By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at verses 13 through 20 of chapter 1.
1.1.1. We saw in that study how that Paul told the Romans how that he was
always ready and desiring to share the gospel with others because he was not
ashamed of the gospel since he knew that it contained the power of God unto
salvation.
1.1.2. Next, Paul began to discuss how that Gods wrath is always growing
against those who live in sin and rebel against Him and His rule over their
lives.
1.1.3. We saw first of all the fact that God has revealed Himself to all
people and that the unbelieving and rebellious willfully suppress the truth
about God that He has made known to them.
The creation around us, the conscience within us, and the providence of
God reveal the divine attributes of God, and this is general revelation of God
made to all people.
1.1.4. We then discussed what Gods wrath involves as well as why it is
important for the church to teach about not only Gods love for mankind but
also the fact that He must punish sin because He is a God of wrath also.
1.1.5. We saw many things about Gods wrath including the fact that it is not
like the wrath of man, for Gods wrath is slow building, always deserved,
carried out only as a last resort, and even tempered by His love.
1.1.6. We saw that Jesus Christ on
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look at verses 21-32 of chapter 1.
1.2.1. In this study, we will continue to look at the consequences that occur
because of mens sin. We will see that
Gods wrath is demonstrated in giving over people to their sin so that they
suffer in their own bodies the full effects and consequences of their sin
against God.
1.2.2. We will see how the wickedness of mankind has come about, and note that
men perform their wickedness because they have been given over to wickedness by
the Lord.
1.2.3. We will look at the depths that men and women fall into sin. We will also look in this study at why the
most vile of wicked acts performed by people occur.
1.2.4. Have you ever heard people say, How could a loving God allow such
wicked things to be done by men?
Im sure you have heard this before.
Actually, not too long after creating the earth, the Lord destroyed the
world because of its wickedness by bringing about the great flood. So, the Lord could destroy all of the wicked
people on the earth today, however to do so would be devastating to so many
peoples lives. We will see how the Lord
handles men who are bent upon acting in a wicked way, He turns them over to
their sin.
1.2.5. If people will not turn to God and serve Him because of His goodness
and the blessings He brings into their lives, then in love God will attempt to
have them realize their need for Him and turn to Him by giving them over to
their sin and the consequences of living their own life apart from God. Many times it is only when people hit rock
bottom in their sin that they will finally look up and reach out to the Lord
and find Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.
2. VS 1:21 - 21 For
even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but
they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. - Paul tells us how that even
though men had a knowledge of God gained through what has been made that they
did not honor Him as God or give thanks but rather they became futile in their
speculations for their hearts were darkened
2.1.
We saw in our last study that God has revealed Himself
to every person, yet even though all people have that innate knowledge of God
within them, the unrepentant people of this world have chosen willfully not to
give Him honor and glorify Him as God.
2.2.
Man was created for the purpose of giving glory to
God, and when man is in his proper and most dignified place he is giving God
the glory He deserves. When we think of
how much greater God is than we humble and sinful creatures of clay, then we
must realize that God is completely deserving of all of the glory that we can
give to Him.
2.3.
Even though the unrepentant people of this world have
received a certain general knowledge of God and they have experienced first
hand His goodness in providence, they have willfully chosen not to give
thanks to Him. Everything that a
man possesses has come to him from the Lord, therefore it is extremely evil of
man to be ungrateful to the Lord for the things that He has given Him.
2.4.
We as Christians must remember that we are to
continually give thanks to the Lord for everything that He has given to us, as
Paul wrote in 1 Thess. 5:16-18, 16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing;
18 in everything give thanks; for this is Gods will for you in Christ Jesus.
2.5.
We Christians must remember that we are to do all that
we do to the glory of God, as Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 10:31, 31 Whether, then,
you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
2.6.
Instead of the unrepentant people of this world
honoring God as God and giving Him thanks in all things, they instead do what
Paul writes in this verse, they became futile in their speculations. When people reject God, they become wise in
their own eyes and this verse reflects the total sum of the philosophies of
man, they are futile. Paul
wrote in 1 Cor. 3:19a , 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness
before God.
2.7.
The unbelieving world that has rejected God in spite
of Him revealing Himself unto them is foolish before God, and Paul
writes here about unbelieving men that their foolish heart was darkened.
