The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Word Made Plain with senior pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching through the book of Romans. Please open your Bible to Romans chapter 1 verses 21 through 25.

Tony Clark: All right, let's dive into the word of God together. Turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1 and we're going to be looking at verses 21 to 25. Romans chapter 1 looking at verses 21 to 25. And Father, we are so grateful, so thankful for who you are. Lord, thank you for this word you've given us. And dear God, I just pray that your spirit would teach us this morning that you will give us what we need to hear today. You know our struggles, you know our heartaches. Lord, you know what we're dealing with.

And so God, I just pray that you will speak into our hearts again in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Okay, Romans 1 looking at verses 21 to 25. The title of this message is when God gives up part two. When God gives up part two. Now, in part one of this study, we saw how God's wrath would be revealed from heaven. Uh let me just stop right there. I you know, the Lord keeps placing this upon my heart. And I mentioned it a little bit last time we were together in part one. Notice the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.

Notice the location. It's revealed from heaven. And the Lord spoke to my heart this morning. The reason why that is important for us to look at and for us to have tucked in our back pocket is because there will be many people who would say aliens have have invaded. The uh uh there's it's just mother nature cutting up. But notice he tells us that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven showing the location of God's wrath so it wouldn't be mistaken by anybody on earth. And I'm glad that he said that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.

Many people are wondering when is God is going to deal with the mess going on here, the crimes against women, the crimes against children, the crimes uh uh uh that's going on and and and the Bible says that in the last days, the last days will be like the days of Noah. Well, if you look at the days of Noah and compare it to today, it's very similar. It says in the days of Noah, it says in the book of Genesis, it said that the whole earth was filled with violence. Oh, it's the same way today.

And how the whole earth is filled with violence and many people are wondering, well, when is God going to do something? He's going his wrath is going to be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness according to verse 18. Because God showed himself to this world in two ways. You remember from the first part one through number one, our conscious and number two, creation. So that we are without excuse according to verse 20 meaning that no one would stand before God and say, God, I wish you had revealed yourself to me. I would have accepted you.

I would have obeyed you. I would have followed you. And he will come back and shoot back and say, oh, I revealed myself in two ways in your conscious number one where the moral Ten Commandments, the moral law, the Ten Commandments is written on every man's conscious. And number two, I revealed myself through creation. So that we are without excuse. No one can stand before God and give some sorry excuse of why they didn't accept him or walk in his ways. Now we pick it up in verse 21. Look what it says there. 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.

Now whether you believe it or not, verse 21 is a mouthful. We're going to pick it apart so you can understand uh you know how deep this verse is in and of itself. Uh the first part of verse 21 Paul said in verse 20 that mankind is without excuse because here it is, although they knew God, how? Through their conscious and through creation, they did not glorify him as God. So the question is, what does it mean to glorify God? The Greek word for glorify is and it means to esteem highly or it can be speak well of.

And if you come from a more traditional church background, you sung a doxology at the end of the service just before you were dismissed, which was a song speaking well of the God we just finished worshiping and hearing him speak to us through the word. So there was a song sung and it was called a doxology. However, I'm wondering if we only esteem or speak well of God in song, but not with our lives. So often Christianity has been reduced to creeds we know intellectually and songs we sing enthusiastically, but void of the lives we live personally.

So what Paul is saying to the believers in Rome can be said of us here in America. We don't glorify God for who he is because of the wicked lives we live. Oh, the second part of verse 21 it says nor were thankful. Another way we fail to glorify God as God is we are no longer thankful. See, when we fail to recognize God as God, there will be an ungratefulness in our lives. If if a person or society fails to recognize that God exists, then they will not be thankful to him because how can they thank a God who in their minds doesn't exist?

We fail to realize that a failure to acknowledge that God exists leads to being ungrateful which opens the door to all kinds of evil to come into the lives of a person or society. And as we will see in the following verses, watch this. The third part of verse 21 says they became futile in their thoughts. We're seeing the downward spiral of a person or a society that has rejected God as the creator. They failed to acknowledge that there is a God nor were thankful. Now they became futile in their thoughts. The Greek word for futile is and it means to become foolish, wicked or idolatrous.

