Latest / Reformed Thinking / Not Ashamed of the Gospel: God’s Power to Save (Romans 1) | Bruce B. Barton

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Not Ashamed of the Gospel: God’s Power to Save (Romans 1) | Bruce B. Barton · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to reformed thinking. Imagine holding the only known
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  cure to a fatal, highly contagious disease.
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  Right. Like you have the remedy right
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  there in your hands. Yeah.
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  But when you look outside, the people who are sick are not
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  lining up for treatment. Instead, they are actively
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  building monuments to the disease itself.
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  They are celebrating the very thing that is destroying them.
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  Spot on. That is the precise scenario the
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  Apostle Paul faced when he looked at the ancient Roman
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  Empire. I mean, we we're looking at a
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  society that had reached the absolute zenith of human
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  achievement in terms of infrastructure, philosophy and
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  military might. But at the same time, they were
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  spiraling downward into moral decay.
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  So today we are taking our sources, primarily Bruce B
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  Barton's extensive commentary on the 1st chapter of the Book of
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  Romans, and unpacking the stark realities of human rebellion.
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  Yes, alongside the glorious, unmerited grace of God's rescue
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  plan. OK, let's unpack this.
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  Opening up a document like Romans chapter 1 is like holding
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  up a high definition mirror. We look into it expecting to see
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  ancient people dealing with antiquated issues, right?
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  Yeah, but suddenly the reflection shows the very modern
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  world you and I walk through every single day.
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  What's fascinating here is that the author of this letter, the
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  Apostle Paul, did not even know these Roman believers personally
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  when he sat down with his scribe Tertius to dictate this text.
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  Right. He had never set foot in their
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  city. No, he had not.
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  The Gospel had reached Rome before he did, likely brought
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  back by Jewish converts who had traveled to Jerusalem for
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  Pentecost years earlier. So there were multiple house
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  churches meeting throughout the capital, operating under the
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  shadow of Caesar. Yeah.
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  And yet, despite having no personal history with this
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  specific congregation, Paul delivers the most comprehensive,
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  systematic explanation of the Christian faith found anywhere
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  in Scripture. It.
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  Really is staggering and looking at this text through a reformed
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  theological lens. This entire chapter perfectly
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  illustrates the Westminster Confessions teachings.
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  Absolutely. It highlights human inability
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  and God's sovereign grace. We are presented with a bleak,
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  uncompromising picture of a humanity that is completely
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  unable to choose God on its own merits.
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  Paired with a merciful God who intervenes, the contrast is just
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  really sharp. Rome was a city of 1,000,000
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  people right, experiencing a golden age of wealth and art.
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  But they worshipped a vast array of Pagan gods and possessed A
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  naive pragmatism. They believed any method used to
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  achieve a goal was acceptable. And against that backdrop, Paul
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  introduces a message of absolute reliance on a sovereign creator.
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  So that concept of human inability and divine rescue is
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  the central thread holding this letter together.
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  But before we look at the specific details of the message,
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  we have to look at the man delivering it.
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  We really do. I want to talk about Paul's
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  background because it feels like his entire life was engineered
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  for this specific task. Think of turning a resume upside
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  down. That is exactly what we see in
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  the 1st 7 verses. Paul introduces himself to a
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  church he has never met, and his credentials are quite shocking
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  when you understand the cultural context of the 1st century.
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  Oh for sure, I mean he was born with the name Saul.
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  He was raised as a strict Pharisee, part of an elite hyper
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  religious sect dedicated to observing every minute detail of
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  the law. He was from the tribe of
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  Benjamin and educated in Jerusalem under Gamelio.
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  Right Gamelio was regarded as one of the greatest rabbinic
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  minds of antiquity. And on top of all that religious
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  pedigree, he possessed Roman citizenship because he was born
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  in the city of Tarsus. Which in the ancient world,
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  Roman citizenship was the ultimate social status.
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  It granted you legal rights, protections, and a level of
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  prestige that the vast majority of the Empire's population could
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  only dream of. You could not be beaten without
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  a trial. You could appeal directly to
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  Caesar. It was essentially a golden
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  ticket. Yet with all of that status, he
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  opens his letter by adopting the title of a servant.
