Sermon 6

When God Gives Up

Romans 1:24-32

It didn't take me long, as a boy to get to know my neighborhood. First, I got to know the other boys in the 'hood. The ones who were my age and younger, I played army with. The ones who were older, I played baseball with. The older boys introduced me to another part of my neighborhood. The sewer. Actually, it was a storm sewer designed to channel all the runoff rainwater into a creek. The sewer itself was not a nasty, filthy place at all. It was a concrete cave about a 1/4 mile long. It was dark. The big boys asked me if I wanted to go through it. I said, "Yes." "Should I get my flashlight?" "No flashlights allowed! So I went into the sewer, into the darkness, walked the whole thing. Later, I took the younger boys through the sewer.

Today, I want to take you into a sewer. But I have to warn you, this one is filthy. We'll take a light to expose the filth of this sewer. Our light will be the wonderful Word of God. The sewer is the depraved and doomed state of man.

Paul continues explaining the downward spiral of man into depravity in Romans 1:24-32. Paul says that God has revealed himself to all men through creation and conscience, but that man has rejected God, rationalized Him out of existence and replaced the true God with gods of his own making (idols, men, pleasure, money, self). Intelligence became ignorance which became idolatry. But, idolatry, as bad as it is, isn't the end of the sewer into which man has crawled.

What is the bottom of the barrel? The farthest that you can get from God is to be abandoned by God. And that is what Paul describes in Romans 1:24-32. In fact, three times (vs. 24, 26, 28) the Bible says that "God gave them up (over)." There comes a point where God removes any and all restraint and turns men over to their own wicked devices. There comes a point where the Spirit of God no longer restrains evil and convicts sin. It happened at the time of the flood. Genesis 6:3 "And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man..." As it happened at the time of the flood, so it continues to happen as men ignore God. Read Proverbs 1:22-31. Eventually, the time comes when God gives up, when God steps back, when God removes all restraint. The bottom of the barrel comes when people who "know the judgment of God, who know that they which commit such sins are worthy of death", that is, they have a knowledge of Christian ethics, they know right from wrong, and then they blatantly do what is wrong, more or less, thumbing their noses at God, and take pleasure (give approval) of others who do the same, v. 32. They deny the testimony of God in creation, v. 20. The sear their consciences beyond feeling. I Timothy 4:2 - having their conscience seared with a hot iron...

God's abandonment of human society is an expression of His wrath. It is a form of God's judgment. God says, "You want to live without Me, you want to live without law, you want to live without any restraint upon sin? Go ahead." I remember news broadcasts of the riots that followed the Rodney King verdict in South Central L. A. At first, law enforcement attempted, by their presence and arrests, to restrain the burning and the beating and the looting. But, in time, the situation became so dangerous that the LAPD was ordered to pull back. An area was contained but within that area there was no restraint of evil. That is like what God will eventually do with a God-ignoring society. Eventually, God's wrath is expressed in that He gives men over to unrestrained sin.

How does a society get to that point? The answer is in the text. When a society reaches a place where all the sins in these verses are normalized, then God has given that society over to the wrath of His abandonment. There is a very small step from idolatry to immoral indulgence.

Indulgence, vs. 24-27.

Those who changed the truth of God into a lie, who worshipped and served the creature over the Creator (v. 25) are eventually given over to "uncleanness" (moral impurity), to impure hearts filled with lust and unclean bodies (v. 24 ), to "vile affections" and unnatural, perverted behavior (v. 26). In other words, certain moral sins become accepted and normalized within the society. Society says that such behavior is not immoral nor perverse, it is normal, acceptable, a personal lifestyle choice.

Notice the progression ...

Verse 24 - First, heterosexual sins are normalized. Fornication is honored and accepted in society. Biblical mandates of virtue are considered repressive. Listen, friends, physical intimacy between one man and one woman in marriage is the only sexual relationship that has divine approval. Such practices as pre-marital promiscuity and casual sex, live-in lovers, adultery, pornography (in all of its forms), prostitution, polygamy, (need I add things like wife-swapping, group sex parties) - all these things are forbidden in Scripture, they are sin. But once a society turns their back on God and replaces Him with gods of their own making, soon afterward sexual sins become the accepted norm.

Verses 26-27 - Further, homosexual sins are normalized. Throughout history, one of the marks of a society in decline has been an increased tolerance of and participation in homosexual activity.

Homosexuality, transvestism and transsexualism are sin. Homosexuality is not a sickness which needs to be cured, nor an innate sexual orientation (people are not born homosexual) which needs be accepted. It is a sin. According to the Bible is "unnatural" and "unseemly" (indecent and shameful). I have been asked if the end of verse 27 is a reference to A.I.D.S. and/or other STD's and describes them as God's wrath upon homosexuals. This phrase is about sowing and reaping - about the penalty built into the behavior (v. 27). All sin has built in personal consequences, homosexuality included. Here's the good news, since it is a sin, it can be forgiven by God and overcome by genuine repentance, see I Corinthians 6:9-11.

Impenitence, vs. 28-32.

When men begin to feel the tragic consequences of sin, you would think they would repent and seek God. But just the opposite is true. Being abandoned by God leads man to want to totally remove any thought of knowledge of God from his mind. No 10 commandments on the wall, no prayer in schools, no mention of Christmas or Easter (just winter holiday and spring break) because it might cause someone to think about God.

And the result is that men are given over by God to a "reprobate mind" - that is a mind which cannot form right judgments. It means a depraved, useless "reprobate" mind - the inability to think right. So, instead of thinking about right and wrong, just take a poll. Public polls serve only to further justify sin and normalize it.

Such a reprobate mind leads to being "filled" (controlled) by "all unrighteousness." Paul gives examples with his list of 23 sins:

fornication - immorality

wickedness - evil

covetousness - selfishness

maliciousness - hatred

full of envy - jealousy

murder - murder

debate - fighting

deceit - lying

malignity - suspicion

whisperers - gossip

backbiters - slanders

haters of God - God hating

despiteful - rude

proud - conceited

boasters - braggers

inventors of evil things - always thinking of new ways to sin

disobedient to parents - disobedient to parents

without understanding - senseless

covenant breakers - dishonest, promise breakers

without natural affection - without conscience

implacable - ruthless

unmerciful - heartless

And, perhaps, even worse still, if that is possible, not only do they defiantly commit such sins but encourage others to do the same and applaud them when they do.

I would have to say that Romans 1 is being fulfilled in America. God has given us up.

So what does all this mean? When we study a passage as dark as this one, it would be easy to leave church today with a sense of despair and hopelessness. After all, we see and experience the results of human depravity daily.

Studying such a passage, moves me to some specific actions. First, understanding more fully the depraved condition and full potential of man causes me to thank God for grace. "Were it not for grace, I can't tell you where I'd be. Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere."

Second, seeing that my own country and culture seems to be following this path to wrath and abandonment by God, moves me to pray. Indeed, America is under the wrath of God's abandonment. Does that mean that the situation is hopeless? Absolutely not! II Chronicles 7:14

I Timothy 2:2.

Third, obtaining a Biblical view of man's intensely sinful condition moves me feel less judgmental and more pity. I feel sorry for sinners, their empty lives and their bleak futures.

Finally, this passage moves me to call God's people to dedication to the task of evangelism and soul winning, to a testimony that honors Christ and I urge sinners to come to Christ. In fact, I do that right now.