Abandoned by God - - - -32

Romans 1:24-32

Abandoned by God Part 02

Romans 1:24-32, Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonour their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. ²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. ²⁷ 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. ²⁸ 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; ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, ³⁰ backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹ undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 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.

Why is God so angry? Five reasons why God is angry. 1. Revelation. V 18 says that men hold the truth.

How? V 19, "God has manifested it to them."

How God did this? V 20, "From the creation of the world." God reveals Himself to men. Men know God! 2. Rejection. V21, When they knew God they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became empty in their reasoning and their foolish heart was darkened.

They reject the truth of God. They will not glorify Him as God, and they are not thankful for Him as the source of everything. But turn to their own empty reasoning and their own dark and foolish heart. 3. Reasoning/Rationalization.

V 22, "They profess themselves to be wise and become the most supreme fools." Man has revelation, he moves then to rejection, and then rationalizes that in his empty darkened heart he is wise and becomes the biggest fool of all.

4. Religion. V 23, "He then exchanges the glory of the true God, the incorruptible God, for an idol made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things." Men have the truth, they refuse the truth, they think they know the truth anyway, and then out of their own supposed wisdom create gods of their own making.

5. Reprobation. V 24, Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonour their bodies among themselves, Man running away from God and the true knowledge of God as he can possibly go and inventing a false system of religion.

When we see religion around the world, that is not man at his highest, that is man at his lowest. That is not man trying to find God, that is man having abandoned God and been abandoned by God now inventing a religion out of his own emptiness, a false religion that he substitutes for the true one because he will not accept the truth.

Why? John 3, he loves sin too much. V 26, "For this cause God gave them up." V 28, "God gave them up to a reprobate mind."

• Man starts with knowledge, revelation.
• Moves to rejection,
• then to rationalization,
• then to religion and
• finally, to reprobation.

God literally gives men up. He abandons them. This becomes the fulfilment of verse 18. How is the wrath of God continually being revealed? The wrath of God is continually being revealed as God gives men up to the consequences of their own rejection.

God abandons them. God lets them go. The evil of our society is the wrath of God at work. We are already being judged by the fact that God has abandoned this society to the exercise of its own sinning wilfulness. The evil of society, then, is the outworking of the wrath of God.

We know the effect of sin. We know what sin does to people.

• It degrades men.
• It debases the image of God.
• It strips man of his glory.
• It pulls off his coat of arms.
• It robs him of his dignity.
• It steals his peace.
• It gives him fear, torment, and guilt.

Sin destroys relationships.

• It rots a good name.
• It wipes out a marriage.
• It utterly devastates a family.
• It debauches a city and a nation.

People run off to the psychiatrist, the psychologist, the analyst. They run off to take a vacation to try to forget. They travel. They entertain themselves. They drink. They take drugs. They seek alleviation of the consequences of sin every way possible.

God lets man go so that man can run to the utter despair of extreme despondency and in the midst of that find that he has no resources and cry out to God, who will hear and answer. Who comes unto Him but the one of a broken and a contrite heart, the one who is begging in his spirit, the one who is hungering and thirsting for righteousness, sick of his sin?

Isaiah 19:22, And the Lord will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the Lord, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.

Psalm 119:71, It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. Three times in the passage it says God gave them up. Each time Paul makes a different point. First is the essence of sinfulness,

Then is the expression of sinfulness. Then is the extent of sinfulness. V24 -25, we find the essence of sinfulness. God gave them up to uncleanness. The essence of sin is that it is uncleanness. Verse 24 says it comes from the lust of the heart and ultimately results in the dishonouring of the bodies.

So, from deep within man comes this spewing out of uncleanness because this is what is in man's heart. He is abandoned by God. He is left to his own evil. God gives them up to the essence of their sinfulness. He just lets them go and lets it take its course.

The second element in man's lostness and his abandonment by God and that is the expression of his sinfulness.

Now Paul wants to get very specific

How does man defile and dishonour the body? Through his vile affections.

How far does man's corruption go? What is the ultimate expression of his defiled heart? V 26-27, For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. ²⁷ 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.

Paul wants to show us how sinful man is. He wants to do it in a concise way. So, when he wants to demonstrate the vile affections that rise out of the human heart, he picks the worst, most disgraceful, disgusting, degrading passion there is, homosexuality. Because it is not a perversion, it is an inversion, it goes further than perversion. The words refer to an unnatural sexual relationship.

13 percent of all males are homosexual and only 5 percent of all females. When man forsakes the author of nature, he forsakes the order of nature. "They burned in their lust one toward another." There is a level of lust among homosexuals that is not known among heterosexuals. There is a burning that is beyond description.

Homosexuality the Bible says it is abnormal. It is a manifestation of the decadence and the decline and the fallenness of man. It literally destroys those who are involved.

What the Bible says about homosexuality? Romans 1 is sufficient! Genesis 1: He made them male and female and said they were to leave their parents, join together and be one flesh. God literally destroyed an entire civilization in Sodom and Gomorrah for homosexuality.

Leviticus chapters 18 and 20 the punishment for a homosexual was instant death.

1 Corinthians 6:11, And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

God saves those kinds of people. V 27, 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.

It does not even come from the outside. They receive in themselves the reward of the error which is fitting for that kind of sin. There is no uncertainty to divine judgment. Sin always gets exactly what it deserves. The punishment perfectly fits the crime. The horrible, incredible, indescribable results of homosexuality are its own condemnation.

Unnatural vice is its own perverted reward. People in it are eaten up by guilt, pain, physical disease, terrible wounds, despair, unsatisfaction. A whole new area of medical care for the people who have the strange and weird deformities that come from homosexuality.

