His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Pastor Matt with some thought-provoking questions as we begin today's His Perfect Love.

Are we willing to allow the word to change our hearts? Are we willing to allow the word to change our minds? Are we willing to see things differently according to how God sees them?

There's a hunger for truth today, friends. And I know that's why you're here because you want the word of God. You come to meet with Jesus. You come to hear from the word of God. And you come to hear from all of it, every jot and tittle. We don't skip anything, we don't pick what we like better than something else.

We teach every single jot and tittle of the word of God. You know why? Because every piece of the word of God transforms hearts.

Guest (Male): The month of June has been designated as Pride Month by some in this country. We live in a world where homosexuality is embraced and even celebrated. But what are we to do and think as Christians? And what if you're living that lifestyle and wondering what God truly thinks about it and if there's really a way out?

Today on His Perfect Love, Pastor Matt VanderVen enters into this sensitive subject with a loving heart and an open Bible. Turn with us to Romans chapter 1 and we'll get started.

Matt VanderVen: In our modern culture, homosexual practice reflects the abandonment of what we read here in the word of giving them up to uncleanness in their lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, just as it's written in the word of God.

Just a couple statistics. I started talking about this on Wednesday. I had a couple of my statistics wrong. I went back and I had to fact-check it because I think it was around 60% I said. It's actually closer to 50%. Statistics tell us on an average, 43% of homosexuals say they had 500 or more sexual partners in their lifetime.

And only 1% of homosexuals say they have had four or less sexual partners in their lifetime. Just think about that for a minute. Only 28% of homosexuals said that they knew their partners for at least a week before participating in a homosexual act.

At one time, the London AIDS clinics defined a woman as promiscuous if she had more than six partners in her entire lifetime. Well, they gave up trying to find a workable definition for male homosexuals because it became clear that almost no homosexual man had less than six sexual partners in a year.

And that's why in verse 27 that you read, it says that they burned with lust. This is only place this word "burned" is used in the New Testament. This is the only place. The Greek is so much more explanatory with its language that way with its verbs. It means to burn completely to a cinder.

So it says likewise also men leaving their natural uses burn in their lust to the point of consuming their life. It destroyed them, receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. Paul speaks of this penalty for homosexual conduct in that it has its own penalty within itself.

This speaks to the general self-destructive nature of this sin as a penalty that way. And I think we would all understand there's penalties of diseases as we've seen the largest population from sexual immoral happens to be in the homosexual population for HIV and AIDS.

There's a consequence to sin. You can be forgiven and you can repent but there's still a consequence to sin. It's the consequence Paul says for violating God's natural order. This is important. There's a penalty of rebellion as well. It results in spiritual emptiness and everything that that incurs.

And if that wasn't enough, in verse 28, look, it says as further judgment, God gives them over to debased minds so that all this disgraceful and sickening behavior becomes accepted or approved by the modern-day culture. It becomes accepted. What does that word "debased" mean?

King James, if you're using a King James translation, uses "reprobate." What does that mean? It originally meant that which has not stood the test. It originally was used of coins that were below standard and therefore they were rejected.

The idea is since that man did not approve to know God, what did he do therefore? He rejected to know God and they were given over to an unapproved mind. That's what a debased mind is. You see, our rebellion against God is not only displayed in actions, but in our thinking.

One is genuinely—and I'm going to say this with the most candor, but at the same time sensitivity because I know today we have a good percentage of the population that struggles with mental illness. So I want to be sensitive here. But according to what God is saying, as he gives them unto this wrath, these reprobate minds, that which has not stood the test, he's basically saying that one's thinking is genuinely spiritually insane or spiritually mentally ill.

That's what we're seeing here. How many of you have looked at different times in your life where you went, "Am I crazy? All that's going on around me, everything that I'm seeing, is it me? Am I crazy?" Because everybody else seems to be going to the beat of their own drum and they're all content in their sexual sin and the sin that exists outside these four walls and all throughout the world. Is it me?

I can't tell you how many people I counsel that come in and I literally sit down and I look at them and they are saying, "Man, this is heavy." And I'm like, "Yeah." And they start going through it and I look at them and say, "You're not crazy. You're not going crazy." And they're like, "Whew! Man, I thought it was me."

No. You're spiritually awake. You're not spiritually blind. You see. The world is spiritually blind. Just like Paul in his Damascus Road experience. He was zealous, wasn't he? He was zealous for God, but he was misdirected and misguided. He was killing Christians. But he thought he was doing it with a passion because he thought he was serving God.

