The Book of Romans III, When Does God Give Up?

Did everyone get a copy of this outline now? The beige outline is for tonight. This goes in your notebook. If you didn't, ushers, do we have any more? All right, if you'll just hold your hand up, the ushers will come right away and give you a copy. If you see the ushers scrambling, you can stand and be an usher for a minute and help them out. By the way, later on in the service, you'll have an opportunity to get the blue devotional outline. Someone asked me tonight, can I get those from the last couple of weeks? The answer, I think, is yes. We just don't have them here tonight. We will make them available, though, as soon as possible to you, maybe even on Sunday. We've been reluctant to just hand them out randomly because people don't tend to use them that way. We need some more help, ushers. A lot of folks' arms are going blue here. Let me use this as an opportunity to say something. May I? Folks, the church is growing and we need more servants. We need ushers and greeters. I know Fred Sale would love to have some of you consider that. If you've been coming to North Way for three or four months, six months, you've been through discovering the way you qualify if you have a heart to serve. We need people to serve in this ministry. We have four services a week. If you can just come to one consistently, that's all it takes. You could really help us. If you're interested, just sign your name and say, usher, greeter, whatever, and put it in the offering basket tonight and I promise you we'll get to you because we do need you to help. It doesn't take a whole lot of training. It just takes availability and a willing spirit. All right. Fingertips now are blue and it's creeping down. Romans 1. Now I had a very important item up, Fred. I had a very important item that I need under my chair and somebody took it thinking that it didn't belong there. Do you know what I mean? All right. You can just hold it back there for now. That's right. You'll just have to stay tuned. All right. You know what's really funny? This is not a funny message tonight, I guarantee you. If you read this chapter in preparation for tonight, you know it's not Joy Bells. All right. Let's pray again, shall we? Lord, I ask you just to open our ears and our hearts and Lord, let us be changed. I want to be changed tonight, Lord. I just don't want to go through motions of church. I want your word to fashion my heart and shape it in Jesus' name. I thank you, Lord, for this great gathering tonight. Hungry for your word. By your spirit, Lord, penetrate into the hardest of hearts. Open the most blinded of eyes in Jesus' name. Most of you know that I spent the first eight or nine years of my ministry working with youth. On more than one occasion, I sat across a kitchen table from a set of parents who were distraught because after months and sometimes years of trying, they had finally come to the place where they could no longer bear the rebellion of their teenage son or daughter. And they had to say with tears in their heart and in their face, we've got to let them go. And on several occasions, I remember the teenager thinking that he or she had won a great victory and that somehow now they'd found freedom. Somehow now they'd branch out and do their thing and discover the true free life that their parents had been squelching them from enjoying, never realizing what the real world held for them. Much like the prodigal, as you all know, in Luke chapter 15, these teenagers thought they knew better than their parents. That very wonderful story, you all recall, the dad was so loving that even to the point when the son insisted on the inheritance, he said, okay, if you've got to have even my money, take it, take it. And as that story unfolds, we find that it isn't long after that, the time frame isn't given exactly, but we know it's not long, the son squanders the money on riotous living, the Bible says, and finds himself just a few months later living like an animal, eating the food of animals and acting like an animal. The father knew this, but you see, the father did everything he could to convince the son that he shouldn't do what he was going to do, and yet, as in so many cases we see today, the son knew better and had to have it his way. Tonight, as you're going to see, there are three references in these verses, Romans chapter one verses 24 through 32, three references to the time when God lets people go into their own thing. Verse 24, let's read it, Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts. Verse 26, because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Verse 28, furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind. God the Father gave over portions of mankind, just as the prodigal father had to let his son go, just as I saw many, several different families do the same things. Dear ones, I believe tonight, if we'll let this Scripture penetrate, just for a little while, our heart, it will change your view about sin. It will change your view about sinners, and it will most certainly change all of our view about the mission of our church and why we're here. Does God give up on people? What did you just read? You see, that's your heart talking, that's not the Bible. God gave them