The price of sin is more sin Romans 1:18-32
“18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”
Paul has spent the first seventeen verses speaking of these new believers of their common salvation and then telling them that he is not only thankful for their salvation but also for their evangelistic spirit. He’s also looking forward to the mutual encouragement he knows they’ll be to each other. He said he had planned to visit them earlier but Satan hindered him and now he hopes he’ll be able to see them on his way to Spain. And then he encourages them by telling them, he is not ashamed of the gospel for it’s the power of God for everyone who believes and listen, when Paul says everyone, he means everyone.
And today, he focuses on why people need this gospel and the reason is sin and here he says that God not only hates sin but He also hates sins progression and all its affects. Sin is like a bad weed that never stands still, it continually growing and always destructive.
The problem with sin is that the human heart is not strong enough to endure its destructive control. In fact, without the redeeming, regenerate work of Jesus Christ, the heart is corrupted with sin at its very core, which is why the prophet Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
As someone said, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you were willing to pay.”
Listen carefully, we don’t sin and then become sinners but we sin because we are sinners. We were all born in sin and we’ve inherited this sin nature from our parents who got it from theirs all the way back to Adam and Eve. And the only answer for the sin problem is we have to start all over again. In other words, we must be born again. We need to acknowledge our sin and guilt, to turn from our self and selfish ways and surrender to Jesus who died to save us. This is the only means of salvation.
Somebody wrote a list called, “Sin’s Ten Deceptions.”
1. “You’re not as sinful as the Bible says you are. As a matter of fact, you’re better than most people.”
2. “God’s view of sin is unreasonable and I think you’ll be able to explain your position enough to satisfy Him.”
3. “You don’t really sin. You don’t get angry, just frustrated. You didn’t commit adultery; you had a loving, mutually beneficial relationship. You don’t lie, you just stretch the truth, a little.”
4. “Sin doesn’t matter as long as no one knows about it.”
5. “Since everyone else is doing it, it’s no big deal.”
6. “You’ve been committing this sin for so long no one would expect you to stop. It’s just who you are.”
7. “This little sin is something that satisfies you and makes you happy and doesn’t God really want us all to be happy?”
8. “It’s alright as long as you don’t get caught.”
9. “God is forgiving and when you get to the pearly gates, He’s just going to be glad to see you and say, come on in.”
10. The only problem we have is, after you sin, you hear the words of Satan who says, “You’ve really messed up and do you really think God’s going to forgive you now.”
As we’ve read through this section which deals with so much sin, it makes us wonder, if this is Paul’s letter of introduction and he’s greeting people he has never met before, why is he preaching so hard on sin and all its perversions.
I think the answer is simple, he was writing to believers living in one of the most perverted and wicked cultures of the ancient world. Not only did the Romans indulge in any and every kind of sin imaginable but they claimed that everyone has the right to do whatever they want, with whoever they want and whenever they want. It almost sounds like today.
I First, I want you to see the reason God is angry in verses 18-19
“18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.”
A The wrath of God is revealed
These two verses tell us that God is extremely angry with the human race and although I believe that the full extent of His anger will be unleashed on the world in the latter days as described in the book of Revelation; I think we are seeing even now some evidence of His wrath.
Jesus discusses the events of the last days in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. And here He tells us there will be wars and rumors of wars. We need only to look at the Middle East and see the current conflict over Israel’s claiming control of Judea and Samaria to know that trouble is brewing there. And then there’s the current issues with China and all little things that keep popping up everywhere that can lead to an outbreak of hostilities.
Second, it mentions earthquakes and there has been an increase in earthquake activity all over the world but because it’s not happening in our back yard, we don’t seem to notice.
Third, there are unpredictable weather patterns that have resulted in massive flooding as well as the increase of typhoons.
Fourth, there are enormous armies of locusts that are causing food shortages and crop damage like people have never seen before. These mammoth swarms can travel up to 90 miles a day, and when they descend on a farm, they can eat all of the vegetation in as little as 30 seconds. There was terrifying footage of a swarm of locusts blocking out the sun in Iran. The Iranians called out their military to fight this plaque rather than allowing their country to starve.
Fifth, there’s the African swine fever for which there’s no vaccine or cure, and it is killing pigs all over the world at a staggering rate. Approximately half the pigs in China and one-fourth of all the pigs of the entire world have already been wiped out by this disease. This is going to have a tremendous effect on the world’s food supply.
Six, there are food riots taking place in Chile and Africa and because of the various diseases and social movements that are crippling the economy it’s going to get worse.
Seventh, there has been economic and political problems in various countries as a result of many people being unemployed. People are angry about political corruption while so many are sick or dying while those in charge seem to be ignoring all precautions. And the word we often hear is, “No one has the right to tell me I have to stay home or wear a mask. This is still a free country and I’ll do as I please.”
