The Results of Rejecting God
Romans 1:24-32
Series – Summer in Rome
Rejecting & Replacing God results in…
…Immoral Passions – Romans 1:24-25
…Indecent Perversions – Romans 1:26-27
…Irrational Practices – Romans 1:28-32
Introduction
Slide
Have you ever been in a situation where you have tried to help someone and they just continued to reject your help or take what you want to be help and instead just use it to enable them for further destructive behavior?
Alcohol
Maybe a friend or family member has had a problem with alcohol or drugs and you have covered for them and sat down with them to help them overcome this problem, but they continue to do the same thing and they continue to expect your “help” in avoiding the consequences.
Debt
Maybe you have a friend or family member that had massive amounts of debt, and you have helped them to get out of it, and sat down to get them on a budget they can sustain, but then they return to racking up the credit card debt again, living outside of what they can afford. Then they come to you again and expect you to help them if you love them.
At some point, as we have tried to help people, as they continue to reject the help we offer or use our help to enable their behavior, we are no longer helping them and we need to let them deal with the consequences of the lifestyle they are choosing.
This doesn’t mean we stop loving or caring about them. In fact, it usually means we care for them greatly to no longer enable their destructive behavior. We stop enabling them in hopes that they will hit a bottom and realize that the course they are following has got to change or it will continue to bring destruction.
Transition
Well, as God has revealed Himself to man and man rejects Him or replaces Him with false gods, and people live godlessly and wickedly, we are going to see the God “gives them over” to their sinful lifestyle. But giving them over does not mean that God gives up on them. God stands ready to forgive and receive into His family those who repent and turn from their wickedness.
Prodigal Son
You remember the story of the Prodigal Son. He asked his father for his inheritance basically saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead. Show me the money because that is all I care about.” There was probably a lot that led up to the point of the prodigal actually receiving what his father gave him and him leaving, but the father lets the son go, not because he wants him gone, but because he recognizes that he needs to deal with the effects of what he is choosing.
Well the son spends everything and is starving desiring even the slop the pigs are eating. It is at this point, when the son hits rock bottom and recognizes his sin and wickedness, that he decides to return in repentance.
Well the father sees him from a distance and runs to receive him back and welcome him into the family.
Just as the prodigal’s father stood ready to receive his son, the heavenly Father loves men and stands ready to receive you if you would repent and turn from your wickedness.
So this morning, we are going to continue on in Romans and see some of the effects that rejecting God can lead to in our lives and in our society.
Turn to Romans 1:24-32
Slide
Now, as we begin this, let’s remember what was being said last week.
God’s wrath is against the godlessness and wickedness that is rampant in a society that rejects and replaces the true, personal and holy God, with either no god or false gods.
The reality is that men who do not believe in God or replace Him with false gods have no excuse for not believing because God has faithfully made Himself known to all men through creation and our conscience.
And as men continue to reject God, it will lead to God letting them walk down the path they are choosing.
To those who continue to reject God and follow themselves, Paul writes the following verses.
Romans 1:24-32.
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. NIV
Pray
In these verses, we see a progression of sin and sinful activity that becomes ever more destructive when someone rejects and/or replaces the truth of God.
The first thing we see in this passage is that
Rejecting and Replacing God leads to…
…Immoral Passions
Slide
Romans 1:24 - Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
When we reject or replace God, God gives you over to the sinful desires of your heart.
When we begin to reject God or reject His truth as revealed in his word, we begin to rationalize sinful behavior because we believe the lie that life is about us and our pleasures.
“God loves me and wants me to enjoy life, doesn’t He? Why would he want to deny me the pleasures of sex or drugs or alcohol?”
God wants me to be happy, doesn’t He?
Actually God wants you to be holy
Peter writes in
Slide
1 Peter 1:14-16 - As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." NIV
Living holy lives in the strength and power of Jesus Christ, trusting Him and being led by His word is what leads to the full and abundant life, not following our sinful, immoral passions.
When we start to rationalize away the truths of God’s word and follow our immoral passions and behaviors, we are harming ourselves in ways that will leave long term scars and effects in our lives.
Intimacy problems
When we pursue sexual relationships before we are married, that can lead to future intimacy problems when we do get married which will make marriage more of a struggle.
The Sexual relationship is a gift of God to be enjoyed and engaged in within the bounds of the covenant of marriage. When we have waited until then, we will be able to truly grow in intimacy with our spouse and enjoy the fullness of how God has designed sex to be.
You may think this is the person you are going to marry, but I will tell you that the only sure time that you know that this is the person you are going to marry is when you say, “I do.”
Other hardships and consequences
Following these immoral passions whether before marriage or outside the bounds of our marriage will not only reduce intimacy, but can bring all kinds of hardships not only into our lives, but the lives of those connected to us in our families.
Broken marriages and families
Ask Arnold Schwarzenegger. A 25 year marriage destroyed and his kids turning from him because of giving in to immoral passions.
Unplanned Pregnancies
Pregnancies out of wedlock lead to many difficulties and affect our entire futures.
Disease
STD’s that come about because of promiscuity will cause all kinds of future hardships and repercussions in future relationships.
It is only through being in close relationship with the Lord, keeping our eyes on Him and how He has loved us, that we are going to be able to resist the pull of temptation toward these immoral and sinful passions in our life and to be able to truly experience joy in the midst of standing strong
Hebrews 11: 24-26
Slide
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. NIV
Being holy and following God will mean foregoing short term pleasures sometime, but it will lead to a better life later and for eternity.