3. VS 1:22 - 22 Professing to be
wise, they became fools, - Paul tells
us here that people who reject God profess that they are wise but in doing so
they become fools
3.1.
In every age there are those who profess to
be wise, however they have rejected the truth of God which He has revealed
unto them. By relying upon their own
finite understanding, they became fools, Paul writes. It is amazing to me how men so inflate their
own supposed wisdom and yet the more I live the more I realize that no one
understands much about this creation and how it is put together and
operates. Men only understand such a
small fragment of all of the knowledge God possesses and which He used in
creating all that exists.
3.2.
Consider these famous last
words of people which reveal how foolish people can be:
"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be
seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of
no value to us." -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.
"The wireless music box has no imaginable
commercial value. Who would pay for a
message sent to nobody in particular?" -- David Sarnoff's
associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but
in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." -- A
"Who the h*** wants to hear actors talk?" --
H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927
"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling
on his face and not Gary Cooper." -- Gary Cooper, on his decision to not
take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."
"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the
market research reports say
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is
on the way out." -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are
impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.
"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done
the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do
this." -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for
3-M "Post-It" Notepads.
"So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got
this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think
about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for
you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we
went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'"
-- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P
interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.
"Professor Goddard does not know the relation
between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum
against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily
in high schools." -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's
revolutionary rocket work.
"You want to have consistent and uniform muscle
development across all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of
life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable
condition of weight training." -- Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the
"unsolvable" problem by inventing Nautilus.
"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to
try and find oil? You're crazy." --
Drillers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist in his project to drill for oil in
1859.
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently
high plateau." -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics,
"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no
military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch,
Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure
de Guerre.
"Everything that can be invented has been
invented." -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner,
"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous
fiction". -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of
Physiology at
"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever
be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon". -- Sir John
Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed
Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen
"No flying machine will ever fly from
3.3.
3.4.
The extreme unreliability of Carbon-14 dating
measurements has been proven in experiment after experiment. The operators of the machines usually ask the
person wanting the object to be dated to give them their best estimate as to
the age of the item, and then the operators interpret their readings in such a
way as to conform with the approximate date anticipated. These operators have been fooled many times
by those who have tricked them by bringing in objects to be dated which look
like they are of antiquity, however the person bringing them in knows that the
age of the item is merely thousands of years old. Yet in spite of this known and widely
circulated information about its unreliability there are supposed experts all
over the world who state as fact that from Carbon-14 dating the earth and
various of its creatures are millions or billions of years old. By the way, n teaching about creation from
Genesis, Chuck Smith once said that he thought that the Lord could easily have
created the earth to already be aged and this could account for how the earth
looks aged.
3.5.
In our lost world which has lost all sense of any
objective truth, there is no standard for accepting what is right or what is
wrong. When people reject God, they are
left with the philosophy of relativism and soon they have no norms or standards
for judging anything. If there is no God
then who can say that anything that anyone else does is wrong, and each man can
justify anything that he does as being acceptable. In our society today in 21th
century America, we have seen the decay of family and society as a whole on
every front, and every trace of it can be blamed upon the fact that our nation
has rejected their God and turned away to go in their own direction.
3.6.
The only hope
of survival for
4. VS 1:23 - 23 and exchanged the
glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and
of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. - Paul tells us how men rebellious against the
Lord created gods in the form of man, birds, animals, and crawling creatures
4.1.
Man demonstrates that he has a knowledge of God innate
within himself in that he is always drawn to worship something. This phenomena is seen in every era of human
history. When men and women reject God
in their worship, they exchange His glory for something else.
4.2.
Rather than worship God because of the glory
which He possesses and which deems Him worthy in every way of our worship, men
who have rejected God worship something else, something that is much lower and
debased in comparison with Almighty God.
4.3.
The Jews first got into idolatry when Moses went up on
the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments.
Aaron bowed to the pressure of the people and created an image of God in
which they could worship. He made a
golden calf, and the people tried to worship the Lord through the calf, however
Gods anger burned against them. The
second of the Ten Commandments received by Moses, as given in Deut. 5:8 is, You
shall have no other gods before Me. You
shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above
or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. The people had already broken that
commandment before Moses could come down from the mountain.
4.4.
Contrary to what is taught as being fact in schools
today, the earliest records of civilization do not contain accounts of
polytheism, rather people were monotheists.
