Last time I was here, I read a passage out of Romans, and I said, ‘someday, I’m going to do a sermon series on Romans.’ Well, I think that day is sooner than I thought. I felt compelled to go to Romans today. Diana and I were talking about how nice it would be to do a ‘back to basics’ sermon series just on the nature of God and the Bible and Christianity itself. There’s so much confusion, I think, as to what Christianity is and isn’t, and like I said many times, that confusion is infiltrating the churches.
So today, I’d like for us to go to Romans Chapter 1. We’re going to read a long set of verses. And like we did last time, we’re going to end a chapter and go right into the first verses of the next chapter so that we can finish Paul’s thought.
If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Romans 1, and we’ll begin with verse 18, and finish with Romans 2, verse 4. Those are a lot of verses to read, but it’s important to get the whole scope of what Paul was saying here.
As you’re turning there, and since we’re starting a series on a whole book, let me tell you a little bit about The Book of Romans. It was written by the Apostle Paul about 55 or 56 A.D., to the Christians who lived in Rome.
Norman Geisler said that the Book of Romans is considered the greatest work of Christian beliefs in the New Testament, and is the most lengthy and complete explanation of the gospel anywhere in scripture. As such, “it is of utmost importance that every Christian understands the message of the Book of Romans.”
Scripture: So let’s look at how the apostle Paul begins telling the Romans about the gospel.
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Chapter 2
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Wow, what a way to start your sermon, right? As you can see, Paul pulls no punches. He begins with the phrase, “The wrath of God,” which is not how you learn to start a sermon in school, and then he goes on from there explaining the wrath of God. And in case you’re wondering, we did start with verse 18, but the previous verses are just introduction. He’s not preaching prior to that. He’s just introducing himself and greeting the Roman church in a rather lengthy, formal sort of way. And you could say that verse 16 may actually be the start of his sermon. If not, it’s the segue. There, he says, “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
So he goes from righteousness to the wrath of God pretty quickly. Romans is a book that is not only the gospel in a nutshell but is tricky because it talks about things that are not politically correct. In fact, we read in verses 26 and 27 some things that are very politically incorrect, and yes, I am going to address that in a minute. But he ends on a more positive note, stating that God’s kindness is intended to lead us to repentance.
And we need to take Paul’s words in context. We have to establish that there is such a thing as sin and that we are all infected by it, and God does not take sin lightly. We take sin lightly because it’s our nature. God sees it differently. But there is hope. God’s love leads us toward repentance.
Before I get too much further, I do want to tackle the problem verse about homosexuality. You know, there was a time not too long ago, when someone might come across these verses and think, “what a twisted, evil, horrible, disgusting culture ancient society was.” Now, someone might read these same verses and think, “what a twisted, evil, horrible, disgusting culture evangelical Christianity is.”
We’ve reached that point in society where like I said last time, we’ve eroded little by little like the gorge here in Watkins Glen. So small over such a period of time, we don’t even see it until there’s this big gap that’s formed from erosion. And our culture has decided, intentionally, to disregard the Bible and do its own thing. Some have gone to another form of Christianity altogether, that says that God’s love is so great that he lets us all in the pearly gates. No need for repentance.
There are Christians who say that these verses in the original Greek don’t mean what has been interpreted in English. Now, I know that sometimes it’s tough translating ancient languages into English. And there are a few verses that might not have been translated in their full meaning because things get lost in translation. If you were to Google, “Does the Book of Romans Actually Say Homosexuality is a Sin?” you will get all kinds of websites that argue that the Bible does not say that homosexuality is a sin, and reinterprets passages such as this.
Just like in Genesis where the serpent asked Adam and Eve, “Did God really say…?”
But here’s what Focus on the Family says about this argument, “In sum, gay revisionist theology threatens to substantially alter the Christian church and biblical doctrine. When God is said to sanction what He plainly forbids, then a serious heresy is unfolding before us in bold fashion. Confronting this false doctrine lovingly – but firmly – is necessary because it demands that we confirm professing Christians in their sin when we are biblically commanded to do just the opposite.”
There’s a pastor in California named Mike Winger who tackled this subject on his Youtube channel recently. And he did a great job of explaining it, and I’m going to put a link to that on our church’s Facebook page so you can hear it for yourself.
I find it personally interesting that revisionist gay theology came about after homosexuality became accepted in the secular culture. We know that the Bible and secular culture are not necessarily one in the same, but over the vast majority of Western culture, the Bible has been the basis of morality. So wouldn’t well-known, well-educated, theologians have discovered this misinterpretation long ago? I mean, people get paid to study the Bible. People get paid to spend their time and energies studying scripture and original languages. Look at how many English translations we have of the Bible, let alone the myriad of other translations of the Bible we have.
When Diana and I went to South Carolina, I was surprised to find a Bible translated by The American Bible Association in the Gula language. The Gula language is a slave language. And there are blacks in the South to this day who are part of the Gula culture and they have a Bible translated in their language. It’s English, but if you’ve ever seen movies depicting slaves, you know they had a certain way of speaking, and there’s a Bible translation to this day for that language.
That’s just one example. And translations usually don’t go from English to Spanish or Spanish to French. Most translations come from preserved ancient Greek and Hebrew manuscripts.
So I want to say to you that the Bible is very carefully translated with great respect by those who have made it their livelihood and ministry. And the fact that homosexuality is considered a sin in several scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments is something that scholars have read and interpreted many times, and have come to the cohesive conclusion to interpreted it that way. It’s our responsibility to come to terms with the fact that it’s there, as much as we’ll be hated for it.
People say we hate homosexuals, but we don’t. We just acknowledge that God has revealed himself and his nature in scripture. He has established his righteousness in scripture. Like the saying, “it is what it is.” I think we’re the ones who are hated because we won’t conform to the pressure of society, and that’s been the history of Christianity since its foundation.