Listen, this is all just the beginning of the wrath of God and yet, many hear this and ask, “Why is God so angry?’ He’s angry because of sin and the result of sin is ungodliness and unrighteousness.
B Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
Notice the order it’s ungodliness and then unrighteousness. It’s the godless attitude that produces the wicked actions, and that’s why the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against man. And listen, godlessness doesn’t mean these people don’t believe in God, they just act as though God doesn't exist and the result is, they don’t expect Him to react.
Paul was writing to this church at Rome and this city can only be describes as a cesspool of sin. The men of Rome always conveyed a masculine mentality and that meant they always had to be in absolute charge of every relationship. Since Roman society had no rules of morality, the Roman man thought they could express their dominance by forcibly having sex whenever they wanted with whoever they wanted and this included with men, women or even children.
The Roman concept of sex is best illustrated by the Caesars who were known not only for their acts not only of immorality but also for their cruelty and they used sex to dominate others and gratify themselves. And as Paul says God’s wrath is against all this ungodliness and unrighteousness.
Listen, this is very important. Ungodliness means we are living in disobedience to God and the end result is that we become unrighteous. So, one is the root and the other is the fruit. The farther we get from God the worse we’ll be.
And here’s the strange part. Ungodly people live as though God doesn’t exist and some of them can live very respectable lives, they can be friendly, courteous, and helpful, great neighbours and co-workers, they may even attend your church, but the very thought of God never enters their mind. They are not wicked people, but they are ungodly.
I pastored a couple of churches and we had at least one homosexual and two lesbians who attended every week and even though I preached against these sins, they couldn’t care less. They were simply ungodly people who practised their unrighteousness and as far as they were concerned, it was none of my business.
And then Paul says, they suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
C They suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
It’s not bad enough that people ignore the obvious demonstrations of the wrath of God but they suppress it.
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard non-Christians say, “we see homosexuality condemned in the Old Testament because these people didn’t know any better and in the New Testament it’s only found in Paul’s writings and it’s obvious that he had some hang-ups but when we see the words of Jesus He never mentions it.
The problem with these arguments is their logic because they present their position as a fact while ignoring what Jesus had to say.
In Matthew 19:4-6 Jesus said, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh.”
In these verses Jesus is speaking about the intention of God from the beginning of creation and He says He ‘made them male and female and for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’’
And keep in mind that Jesus was speaking at a time when Rome was filled with homosexuals, so it wasn’t like He was oblivious to the history or even the current practice of homosexuals. He said, this is God’s intention and logic says anything that’s contrary to God’s will is sin.
And then a little later He was discussing the issue of divorce with His disciples and they said, “Well, maybe it’s better not to marry and Jesus responds by saying in verse 11, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: 12 For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”
A eunuch is someone who has part of his male anatomy surgically removed making him incapable of engaging in sex. And so, Jesus describes three categories of people who either can’t or won’t marry.
First, there are those who have birth defects and they could be physical or even psychological but for some reason these are people who are incapable of marriage. Second, there are some who have been rendered incapable of having sex by physical castration and this was very common among those who were captured in battle and then taken back to be used as slaves. We see this in the Old Testament with men such as Daniel and his three friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and then in the New Testament we have the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8.
Some were born eunuchs while others were made eunuchs by man and there is also a third, and Jesus said, “There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.” I don’t think this refers to physical mutilation but some people have made a choice to avoid marriage because they feel they can be better used of God when they are single.
So, Paul describes these people by saying they suppress the truth in unrighteousness which means they have ignored anything and everything that’s considered to be wrong because it doesn’t fit in with their philosophy or with their lifestyle.
God wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who have suppressed the truth in unrighteousness, (and why do they do this?) because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
In other words, they’re avoiding the obvious. God has revealed Himself in creation and throughout nature and on top of that everyone has a moral code built into them in which stealing, lying, murder, and all such sins are condemned. Our sense of right and wrong is a testimony to the very existence of God.
And last of all, God has revealed Himself through the person and work of His Son Jesus Christ and then through the written Word the Scriptures. All these things are His testimony and they leave us with no excuses for rejecting him.
And then Paul says, “They can see the truth about God but chose to ignore it.” They saw it in creation, in their conscience, in Jesus Christ and in the word of God if they wished to read it. Everyone has a phone these days and anyone can download a copy of the scriptures for free. So, we are without excuse.
D These people can see the truth about God but chose to ignore it.
The truth is obvious but to obey the truth means we have to repent of our sin and allow ourselves to be transformed by the power of God. And when that happens the scripture says we are a new creation; old things have passed away and all things become new. We are born again and we’ll want to live for God the way we lived for ourselves.