4.5.
Contrary also to what is commonly believed by the
so-called intellectuals of our society, history demonstrates that mankind is
not ascending up the scale and getting better and better, rather mankind is
just as evil today as he was in history past.
In our day, knowledge has increased greatly, however morally mankind is
just as corrupt today as ever. In
4.6.
Having rejected God and the truth about Him which He
has revealed to them, people usually worship something which is in their own
image, having refused to give God the glory He deserves, they glorify
themselves. Paul writes here that men
worship idols which they themselves have carved and which are not in the form
of the glorious and incorruptible God (He who is immortal and shall never
perish or suffer decay), but rather in the in the form of corruptible man.
4.7.
However, men have not even been satisfied in just
worshipping idols in their own likeness, but have also turned to worshipping
the elements of nature in animals, snakes, and bugs, as Paul writes, birds
and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. This type of worship is still going on all
over the world. For instance, the Hindus
in
4.8.
People in our day talk about the different religions
on earth as being a good thing and demonstrating the better character of man,
however God in His Word clearly says that mans religions are not a good thing,
rather they are an abomination to Him, and they are the result of foolish
people who are darkened in their understanding and suppressing the truth in
unrighteousness.
4.9.
Isaiah wrote in Is. 40:19-25 about the futility of
making an idol and then of falling down and worshipping it, 19 As for the
idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith
fashions chains of silver. 20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering
Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman
To prepare an idol that will not totter. 21 Do you not know? Have you not
heard? Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning? Have you not
understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the
earth meaningless. 24 Scarcely have they
been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root
in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm
carries them away like stubble. 25 To
whom then will you liken Me That I should be his equal? says the Holy One.
4.10.
Jeremiah wrote
in Jer. 2:11-13 the Lords words declaring the futility in worshipping anything
other than the Lord, 11 Has a nation changed gods, When they were not
gods? But My people have changed their
glory For that which does not profit.
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate,
declares the Lord. 13 For My people
have committed two evils: They have
forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns, That can hold no water.
4.11.
God says that
you who worship gods other than He have hewn out for yourself a broken cistern
than can hold no water. He is the only
One who can fill His people with all good things. Jesus said in John 7:37-39, 37 Now on the
last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If
any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as
the Scripture said, From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living
water. 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him
were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet
glorified.
4.12.
If you are not worshipping the creator, then you are
also not drinking from the wells of everlasting life, not having Gods Spirit
in you. You need to come back to God and
ask Him to fill you up full to overflowing with His Spirit.
5. VS 1:24 - 24 Therefore God gave
them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would
be dishonored among them. - Paul writes
about how that because people reject God as God and create their own gods that
He gave them over to impurity
5.1.
In this chapter, Paul wrote that the wrath of God
is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, and in writing
this Paul is not speaking specifically about the wrath of God that is
to be revealed on judgment day against all those who have rejected Jesus Christ
and their Lord and their Savior. Paul is
primarily writing that the wrath of God is constantly being revealed
in this life against those who are impenitent and unbelieving. The way in which God primarily pours out His
wrath in this life is by giving people over to their lusts, by withdrawing His
restraining influence from them. Again,
God loves men and women enough that if they wont willingly worship and serve
Him when He has displayed His goodness to them that He provides for them to
hopefully come to Him by coming to the end of themselves, when He gives them
over to their sin.
5.2.
Moses wrote in Gen. 6:3 about the Lord ceasing to
restrain wicked men from sin, 3 Then the Lord said, My Spirit shall not
strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall
be one hundred and twenty years.
Originally men lived many hundred years, as we see from the book of
Genesis. God knew that many would just
grow ever hardened against Him over time so He chose to limit the number of
years that their lives would span as a result.
Gods mercy is also seen in His shortening the time that people will spend
on this earth.
5.3.
God strives with men but will not force Himself upon
anyone, however His patience eventually does give out and then He finally gives
up on the unbelieving and rebellious and gives them over to their sin.
5.4.
Paul writes that the Lord has given the impenitent
over in the lust of their hearts to impurity. This word refers usually to sexual impurity
or immorality, and the context here confirms this is Pauls intent in this
verse.
5.5.