And once Jesus Christ came to him and said, "No, no. Who are you persecuting? You're not persecuting Stephen as you watched him die. You're not persecuting the Christian mother, father, or kids that you're murdering. You're persecuting me." That's what Jesus said to Paul. And then what happens? He's blind.

And then a few days later, what happens? He goes in the town, they come to get him, and then all of a sudden he says it was like scales that fell from his eyes and he began to see. "I was once blind, but I now can see." We sing that song when we sing "Amazing Grace."

A man caught and captivated by his sin, slave trading, and then only to find out what he didn't realize he was doing. He now could see. And he began to understand God's grace in spite of it because in spite of who he was, he was redeemed and forgiven. Because that's what our God does. He's a God of love, mercy, and grace. We don't have anything to compare to that. There's only one God. It's beautiful.

Paul is explaining this. This mental illness comes from a rebellion against God. So we read this list in verses 29 through 31. We went through this. I can't go through all of them for our time, but just if I could tie it together, these things were not fitting. That's what he said.

And he sees that it comes from this spiritual insanity because they were given over their free will. It says that even though some of these are culturally acceptable sins. What am I talking about? Covetousness, envy, pride. That's in your list there. They're culturally acceptable. It doesn't make them any more right than the ones that aren't culturally acceptable.

So look at verse 29, unrighteousness. What is that? An act that violates the standard of right conduct or simply wrongdoing. Sexual immorality, including all sexually immoral practices. Fornication, having sex outside of marriage. This is where we get our word for "porneia," pornography.

Wickedness. This is a state of a lack of moral or social values. Boy, we're seeing this today, aren't we? Covetousness. This word literally describes one's desire for more, a greediness. Maliciousness, a desire to injure, evil, trouble. Envy.

You think about this one. This is what led men to put Jesus Christ on the cross. You might remember in Matthew chapter 27, verse 18 when he was being handed over. When the Jews handed Jesus over to Pontius Pilate, Pontius Pilate looks at them and says, "I know they're doing this because of the envy in their hearts." It was envy. Matthew 27:18.

Murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, whispers. This idea of whispers, these are secret detractors. Those who under the pretense of secrecy carry about accusations against their neighbors, whether true or false, blasting their reputation. This is what happens when you're given over to that debased mind. When you're given over to the wrath of God that way.

Well, in verse 32, those who either practice or approve these things are worthy of death. This is serious to God. The stakes are high. What does this mean? They're worthy targets for the wrath of God. It's God's righteous indignation. It's not God having a temper tantrum. It's not God expressing anger the way humans do.

This is a righteous judgment. Again, I could use the example here. If anybody broke into your house or they murdered somebody you love, you're not going to turn around and go, "You know what? It was an accident." No! What would you say? Well, they deserve a prison sentence or worse.

If somebody walked in your house on Sunday after you go have brunch, you come home, you put the game on. And I know none of you are Buffalo Bills fans. I'm the one and only in the state of PA. But I put the Buffalo Bills game on. Somebody walks in and goes, "That's a really nice TV," and begins to walk out. Not in my house. I love Jesus, but that ain't going to happen.

I'm not going to be indifferent. No! I'm going to call the police. I'm going to say, "This is a crime. This is wrong." And I'm going to expect justice, right? But why is it we expect it that way but then the world—and I know I look at you and you are all of like-mindedness. That's what Ephesians 4 says. The body of Christ is in unity, like-minded here.

But if you tell that to somebody in the world that doesn't want to believe in these absolutes. Monday through Friday they go to a job and if they don't show up, the boss says, "You're fired. You're out of here." All of a sudden absolutes matter. But then on Saturday or Sunday they come in and they take the word and they go, "Well, did he really mean that?"

No, he meant what he said and he said what he meant. Our God's not grammatically challenged. Are we willing to allow the word to change our hearts? Are we willing to allow the word to change our minds? Are we willing to see things differently according to how God sees them?

There's a hunger for truth today, friends. And I know that's why you're here because you want the word of God. You come to meet with Jesus. You come to hear from the word of God. And you come to hear from all of it, every jot and tittle. We don't skip anything, we don't pick what we like better than something else.

We teach every single jot and tittle of the word of God. You know why? Because every piece of the word of God transforms hearts. Who am I that I should know to ever understand what to speak? How could I know? I'm no one. But the Holy Spirit, he knows that just by the reading of his word.