So, the essence of man's sinfulness is an unclean heart. The expression of his sinfulness is that he will go to the most perverted, inverted thing imaginable. That is how evil man is. Extent of man's sinfulness. V 28, 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; It is a catalogue of sins.

They did not want to retain God in their knowledge, so God gave them up. There is that very same indictment again. They did not want to retain God in their knowledge. They abandoned God. God abandoned them. Men do not want to know God. They do not want to trust God, to obey God and so God has given them up.

Job 21:14-15, Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. ¹⁵ Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

God go away, we are not interested.

Proverbs 1:7, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:29, Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord,

It has always been that way with men.

Jeremiah 4:22, “For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge.”

Jeremiah 9:6, Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the Lord.

They refuse to know. Their own desires cloud them, and then the God of this world has blinded their minds.

2 Corinthians 4:4, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. So, because they will not know God, verse ²⁸ says, God gives them up.

"A reprobate mind."

What is a reprobate mind? It means a worthless mind. They said God is worthless, so God gave them over to a worthless mind.

Jeremiah 6:30, People will call them rejected silver, Because the Lord has rejected them.” Reprobate silver was rejected silver, worthless silver, it did not meet the standard, did not come up to the silversmith’s qualification, thrown out.

God just throws them out because they have a worthless mind. It does not come up to his standard. He gives them over to their debauched and depraved reason. They find God worthless to their knowledge and God gives them over to a worthless mind.

To what extent do they go? They immediately do the things which are not fitting. They do things that are not fit for man. They do things that are not the intention of God in creating man. We have already seen how inverted the expression can be and now suddenly, we see a list of things that they do that's enough to stagger you.

Want to see a definition of man? V 29, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, That is a generic term, and it embodies all of the components that are about to be listed. God gives them up and they are literally filled with all unrighteousness. It is unmitigated, unrelieved, unmixed unrighteousness.

A staggering list. He is literally filled with all unrighteousness.

What kind? Wickedness; the word means those who delight in doing wrong. Covetousness: That is greed, craving more than you have and wishing you had what somebody else had, never being satisfied with your possessions but lusting for other things, and in Ephesians 5:3 it is even applied to lusting for sex.

Maliciousness: That is another word for wickedness. It means evil in general and perhaps it speaks of evil toward others more specifically than the word wickedness does. Full of envy: That means hating someone because they have what you want, or they are what you want to be. Murder, killing someone, so common today.

Strife: Argumentative, fighting, quarrelsome. Deceit: The literal Greek term means a fishhook, a treacherous lie. Malignity: A desire to hurt or harm someone, to get back at them. It has the implication of a revenge. Whisperers: A private slander.

Backbiters: Open slander. Haters of God: means they do not want any rules, they don't want any accountability, they don't want anybody telling them what to do. Insolent: means they have a contempt for everybody. Proud: That means an attitude of superiority.

Boasters: That means vocalizing your supposed superiority, and bragging. Inventers of evil things: Those devices and forms of evil invented by men to give new ways for them to express their filthiness, novel forms of evil.

Disobedient to parents: a mark of the extent of man's corruption. Without understanding: means senseless, mentally and morally no understanding. Covenant breakers: no regard for any agreement. Without natural affection: No love for family, Millions of mothers kill their babies before they are born. Millions of others smash and clobber their children around till they are abused and some die.

Implacable: means cruel, ruthless and pitiless. unmerciful, uncaring, unforgiving, without any grace in your spirit. That is what marks man. If you do not believe it, watch the news and see! TV, listen to them on the radio, read about them in books.

Why? Because God gave him up, and sin running its course drives him deeper into the pit. This is the wrath of God at work and man is left to the essence and the expression and the extent of his depravity. V 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.

Paul comes right back to his initial argument and this is a knock-out punch.

Do you really think men know that? Yes, they know that.

That is why there are so many guilty people with so much of pain and anxiety inside because they know it is wrong and they know it will be judged and they know there's an inevitability about the judgment of God.

Romans 2:15-16, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) ¹⁶ in the day when

God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. They have a conscience, and they know the judgment of God. They may not admit it, but they know it. Even in our society most of these things are against the law basically. Sexual sin, rape, perversion is always recognized as something unlawful, wickedness and murder and deceiving people.

We even have laws against slander. We even have laws in juvenile delinquency, disobedient children. In other words, man has even made laws that show he knows these things are wrong. Where there is not a law in relation to these, there is at least a social conscience about some things.

All the law of God written in the conscience. They know God. They know God from creation, and they know His laws from conscience, and they know that the people who do these things are worthy of death. They not only keep on doing these things, but they have pleasure when others join them in the sin.

If you think it is shocking, you just need to read the history of Israel. They had full light and they did this. They knew they were worthy of death and they did it anyway. But when you can sit back and not even be involved and just delight in the sin of others, you have reached the bottom.

We lift the homosexuals, and we lift the vile fornicators. We have reached the deepest evil. We are not just the victims of temptation, we enjoy other people sinning. Man is not good. Man is evil. Man's wickedness is so deep, that he is hopeless.

Paul is really coming on heavy. That is right. We are only in chapter 1, and this goes on till chapter 3. But by the time you get to chapter 3 and you hear about the saving grace of Jesus Christ, it is such a welcome that there ought to be a stampede to receive His free gift of salvation.

I cannot stop with all that bad news because the news is also good. Paul said about himself.

1 Timothy 1:15, This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Paul's salvation is a living testimony that God can reach into the deepest pit and receive the penitent soul. If you do not think you need Jesus Christ, it is because you do not know how bad off you really are. I hope you know, and I hope you come to Christ. He will forgive your sin, and He will wash you clean.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.