Unrepentant sinners who have rejected God who has
revealed Himself to them are turned over to their lusts with the Lord knowing
that in doing so they will do shameful and dishonoring things with their
bodies, and in this way His wrath is poured out upon them.
5.6.
The thought of God giving man over to sin, removing
His restraining influence from them, is one of the most scary things that a
person could contemplate. The fear of
being given over by God ought to frighten everyone to come to Christ
in repentance and in faith.
5.7.
If you are caught up in some form of bondage to sin,
you have gotten there because you have turned your heart and thoughts away from
the Lord. If you come back in repentance
to Him, He will make you free from that bondage. The Lord loves you and desires to set you
free from your sins and give you the free gift of eternal life through Jesus
Christ.
6. VS 1:25 - 25 For they exchanged
the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than
the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. -
Paul tells us that the unbelieving exchanged the truth of God for a lie
and served the creature rather than the creator
6.1.
The sin that causes the Lord to give people over to
their sin is that they exchange the truth of God for a lie (they
worship not He who is worthy of worship, but rather those which are no gods at
all) and they have worshipped and served the creature (nature, man,
animals, crawling creatures, etc.) rather than the Creator. When men willfully suppress the truth of God
which has been revealed to them and worship anything but Him, then He gives
them over in the lusts of their hearts so that they dishonor their
bodies. God does not make people do
these type of things to themselves rather He just removes His restraining
influence from them and their consciences become seared as with a hot iron.
6.2.
In order to brighten up the conversation by bringing
God glory, Paul throws in the little commentary in the midst of this that the
Creator is blessed forever, Amen.
7. VS
1:26-27 - 26 For
this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged
the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the
men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire
toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in
their own persons the due penalty of their error. -
Paul tells us that those who insisted upon rejecting Him in their lives
He turned over to degrading passions
7.1.
In Gods giving impenitent persons over to their sin,
they indulged in degrading passions.
When men live completely for the lusts of the flesh, instead of for God,
they discover that the flesh can never be satisfied. There is a principle in sinning called the
law of diminishing returns. Like a
drug addict, people living in sin must always go farther and farther and try to
fill their lusts in a greater way, and they never become content or rest as
they are always looking for more and to go farther in their sin.
7.2.
Paul writes that the women committed homosexuality
before he writes about the men, and this is because in every civilization that
spirals downward into immorality, it is
the women who are the last to enter into homosexuality.
7.3.
The Bible consistently teaches throughout that homosexuality
is a sin and that the practice of it reflects the utmost extreme in which
rebellious people of this world go. In
Lev. 18:22-23, Moses writes, 22 You shall not lie with a male as one lies
with a female; it is an abomination. 23 Also you shall not have intercourse
with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an
animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
7.4.
In 1 Cor. 6:9-11 Paul gave a list of the types of
unrepentant people who will not make it to heaven, 9 Or do you not know that
the unrighteous shall not inherit the
7.5.
Homosexuality is a sin and those who are lying and
saying that homosexuals are born that way or with a special gene are only doing
so because they know that if sexual orientation is considered a moral issue
that homosexuality must be considered as immoral and wrong.
7.6.
People choose to disregard Gods laws and get involved
in homosexuality, it is not something over which they have no choice of whether
to participate. God will forgive
homosexuality just as He forgives any other sin, that is, if people are willing
to repent of those sins, and come to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
7.7.
Paul here refers to the natural function of women as
being for a sexual relationship with their husband, and the natural function of
men as being for a sexual relationship with their wife. As we look about at nature we see that God
made the animals to mate with the opposite sex, and it is preposterous to think
that God would create a race to mate with the same sex, for this would bring
about the entire destruction of the race.
God did not create Adam and Steve, but Adam and Eve.
7.8.
In Paul writing about homosexuals in this verse, receiving
in their own persons the due penalty of their error, we can see how that
sexually transmitted diseases, such as Aids and Genital Herpes, are transmitted and received in ones own
person as a result of immorality, particularly homosexuality.
7.9.
Long before
Aids came on the scene it was known that homosexuals were having their immune
systems break down. The name for the
disease which they had discovered was GRIDS, or Gay-Related Immune
Deficiency Syndrome. Homosexuals
have often bragged of having intercourse 50-150 times in an evening, and the
average number of different partners the average homosexual man has in a year
is 300. The human body is designed such
that its immune system cannot handle having too many foreign fluids in it, but
it does quite well when one man and woman have sexual intercourse. With homosexuals the number of foreign fluids
in their body causes a total break down of their immune system. That is what has driven some experts to conclude
that there is no such thing as a mysterious HIV virus, but the symptoms of AIDS
are just the natural result of too many foreign fluids in the body.