On the day we’re saved we becomes the enemies of the devil and all who belong to him and he will marshal all the forces of hell to make us miserable and ineffective.
In Paul’s day the Romans hated the Christians and considered them to be outsiders. They thought they were all traitors and dangerous and to their way of life. They considered them to be a threat to destabilize Roman society. No wonder, then, they were constantly ridiculed and persecuted.
Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher, said of Christians: "Look at whom they worship. Look at this God whom they worship. How foolish and imbecilic to follow one who died, and then to claim that that death is victory! There is foolishness and there is foolishness. There is madness and there is madness, but to call death victory is the ultimate madness of all. This is a pathetic deity and he is followed by a pathetic people." Well, Nietzsche is dead and I wonder if he changed his opinion?
So, God’s wrath is revealed and the reason is, He’s been ignored even though His presence is obvious. And then in verses 20-22 we see the first consequence of their willful unbelief.
“20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”
Because people willfully turned their backs on God and all He stood for; He has poured out a series of judgements that change the very nature of those who had been created in His image. Men will lose their manliness and women will lose their feminine nature. Now listen, this is not the judgement at the end of time but these are judgements on those who openly ignore both God and His word.
And these judgements begin in verses 20-23. Verse 20 says they have openly defied logic by denying God’s existence even though the evidence of His reality of His existence can be seen all through creation. They ignored who He is and they weren’t thankful for His continued goodness to the human race and at the end of verse 21 we see the beginning of His judgements.
First, their foolish hearts were darkened. Those who refuse to see lose will lose the capacity to see. And by suppressing the truth of God and believing their lies, they plunged their hearts even deeper into darkness.
Second, verse 22 says, “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” Man, who thinks he’s smarter than God Himself can come up with some of the craziest philosophies imaginable. And its gone from feeding babies to the fire gods in the Old Testament to the big business of aborting them today.
And then third, verse 23 says, “and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” Now, when we read this verse, we tend to think of cave men who worshipped either parts of creation or all of it and yet, the more things change the more they remain the same because man will worship or give himself to almost anything.
We spend all our lives working to buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t even like. And if you don’t believe me, just go for a walk and look in people’s garages. Many of them have so much junk they have to park their cars on the driveway and many more are renting storage space to keep the rest of their junk in.
All of us are guilty of the same to one degree or another. We stand looking at a closet full of clothes and say, “I don’t have a thing to wear.” Many of us drive a relatively new car but we’re thinking about getting a new one because the new cars look better and they have so many new options. Someone as someone so wisely said, “Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like trying to satisfy your hunger by taping sandwiches all over your body."
We all have the basic things but take it all for granted: like food, electricity, shelter, clothing and fresh water. We no longer have to hunt or fish or even risk our health by eating raw meat.
And yet, we can be bored to death by the same old same old and every year we spend more and more money to keep ourselves entertained. And this has produced all kinds of things like new phones, new laptops, new gadgets and new TV shows.
I like how someone said, “If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.
I worked at a church that had a Christian school and one day the teachers asked if I would go on a school trip to a sheep farm and help watch over a group of little kids. When we got there the kids all got busy in the sheep pens petting the sheep and I spoke to the woman who owned the farm.
I mentioned how well organized everything seemed to be and she told me how she and her husband had built everything from scratch, and then she said he had also filled the huge barn beside us with antique furniture. His goal was to finish and sell it all when he retired, but he died two weeks before his sixty-five birthday. He just kept himself busy not knowing that his end was much sooner than expected.
And because the people in these verses turned from God verse 24 says, “Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
The word therefore tells us that based on what he just God is going to introduce judgement. Three times in this chapter it says God gave them over, here in verse 24, in verse 26 and in verse 28. And in each case, He gave them over to the sin they were involved in and this simply means He allowed them to have the thing they wanted and then suffer the consequences of their choice.
So, He gave them up to the lusts of their heart which is moral impurity and the Greek word for lusts means, "the contents of a grave" and it can refer rot, filth or decay and it has to do with some kind of sexual sin or perversion. So, sexual perversion is a judgment and people chose their perversion to take the place of God.
And then we see the progression as he goes from moral impurity to the various expressions of it in verses 26-27.
“26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.”
When he speaks about the natural use, he’s referring to sexual intercourse and he’s saying these women with other women are doing what’s unnatural and this simply means they’re doing something that’s completely opposite of the way God made them. And men are doing the same with men and it says “they receive in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.” The penalty of their error is not only God’s judgement but their very personalities are affected.
So far, we’ve seen how a rejection of God's revelation leads to idolatry, and then idolatry leads to immorality, and then men and women are cast into the depths of immorality which is homosexuality.