up, sobering words, but maybe there is another answer. Let's listen. We're going to look, first of all, as I've highlighted on the outline here, three different points. Let's, first of all, see the crimes against God that are clarified. The crimes against God that are clarified. Remember last week, I kind of rearranged the verses a little bit. I'm going to do that again tonight, just to kind of keep things flowing. You see, verse 25 says, they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served, created things, rather than the Creator, who is forever praised. Amen. Who is the they? We said last week, who's the they? Hello? Neighbors, friends, the unsaved, you know, the native people you see on National Geographic covers the hordes, multitudes, masses of Muslims. The they is anybody who does not know God through His Son Christ. We said last week that the criminal act that unbelievers commit, the awful mistake they make that unleashes God's wrath upon them is that they suppress the truth about God. Remember the image I used last week? I said suppressing the truth was like being in a swimming pool and taking a little beach ball, you know, and pushing it down into the water, and every time you let it go, what would happen? It pops up. You see, and unbelievers have become masters at pushing down, suppressing the truth about God. They refuse to bow down to it. We read last week, verse 20. They choose to not listen. And remember I said last week, I hope you were here, I said last week that the great sadness on Judgment Day will not be the cry, Lord, we didn't know it would be the cry, Lord, I wouldn't bow. I wouldn't bow down. Notice what it says, verse 25. They exchange the truth. You see, not only do they suppress it, but in their suppression they have to make up something to fill up this God void that's in every one of us. So they make up things to fill that void. And you know what people stick in that God vacuum. You know the kinds of things they create. The belief systems, you know, the evolutionary theories, the materialism, all the things that they manufacture. And it can sound so, you know, so appealing to the mind many times. But the Bible says all they're doing is exchanging created things for the truth about the Creator. The Bible told us, if we look last week, that every person in the face of the earth knows that there's a God. God's been smart, you know. He left clues. How many have seen some of the clues He left today? What was one of the clues He left today? Beautiful, right? I mean, brilliant, gorgeous day. Now did that just kind of evolve into place, you know? Did it just sort of happen, you know, think, you know, it's like taking all the keys to a typewriter and throwing them into a room and walking out with this brand new machine. I mean, that's ridiculous. Someone designed it. Put it in place. And we said last week that God very carefully has left clues every place that man looks. That He is God. He's worthy of their worship. And beyond that, they can even know that He's eternal and divine and worthy of their worship. But unbelievers, rather than responding to that truth, rather than bowing down and worshipping Him, unbelievers push it down. And they then begin to ignore it and they begin to push it back in their minds and suppress it and refuse to let it come before them. Because they know that the truth will crowd out their autonomy. They know that that truth will make them confront their lifestyles and their choices. And we looked last week and we said, as incredible as it may seem, unbelievers prefer darkness to light. Why? Who can tell me? Why do unbelievers prefer darkness to light? If you read the Gospel of John, you know the answer. Because their deeds are evil. And their fallen nature prefer evil things. And we said last week that unbelievers find it easier to live with a lie than to deal with the trauma of facing the truth in their life. Let me say that again. Unbelievers find it easier to live with a lie than to deal with the trauma that the truth produces in their lives. Unbelievers aren't dumb. They know that if they let the truth come up and face them, if they let it pop up, that they're going to have to deal with it. Now, we only had one copy of last week's overhead of the two choices. But remember what we said last week? They either have to, when they see that truth, either confess that they're sinners or push it back down. Because it continues to just bug them. Have you ever wondered why some people don't like you around? You know what I'm saying? Oh, here comes that God squatter again. Or whatever they call you. Why is that? You're basically a nice person. You've not punched them out or done anything rude. Why don't they want you around? Because you remind them about something. You're the truth of God in some form. Right back in their face. They'd rather just get you out of the way. Because they don't want to deal with what that truth would mean in their lives. Unbelievers commit then the crime of suppressing the truth of Almighty God's righteousness. And they fabricate and manufacture systems that don't require repentance, don't require meekness, don't require contrition, don't require brokenness. They'd much rather just stand arrogantly on their own little lily pods