuse evolution and creation together. The result is a theology called theistic
evolution. This is the belief that God created everything we see through
the process of evolution.
The Bible does not offer this option. The Bible said that God spoke and
creation was. That’s it. There is no gap, there is no time lapse. Genesis speaks
of God creating all things in six days. Some try to accommodate evolution by
saying the Hebrew word for day actually means a period of time, therefore, God
did not create in six days, but in six periods of time. This just isn’t true. Every
time that specific word is used in the Old Testament it is referring to a specific
twenty four hour period.
c. When man believes in nothing, he falls for anything
The 1986 World Almanac says, about 2.6 billion people have an
identifiable religious affiliation. The Hindu religion has over 330 million gods.
American Indians worship natures. In Much of Asia ancestor worship is still
practiced.
We are no better today. The New Age section in many bookstores is
than the religion section. You can’t turn on t.v. without seeing advertisements for
a psychic hotline. Many people read their horoscope every day.
II.
The Precarious Nature Of Man’s Sinfulness
24Therefore
God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that
their bodies might be dishonored among them. 25For they exchanged the truth of
God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who
is blessed forever.
a. God removed himself from their lives
Therefore refers back to the reasons Paul has just set forth in verses 1823. Although God revealed himself to man, man rejected God and then
rationalized his rejection and created substitute gods of his own making (v 23).
And because man abandoned God, God abandoned man. It is that divine
abandonment and its consequences that Paul develops in verses :24.32 the
most sobering and fearful passage in the entire epistle.
b. Without God’s protection, man’s heart runs wild
God*s giving over sinful mankind has a dual meaning. God gave them
over simply by withdrawing His restraining and protective hand, allowing
the consequences of sin to take their inevitable, destructive course. Sin
degrades man, debases the image of God in which he is made, and strips him of
dignity peace of mind, and a clear conscience. Sin destroys personal
relationships, marriages, families, cities, nations, and churches.
The divine abandonment of men to their sin about which Paul speaks
here is not eternal abandonment. As long as sinful men are alive, God
provides opportunity for their salvation. That is the marvelous good news of
God*s grace, which Paul develops later in the epistle. Despite His righteous
wrath against sin, God is patient toward sinners, “not wishing for any to perish
but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).
c. Without God’s protection man will lose all sense of decency
Men reject God because their preferences, their lusts, are for their
own way rather than God*s. Lusts can refer to any desire but was most often
used of a carnal desire which was sinful or forbidden.
Impurity was a general term for uncleanness and was often used of
decaying matter, especially the contents of a grave, which were considered by
Jews to he both physically and ceremonially unclean. As a moral term, it
usually referred to or was closely associated with sexual immorality.
d. Without God’s protection, man will fall into dishonor
When man seeks to elevate himself for his own purposes and by his
own standards, he inevitably does the opposite. The way of fallen mankind is
always downward, never upward. The more he exalts himself, the more he
declines. The more he magnifies himself the more he diminishes. The more he
honors himself, the more he becomes dishonored.
No society in history has given more attention to caring for the body than
has the modern Western world. Yet no society has caused more degradation of
the body. In tragic irony the same society that glorifies the body has no regard for
the body the same society that exalts man incessantly degrades him. The world
echoes with demands for men’s rights; yet books, movies, and television often
portray brutality and murder as all but normal, and sexual promiscuity and
perversion are constantly glamorized.
e. Without God’s protection, man will believe anything
That is the legacy of those who have exchanged the truth of God for a lie.
Through Jeremiah, the Lord declared to apostate Judah, “You have forgotten Me
and trusted in falsehood” (Jet 13:25). To forsake God is to forsake truth and
become a slave to falsehood. To reject God, the Father of truth, is to become
vulnerable to Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44).
When men turned from God and His truth, Paul goes on to say they
then worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. As the
apostle had just pointed out, they found themselves foolishly and wickedly
worshiping lifeless images of their own making, “in the form of corruptible
man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures” (v. 23).
III.
The Expression Of Man’s Sinfulness
For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women
exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the
men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward
one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons
the due penalty of their error. (1:26-27)
a. Degrading passions
To illustrate the degrading passions that rise out of the fallen human heart,
Paul uses homosexuality the most degrading and repulsive of all passions. In
their freedom from God*s truth men turned to perversion and even
inversion of the created order. In the end their humanism resulted in the
dehumanization of each of them. Perversion is the illicit and twisted expression
of that which is God-given and natural. Homosexuality on the other hand, is
inversion, the expression of that which is neither God-given nor natural. When
man forsakes the Author of nature, he inevitably forsakes the order of
nature.
b. Degraded people
Some women of ancient times and throughout history have exchanged the
natural function for that which is unnatural. Paul does not use the usual term
for women, but rather a word which simply means female.
And in the same way also the men, Paul says, again using a Greek term
that simply denotes gender, in this case, males. The usual
Greek terms for women and men, like corresponding
words in most languages, imply a certain dignity and
Paul refused to ascribe even an implied dignity to those
who degenerate into homosexuality.
c. A word about homosexuality
In the United States and many other western countries it is not uncommon
for homosexual males to have 300 partners a year. Even when relationships are
on a friendly basis, the most bizarre acts imaginable are committed, and
mutilation is common.
God so abhors homosexuality that He determined that the
disgraceful, shameful acts that women commit with women and men
commit with men would result in their receiving in their own persons the
due penalty of their error They would be judged by the self destructiveness
of their sin. The appalling physical consequences of homosexuality are visible
evidence of God*s righteous condemnation. Unnatural vice brings its own
perverted reward. AIDS is frightening evidence of that fatal promise. I do not
believe that AIDS is God’s judgement on homosexuality. However, I will say that
if you eliminate sexual immorality, and primarily homosexuality, you will eliminate
AIDS.
IV.
The Extent Of Man’s Sinfulness
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them
over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all
unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy murder, strife, deceit, malice; they
are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil,
disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and,
although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are
worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who
practice them. (1:28-32)
a. God’s standards are completely rejected
Because fallen mankind did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer,
God gave them over in still another way in this case to a depraved mind. The
godless mind is a depraved mind, whose predetermined and inevitable
disposition is to do those things which are not proper.
The sinful, depraved mind says to God, “Depart from us We do not even
desire the knowledge of Thy
ways. Who is the Almighty that
we should serve Him, and what
would we gain if we entreat
Him?” (job 21:14-15). Although
godless people think they are
wise, they are supremely foolish
(Rom. 1:22).
b. Man’s standards are injected
The sins mentioned in the rest of the list are basically self-explanatory:
greed, evil; full of envy murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil,
disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving,
unmerciful.
“This is the judgment,” Jesus said, “that the light is come into the world,
and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For
everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his
deeds should be exposed” (John 3:19-20).
c. Man’s standards are exalted above God’s standards
The absolute pit of wickedness is reached, Paul says, when those
who are themselves involved in evils also give hearty approval to others
who practice them. To justify one*s own sin is wicked enough, but to approve
and encourage others to sin is immeasurably worse. Even the best of societies
have had those within them who were blatantly wicked and perverse. But a
society that openly condones and defends such evils as sexual
promiscuity, homosexuality and the rest has reached the deepest level of
corruption. Many of the most socially advanced societies of our own day are in
that category Sexually promiscuous celebrities are glamorized and the rights of
homosexuals are ardently defended. These acts of sin are in direct contradiction
to the revealed will of God.