My job's not even to give you application. God does that. Right now the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. Some of you are going, "I'm hungry," and you hear your stomachs. Okay. But a majority of you are hearing, "Lord, I know I'm saved and I'm redeemed, but can my mind begin to slip? Can I begin to sort of blend with the world?"

Well, certainly I'm not your judge. No one is. But the Holy Spirit does a really good job because he's not a respecter of persons. We're going to learn that here as we keep seeing this. So, what does all this violence, immorality, cruelty, and degradation come from? It happens when men abandon true knowledge.

When they abandon the systematic design of God's natural design, the state of society reflects God's judgment upon them, right? And verse 32 to me, I have in my notes here, screams of tolerance of evil. It approves of those who practice wrongdoings.

Let's move into chapter 2. Now, God just spoke to the unrighteous. Those as we read in verse 18, the ungodly and the unrighteous. Now Paul's turning his focus again to indict now, if I can say it that way through the Holy Spirit, the self-righteous.

You've met people like that that if you go up and speak to them and say, "Do you believe you're going to heaven?" "Yes, I do." "Well, how do you know you're going to go?" They don't quote 1st John chapter 5, verse 11 and 12, those who know the Son have eternal life and those who do not know the Son do not have eternal life. They don't rattle off scripture. "Well, I'm a good person." Really?

You've seen evangelists go out and you've seen the videos. And he says, "Really? Have you ever lied?" "Well, yeah." "Have you ever stolen?" "Yeah." And so on and so forth. He says, "You're guilty." He says you have to understand what this—and this is what Paul's going to do in chapter 2. It's heavy.

He's going to literally tie this all together because he's going to have everyone understand that the law, whether you have the law in your heart, in other words, you were Jewish and grew up with the law, or you're not Jewish and you were a Gentile and you didn't grow up with the law. He's saying everyone has a consciousness, a moral compass that was given to them as a measure of faith.

Every single person was given this upon birth. Everyone. And he says if you could keep the conscience and you could do that, he says, "Hey, you'd be in, man." The problem is it gets not measured against another person like, "Hey, I'm better than Matt or I'm better than such and such." No. It doesn't work that way.

Who are you comparing it to? Romans 3:23. God and his goodness. So when you compare yourself to God's goodness, we don't ever measure up because there's not a single person in this room who has not told a lie. Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisees who kept most of the law, realized that.

Martin Luther, a monk, he would come back and tread a path of asceticism, throw himself in the fire, do these things to will himself into this idea of keeping this command. He comes to this chapter and goes, "I'm wrecked." It's not by what I've done. It's about who he is and what he did, Jesus Christ.

So let's jump in. We'll probably just get through a few verses and we'll continue next week. Therefore, again, continue. Remember, we don't have in the original text God's righteous judgment or whatever your New King James or King James says in the section headings. We didn't have that in the original text. That was added in around 900 AD.

That's man-made. You understand? So if we were reading this, we would be continuing on. There was no section break. That's arbitrary. So, therefore you are inexcusable. He's building on this. "O man, you whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same thing."

"But we know that the judgment of God is according to the truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge these practicing such things and are doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?" Who's he speaking to again? The self-righteous. Now he's indicting the self-righteous.

He says, therefore, you are inexcusable, O man, whoever judges. In chapter 1, again, Paul pointed out the sin of unrighteousness. Now he's speaking to those with generally, you might say, good moral conduct. But a good person doesn't go to heaven. A saved person does. A redeemed person does, right?

For in whatever you judge another you will condemn yourself. This is because at the end of it all, you who judge practice the same things. He's saying, "Hypocrite! Time out on the field, hypocrite!" That's why nobody here's arrived. That's why when we come in here, we don't walk in and say, "Hey!" No.

I'm the chief of sinners. I'm the chief of sinners. None of us have arrived and we don't need to be condemned for that. There's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Our desire is to live out a more holy life because he says, "For he is holy, you're to be holy." That's our aim. That's our goal. But we blow it, right? You know what I mean? We blow it!

I blow it! When we judge another person, we point to a standard outside of ourselves. Did you ever think about that? When you judge someone, you point to a standard outside yourself and that standard condemns everyone. Not only the obvious sinner.

Now, I understand that each sin is not identical and the act of sinning shares a sort of common identity because we're sinning. But what does sin really do? It separates the believer from God in right relationship. And that doesn't just affect the obvious sinner, but even those that are self-righteous that are living a good life.

