Series Title: Romans – The Line in the Sand
Message Title: Coloring Outside the Line
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men 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 men 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 mortal man 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 of 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 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 indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to 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 are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 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.
There is nothing as plain in this world as that which has been revealed to man by God. This section of Romans deals with what A.W. Pink calls
“…a most unpalatable doctrine. It cannot be otherwise, for the unregenerate love to hear of the greatness, the dignity, the nobility of man.”
This section of Romans deals with the depravity of man and the subsequent penalty of those that have been given over to a depraved mind.
I will say it now, and I’ll say it again in the summary, your prevailing attitude on this subject and what is presented by Paul as wrong in the sight of God will assuredly determine your viewpoint of many other Biblical doctrines of like importance.
So, where do we start? Well, let’s take the stairs…
Verses 22-32 of Romans 1 are not going to get very much attention as they are very straightforward and need no clarification, but I strongly suggest that you read them through to the end.
What I am going to do, though, is go back to Romans 1:16, as it fits nicely in our Romans’ Stairs.
In verse 16, Paul says that he is “not ashamed of the gospel…”
Then in verse 17, he takes it a step further and elaborates on the gospel. He says, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed … ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”
Then verse 18 begins, in the NASB [New American Standard Bible] and the KJV with the word “For.”
What this one word does for us is connect us with what Paul just said. Paul is about to give a reason for the tremendous statements that he just put forth. Paul is about to begin his argument, an argument designed to establish the two-fold proposition given in Romans 1:17. What is that proposition? Through the famous statement that Paul quotes from
(Habakkuk 2:4) "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright-- but the righteous will live by his faith-
He tells us
That God’s plan of justification is revealed in the gospel, and,
That God reveals Himself to men.
The first part of that probably all of you will agree with, while the second may be a little tough for some to swallow, as there is more than one understanding or interpretation of what Paul is saying here. Let’s look at the first one.
God’s Plan of Justification is Revealed in the Gospel
I want to mention, again [as I mentioned in an earlier message], that Paul tells us exactly what the Gospel is in 1st Corinthians:
15:1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
The Gospel is those three central historical facts: (1) Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, (2) He was buried, and (3) He rose again.
Revealed in that Gospel is God’s plan for our justification, or, His reason for allowing us to be admitted into heaven. Christ died for our sins, and it is God’s plan that all that have as their focus of faith in the saving work of God in Jesus Christ (see: Romans. 3:21-26) will have Christ’s righteousness imputed to them, and their eternity of life with Him in heaven will be validated. The righteousness of God in Christ is imputed to all who believe, so that they may stand before God in all perfection of Christ.
That is your justification. You might have heard, or you may have said that justification means “just as if you never sinned.” But, if one does say this, and I have, then we’re slightly missing the mark.
Justification means that God has a reason to let you into heaven. By putting your faith into Jesus you assume His imputed righteousness and are thus justified in God’s mind and will be allowed admittance into heaven. You’re still a sinner, but you’ve just been covered with the blood of Jesus, that’s the reason. Christ took on your sins, and died for them. That imputed righteousness is the ground of justification, and justification affects your standing before God and not your poor sinful state before God.
In the New Testament, the words “righteousness” and “justify” are from the same root word. God declares the one justified forever for whom He sees in Christ. Justification is not an emotion on your part, it’s not a state of feeling; it is rather an immutable [unchanging] reckoning in the mind of God and it rests only on the merit of the eternal Son of God.
In those two verses, 16 and 17, we can see God’s plan of justification revealed in the Gospel. Now, in Romans 1:18, Paul signals indirectly to the saved that we are able to readily see the disgusting things that are going on in the world.
A father throws his four children off a bridge; a woman kills her children in her own home and acts as if everything is all right; children are hurting and killing each other in the streets and at school; homosexuals can get married to each without any condemnation.
There should be a global outrage against such sin, yet there is more concern for the upcoming Super Bowl. The entire world should be in prayer and fasting, yet there is more concern about what Hillary Clinton ’s party said about Barrack Obama’s critique of her speech about Martin Luther King, Jr. and whether or not it was politically correct.
As Christians saved by faith, we should understand why, and in case you don’t, it’s because of the depravity of man. Man cannot save himself through any contrivance, or make things better through any social program.
(Ephesians 2:3) All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
We were all there of course. Paul makes that clear in 1st Corinthians 1:26-30,
26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
We were all there in varying degrees, some more than others, but that didn’t make us any further away from God than the next sinner. We are all children of wrath and deserve nothing short of death by a just and right God. Yet, because we put our faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ, Who went to the Cross as our Propitiation, our Substitute for our penalty of death, we are justified in standing in Christ’s righteousness before God.
Yes, God’s plan of justification is revealed in the Gospel of the Grace of Christ, and…
God reveals Himself to men
God has revealed and continues to reveal Himself to all men. Before we jump into this, let’s set up some background information…
In the book, Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis, the author sets out in Book I [one] to tell us: Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe. Now, this is before Lewis even begins to speak at length of God, Christianity, or Christian behavior.
He talks to us about human nature, about certain standards that are seemingly intrinsic, which he calls the Law or Rule about Right and Wrong, and, he says, used to be called the Law of Nature. He sets forth that most men everywhere have within themselves similar moral standards, and within their respective cultures, similar moral teachings. In chapter one of this book, he summarizes the chapter with two points,
“First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. …these two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in.”
Similarly, Frank Sheed, in his book Society and Sanity, first published by Sheed & Ward in 1953, said “Moral laws are not optional.” He then goes on to say,
“If you contravene the bodily laws, you will have disease, deformity and death. If you contravene the laws by which the mind works you will be kept from discovering the truth, so that there will be a veil between you and reality; if you collide too hard with them, the result might be insanity. The moral laws are just as objective. They are for the handling of the whole man, and for the direction of the whole life, but they are laws all the same-statements that reality is like that, therefore we must act like that or take the consequences. The moral laws, like the physical laws, tell us how to handle ourselves harmoniously with reality.