That is key word, a key definition for this word. When we reject God who is the standard of absolute truth, then something else must fill that void that only God can. So we normally make ourselves the center of life. We see this throughout the world, people living for themselves. Slogans and models are said, I must look out for me. You know, in the popular movie or popular comedy Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, he had a model called the team of me looking out for you. Women who have been mistreated or neglected or hurt have said, now I must have some me time.

Men have destroyed their marriages, relationship, careers because they were looking out for themselves by stealing, by cheating, by stepping on others to get ahead. Because in everyone's mind, we are thinking if I don't look out for me, who will? So becoming futile in their thoughts, only thinking of ways how they can be satisfied in this life. Or it leads to the fourth part of verse 21 that says their foolish hearts were darkened. Uh the heart is the seat of emotions. So we see this person or people in society reject God which leads to not glorifying him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thinking.

Now their hearts and minds are devoid of light. Light or moral values they come from God. They have already rejected him. Now this person or society is a slave to sin or that which is dark. And this is why Jesus said in in John 3:19, men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. What a sad condition to be in. A person or society begins to call evil good and good evil like Isaiah 5:20 says. Oh, that verse goes on to say calling darkness light and light darkness, bitter for sweet and sweet bitter.

I just wonder is this happening to you or someone you know? The sad thing is that this is happening to people in God's church. Jesus told us in Matthew 5 and verse 14, it says you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. And we as believers today are allowing the darkness of political correctness and the ideas and ideals of cancel culture to direct God's church, to direct his church. We bring that mess from the world into the church and expect for the church to operate like this wicked world.

Calling what God says in the Bible is sin and calling them diseases. No victory in Christ, but being a constant victim. And it and and and if you quote the Bible, then you're labeled as being unloving and unlike Jesus who is love. And I just say help us, Lord. They believe that they or the culture knows more than you and that hate book called the Bible. Look at verse 22. Professing to be wise, they became fools. I I mentioned this last time, but it bears repeating again. I'm amazed at how atheists and agnostics and religious people, I have to add that in there, will admit that a painting shows that there was a painter.

A building shows that there was a builder. A design shows that there was a designer, but refuse to see creation and admit that there is a creator. See, to admit that there is a creator means that they will be held accountable to him. Something that they don't want to do because they don't want anyone, especially the Christian's God, telling them how to live, what to do and how to think. So to reject that there is a God just makes a person a fool. In Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1 it said the fool has said in his heart, there is no God.

Oh, the downward spiral continues. Look at verse 23. And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible men and birds and four-footed animals and and creeping things. So because God created us to worship him, when we suppress the truth about him to live in unrighteousness like verse 18 said, we fail to glorify him as God nor are we thankful. We become futile in our thoughts and our hearts become dark like verse 21 says. Now they are professing to be wiser than God, but became a fool like verse 22 said. Now instead of looking at creation and acknowledging that there is a creator that we need to worship, now we are worshiping the creation.

Remembering verse 21 it said that they became futile in their thoughts which would cause them to think that evil is good and good is evil. This is backwards thinking. We see it plain and simple in this verse instead of worshiping the creator as God. This society here in America and around the world is worshiping the creation as God. Backwards thinking. Paul said they changed the glory of the incorruptible God. Notice into an image made like corruptible man. Because we were created to worship and because this person or society has rejected the worship of the true and living God, so they turned to idols.

And because the first idol we worship is ourselves, the team of me, like we said earlier, this is why this verse said we changed the glory of God into an image made like corruptible men. So we make idols to look like us with two eyes and two ears, a nose and a mouth, arms and legs and feet just like us. Oh, the psalmist picks up on this in Psalm 135 in verses 15 through 18 showing that there is nothing new under the sun. Watch this. It says the idols of the nations are silver and gold.

Here it is, the works of men's hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak. Eyes they have, but they cannot see. They have ears, but they cannot hear nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them are like them. So it's everyone who trust in them. This is amazing to me. I mentioned this as we were going through the Old Testament and the worship of idols and things as goes on uh in in the Old Testament. I'm amazed. This shows the the the deception of Satan, how idol worship is such a spiritual thing.

You just think it's just a little you know a little little idol silver and gold. No, it is a spiritual thing. Watch this. How can I make a God with my hands, my own hands, and then turn around and bow down and worship? I'm the creator now because I made it. So I can make a God that I got to carry around, that I can break, that I can throw in the garbage. My God carries me last time I checked. This is the God that we serve. But the the so it's a deception. Hindus, they worship over 330 million gods.

