Dr. Cecil A. Fayard - 2001 Sermons
Sunday, February 18, 2001   

In Romans 1:24-32, we have a terrible picture, a picture of the downward road to doom and damnation of those who hold on to unrighteousness.

What a sad commentary we have in these closing verses of Romans one. Those spoken of here have come to the place of no hope and no help for God has given them up (verses 24, 26, 28). All that they have to look forward to is, "a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation....." (Hebrews 10:27).

Needless to say, our study today is a very serious one.

1. VERSES 24-25, MAN'S IMMORALITY, GOD'S JUSTICE
   1. Verse 24, As we look back at verse 23, we see the close connection between idolatry (verse 23) and immorality (verse 24).
      
      1. Paul wrote the letter to the Romans from Corinth, a city of idols and immorality. In Paul's day the expression, "to live like a Corinthian" meant "to live a life of moral degradation."
         
      2. "Wherefore" points us back to the reason that God gave these men up:
         
         1. Man rejected God (verse 21), who had revealed Himself to them (verses 19-20).
            
         2. They sought to justify and rationalize their rejection of God (verse 22).
            
         3. They made gods, substituting them for the living God (verse 23).
            
      3. Three times we are told in Romans one that God abandoned these men and women. "God gave them up...." (Verses 24, 26, 28). But, it should be pointed out that God had given them light which they rejected- and He had been patient with them giving them space to repent. Numerous examples of God's dealings with those who fell into idolatry and immorality are found in the Bible:
         
         1. God gave Jezebel, an immoral woman, time to repent (Revelations 2-20-21).
            
         2. The anti-deluvians, as wicked as they were (Genesis 6:5), were given time to repent while the ark was being built by Noah (I Peter 3:20).
            
         3. Could it be that God is giving you time, right now, to believe on Him?
            
      4. When God's patience is not responded to favorably by man, the result is the outpouring of God's wrath (verse 18).
         
         1. At a proper time, known only to God, unrepentant it sinners are by that wrath allowed to be swept away by their own sins into the pit of their own vile passions" (Hendriksen 75).
            
         2. They are finally abandoned by God. The restraining and protective hand of God is gone! Man should fear such a condition.

   2. Verse 25, Man in rebellion against God, believes a lie because he has held down, suppressed the truth (verse 18).
      
      1. In John 14:6, we read that Jesus is, "the way, the truth, and the life..."
         
         1. Man says that there is no God. This is the truth he suppresses.
            
         2. Instead of worshiping the God of creation, man worships the forces and systems of nature.
            
      2. To worship anything other than God is to worship "a lie."
         
         1. To worship the earth, the moon, stars, sun, planets, or astrology is "a lie."
            
         2. Humanism, the worship of man, is "a lie."
            
         3. To worship gods or goddesses is "a lie."
            
         4. Evolution is "a lie."
            
      3. When the anti-Christ comes on the scene, God is going to send a "strong delusion" to those who have no love of the truth, "that they should believe a lie" (II Thessalonians 2:10-11).
         
      4. Note that Paul declares his faith in the "Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen."

2. VERSES 26-27, WICKED WOMEN AND MEN EXPOSED
   1. Verse 26, Verse 26 is connected to verse 25. In verse 25, the sin is given…then in verse 26 the result of the sin is given.
      1. Paul is not dealing with sexual immorality in general. Here he is very specific.
         
      2. Lesbianism is sin against God. Women are mentioned first because they are considered to be more chaste than men.
         
         1. When the woman fall, the nation is doomed.
            
         2. The home and sweet wives are the bulwark of society.
            
      3. How shameful for women to fall to such a degree.
         
      4. The Bible clearly teaches that sexual intercourse was intended for a husband and his wife, male and female, and no one else (Ephesians 5:31; Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19-5). Anything short of what the Scripture teaches is immoral.
         
      5. Note that these women left the natural use or natural function and burned in their desire woman for woman. "God gave them up!" There comes a point where God says: "Your time is up, you are without hope."

   2. Verse 27, Sodomy- that is what we find here, homosexual practice.
      
      1. Many scriptures condemn homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13; 18:22).
         
      2. The term sodomy comes from God's condemnation of the homosexual cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:4-9). God had given these men up!
         
      3. Homosexuality is not an alternative life style. It is a life that leads to physical and spiritual death.
         
      4. Homosexuality is vile and wicked; and although television and movies promote it, homosexuality is perversion. It is sin.
         
      5. "…receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet."
         
         1. The self-destructiveness of this sin is a judgment against them.
            
         2. This unbridled passion brings with it the fatal promise of scripture, AIDS.

3. VERSES 28-32, THE COMPLETE DEPRAVITY OF MAN
   1. Verse 28, This is the third and last time in Romans one that we read the words: "God gave them over to a reprobate mind......"
      
      1. For the third time, we see the relation between man rejection of God, and God's rejection of man.
         
      2. "They did not like to retain God in their knowledge...."
         
         1. They saw no worth in retaining the knowledge of God. These are the ones who are spoken of in verse 18-21. Note verse 21 in particular.
            
         2. Instead of being thankful for what they had received, a general revelation from God, they were ungrateful and sought to suppress the truth (verse 18c).
            
         3. They did not believe in creationism.
            
      3. "Reprobate mind." Because they did not value God and refused to retain Him in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, a worthless mind. These have a conscience that is seared with a hot iron (hard, beyond feeling) (I Timothy 4:2).
         
         1. These cannot distinguish moral right and wrong.
            
         2. They are lost without hope.
            
      4. Dr. McBeth said, "Wrong loving (1:24D and wrong living (1-26D leads to wrong thinking (1:28-32).

   2. Verses 29-31, These verses are as J. Frank Norris said: "A true mirror of the soul that sinneth. Here is God's X-ray of the heart of man" (16).

   3. Verse 32, As we see in our society today, not only do sinners justify their wickedness, they consent with and promote ungodly practices. America is headed down the path to destruction.

CONCLUSION: Who can deliver the sinner from the wrath to come? Only the crucified, buried, and risen Savior. Friend, do not play with sin because, "your sins will find you out?"