of man-made religions. And Paul said last week, every unbeliever everywhere is going to stand guilty before God on the day of judgment without excuse. And God will not be seen as unfair. Man will know that he denied God. Man will know that he pushed the truth down. And he will say with gnashing of teeth, Woe is me! I've refused the only solution to my... Now what about the current situation? Well, the second thing I want us to see tonight, that God's earthly sentence is announced here in these verses. You see, ultimately, judgment is very clear to the truth suppressors. But what about in the meantime? What about the next 30, 40, 50 years? If you're 15 or 20, 25 years old, you may live another 50 or 60 years. What does God say to the people who continue to live life suppressing the truth, denying God, lying about His character? What is God saying in His words going to happen to those people? What should a holy God do in the meantime from when that suppression starts to when it ends? What should a holy God do in the meantime from when that suppression starts to when it ends? What should a holy God do in the meantime from when that suppression starts to when it ends? What should a holy God do in the meantime What should a holy God do in the meantime from when that suppression starts to when it ends? What should a holy God do in the meantime So God, an impatient God, makes a sovereign decision of His own will to hear the screaming defiance of the truth suppressor and to say to them, enough is enough. Verse 24, we read it. God let them go. this defiance, this rebelling, and I let you go. And unbelievers run out saying, I'm free, I'm free, I've finally gotten my way, I've got God off my back, I can do my own thing, maybe later I'll pay attention. How many of you ever heard someone say, later I'll look at that? Later I'll pay attention to what God says. Right now I'm going to do my own thing. But that unbeliever has no idea what awaits him as a consequence. He's so blinded by his sin that he's lost all concept of what awaits him. When someone is given over by God, nothing remains. Now listen carefully. When God gives someone up, there's nothing that remains to protect them. There's no availability of the sovereign keeping grace of God. How many of you know that God even protects unbelievers? That His watch care, His mercy, His love even watches over the unbelievers. But when truth suppressors continue to push it down and reject it and mock it, God comes to the point where He says, that's enough, no more, you've chosen your lifestyle over my life, you've chosen your lies over my truth, you've chosen your way over the way I've given to you and I'm going to let you go. You're free to go for my watch care, free to go for my mercy, free to go for my protection. Do you remember when Jesus approached Peter in Matthew's Gospel and Jesus looked at Peter and He said, Simon Peter, Satan has asked to what? Sift you like wheat. What does that mean? It means that the devil has the power to absolutely pick you apart. And anyone who's on us here tonight knows that there are more than one time in our lives when we realize that if it wasn't for the grace of God, we would go right under to temptation, right under to the devices and ploys of the enemy. We'd fall into sin just like that. Jesus said, but I've prayed for you, Peter. Was Peter asking Jesus to pray for his protection? No. But you see, that's the loving heart of God, praying for protection. Remember back in Job, remember the Old Testament story of Job? Satan came in and said, let me just see how really loyal this guy is. And what did God say? He said, alright, go ahead, but what? You can't touch him, you can't take his life. You can do all these things, but God drew the line. How many of you know God has drawn the line many times, even when you weren't looking for it? But when God gives you up, when God gives you up, then you're a free game for the inman to come in and just twist your life inside out. And we don't know when that happens. The Bible says something. I was thinking about this in 2 Thessalonians. It says that in the end, God is going to lift out the what? What's the word in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 that's keeping law and order in our whole world? It's called the restrainer. Remember that? And he says, when God lifts out the restrainer, then lawlessness rules in the world. That's the same principle. And dear ones, we don't know when it is that God allows this to happen. Our God is slow to anger. He is long-suffering. He's patient. But it is not an eternal patience with sin. Understand this. Way back in Genesis 6 and verse 3, the Bible has told us that my spirit will not strive with man forever. Genesis 6, 3. There's a limit to it. Now, Fred, thank you for being so patient. I want to borrow an item here and maybe use a word picture. If you were at the Smalley Trent seminar, you know what a word picture is. Thank you very much, Fred. Now, this item is a simple piece of rope. And I've seen and heard different illustrations about how to demonstrate this, but I think this one is probably the most effective. And it could cause me a bit of a problem here because it's pretty long. All right, I'm going to take a healthy young man out here