But you’ll notice Paul leads into that subject. He doesn’t just come right out with it out of nowhere. He’s not saying this to be discriminatory, but he speaks of sexual immorality in a general sense. And, he’s speaking in the past tense. He’s using Old Testament scripture to explain the history of mankind and its relationship to a holy God.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
I’ve heard it said that sexual sin is degrading to women. It may be so, but quite often, men get trapped in lust or pornography because to men, it’s just the opposite––it’s an idol. It’s both degrading and an idol. Men worship the creation rather than the creator.
And there are some women out there that, I would have to assume, like to be the idol. That’s how the idol gets in front of men, right? There’s got to be a woman who realizes she’s the idol and kind of likes it. And if we choose to give ourselves over to that, whether we’re male or female, God will let us. He lets us be given over to a depraved mind, and any other sin we decide we would rather follow. And here is a list of some of those sins that Paul puts together:
They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Sound familiar? We’re seeing our culture being swept away by its own undoing. Paul was speaking to the church in Rome, and it’s been said that the Roman Empire––the greatest empire known to man in the history of the world at that time––fell because of its own depravity. And here we are. History is repeating itself. We are deliberately rebelling against God. We’re seeing slanderers, just watch the news pundits and stand-up comedians. God-haters? Yeah, that’s becoming more of a thing, though most people love God but hate Christians. That’s because their understanding of God and Christians are skewed.
This is what Paul means by ‘no understanding’ in verse 31. Then in verse 32, we read “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
I mentioned Mike Winger on Youtube. There’s a band that I hear on the radio now and then, and I checked out some of their videos on Youtube just out of curiosity. They have no shame in singing about Hell and wanting to go there. They have no shame in singing about sin. And they have a huge following and are considered a highly respected classic rock band. Now, it’s one thing to say that there’s a band who sings about sinful things, but how can a huge crowd go along with this? How can a huge crowd jump up and down and sing along with these lyrics with a smile on their face as if it’s just harmless fun?
Because to them, it is harmless fun. It’s nothing. Even though they know not to play with fire, their consciences change. Like I said, a little bit of erosion, and look where we are now.
But what hope do we have? As the old saying goes, “But for the grace of God, there go I.” In 1994 Phil Keaggy wrote a song called, “It Could Have Been Me.” And it was a song about the fall of Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker. He was one of the top Contemporary Christian Music performers at that time, so he was pretty high profile. And he was the only one I know of who said, “it could have been me.” But for the grace of God, go I. There have been some Christian artists who have fallen for one reason or another, I’ve seen it happen to pastors.
What hope do we have if men and women of God fall?
Paul begins Chapter 2 with, “2 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?”
We’re doomed, aren’t we? What are we even doing here in church, why even try?
I’ll bet there are some of us in this room who read that list in Chapter 1 and said, “that’s me.”
Just so you know, as your pastor, I’m not exempt either.
So Paul listed certain things as a sin. Does that mean we are hypocritical if we just acknowledge that certain things are a sin? No, because we need to know what is and isn’t a sin.
Why? So that we may be brought to repentance.
Verse 4: “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience is intended to lead us to repentance. Repentance is a rather ‘churchy’ word that is often undefined. What does it mean in simple terms? Repentance means remorse or regret. But it doesn’t mean to just feel bad about our sin, it means a change of mind that leads to a change of action or lifestyle.
Peter said, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” That’s another misunderstood verse. That’s another one where more liberal Christians say, “See, God doesn’t want anyone to perish, so everyone will be saved.” But that’s not what Peter said. Peter said, God doesn’t want anyone to perish, so in his compassion and mercy, he is giving people time to repent.
Why? Because in spite of all we’ve done, and all we have yet to do, God still loves us.
Jesus told Nicodemus, the Pharisee, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
If we read a couple of verses down from our scripture this morning, Chapter 2:6-7 say,
“6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life.”
Now, this isn’t to say that we can earn our salvation, as we will see in later chapters. But it means that those who repent, who recognize the sins that they have committed, have a sense of remorse, turn away from their sin and walk in the righteousness of Christ will be saved.
Conclusion: I’ve been here long enough to know the hearts of this congregation. I know that you are here because you love God. Anyone who goes to church nowadays is committed. It’s pretty unusual for people to go to church because it’s the thing to do, and it means you’re a good person and it makes you and your family look good in the community.
We go because we want to go. We make the time and effort to go. We want to draw closer to Christ. We want to have a right relationship with Him.
And that right relationship means a continuing process of assessing where our relationship is. A relationship is meant to grow. Diana and I are celebrating our 23rd wedding anniversary today. Our relationship has grown. It’s been up and down and all over the place. How she’s managed to stay with me, I have no idea.
But I’ve noticed our relationship is at its best now. I don’t know how, the honeymoon was over a long time ago. But somehow, our relationship has grown. We’ve matured.
How is your relationship with God? Has it grown? Has it matured? Or has it been the same place it’s always been? Are you closer to God than you were 23 years ago? Have you had to make adjustments in your relationship with God? Or are you making excuses because you really like that sin, and you haven’t wanted to give it up?
What is God calling you to repent from now? What is it he needs to prune from you now?
Let’s pray: Lord, we come before you today, thanking you for the love you have for us. The love that you demonstrated for us on the cross. We thank you for your kindness and patience that first drew us to you, and still draws us today to a greater relationship. As the psalmist said, we ask that you would search our hearts and see if there is any wicked way within us. And lead us to the way everlasting.
I pray that you would kindly and gently convict us of areas that need attention. We invite your Holy Spirit to lead us, to draw us, and to prune us of those things which we need to repent of, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen
Featured Image by Pexels from Pixabay