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  Why would someone with Roman citizenship willingly adopt A
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  title equating to the lowest rung of the social ladder?
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  Well, that choice of words is highly intentional.
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  The Greek word behind the English translation of servant
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  is doulos. Which means a slave.
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  Yes, it translates literally to a slave, someone who is entirely
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  subject to the will of a master and wholly at their disposal.
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  So for a Roman citizen to introduce himself this way was
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  culturally unthinkable. Completely unthinkable.
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  A Roman citizen would always lead with their civic status,
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  but Paul was expressing absolute devotion and subjection to
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  Christ Jesus. He was making a public
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  declaration that he had renounced all other masters.
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  Yeah, and when you analyze his background, the brilliant
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  academic education under Gamaliel, the fierce religious
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  zeal, you see how God takes those raw materials and
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  repurposes. Them right in God's sovereign
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  decree, no single part of Paul's upbringing went to waste.
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  Liabilities became massive assets.
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  His intimate knowledge of the Jewish law allowed him to argue
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  from the Old Testament with unmatched authority.
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  And his understanding of Greek culture from growing up in
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  Tarsus allowed him to communicate with Gentiles
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  effectively. Plus, his legal status as a
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  Roman citizen allowed him to travel freely and demand
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  hearings before high officials. It is a stunning display of
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  divine Providence. He also calls himself an
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  apostle. Yes, the title of Apostle
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  designated authority to set up and supervise churches, but more
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  than that, it means 1 cent on a mission.
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  Like an envoy or an ambassador carrying the full backing of a
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  king. Wait, I need to push back on
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  that sequence of events for a second.
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  You mentioned God repurposing Paul's raw materials, but Paul
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  didn't just wake up one day, look at his impressive resume,
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  and decide to switch sides. No, absolutely not.
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  He was actively hunting Christians.
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  He was holding the coats of the men who murdered Steven.
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  He was practically breathing threats.
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  He was a violent persecutor. Yeah, so how do you go from a
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  violent persecutor to a willing doulos, a slave of Christ,
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  without it feeling forced or coerced?
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  Well, that is where we see the Reformed doctrine of effectual
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  calling vividly displayed. Paul did not initiate that
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  relationship. He didn't weigh the pros and
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  cons and make a personal decision.
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  No, he was audibly called by the Lord on the Damascus Rd.
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  You stopped in his tracks, blinded by a heavenly light and
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  given a new master. So effectual calling means that
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  when God summons someone to salvation, that call
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  accomplishes its intended purpose.
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  Yes, it overcomes human resistance.
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  The text points out the dual nature of Our Calling.
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  Today, believers are called in two distinct ways.
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  We are called to belong to Jesus Christ and we are called to be
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  Saints. And that is a permanent summons.
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  God's calls tend to be permanent, unlike the temporary
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  jobs or responsibilities humans assign themselves.
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  He was drafted into duty by a sovereign king, and that
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  encounter completely shattered his previous worldview.
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  I want you, the listener, to picture your own life as a piece
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  of highly valuable real estate. That is a great way to frame it.
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  If we pulled the county records on your life, in whose name is
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  the title deed? Paul realized his title deed had
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  been permanently transferred. He was purchased.
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  And what he was purchased for was to deliver a message that he
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  absolutely did not invent. Which is a massive point Paul
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  makes right out of the gate in verses 2 through 4.
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  He says this gospel was promised beforehand through the prophets
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  and the Holy Scriptures. This was not some trendy new
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  philosophy made-up by a guy who had a vision in the desert.
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  It was an ancient promise. Yeah, Barton notes in his
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  research a whole array of Old Testament proofs that Paul's
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  readers would. I've known Genesis chapter 12
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  where God promises that all peoples on earth will be blessed
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  through Abraham's line. And Psalm 16 promising that the
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  Holy One would be resurrected and not see decay.
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  Isaiah 49 talking about a light for the Gentiles.
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  Zechariah Chapter 9 predicting the King riding on a donkey,
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  which Jesus fulfilled at the triumphal entry.