“We must not think that whereas physical laws operate with or without our consent, we have a choice about the moral laws: for they are not simply rules that it is virtuous to observe: they too operate. In this matter the position is exactly the same for both. We can treat either set of laws as though it does not exist. But that is the limit of our choice: we have no choice about the consequences in the one or in the other. The law of justice is as much a law as the law of gravity (the latter is more easily discoverable, but not therefore more important- more beneficial in its observance, more catastrophic in its ignoring). Every sort of consequence flows from this. Because each is a law, we cannot break either. We can ignore them or flout them, by walking over a cliff, for instance, or stealing: but the law of gravity is not broken in the one case or the law of justice in the other. Both laws continue to operate and it is we who are broken. Material law or moral law, either way you are living under God’s law: and that applies to every creature of God from the ruler downwards.”
We still have a little more…but these are from the Bible…
Hebrews 8:10-11 [verse 10 is from Jeremiah 31:33]
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ’Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
Romans 2:14-15
(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)
Now, with all of that background in our minds, let’s go back to Romans 1:18-21
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men 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 men 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.
Paul very plainly tells us that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. And, that what may be known about God is plain to them [Jews and Gentiles alike, probably more so the Gentiles], because He made it plain to them.
He says, “For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven…” The word wrath usually holds the connotation of a hurt, injured or angry man’s desire to take revenge on ‘the someone’ that hurt him. That is sin, and we cannot apply that meaning to God in this usage of the word wrath. Additionally, any description that we have of God described by and through man’s limited terms must keep in mind the character and attributes of God. Most of our words fall far short in describing God, and they usually have some sort of implication of a trailing sin such as revenge, envy, jealousy, etc., attached to them. Not so with God, the wrath of God is revealed because God is a just God. He’s not taking revenge; He’s taking His required course of action. Why? Because God has…
18 – …revealed from heaven. 19 – God has made it plain to them. 20 – …have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.
How has He revealed Himself to men, since Paul says, “…because God has made it plain to them,” and again, “have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”
Earlier I read from Frank Sheed where he said, “either way you are living under God’s law: and that applies to every creature of God.” The Bible is adamantly telling us that every man has within them the ‘God-installed’ program of knowing the difference between Right and Wrong, just as Sheed and Lewis have indicated.
Verses 20, 21, 28, and 32 plainly tell us that man has the moral sense, the capability of arriving at the knowledge of God and the means by which they were and are able to reach this conclusion is through their own reason [vv. 20 being understood, (able to reason); vv. 21 they knew God], their own conscience [vv. 28 retain the knowledge of God], and an observation of the effects of depravity [vv. 32 all].
The charges that Paul puts forth in verses 18-32 were so well know that he didn’t even bother to use contemporary, non-Christian writings to support it. They all knew God, and they all knew that what they were doing was wrong. Not because Paul said so, but because it had been revealed to them by God.
The effects of this depravity were far-reaching. As I said before, there were even non-Christian writers of this same time period that tell us about the depravity of man.
Seneca, one of the purest moralists of Rome, who died A. D. 65, says of his own time, [Seneca de Ira, ii. 8]
"All is full of criminality and vice; indeed much more of these is committed than can be remedied by force. A monstrous contest of abandoned wickedness is carried on. The lust of sin increases daily; and shame is daily more and more extinguished. Discarding respect for all that is good and sacred, lust rushes on wherever it will. Vice no longer hides itself. It stalks forth before all eyes. So public has abandoned wickedness become, and so openly does it flame up in the minds of all, that innocence is no longer seldom, but has wholly ceased to exist,"
God, had, throughout the ages, revealed Himself to man, PLAINLY. Additionally, He chose the perfect time to reveal His plan of justification. Think about the time, the apostle is talking about the most enlightened and refined nations of the time: Rome and Greece. The Romans were at the height of their power, intelligence and magnificence, and they are still accused by the apostle of depravity. The Greek builders and philosophers had put forth more refinement and civilization than had ever existed and they still failed to reform mankind. The timing was perfect, for four thousand years man’s experiment to redeem himself failed, then…
(Romans 5:6) You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
It was at this precise time, during man’s futile attempt to reform mankind, even under the most favorable circumstances, had been tried, that the gospel was preached to men. The Gospel of the Grace of Christ disclosed another plan; and its fast results and far-reaching effects were seen at once throughout the even the most depraved and abandoned states and cities of the ancient world.
Summary:
When you begin to color outside the lines of Christianity, the picture becomes unrecognizable. When you continue to color outside the lines of the Gospel of the Grace of Christ, the true picture is blurred and other unpleasant shapes and forms may begin to emerge from the mess. It doesn’t matter what color you’re using, or who is doing the coloring, the result is the same. You can’t color outside the lines.
(Acts 17:11) Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Therefore I submit to you that the doctrine of the depravity of man as set forth in Romans 1:18-32 as a testing doctrine. Your prevailing attitude on this subject will assuredly determine your viewpoint of many other Biblical doctrines of like importance. If your belief here is a scriptural one, and you examine the Scriptures, you’ll be able to clearly perceive how impossible it is for men to improve themselves—that Christ is your only hope. You’ll know that unless the sinner is born again there can be no entrance for them into the kingdom of God.
If your belief here is a scriptural one, and you examine the Scriptures, you’ll be able to clearly perceive that the plan of justification has been revealed. And, that God—His power and Divine Nature—has been revealed to all men. You have the moral sense given to you, you have the creation around, and you have the Spirit witnessing within you, it’s up to you to determine if you are going to color within the lines of God’s Will for your life.