In case you think that homosexuality is something new in our culture, it was a common practice in first century Rome. Most of the great philosophers celebrated and practiced it. Men like Socrates and other great thinkers of Greece were homosexuals. Of the first fifteen Roman emperors, fourteen were homosexuals. It was very common in the Roman world. It was said of Julius Caesar, "That he was every woman's man and every man's woman." Sin hasn’t changed since the first man and woman had turned their back on God.
These remaining five verses are all one sentence in the Greek. Starting in verse 28 , “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”
The first verse says, “Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” People go to extremes to avoid conversations about the Christian faith but none as much as Thomas Jefferson. The Wall Street Journal had an article about an exhibit coming to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. They will display an 86-page Bible, which was created by Thomas Jefferson. In this severely abridged version, Jefferson says that he sought to remove passages “of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, or superstitions, fanaticisms, and fabrications.” Stories of angels, wise men, and the resurrection were all cut out.
Few people today are so crass in their criticism of the Scriptures; they simply ignore what they dislike but after Jefferson completed his editing of the Bible, he wrote to a friend to say that his version, “Is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus.”
Paul says, they did not like to retain God in their knowledge and this means they have seen who He is and decided that He wasn’t worth worshipping or honoring. And because they decided God wasn’t worth their effort, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.
And then it lists all the sins they are guilty of and this is the longest list of this type in the New Testament and its purpose is to show how sinful minds become when men refuse to treat God as God. The result is, God gives them up to the sins they want and their involvement in sin is the judgement of God.
And verse 32 says, “Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”
They are people who knew the word of God and its warnings that those who do these things are worthy of death, but they not only do these things themselves but also give their approval to anyone who follows their example.
Listen, very few people believe they’re sinful enough to end up in hell or even be punished for their wickedness. I have heard time and time again people at the funerals of those who had no time for God or His church say, “Well, at least we know he’s in a better place.” And I always want to say, where is this place?
And everyone seems to have all kinds of excuses for their sin. “I was born this way. This is how I was raised. This is just the way I am. I’m really a good person and in the end, I think my good works are going to outweigh the bad. It’s not that I don’t believe the Bible I just think a lot of people use it to scare you.”
I think the best excuse I’ve ever heard was from ninety-five-year-old woman who said, “I’m just not ready, but I’m going to accept the Lord someday.” And she died a couple of days later.
There are a lot of famous men and woman who’ve missed the boat like she did, H.G. Wells was a well-known historian and philosopher and he said at age 61: "I have no peace. All life is at the end of the tether." The poet Byron said, "My days are in yellow leaf, the flowers and fruits of life are gone, the worm and the canker, and the grief are mine alone." The literary genius Thoreau said, "Most men live lives of quiet desperation." Ralph Barton, one of the top cartoonists of his day, left this note pinned to his pillow before he committed suicide: "I have had few difficulties, many friends, great successes; I have gone from wife to wife, from house to house, visited the great countries of the world, but I am fed up with inventing devices to fill up twenty-four hours of the day."
This is a portion of scripture that seems to be filled with bad news. Those who are lost are condemned and they seem to get worse as time goes by and yet, God holds out forgiveness to whoever is willing to accept His Son as their savior.
Conclusion
When I was around ten or eleven, we lived in a place called Bridgeport Rows which was about two miles from Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. This was about fifty years ago and there was no such thing as an I Phone, an I pads or a home computer. As a matter of fact, we only had one channel on the television and it was black and white. And depending on which way the wind blew sometimes we lost the channel altogether.
I’m sure there are many who wonder, what did you do? Surprisingly, we kept busy and we simply made our own fun. For instance, we only lived about a half a mile from the ocean and if the weather was warm, a few of us would take a couple of potatoes and we’d go to the shore, where we’d make a fire and throw the potatoes in for about an hour and if the tide was low, we’d go out on the reef where we’d catch a few crabs or even grab a handful of snails and we’d have ourselves a snack.
Usually, there were four or five of us and when we settled around the fire, everyone took turns telling stories, about things that never happened and things we wished would.
There was one story that always came up and it was about a stinky Corvette. Whoever told the story knew someone who knew someone who was related to someone who had a four-year-old Corvette for sale and all they wanted was two hundred dollars.
No matter how many times we heard this story we’d all lean in and listen as we were told that the guy who had this Corvette had got it real cheap, because someone had died in it during a snowstorm. Apparently, the snow was so deep they neither found the car nor the body for a couple of months and by then, the stink of death had gone right through the seats, the padding and possibly even the metal. Nobody could stand the smell but for four-hundred-dollars anyone could have this Corvette.
We’d spend hours discussing how we’d clean and deodorize the car to make it like new again, and as long as I can remember the stinky Corvette came up at every campfire.
We all wish life was like that; that somehow God would take our useless and dirty lives and make what’s worthless worth while. And that’s what the gospel is all about.
