In and through creation, the evidence of God is clear.
Man has absolutely no excuse about believing or knowing whether or not there is a god.
The only reason there is ever a question about God and His existence is because the wickedness of man has suppressed the knowledge of God.
o Suppress = forcibly put an end to; prevent the development, action or expression of; prevent the dissemination (distribution) of information.
o As a result of the suppression of the knowledge of God, God is pouring out His wrath.
SOMETIMES GOD’S WRATH COMES BY WAY OF WHAT HE DOES. SOMETIMES GOD’S WRATH COMES BY WAY OF WHAT HE ALLOWS.
The downfall process began with man’s failure and has continued with God’s allowance. GOD WILL NOT BAIL OUT A PEOPLE WHO DON’T ASK AND DON’T TURN TO HIM.
Man’s Failure: -- Romans 1:21-23 – man knew God, but followed their own foolish desires and became idolatrous. Man turned into worshippers of creation rather than worshippers of the Creator. This is blatant disregard to the First Commandment. Is it any wonder that the law of God is broken so easily when the very first and most important commandment is broken?
The wickedness of man has always centered around a desire to have and to hold something that is tangible and visible. We must see it to believe it and everything must be here for our pleasure and benefit. The ultimate source of our idolatry is ourselves. We have put ourselves on the throne and found what we want to satisfy ourselves.
What Have We Worshipped in America?
Celebrities – The Beatles, Elvis, etc…
Innovation.
Intelligence.
Man’s ability to achieve – walking on the moon, creation of the car, the Internet, etc…
God’s Response to Man’s Failure:
The most alarming fact about God’s response is that with each step of decline there has been space to repent. Should repentance have taken place, God would have brought healing upon the land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 calls for the people of God to repent and turn to see the land healed.
1. God has given man over to their own sinful desires and sexual impurity.
a. “Sinful desires” speaks of a passionate lust for forbidden sexual pleasures.
b. Alfred Charles Kinsey (June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956), was an American biologist and professor of entomology and zoology, who in 1947 founded the Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University, now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. Kinsey’s research on human sexuality profoundly influenced social and cultural values in the United States and many other countries. His Kinsey Reports—starting with the publication of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male in 1948, followed in 1953 by Sexual Behavior in the Human Female—reached the top of bestseller lists and turned Kinsey into an instant celebrity, and are still the best selling scientific books of all time.
c. During the 1960s and 1970s, shifts in regards to how society viewed sexuality began to take place, heralding a period of de-conditioning in some circles away from old world antecedents, and developing new codes of sexual behavior, many of which are now integrated into the mainstream.[3] The 1960s and 1970s heralded a new culture of "free love” with millions of young people embracing the hippie ethos and preaching the power of love and the beauty of sex as a natural part of ordinary life. Hippies believed that sex was a natural biological phenomenon which should not be denied or repressed. Changes in attitudes reflected a perception that traditional views on sexuality were both hypocritical and chauvinistic.
d. The attitude about sex quickly became, “What’s the big deal. It is only a physical act and has no other effects or consequences. Don’t worry about it, everyone is doing it.”
e. But from a spiritual perspective, sexual intercourse works like a camera of the soul. Whenever you engage in sex with someone, you are in essence developing an imprint of that person on your very soul and leaving an imprint of yourself on them as well.
f. God’s description of “the two becoming one” involves the act of sex. That is God’s definition of marriage and union.
g. It leaves an emptiness and void and feeds itself. The promiscuous became even more promiscuous, trying to fulfill a hole that should have never been there in the first place.
h. THIS IS THE EPITOME OF EXCHANGING GOD’S TRUTH FOR A LIE!
2. God has given man over to shameful lusts.
a. As the void grows and the hunger for sexual fulfillment continues, “normal” activities are no longer enough.
b. The expression of homosexuality, lesbianism, beastiality, sodomy, etc… are not natural expressions as created and designed by God.
c. God Himself calls them “SHAMEFUL”. The word in the New American Standard translation is “DEGRADING”. The KJV says “VILE AFFECTIONS”. Vile = morally bad, wicked or extremely unpleasant.
d. It is VERY CLEAR that God doesn’t see this the same way that man does. However, this is where God has allowed us to come to because we have forsaken Him.
e. As a result of our idolatrous approach, we are no longer able to see things through the eyes of God. And, anytime someone tries to reveal things through God’s eyes, they are ridiculed or persecuted.
f. “Any nation that justifies homosexuality or lesbianism as an acceptable lifestyle is in its final stages of moral corruption” (FLSB).
3. God has given men over to a depraved mind.
a. Not only does society choose not to repent, society does not even see the need to repent.
b. There is more effort to force God out of society than there is to retain or keep Him in.
c. As a result, God has given man over to a depraved mind/state.
i. Depraved = morally corrupt. It is a term that means totally immoral and implies a warped character or a twisted mind. A depraved man would be one who steals money from his own mother and then murders her.
d. The most dangerous part of this depravity is found in verse 32 – they know better, yet they continue in it; and, they make it a point of celebrating the depravity of society. The best way to get attention or noticed is to do something bad.
e. Paul lists here the characteristics of a depraved people.
i. Filled with every kind of wickedness.
ii. Filled with every kind of evil.
iii. Filled with every kind of greed.
iv. Filled with every kind of depravity.
v. Envious.
vi. Murderers.
vii. Full of strife, contention and unnatural competition.
viii. Deceitful.
ix. Malicious.
x. Gossips.
xi. Slanderers.
xii. God-haters.
xiii. Insolent = showing a rude or arrogant lack of respect
xiv. Arrogant and boastful and filled with all types or pride.
xv. Inventors of ways to do evil.
xvi. Disobedient to parents and all authority figures.
xvii. Senseless.
xviii. Faithless.
xix. Heartless.
xx. Ruthless.
We have a responsibility. We must stand in the gap for America. 2 Chron 7:14 can still be fulfilled for America, but it is going to require the people of God to go to battle vicariously.