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  Paul is telling these Roman believers, both the Jews and the
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  Gentiles, that they were not casting off the Old Testament
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  law to embrace Christ. They are discovering the
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  fulfillment of God's eternal plan, and the entire plan
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  centers on the dual nature of Christ.
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  That dual nature is essential to grasp for a correct
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  understanding of the Gospel. Paul states that Jesus is a
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  descendant of David according to the human nature.
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  And declared the Son of God according to the spirit of
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  holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
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  Right, there is a specific Greek phrasing utilized here.
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  Katasarca meaning according to the flesh, and katanuma meaning
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  according to the spirit. So Jesus was fully human and
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  fully divine. Yes, Martin Luther made a
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  brilliant observation on this section.
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  He noted that the door is thrown wide open for the understanding
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  of the Holy Scriptures. Meaning everything must be
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  understood in relation to Christ, especially in the case
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  of prophecy. Spot on.
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  The entire Old Testament is pointing forward to this God,
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  man. The historical flesh and blood
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  reality of Jesus is what separates the Christian faith
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  from the mythologies of Greece in Rome.
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  He wasn't a legend or an abstract idea.
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  He was a historical reality who took our punishment.
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  Furthermore, when Paul uses the word declared regarding Jesus
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  being the Son of God, he does not mean Jesus suddenly achieved
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  or earned that status at the resurrection.
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  It means his divine nature was unmistakably revealed and
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  vindicated to the. World exactly.
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  He was, is, and always will be the Son of God.
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  The resurrection was the undeniable proof.
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  And responding to that proof requires what Paul calls the
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  obedience that comes from faith. Faith and obedience are
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  inseparable. You cannot have real faith
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  without it leading to obedience, and real obedience only flows
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  from a genuine trust in God. Since Paul is an ambassador with
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  this incredible ancient message, why is he so desperate to bring
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  it to the epicenter of the Pagan world?
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  Well, if you read verses 8 through 17, you see his
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  motivation. He starts by thanking God for
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  their faith, which he says is being reported all over the
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  world. Living in the political power
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  center of the Western world, these Roman Christians were
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  highly visible. But then he says something that
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  feels odd to our modern ears. He talks about how constantly he
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  prays to visit them so he can share a spiritual gift to
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  strengthen them. But also so that they can be
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  mutually encouraged by each other's faith.
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  He doesn't position himself as the infallible guru coming down
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  from the mountain to bestow wisdom on the peasants.
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  No, he he genuinely wants to be encouraged by them.
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  He states that he is obligated to Greeks and non Greeks, to the
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  wise and the foolish. I like to think of that doctor
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  analogy again. If you hold the cure for a
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  terminal disease, you wouldn't keep it to yourself just because
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  it's inconvenient to travel. You would feel an absolute
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  obligation to share it with everyone who is sick.
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  You owe it to them. Paul views his calling as a
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  massive debt he owes to humanity.
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  That sense of obligation is driven by what he says in verse
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  16, which functions as the thesis statement for the entire.
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  Letter he declares he is not ashamed of the gospel because it
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  is the divine force for salvation.
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  In the original Greek, the word used for this force is dynamis.
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  It is the root word from which we derive our modern term
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  dynamite. Now, we often think of dynamite
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  strictly in terms of destruction and demolition.
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  Right, but spiritual dynamite operates with a specific
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  purpose. It shatters stone heart hearts
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  that are resistant to God. But it does so to clear the
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  ground for new construction. It removes the massive barriers
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  of human pride, self righteousness and idolatry.
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  It is an explosive capability that actually builds life rather
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  than just ending it. This dynamics is not just a
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  description of how the gospel might work in certain favorable
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  conditions, no. It is a guarantee that it is
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  effective. It has the inherent might of God
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  residing within it. And it is offered first to the
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  Jew because of the historical timeline of God's covenant with
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  Abraham, and then to the Gentile.
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  The Jews were given the first invitation because they had been
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  God's special people for thousands of years, prepared by
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  the Law and the prophets to welcome the Messiah.
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  But the scope of the gospel encompasses the entire world.
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  Here's where it gets really interesting.