7.10.
The degrading passions which Paul mentions in
this verse are over-powering in their influence over homosexuals. I already mentioned how often homosexual men
typically have sexual intercourse. It is
also true that homosexual men and women are given to a tremendous rage of jealousy
towards their partners. Whenever there
is a murder investigation that includes a man who has hundreds of stab wounds,
detectives always consider that the man may have been part of a homosexual
partnership which went awry.
8. VS 1:28 - 28 And just as they
did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved
mind, to do those things which are not proper, -
Paul tells us that just as unbelieving women began to do unnatural
sexual acts, so also unbelieving men began to do unnatural acts
8.1.
Paul writes in this verse that those whom God has
given over to their sin because of their rejection of Him, He has given over to
a depraved or reprobate mind.
8.2.
The Greek word adokimos
is translated reprobate here and is sometimes translated castaway
in the KJV. Strongs Greek dictionary
states that this word means the following:
1)
not standing the test, not approved
1a) properly used of metals and coins
2)
that which does not prove itself such as it ought
2a) unfit for, unproved, spurious, reprobate
8.3.
Christians have been given the mind of Christ so that
they have the ability now to think godly Christ-like thoughts and to intimately
know His will, however those whom the Lord has given over have a reprobate
mind that is blind to the truth about God, and, instead of thinking godly
thoughts, it constantly thinks of evil.
Concerning the reprobate mind of the people who died in the
flood during Noahs time, God said in Gen. 6:5-11, 5 Then the Lord saw that
the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that
He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 And the Lord
said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from
man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that
I have made them. 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
8.4.
Paul writes that God gave the impenitent people whom
He had given over to their sin a reprobate mind so that they might do those
things which are not proper.
8.5.
With a reprobate mind, the people whom God
has given over to their sin will do things that are not proper or fitting
socially, and things which certainly are not godly and righteous.
8.6.
Non-Christians need to see the signs of their
beginning to have a reprobate mind as a sign of Gods impending
judgment of them, and they need to repent a.s.a.p. and receive Christs
forgiveness of their sins.
8.7.
When we Christians see that our mind is not honoring to
Christ, we need to take heed to repent and ask God to take control of our mind
and purge the evil lustful thoughts from our mind. As Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 10:5, we are to do
likewise, 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up
against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the
obedience of Christ.
9. VS 1:29 - 29 being filled with
all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife,
deceit, malice; they are gossips, -
Paul enumerates here for us a long list of sins which unbelievers commit
after God has given them over to a reprobate mind
9.1.
Paul has written other lists of sins in his writings,
lists which detail the acts which carnal believers perform, etc., and here he
gives a list of the sins which those who have been given over to their sin by
God perform. In 2 Tim. 3:1, Paul writes
a list of sins similar to this which he says will be increased amongst the
people of this world in the last days.
9.2.
Paul writes that they are being filled with all
unrighteousness, in other words they cannot get enough of sin in their
life. They are filled with each of the
sins which he lists.
9.3.
Wickedness is just another word describing unrighteousness,
only perhaps stressing the extent of how evil what they are doing
really is.
9.4.
Greed is the insatiable love and desire for
more money.
9.5.
When a persons thoughts are constantly upon himself
and what he can get, then he will always be full of envy of anyone who
has anything that he would desire for himself.
9.6.
Jesus wrote that to call someone a fool
(empty head), then you were guilty of murder, and He also said that
to hate someone was to also commit murder.
9.7.
Strife is constantly being stirred up among people
by those who have been given over by God to their sin, since they have a wicked
desire to see people be hurt and unhappy.
Some people just like to stir things up all the time, and they are never
content until they have done so.
9.8.
Deceit is constantly being performed by those
who have been turned over by God since they desire to steal and trick people
out of their possessions, since they are dishonest in heart.
9.9.
Malice is the intentional desire to do
something to someone of ill-will that will hurt the person in some
way. It is also a willingness to break
laws.
9.10.
Those who have been given over by God to their sin
tend to gossip about others as they repeat a story about someone which
is critical or judgmental of them.