I can't even count to 330 million. And they worship that many gods. Amazing to me, the deception. You know why? You know why? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 it says that Satan attaches himself to idols. Why? Because Satan always wanted to be worshiped as God. So watch this. So him and his demons, they attached themselves to idols. And so when people bow down to those idols, Satan is getting the worship that he's always wanted. This is why idol worship is such a spiritual thing. They're starving in India where Hinduism runs prevalent. They're starving in India as filet mignon walks past them, a cow walks past them, but they can't kill it because it it's a God.

So they're they're they're starving. I'm like I'm looking at that cow and say, you better give me some burgers from that thing, some steaks or something from that. I'm hungry. But this this is the deception. The deception. And it's a major deception. Those are powerful verses from the psalmist. Idols all around us. And I want you to notice for the most part, all the idols either looks like man or animals or a combination of the two. Billions of people in India, China, even here in America are idol worshipers. They're worshiping idols in various forms. This is why idol worship is the number one form of worship in the world today.

We talking billions. In China and India are worshiping idols. Here millions in America. Oh, we said, oh, well, you know, Christianity is the number one way. Get out of here with that. Here come because with that number, they're lumping all of the cults and all that stuff in there who are worshiping a false Jesus, a false God. But that's being lumped in there. No, no, idol worship is. Because idol idol is idol idol can be a noun, the name of a person, place or thing. Anything that we place in front of God becomes our idol.

Anything that we give our time, talent and treasures to is our idol. I can tell you who your idol is. Let me look at your bank account and what you spend your money on. I can tell you what what your idol is and what your God is. Look what it says there in verse 24. It says therefore God gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. Now we have to look at this verse. Pick it apart a little bit. The first thing I want to draw your attention to is the word therefore.

The word therefore, the transitional conjunction that indicates what's about to follow is the consequences of what was just mentioned. And because mankind wants to suppress the truth about God given to them in their conscious and through creation, they want to worship idols of birds and beasts and creeping things. Therefore, here's the one of the saddest phrases in all of the Bible. Therefore, God gave them up to uncleanness. They wanted to worship animals. Therefore, God gave them up to become like animals. And because of mankind's animalistic behavior, no wonder they, the scientists, the experts through evolution, say that we evolved from animals.

Why movies like The Planet of the Apes were so popular? Because they espouse an evolutionary mentality of apes evolving into men. And we become like what we worship. Mankind worships animals, so God gave them up to become like animals. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image or we become like what we behold or look at or reflect uh the that that that Greek word um behold it it means to reflect as in a mirror is what it means.

So let us behold or look in a mirror Jesus Christ in the word. Let us reflect him in worship. Why? Because when we do, we will start to behold as in a mirror the glory of God and we start to become like him. In other words, we start to see him reflecting back in our lives. It's just like when you woke up today, you looked in the mirror, your image was reflecting back. When we behold Jesus as in a mirror, we're hoping that the more we behold him, the more he'll start reflecting back. And we will see that reflecting back him back in our lives.

No, I want to go back to that phrase God gave them up. This is a powerful yet scary phrase. It it it's an intense verb in the Greek language. The Greek word is uh paradidomi it means to surrender, to yield up or to deliver up. Oh, it's used elsewhere in the New Testament. It's used in 1 Corinthians 13:3 uh referring to giving up one's body to be burned. It is used in Galatians 2:20 and Ephesians 5:2 and then Ephesians 5:25 to refer to Christ giving up himself to die. And here is Paul saying that God gave them up to what?

He gave them up to uncleanness. The Greek word for uncleanness is uh uh uh should I say. And it's an amazing Greek word. It means an impurity. It speaks of a a spiritual uh filthiness. Now the rest of the verse tells us the type of uncleanness or filthiness God gave them up to. The third part of that verse says in the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. So the uncleanness is connected to the lust in the hearts that leads them to dishonor their bodies. Lust in the Greek is And it refers to a carnal desire.

Watch this. A carnal desire for what is sinful or forbidden. James 1:14 says each one of us is tempted when we are drawn away of our own desires or lust and enticed. And because we desire to please our sinful uh desires over God's holiness, we become ensnared, we become enticed. It it means to trap. We becomes trapped and a slave to our sinful desires.

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