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  Think about how easy it is to become ashamed of the gospel in
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  our current culture. Oh, absolutely.
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  Barton's material points out that young believers are often
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  shamed into silence by older, more cynical believers.
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  You get a little enthusiastic about your faith, and someone
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  gives you that condescending pat on the head, signaling that you
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  need to tone it down. Yeah.
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  And be more realistic. It is so easy to slip into
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  becoming an anonymous Christian, keeping your faith entirely
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  private because you are worried about your your reputation.
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  Or your social standing. Or how your Co workers will
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  perceive you. You start thinking people will
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  openly ridicule your faith. But that your success is worth
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  more to you than having others know you follow Christ.
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  But Paul was heading to the capital of the Roman Empire, a
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  place steeped in military arrogance and absolute paganism,
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  and he was completely unashamed. Why?
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  Because of what the Gospel actually reveals, verse 17 says
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  that in the gospel the righteousness of God is
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  revealed, A righteousness that is by faith from first to last.
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  He quotes the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk, chapter 2,
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  verse 4. The righteous will live by
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  faith. This brings us to some of the
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  most intense reformed theology in the entire letter.
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  Yes, the concept of alien righteousness.
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  Martin Luther defined this clearly.
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  He stated that God does not redeem us through a
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  righteousness that originates from us and grows inside us.
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  He redeems us through an external righteousness, one that
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  comes to us from the outside, from heaven.
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  The chief purpose of Paul's letter is to destroy all human
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  wisdom and righteousness to break down our inner self
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  satisfaction. Because we are utterly incapable
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  of producing the standard of holiness God requires for
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  fellowship with Him. So Christ provides it.
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  He imputes his perfect record to us.
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  The philosopher Blaise Pascal observed that faith itself is a
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  gift God puts into our hearts. It moves us past simple
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  intellectual agreement, causing us to say I believe rather than
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  just I know. We do not initiate this
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  transaction, we respond to it. Our entire standing before God
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  rests on trusting that Christ took our punishment and gave us
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  His perfect record in exchange. The phrase from faith to faith
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  indicates that our relationship with God begins by faith and is
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  sustained entirely by faith. We never reach a point where we
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  transition from trusting God's grace to relying on our own
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  performance. Hold on, I need to admit some
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  confusion here, because the idea of an alien righteousness sounds
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  bizarre when you first hear it. How does that actually work
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  legally? It is a fair question.
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  If I'm standing in a courtroom guilty of a crime, the judge
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  cannot just say, well, someone else over there is innocent, so
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  I will pretend you are innocent too.
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  It's sounds like a legal fiction right?
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  How does God impute someone else's righteousness to me
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  without it being a scam? Can you explain that like I am?
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  Five, Think of it in terms of a bank account rather than a
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  courtroom. Imagine you owe a debt of $10
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  billion. OK, I am completely bankrupt.
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  Yes, there is no amount of manual labor you can do to pay
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  off that debt in 10 lifetimes. Now imagine a wealthy benefactor
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  steps in. But justice requires the debt to
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  be paid right? He does not just ignore the
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  debt. No, instead he transfers $10
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  billion of his own funds into your account.
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  The bank looks at your account, sees the balances paid in full,
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  and clears your name. Christ is the benefactor on the
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  cross. A double transfer occurs.
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  Our massive debt of sin is transferred to his account and
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  he pays the penalty for it with his life.
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  In exchange, his perfect record of obedience, his infinite
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  wealth of righteousness, is transferred to our account.
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  When God the Father looks at you, He sees the perfect record
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  of His Son. It is not a legal fiction.
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  It is a legally binding transfer paid in full by a willing
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  substitute. I love that it is like putting
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  on a spiritual suit of armor. That is a great analogy.
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  When you first become a believer and God places that alien
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  righteousness on you, the armor is entirely too big.
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  It doesn't fit your current behavior at all.
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  You do not look the. Part You still have your flaws,
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  your selfish habits, your bad attitudes.
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  But God declares you righteous anyway based on Christ record,
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  and you spend the rest of your life growing into that armor.
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  It is a gift you could never craft yourself.