But not only does our rejection and replacement of God lead to immoral passions, it can also lead to
Indecent Perversions
Slide
Romans 1:26-27
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.
Now within the U.S and even the world, there are many churches that “claim Christianity” that teach different things regarding homosexuality.
On the one extreme, you will have “churches” (and I use that word loosely) like Westboro Baptist Church that preaches hate for homosexuals as well as for military members and pretty much everyone except them.
On the other end of the spectrum you have churches like the United Church of Christ, Episcopal church, Evangelical Lutheran church, and in the last 2 weeks, the Presbyterian church – who not only do not consider homosexuality a sin, but will even ordain homosexual ministers in their churches.
So with churches teaching all kinds of different things, what are we to believe?
It is through our relationship with God and through our knowledge and belief that the Bible truly is the Word of God, that we are going to find direction and strength to stand fast.
When we fail to hold to the truth of an unchanging holy and personal God of the universe and the truth of His Word, we will begin down a path that leads to ever increasing sin and destruction in our lives.
The Bible tells us that God is a God of love. He loves people. But when people reject Him and His teaching, we will begin to replace God with ourselves or false gods who think just like us.
When God is rejected over and over again, homosexual behaviors are what it will lead to in a society.
So, how should we as Christians treat homosexuals?
We should not treat them as Westboro Baptist church does. They preach hate and act wickedly. They do not conduct themselves in the ways that Jesus did. I find no evidence of the fruit of Christ being born in their lives.
However, we also should not treat them as churches that affirm their lifestyle choice. They are enabling them to sin and not helping them to overcome their sin and be free from the bondage they are in.
As Christians, we have got to know and believe the Bible, and the Bible clearly calls homosexual behavior sin. But the Bible also calls us to follow Christ and to do that, we need to recognize that Jesus hung out with and befriended those who were sinners, without condoning their behavior. (Matthew 9:10-11)
When questioned about his, Jesus said,
Slide
Matthew 9:12-13
"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." NIV
As Christians it should be our goal to get to know people who are sinning and to share the “good news of Jesus Christ” with them in love, so they can receive Jesus as Savior and have the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to help them overcome acting on sinful passions and indecent perversions.
Remember from our first week in Romans, and the verse that is on the cover of your bulletins again.
Slide
Romans 1:16-17
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." - NIV
The Gospel is the power of God for Salvation and for Righteous living. Without believing in Christ and continuing to keep our eyes on Him and what He has done for us because of His great love, we will begin rejecting or replacing Him with ourselves and following our immoral passions and indecent perversions.
And ultimately, we will succumb to all manner of
…Irrational Practices
Slide
Romans 1:28-32
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.
Paul lists a grocery list of sinful conduct that will be evident in the lives of those who are rejecting or replacing God and his truths.
Have you ever had this question asked of you, or perhaps you have thought it yourselves?
Can there truly be a good God when there is so much evil and suffering in the world?
Paul tells us in these verses that the fact that there is wickedness and evil is not evidence that there is no God, but instead it is the result of rejecting or replacing the God who has made Himself known through creation and our conscience.
I have heard this analogy regarding evil and I think it is helpful for us today.
Hot or Cold
We all know when something is hot or cold. But the reality is that cold is a word we use to describe the absence of heat or energy. When we take away all the energy or heat and we get absolute zero which is -273 degrees Celsius. There is no absolute upper temperature because there is always energy that could be added.
Light and Dark
The same could be said for light and dark. Darkness is not really a thing, just a word we use to describe the absence of light.
Well, similar to cold being the absence of heat and dark being the absence of light, evil is the word we use to describe what it looks like when we remove or reject or replace God.
Why has evil seemed to increase in the world over the past 50 years? Because as a society, we continue to reject God. We remove him from school, we remove him from the public square, we remove him from the work place. Let’s take prayer out of schools and put condemns in.
The more that individuals and our society continue to reject God, the more into evil and destructive behaviors, will we fall.
But there is hope.
The Lord offers us opportunity to repent, to turn from these ways and receive His forgiveness.
Slide
1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. NIV
When we come to the point of realizing our sin, and the destructive lifestyles we choose, and repent, our gracious and merciful heavenly Father, is willing to forgive us and it is through the gospel, through the sacrifice that has been made for us, the power to overcome these sins, and addictions and perversions, becomes available. It is not easy nor does it happen overnight.
But just as the father of the prodigal son stood waiting for his son, our heavenly Father stands ready to receive us as we repent.
It is by His mercy and grace, we can recover and find hope and joy through a relationship with the Lord.
Conclusion
Maybe in some of this, you have recognized yourself. Maybe you have not rejected God outright, but you have replaces the true God of the Bible with on that looks a lot like you.
A god who lets you do what you want without consequence. Well, realize that there is consequence. Well just like Adam and Eve found out, there is consequence whether we believe it in the moment or not.
The path to the full and abundant life is found in walking in the ways of Christ and living in the power of the gospel as we believe it, live it and share it with others.
If you have never received Christ as your Savior, Consciously confessing your belief in Him as Lord and His death for your sins and His resurrection from the dead and His authority in your life, then won’t you do that now?
Slide
Romans 10:9 – “if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”
And if you have already received Him, but have been struggling with living for Him, then repent and turn back to Him and ask for His strength to follow.
Whatever your need, let’s pray and confess our belief and trust in the Lord.
Pray
Basic alliterated outline based on “Three ‘Gave ‘em Overs’” by Bruce Wersen - – July 4, 2004
http://www.hisplacechurch.com/resources/uploads/1002