somewhere that I know can hold on to the end of this rope. I don't know if I... Ah, there's Tim. Pass this back to Tim. All right? And let's hold it up high enough, Tim, that we all can see it. All right, you got it? All right, Tim. Now, I want you to imagine that Tim... How many of you have ever been to Niagara Falls? Look at that, on your honeymoon. All right. There... You know, if you drive up river two or three miles, it's really kind of a pleasant river. It's not... You don't get any sense at all. Let's just imagine that Tim's up there several miles up the Niagara River, and he's in a fishing boat with three of his friends. And they're having a great time. They're really doing a job up there, and they want to explore the river. And they're in this little fishing boat, and let's just pretend for tonight's illustration sake that I'm God standing on the bank of that river. And that little fishing boat, the only protection it has is this rope that I'm holding. Well, Tim is enjoying himself, and his buddies are having a great time, and they want to get out and explore the river. So they start going downstream, and as they go downstream, they start moving downstream a bit. Tim, what happens? Well, the rope gets a little tight, doesn't it? You see, and Tim's moving down the river a bit. And he looks over, and he sees this rope's holding him back, and so he says, Hey, God, give me some more rope. Give me some more rope. And so God lets out a little bit, and then he goes a little farther, and what happens the farther down he goes? What happens to the river? Speeds up, and Tim says, He wants more rope. He wants more. He wants more. And finally, I say, Wait a minute, Tim. That's about all the rope you should have. But Tim says, No, no, no, this is just getting to be fun now. The river's really starting to hum. I like the action. I like it there. And Tim says, More rope. And he keeps moving down the river. And I say, You know, I start pulling a bit on the rope. But Tim gets a little bit, after a while, you see, Tim thinks he knows an awful lot. I mean, he is 15, 16 years old. He knows a lot. And he finally says what? Well, he says, I want this rope. So he really pulls it. And he starts giving me a real time of it. Then he gets nasty, and he starts swearing and cursing. And he starts saying, I want the rope. Give me the rope, God. And he gets angrier and angrier. And I say, Tim, please don't take any more rope. Please don't take any more. You don't know what's going to happen down there, Tim. Tim and his buddies continue to fight, continue to argue, continue to defy. And I can just picture God in the last moment. As the rope is being pulled out farther and farther and farther to the very end. And Tim says, I want out, and gives one final great tug. The next few moments are joyful. They have the greatest time of their life as they're speeding down this river. Free at last. You know, having a ball. And then, just like that, what happens? Before they know what happens to them, they see this enormous pit. And over they go. Now, we played that pretty well. Because I think God is, he bends over. I mean, some of us know the stories of people who live 10, 20, 30 years. Pulling that rope. God was long suffering. But my point is, we don't know when that's going to happen. We don't know when they're going to get to the place where God just says, no more. No more. So, what are the consequences? Number three. What are the consequences? What happens? These final verses tell us what the consequences are. God said, I give you over to what you want. Now, unbelievers have no idea what's coming. They slide into unobstructed depravity. They begin to slide down the chute to where they don't even recognize how horrible their condition is. Look at verse 26. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Dear ones. And I appreciate the fact that there are people here who know this first hand better than I. Because of some of the work and ministry you're involved in. But one of the first things that tends to go when God turns man over. Is man slips into sexual perversion. Look at it. God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relationships with women. And were inflamed with lusts for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men. And received themselves the due penalty for their perversion. You see, almost universally, when man goes over the brink. The first thing that happens is he becomes sexually perverted. Now, this should not be too hard to understand. Because, let's just back up a second. If you know Jesus Christ, as most of you do here tonight. And if you're really honest. With very, very few exceptions. You would be the first to say. That sexual drive you've been given is an explosive force in your life. And you've got to pray. And you've got to discipline yourself. And you've got to be absolutely submitted to the Holy Spirit. Just to keep that drive under control. Okay, can we nod and say, that's okay pastor. I believe that. At least, most of us are honest. Alright. Now, imagine how much more difficult that is for an unbeliever. Because he doesn't have the Holy Spirit to fall back onto. She doesn't have the gifts of God to redirect some of those drives. And to channel them correctly. But how much more