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  It truly is. But if Paul is offering this
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  incredible, unearned righteousness, it begs A
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  terrifying question. What exactly is he trying to
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  rescue humanity from? What is the crisis?
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  The tone of the letter shifts dramatically in verse 18.
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  Paul says the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
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  ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth by
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  their wickedness. Think of suppressing the truth
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  like trying to hold a giant beach ball underwater.
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  Oh, that is good. It takes constant, exhausting,
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  deliberate effort to keep the obvious reality of God submerged
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  beneath our own self-centered desires.
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  The moment you let your guard down and stop pushing, that
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  beach ball rockets right back to the surface.
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  Humanity is constantly exerting energy to keep the truth out of
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  sight. That is a highly accurate
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  visualization of human rebellion.
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  The text makes it clear that God's wrath is not some petty,
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  unpredictable anger or a cosmic temper tantrum.
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  It is the necessary, holy and just response of a morally
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  perfect Creator to willful, sustained rebellion.
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  The basis for this wrath is what theologians call general
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  revelation. Paul writes that God's invisible
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  qualities, specifically his eternal might and divine nature,
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  have been clearly seen and understood from what has been
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  made. Ever since the creation of the
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  world, creation itself is a witness.
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  If you look at a complex painting, you naturally conclude
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  there is an artist. Looking at the intricate design,
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  the mathematical precision, the delicate balance of ecosystems
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  and the staggering scale of the universe, the only logical
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  conclusion is a supreme designer.
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  Because of this, humanity is, as Paul states, without excuse.
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  People do not lack evidence for God's existence.
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  They willfully refuse the evidence.
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  I have to challenge that a bit. If nature already reveals God so
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  clearly that everyone is without excuse, why are missions and
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  evangelism necessary? That is a crucial distinction to
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  make. If a person living on a remote
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  island can look at the stars and figure out God exists, why did
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  Paul feel this agonizing obligation to travel across the
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  known world to preach the gospel?
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  Because General Revelation condemns, but it does not save.
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  Nature tells you there is a God of immense capability and
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  intelligence, but it does not tell you that He is loving, and
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  it certainly does not explain how to find forgiveness when you
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  have broken his laws. It gives you the diagnosis
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  without the cure. Knowing a creator exists is not
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  enough to reconcile a broken relationship with him.
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  The stars declare the glory of God, but they do not declare the
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  cross of Jesus Christ. You need the specific historical
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  good news for salvation. That is why Paul had to go, and
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  we see the downward spiral of humanity begin in verse 21 when
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  they reject that initial revelation.
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  It says for although they knew God, they neither glorified him
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  as God nor gave thanks to him. That verse is terrifying to me.
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  Failing to say thank you seems like such a minor character flaw
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  to us. We think of it as just bad
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  manners. But according to Paul,
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  ingratitude is the actual trigger for the total collapse
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  of the human mind. The moment humanity decides they
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  are the source of their own blessings, they're thinking,
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  everything becomes completely futile and their foolish hearts
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  are darkened. They claim to be wise, but they
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  become fools. Without God as the reference
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  point, everything they try is meaningless.
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  I want to do an idolatry check with you, the listener.
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  What priority is greater than God in your life?
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  Who or what do you think you absolutely cannot live without?
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  What dream would you sacrifice everything else to realize?
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  Because whatever that thing is, if it isn't the creator, it is a
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  created thing that you have elevated to the throne of your
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  life. Barton notes that anyone who
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  rejects the Creator will inevitably end up worshipping
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  the creature. Human beings are inherently
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  religious creatures by design. If we dethrone the true God, we
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  do not sit in a vacuum of worship, we simply install a
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  substitute. We manufacture gods that are
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  convenient projections of our own selfish plans.
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  In the ancient world, these were wooden figures or statues of
• 20:12
  emperors. In our modern world, we worship
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  success, property, wealth, leisure, or even our own
• 20:17
  homespun philosophies. We exchange the glory of the
• 20:20
  immortal God for lackluster, decaying images.