9.11.
As we Christians look at these lists of sins which are
typical of those committed by those whom God has given over to their sin, we
have to look at ourselves and see if any of those sins are occurring in our
life. Is there one of these sins that we
need to repent of? Oh Christian, if not
in full form, is any of these sins in seed form in your heart?
9.11.1.
Greed
should never be one of a Christians motives, for a Christian must always flee
the temptation to live for the things of this world, and to be rich. Paul wrote in 1 Tim. 6:9, 9 But those who
want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful
desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
9.11.2.
Envy
can be a very subtle thing, and Christians can often be envious about
people in their hearts, and this is seen often by the way that they treat that
person. If you do not treat someone very
nicely, you ought to search your heart to see if perhaps you arent envious of
them about something. We must be people
who rejoice with those who rejoice, and never be envious
because of any privilege that any other person has that we do not.
9.11.3.
Strife
is common among Christians, especially those of different churches and
denominations, however we Christians must always be challenged to do what we
can to promote unity and being of one mind with our brothers
and sisters, even those who go to different churches and believe differently
about some things than we do.
9.11.4.
We Christians
have a responsibility with our tongues as well as our ears. We shouldnt allow ourselves to tell stories
behind someone elses back that are critical and judgmental, whether true or
untrue. We likewise have a
responsibility not to allow ourselves to be a sounding board to a story
regarding someone else that is critical or judgmental. Most people repeat the critical and
judgmental stories they hear about others without even investigating the truth
concerning them. Likewise, if our brother
sins against us, or we think that he has sinned against us, Jesus said in Matt.
18:15 that we are to go to him and rebuke him.
We are not to speak badly about a person others, however.
9.11.5.
If we do not
have something good to say about someone then we should not say anything about
them at all!
10.
VS 1:30-31 - 30
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of
evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without
understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; - Paul lists further sins committed by those in
unbelief
10.1.
In this verse, Paul continues his list of sins committed
by those whom God has given over to their sin due to their continued rejection
of Him.
10.2.
A person who is a slanderer is one who speaks
of someone behind their back in such a way that it in some way undercuts them
or shows them in some kind of unfavorable light. Being a little bit different than gossip,
slander can include just a very subtle tone in our voice or even a silent but
intended insinuation. The King James
Bible translates this word as back-biters.
10.3.
In a number of places the Bible condemns the sin of slander. We Christians must love one another to such a
degree that we do not allow ourselves to say anything about someone which
places them in any kind of a bad light.
In Prverbs 10:18-21, the author writes, 18 He
who conceals hatred has lying lips, And he who spreads slander is a fool. 19 When there are many words, transgression
is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise. 20 The tongue of the
righteous is as choice silver, The heart of the wicked is worth little. 21 The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of understanding.
10.4.
James writes in Ja. 4:11-12,
11 Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a
brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law; but
if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it. 12
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to
destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?
10.5.
The person who slanders someone else has kicked God
off of His throne and appointed himself as judge over that person, and he
hasnt even given him/her a fair trial.
10.6.
Due to our love for one another we ought to be people
who are always building up others in person and in private, not tearing them
down.
10.7.
A lot of times the people of this world are not even
aware of the fact that in reality they are haters of God. Not realizing that the indifference or
belligerence that they demonstrate towards God and the things of God is in
reality to hate Him, many people who have been given over by God would
deny that they are a hater of God.
10.8.
According to Strongs Greek Dictionary, this word
translated as insolent can also be translated as despiteful
or injurious and means, one
who, uplifted with pride, either heaps insulting language upon others or does
them some shameful act of wrong.
10.9.
To be arrogant is to think more highly of
ones self than one ought to think, and therefore to act in a condescending way
toward others.
10.10.
The person whom God has given over to his sin will be
boastful because he feels that he must make himself look good to
others since the truth about him is really not such a good story in reality.
10.11.
It is very unbecoming of a Christian to be boastful
and arrogant towards others, yet this behavior is common among those
who call themselves Christians. We need
to repent when we find these attitudes in our lives knowing that James wrote in
Ja. 4:6b is true, 6 God is opposed to the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.
10.12.
The people who are inventors of evil actually
sit around all day thinking of evil acts that they could perform. There are people like this in our world
today. Historians have recorded that the
Roman emperor Nero was a man such as this.