difficult is it for the unbeliever. Who God has let go. He or she just slides on a track. Right into the very heart. Of the most perverse things that you can imagine. And it leads them into a situation. That the Bible describes here. In these few verses. Now, I'm going to submit something here. That may be uncomfortable for some of you. And I want to preface that. And if it is, you can just think about it. And erase it later, if you'd like. I'm not sure that these verses that we just read. Are talking about conventional homosexual and lesbian relationships. I want to say. Right off the bat. That I believe that the Bible teaches. That homosexuality and lesbianism. Is wrong. It's sin. It's not of God. But these verses. Touch on something that I think is even more profound than that. Even more vile. There's a sense here of something that's beyond that. I've not. Talked at any length. I've touched on. But not really talked at any length. About what. I feel. Is at the root of much of the homosexual and lesbian. Problem that's in our culture today. But I know this much. From some of the exposure that I've had. In talking with people. Who've struggled with this. That there generally is some kind of a. An incident or situation. Early in their life. You know. And it often has to do with the father image. Whether absent. Or cruel. Or not. Not. Caring. Or whatever. And it often has to do with. A mother who maybe. Overcompensates. Or whatever. And you know. Psychologists. And experts tell us. All these different factors are at work. And it's literally true. That there are some. Homosexual people. That say. I've never in my life. Had one heterosexual thought. I never remember one. Because way back when. They were. Perhaps molested by. An older. Trusted adult. Of the same sex. Or whatever. And that just started. The whole thing. And there are some explanations for this. That. Though they grieve me. To know that people. Struggle like this. I understand. I mean. I really do have compassion. Because in many cases. Things happen long before. They were even able. To volitionally deal with it. If you know what I'm saying. But here. It seems like. Something happens. That is. A spiraling downward. Of a. Of a. Of a sexual drive. Gone wild. Where people have gone. So far. Into this. Where they're no longer. Satiated by the normal. Heterosexual things. And so. In this sort of. Wild inflamed thing. Even uses words like that. Inflamed. Toward each other. They just. Abandon this. And go to this. Just like. You know. This isn't enough. To satisfy me. So I'm going to go on. And if. I'm no expert. I've not done. Great studies in this field. But. Everything I read about. The pornography industry. And. And the things that they're uncovering. It's. It reflects. This kind of mentality. You know. It's this. It's. Sadomasochism. And. Child molesting. And all those kinds of. Perverse things. That we read about. And when man. Slips that far down. Anything is possible. It's depravity. And the Bible says that. Man inherits the penalty in. His own body. Dear ones. If that doesn't describe AIDS. I don't know what does. Many lives have been shipwrecked. Emotionally. And relationally. And physically. by these very kinds of things, and the difficult truth is that it doesn't seem to end. And if we're honest, our nation is just being ravaged by these kinds of things. Now look what happens. It goes on, verse 28 and following. One author has called this the 21 sin salute. These are the other things that are likely to follow on the road to depravity. See if it doesn't remind you of USA Today. Look at the list. Man became filled with every kind of wickedness and evil and greed and depravity. It wasn't long ago we just saw a whole series of articles in the Pittsburgh Press about satanic evil and the kinds of things that are just more and more commonplace in our culture. Did you all read those? There was a whole week of articles. Questioning it in one hand and yet saying there are these things taking place that are hard to describe. Animals being cut up and offered. I don't need to get down into where it sickens us, but it does. Full of envy and greed. How many of you know that we've heard enough about greed in the last couple of years? Wall Street and everywhere else. Greed, just people not having enough millions, needing more. Murder. Our own congregation was deeply affected by, to me, one of the sickest of crimes. You all know what I'm talking about. Just several months ago, a person was dismembered. I mean, body parts all over the city. Strife. Deceit. Malice. Gossip, slanders, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful. They invent ways of doing evil. In other words, if I haven't seen it done before, I can invent a new way. Now, I've heard guys back in my early years talk about new ways of getting drunk, or new ways of creating havoc and so on. Here the Bible says that man will even find new ways that haven't been thought of to do evil, to do harm, to do destruction to people. They are senseless, faithless and heartless. I mean, I don't know about you, but I look at Hurricane Hugo and I see all these families ravaged. Their livelihoods wiped out, their homes ravaged. And what do you see pictures of? People running in and taking television