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  And when humanity insists on making this trade, how does God
• 20:27
  respond? He does not immediately strike
• 20:29
  the earth with lightning. No, he does something far more
• 20:32
  frightening 3 times. In the following verses, Paul
• 20:36
  writes that God gave them over. He gave them over to sinful
• 20:39
  desires, to shameful lusts, and to a depraved mind.
• 20:43
  The psychological terror of this concept is vast.
• 20:47
  Sometimes God's most severe judgment is simply letting go.
• 20:50
  He removes the restraints of his common grace and allows human
• 20:54
  nature to plummet to the bottom of its own shows and abyss.
• 20:57
  That phrase God gave them over should send a chill down
• 21:01
  anyone's spine. It means you get what you
• 21:03
  demanded. You demanded a universe without
• 21:05
  God's rules, without his interference.
• 21:07
  And God says, OK, have it your way.
• 21:09
  Let's see where that leads. It brings to mind CS Lewis.
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  He wrote that he willingly believes the damned are in one
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  sense successful rebels to the end.
• 21:18
  That the doors of hell are locked on the inside.
• 21:20
  Yes, people enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have
• 21:23
  demanded and because of that they become self enslaved.
• 21:26
  They get to be their own gods, but the Kingdom they rule is an
• 21:29
  absolute wasteland. Paul gets very specific about
• 21:32
  what this wasteland looks like in the physical realm.
• 21:34
  He points to the deification of sex and creature worship.
• 21:37
  He says people exchange the truth for a lie, worshipping the
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  created thing, and this led to degrading their bodies,
• 21:45
  exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones.
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  To grasp this fully, we must look at the historical.
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  Paul is writing this letter from the city of Corinth.
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  And Corinth was infamous across the ancient world for its temple
• 21:58
  of Aphrodite and its rampant cultic prostitution.
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  Paganism has a long history of substituting the pursuit of
• 22:04
  sexual pleasure for the pursuit of holiness.
• 22:07
  A crucial theological point arises regarding how the text
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  views sexual sin. It does not treat it as a
• 22:13
  separate, isolated category of evil that is somehow completely
• 22:17
  different from other sins. Rather, it presents it as a
• 22:19
  glaring symptom of a society that has entirely rejected its
• 22:23
  creator's design. When humanity rejects the true
• 22:26
  God, we lose our compass for how to use the gifts He gave us.
• 22:29
  Sex was designed by God to be a wonderful gift, an expression of
• 22:33
  fidelity, intimacy and comfort within the covenant of marriage
• 22:36
  between a man and a woman. But without God's standard, it
• 22:39
  becomes a tool for selfishness, deception and degradation.
• 22:42
  It devalues the God-given use of our bodies.
• 22:45
  We have to push back against a very popular modern fallacy
• 22:49
  right here. You hear it all the time in our
• 22:51
  culture. As long as two consenting adults
• 22:53
  are involved and no one gets hurt, it is fine.
• 22:56
  It sounds so enlightened to our modern ears.
• 22:59
  It sounds compassionate, but it completely misses the point of
• 23:02
  the text. Think of it like buying a highly
• 23:05
  complex, expensive piece of machinery.
• 23:08
  The engineer who built it provides A detailed instruction
• 23:11
  manual for how it oerates best. If you ignore the manual and use
• 23:15
  the machine for something it was never built to do, the machine
• 23:18
  breaks down. God designed human beings and
• 23:21
  human relationships with a specific, intentional
• 23:24
  architecture. When you step outside that
• 23:26
  design, you aren't just breaking an arbitrary rule.
• 23:29
  You are rejecting the designer himself.
• 23:31
  You are saying that you know better than the Architect of the
• 23:33
  Universe about how human flourishing works.
• 23:36
  The penalty for that perversion is built into the behavior
• 23:38
  itself. The text says they received in
• 23:41
  themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
• 23:44
  The natural result of the sin pays the person back.
• 23:47
  But I also want to speak a word of hope directly to you, the
• 23:49
  listener, if you feel caught in these specific sins.
• 23:53
  The Gospel is for everyone, without exception.
• 23:56
  The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus himself suffered when
• 23:59
  he was tempted, and because of that he is able to help those
• 24:02
  who are being tempted. He knows the struggle.