10.13.
Being disobedient to parents is another
action which Paul lists to demonstrate the evil of those whom God has given
over to their sin.
10.13.1.
Children, take note that disobedient to parents
is one of the sins that are descriptive of those who have been given over by
God to their sin. Therefore, if you find
yourself disobeying your parents, you need to realize that such sin unchecked
in your life could end up helping you upon your way to hell along with all of
those who are disobedient to Gods Laws.
10.14.
Without understanding probably refers to not
understanding God and spiritual things primarily, however it can just refer to
general foolishness.
10.15.
Untrustworthy is translated in the King James
Bible as covenant-breakers, since the intent of this word has
primarily to do with not keeping ones word in promises made.
10.16.
Unloving is translated in the King James
Bible as without natural affection since those whom God has given over
to their sin tend to not have that natural affection that should be part of
their nature from birth. Today we hear
so many news stories about parents abusing their children in various horrific
ways, or men beating or killing their wives, or women killing their husbands,
etc., and these are all examples of people who have no natural affection
towards their own family members.
10.16.1.
We Christians
need to work hard at simply loving one another.
This will not happen automatically in our lives, it requires maturity
and discipline upon our part in order to really love our brothers and sisters
unconditionally with the agape love that God loves us with. Do you really love all of your brothers and
sisters in Christ unconditionally? Or,
do you sometimes write them off when they have gone too far or beyond a certain
line you have established?
10.16.2.
Are you
merciful to all as your Father in Heaven is merciful to you? You should be like Him in this also...
10.17.
Those whom God has given over to their sin tend to be
unmerciful to others. In Pauls
days the people of this world were very barbaric and they would go to gladiator
fights knowing that some men would be killed.
Later in
11.
VS 1:32 - 32
and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such
things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty
approval to those who practice them. -
Paul tells us that unbelievers do not understand the seriousness of
their disobedience before God
11.1.
The people whom God has given over to their sin show
in an even greater way their wickedness by not only performing wickedness
themselves, but also applauding those who likewise do wickedness, giving hearty
approval to them.
11.2.
In this elaborate description of those whom Gods
wrath is revealed by His giving them over to their sin, Paul in this chapter is
thinking primarily of the Gentile peoples.
Therefore, it is interesting that he writes in this verse that they
know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of
death. Later in this book, Paul
writes that the Gentiles show that the laws of God are written upon their
hearts, and that in some cases they by nature do the works of the law.
11.3.
C.S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity,
says that an unbelieving man may say that he does not believe that to steal is
wrong, however if someone steals something from him, the man will get angry and
think that the person who stole from him is dead wrong. In this way, people who even reject the
validity of Gods law or even of any absolute right or wrong show that in
reality they do believe in an absolute right and wrong. Gentiles as well as Jews have Gods laws
written on their hearts, and therefore they have an apprehension that those who
commit sins are worthy of death.
11.4.
We need to realize that our sins have made us worthy
and deserving of death. We deserve to
die for Gods Word says in Rom. 6:23, 23 For the wages of sin is death, but
the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
11.5.
It is only through Christ, and the salvation that He
offers, that any person will not suffer the punishment of eternal death away
from the presence of God.
12.
CONCLUSIONS:
12.1.
As we consider how to apply
the truths we have looked at in this study, we would be wise to realize how
grateful we need to be to the Lord for His goodness, and we must learn to give
the Lord thanks, to honor Him as God, to glorify the Lord in our lives.
12.2.
Seeing that desperately wicked
people in this world are suffering the consequences of their sin in having been
turned over to their sin by the Lord we Christians ought to be salt and light
in order to win people to Christ. Being
salt and light to them we will give them a hunger and a thirst for the one who
has saved our souls and begun transforming our lives to be like Him. We need to have compassion on the spiritually
lost and try to win them to the one who died for their sins and purchased a
place for them in heaven, if they will just be willing to receive the free gift
of eternal life in Christ Jesus.
12.3.
Lets remember that it is only the fool who rejects
God. The wise man serves and worships
the Lord, and does so with all of his heart and in the way that the Lord tells
us that we are to serve Him. Hudson
Taylor used to often say, He who does Gods will Gods way shall never lack
Gods blessing. Lets live our lives
fully in the blessing of God, doing His will His way.