sets and playing on the oppression of other people. And then it says, 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 look at that, they also approve of those who practice them. They cheer on their fellow degenerates. Not happy scenes, are they? Not happy words. What do we do about this? Remember, it all began because they suppressed the truth and demanded that God let them go. What do we do about it? Let me just end with, quickly here, four specific applications. Please jot these down. Number one. What can you and I gain from Romans chapter one? Flee deceitfulness. Know that the very beginning step into the pit of depravity is your first lie. I remember when our kids were very small, one of the things that we first talked about very openly was how Satan was the father of lies. And every kid, all of us who are parents, every kid wrestles with, gee, should I tell the truth or not? The pain is worse, sometimes it seems. And yet, you see, we don't know when we tell a lie to another person or when we lie to God when we're going to start slipping down into that pit of depravity. For the unbeliever, it's different. For the believer, you just get into disobedience and you begin to miss God's best. But for the unbeliever, you could slip right into the pit of hell. So be truthful at all costs. The very first lie was a simple little thing in the Garden of Eden, wasn't it? The first lie was very simple. Number two, don't underestimate the devil. I don't know about you, but on a day like this, you can't help but think, hey, everything's great, you know? Everything's great. Life's great. If you're healthy, you know, you praise God for your health, the economy's booming. Life's great. How many of you know the Bible says the devil's just waiting for the next opportunity? Don't underestimate him. Don't underestimate that he has come to do three things. What are they? John 10.10. Steal, kill, and destroy. Now, to this point, I know this has been heavy, and, you know, you're saying, oh, man, I want to go home and refresh. This has really been a great message. Remember, the rest of Romans begins God's provision and answer. But number three, be thankful. Be thankful because by God's grace, you are not among the depraved. You've been rescued. God grabbed your rope and yanked your boat over, and you're safe in his arms. And how many of you know, if you were honest tonight, we could take a march up here and have some of you say, you know, for 20, 30, 50 years I've fought God. If I'm not mistaken, I was told by one of our elders that we had a woman two or three Sundays ago, 75 years old, who came to Jesus Christ in one of our morning services, visiting and saying, you know, I've never done this. She told the elder, I've never done this, but I need Christ in my life. Be thankful that for some reason God broke through. And if you're like me, I know I didn't deserve it. I wasn't really looking for it. I just, God caught me. He wooed me and chased me down. And I'm grateful that he did, and I hope you are. And finally, the final application is, be willing to minister to the lost. Now, hear what I'm saying in this. You see, for the multitudes outside these walls, dear ones, you may be the only representation of that rope that they'll ever see. And here in our church, we're doing everything we can. And I want to tell you something. It's been very challenging. It's one thing for people to come to North Way from other churches and be led here by God, and I'm thankful for every one of you. It's another thing for us, though, to realize that we have a lost generation to touch. And may I say specifically, if you're not in a ministry where you're touching people, consider it tonight, would you please? Don't leave tonight if God's touching your heart. And let me suggest something even further. Who do you think has the most moldable, soft hearts? Hello? Children and young people. It's a fact, listen, it's a well-documented fact that 85% of all conversions happen before people are 21 years old. And the reason is they haven't been let go. And if you don't know what to do, I know that our youth ministry and our children's ministry would say, we can use you. You know this message wasn't a ploy to get you to commit to something. You know that. But I want to say, if you've been given so much, how can you do anything less than return something to God? Give something to God. Serve Him. Serve those who don't know Him. When I sat down and worked through these verses, I said, Lord, can't we end on something glorious? Can't we end on something up? And just tonight as we were walking in the room, I said, well, I felt the Lord saying, well, it's true that this is the condition of much of the world today. But you are the redeemed. You are the family of God. You have come to know Him. And that's why we're going to end with worship tonight. We've been given a future and a hope. We who are dead in sin have heard the voice of the Holy Spirit and have been called to life in Christ. Why don't you close up your Bibles and let's stand, shall we, and for just a moment, right where you are, would you just close your eyes and verbally, audibly thank God that you're not falling over Niagara Falls, would you? Go ahead and thank Him. Let's stand as we do this together.