THESIS: To continue Paul’s closing arguments against mankind & God’s final verdict.
INTRO.:
A. In the courtroom called Romans, Paul, the prosecuting attorney, sets forth arguments to show how far man has fallen. 1️⃣Paul shows man began by glorifying God but ended up exchanging that glory for idols. 2️⃣He began knowing God but ended up refusing to keep the knowledge of God in his mind & heart. 3️⃣He began as the highest of God’s creatures, made in the image of God but ended up lower than thebeasts & insects because he worshipped them as gods. 4️⃣He began in purity but ended up degrading the natural use of his body into unnatural, sinful acts with those of the same sex. B. Paul offers these arguments to show that the heathen are indeed lost. And the heathen are simply those who have rejected the light of the glorious revelation of God in nature, intellect, God’s Son & God’s Word. As the British missionary to Africa, Dan Crawford said: “The heathen are sinning against a flood of light.”
I. GOD’S INTRANSIGENCE: v.28
A. His Final Judgment: “God gave them over to a reprobate mind…”
1. God is intransigent, i.e., He refuses to “come to an agreement with man, or to make any compromises with man” regarding his sinfulness.
ILLUS.: Paul’s closing arguments demonstrate that self-deification leads to self-indulgence with stop-overs in idolatry & immorality. Man is both morally & mentally perverted. Apostasy (abandonment of God), leads to immorality (abandonment of virtue). Moral & mental perversion lead to immorality, pornography & sexual perversion. Those who abandon themselves to this perverted lifestyle – the sin of sodomy in particular – band together & ultimately demand public recognition for their perversion (Hello, 21st century!). No wonder “God gave them over to a reprobate mind…”
2. The word “reprobate” means “vile, abhorrent, despised, loathsome.”
a. First on man’s list of false gods created by man is man himself. b. If man is his own god, then he can do whatever he pleases & fulfill his fantasies & desires w/out fear of judgment – he thinks! c. The concept of self-worship (ultimately expressed in body or sexual sins) is so repugnant to a holy God that He gives men over to their depraved minds, thoughts, fantasies and activities.
II. MAN’S INDULGENCE: v.29-31
A. His Final State: “being filled with all unrighteousness…”
1. Someone said that the ensuing list of sins is like “lifting the lid on hell.” 2. The list is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather representative.
ILLUS.: Dr. James Montgomery Boice says that there are two main categories of sins: godlessness & wickedness. “The first embraces all sins against God, that is, sins of the first table of the Law. The second embraces the sins of man against man, those of the second table of the Law.” Paul has given his arguments for category 1 sins, and some of those in category 2 already, but now lists more of these.
3. Some have suggested that this list is the lowest point in man’s downward spiral into sin. 4. Perhaps, in reality, this list only reveals the tip of the iceberg, and there is no “bottom” i.e., no depths to which man will not descend.
ILLUS.: Perhaps it is as God expressed it in another context: “…and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” Is there a “bottom point” beyond which we will not go in our culture? 👿If so, it is not adultery. We have plenty of that. 👿Is it prostitution? We have even legalized that in some places. 👿It is not gambling. We have not only legalized it, but the state now supports & promotes it. 👿It isn’t pornography. Our Supreme Court can’t even decide on a definition to regulate it. 👿Perhaps we will draw the line at child perversion? No. 👿We say pornography, but not child pornography. 👿Prostitution, but not child prostitution. But both are increasing in our society. You can’t just “dip” into sin a little bit. You continue on that slippery slope, until the lines we thought we would never cross, are erased & the bar is lowered again & again.
5. Stop anywhere on the list and you will observe man’s final state manifested in bestial behavior.
ILLUS.: Let’s stop at “without natural affection.” ❌On Sept. 6, 1992 Newsweek magazine carried an article with a photo of a baboon presumably killing an infant baboon with a headline: “Biologists Say Infantacide Is as Normal as the Sex Drive – And That Most Animals, Including Man, Practice It." 💫The logic goes like this: 1) Man is an animal; 2) Animals kill their offspring; 3) Thus, it is all right (or at least understandable) if human beings kill their offspring.👎 Of course the article is fallacious.Man is not an animal. 🔸Most animals do not kill their offspring – they protect them, care for them & may even love them, and often mourn for them if they die. 🔸But if occasionally an animal does kill its offspring, that is nothing compared to the deliberate slaughter of human babies by abortion, mostly for nothing more than the convenience of the mother. P.198 Romans, James Montgomery Boice 💥Let’s look at “fornication” (which ALL the versions omit!!!). Another article in a scientific journal spoke of a certain kind of ducks where they were engaging in what the scientists observing them called “gang rape.” Their point was that given our animal ancestry it is at least understandable if humans do the same. But humans are not ducks! And most ducks, or other animals do NOT commit rape. But it is true that rape is an increasing crime among humans. Why?Because we have rejected God & His moral code of behavior for humans and have resorted to bestial behavior. 💥Articles have been written to justify homosexual behavior among humans because some monkeys apparently practice it. But we are not monkeys! And if some monkeys do practice homosexuality, that does not excuse men, who even by evolutionary standards are above the monkeys, who practice sodomy! And God condemns that behavior as being “unnatural” & worthy of judgment! Cf. v.26,27
III. MAN’S IMPENITENCE: v.32
A. His Final Answer: “Not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them…” 1. How low can you go?!
2.Do we applaud “fornication”? (Check the daily soap operas) Do we encourage “coveteousness”? (Check media commercials!) Do we have pleasure in “murders”? (Check local TV listings, any evening.) Do we cheer “haters of God”? (Check the Hollywood movie “stars’!) Do we emulate those children or teens “disobedient to parents”? (Check the “Simpsons” – MTV, rap, rock music idols, etc. w/all their signs, gestures, clothing, hair styles, body piercings, tattoos, etc., etc.!) 3. And this is from those who instinctively KNOW “the judgment of God.”
IV. GOD’S IMPRECATION: 2:1
NOTE: The word “imprecation” means “to invoke a curse or misfortune upon” or to state a judgment upon someone. And this brings us to…
A. God’s Final Sentence: “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man…”
1. The case is closed; the verdict is in, man is guilty of all of the above! 2. God’s final sentence is that whether you live in an enlightened country like America or in the jungles of Borneo, you are without excuse, because you have sinned against a “flood of light.” 3. That light begins in nature and reason and culminates with the revelation of God’s Word & God’s Son!
CONCL.: 💼The case is indeed closed. 😢The verdict is indeed guilty! 😲And unlike in man’s courtrooms where the convicted person walks out planning his or her appeal, there is no appeal before “the Judge of all the earth.” 🥵A seal is placed on this judgment and there will be no plea bargaining. Guilty is the verdict and the sentence is eternal torment in hell forever!