Sometimes people say, "Well, why do bad things happen to good people?" And I immediately say your construct's all wrong. Ask a different question. Pastor, what do you mean? What's wrong with my question? Why do bad things happen to good people? I said, again, your construct's all wrong.

What's the problem with the construct of the argument or the question they're asking? They're making an assumption. What is the assumption? It's a self-righteous assumption. And what's it based on? That there are good people. And when you make that assumption, you fall into the logical argument from an apologetic perspective to then try to put God in a box or answer for why God would allow that rather than saying, "No. The Bible says that there are none good, no not one."

And rather, God is a God of mercy, grace, and look at what God does in spite of the sinful works of men. Look at that! How about that? Why does God love us unconditionally? Why did God redeem us? I love when we get those questions. Let's open the Bible and let's start at the beginning and go through the end.

Love, love, love, love, love. Agape love, unconditional love, unsurrendered, unconditional love. I love it! That's the God we serve. In spite of who we are. He says in verse 2, according to truth. This has this idea of according to the facts of the case, right?

God will judge and condemn the self-righteous or critic, if I can say it that way, on the basis of the facts. There's no getting out of it. The facts are the facts. There used to be a show on TV when I was growing up, "Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts." Do you remember that? Dragnet. Some of you might remember. I'm not endorsing it. Young people, don't go watch it.

The point is that's what he used to say. "Just the facts. I just want the facts." In verse 3 it says to escape the judgment of God. I think Paul's making his point super obvious here. It's saying that the self-righteous is just as guilty as the obvious sinner. You see what he did there? He unified them.

He says look, even those with a good moral compass still have not measured up to the goodness of God and therefore those that are just an obvious sinner. Hey, God looks at it and goes, "Check. You sinned." There's no difference. Doesn't that just sort of go, "Ah."

I think half of the Calvary Chapel pastors in America, if you know where we came from, many of us from drugs and alcohol, we're all like, "Whew!" because we're sitting back going, "Amen! We didn't arrive. We don't have to be somebody we'not. We be who we are who God has created us."

We are who we are in Christ. Just lay it down. Just lay it down with that. We're at our time for this morning. We're going to stop there. I'd encourage you to go ahead and read ahead to the rest of chapter 2. Next week, we'll come back and we'll finish off chapter 2 and I'll probably have us go into chapter 3 right around verse 18.

Right around chapter 3 verse 18 is where we'll probably conclude because that's really the book endings of what Paul does in the first three chapters, right around 3:19 to be specific is where he ties and unifies and he makes his logical case and argument to why we are understanding—and what do you think he's doing that for?

So that he could turn around and then point us to Jesus and the gospel. He's going to say over five times in these three chapters, "It's the gospel of Christ. It's my gospel." When he's speaking of my gospel, what's he saying? He's saying the gospel.

For I did not declare or shun unto you the entire counsel of God. That's what we need. We need the counsel of God. We don't need any more man's wisdom. We need Jesus. You want your hearts, you want your minds renewed? You need the word of God.

We don't need another man or a woman sitting there writing out a prescription for another this, that, and the other. We need Jesus. He's the only thing that's going to help us and set us free. Amen!

Guest (Male): Well thanks for joining us today for His Perfect Love. You can hear this study from Pastor Matt VanderVen again when you visit hisperfectlove.org. Catch up on what you may have missed in Romans at hisperfectlove.org. Look for us on oneplace.com and most of the major podcast platforms.

The Calvary Chapel Harrisburg mobile app is another great way to listen to Pastor Matt's messages shortly after they're delivered. We can help you get started when you visit hisperfectlove.org. His Perfect Love is made possible through the support of listeners just like you. Together we can bring the truths of God's word to the radio every day.

You can make a donation at hisperfectlove.org. And Pastor Matt would like to hear from you. Tell us the station you listen to and what you're getting out of this study in Romans. He would be so encouraged. Email us there at the website, hisperfectlove.org.

We hope you'll visit us at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30. We have a midweek service too, Wednesdays at 7:00 PM. We're located at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. Go to ccharrisburg.org for more information. And then we'll come back to our study of Romans next time on His Perfect Love with Pastor Matt. See you then.

This is perfect love, the word goes out. It's what real love looks like in truth and faith. This is perfect love. His perfect love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.

Let the word go out, the perfect love of Christ to shine. Our lives will shout. I am my beloved's and he is mine. Every heart is in his hands, we'll never stop reaching out. This is perfect love, the word goes out. This is what real love looks like in truth and faith. This is perfect love.