• 24:05
  The alien righteousness we talked about earlier covers
• 24:08
  every kind of rebellion, and God offers the grace to walk out of
• 24:11
  it. That is a vital clarification.
• 24:14
  The grace of God is sufficient for all who repent and place
• 24:17
  their trust in Christ. But Paul's diagnosis of the
• 24:19
  human condition does not stop at physical action, no.
• 24:23
  The physical acting out of sin is the visible surface.
• 24:26
  In the final verses 29 through 32, he demonstrates how the
• 24:30
  rejection of God eventually corrupts the very machinery of
• 24:34
  human thought. This leads to what he calls a
• 24:36
  depraved mind, and this connects directly to the doctrine of
• 24:39
  total depravity, a core tenet of the Westminster Confession.
• 24:42
  Yes, it does. Wait, let me stop you there.
• 24:44
  Total depravity? Are you saying Paul believes
• 24:47
  every single human being is as completely evil as they could
• 24:50
  possibly be? It is a common misunderstanding.
• 24:53
  Because I know plenty of nonbelievers who are incredibly
• 24:56
  generous, kind, and loving people.
• 24:59
  They give to charity. They love their kids.
• 25:01
  How does that square with this text?
• 25:03
  Well, total depravity does not mean utter depravity.
• 25:06
  It does not mean that every human being is as evil as they
• 25:08
  could possibly be at all times. OK, So what does it mean?
• 25:11
  It means that sin has infected every single part of our nature,
• 25:15
  our will, our emotions and our intellect.
• 25:18
  Think of a drop of lethal poison in a glass of water.
• 25:21
  The entire glass is not made of poison, but every single drop of
• 25:24
  the water is contaminated by it. Spot on.
• 25:27
  You cannot drink any part of it safely.
• 25:29
  Once the mind is depraved, the creative capability of human
• 25:33
  thought is turned to the pursuit of evil.
• 25:35
  And no human action is completely free from selfish
• 25:38
  motives. Paul provides a catalog of
• 25:40
  chaos, listing over 20 characteristics of a depraved.
• 25:43
  Mind, he includes greed, which is the relentless urge to get
• 25:47
  more for oneself. He lists envy, murder, strife,
• 25:50
  deceit and malice. He calls them gossips,
• 25:53
  slanderers, God haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful.
• 25:59
  He notes that they invent new ways of doing evil.
• 26:01
  He even includes disobeying parents.
• 26:03
  Sin makes us senseless, unable to discern moral things,
• 26:08
  faithless meaning unreliable, heartless meaning unkind, and
• 26:12
  ruthless meaning without pity. That list is staggering when you
• 26:16
  sit down and look at it. It is shocking to see gossips
• 26:18
  and disobeying parents sitting right next to murder and
• 26:21
  depravity in the very same text. We love to categorize sins, do
• 26:25
  we not? Oh totally, we think murder is a
• 26:27
  major felony that deserves ultimate judgement, while
• 26:30
  gossiping about a Co worker or talking back to your parents is
• 26:33
  just a tiny insignificant misdemeanor.
• 26:36
  But Paul throws them all into the exact same bucket of
• 26:38
  rebellion against the Creator. It shatters the illusion that
• 26:42
  anyone is naturally a good person by default.
• 26:44
  It completely levels the playing field.
• 26:46
  No one can read that list and say, well, I haven't done any of
• 26:48
  those things so I don't need a savior.
• 26:50
  If you have ever been greedy or deceitful or arrogant, or if
• 26:54
  you've ever passed along a rumor, you're participating in
• 26:57
  the same fundamental rebellion as the worst criminals in
• 27:01
  history. And the final verse of the
• 27:02
  chapter takes it one step further.
• 27:04
  Verse 32 says that people know God's decree that these actions
• 27:08
  deserve death. Yet they not only continue to do
• 27:10
  them, but they throw a parade for them.
• 27:12
  They approve of those who practice them.
• 27:14
  Barton unpacks his behavior brilliantly by identifying 4
• 27:18
  moral alternatives that people invent to justify their
• 27:21
  rebellion and silence their God-given conscience. 1st is
• 27:24
  statistical morality. This approach dictates that the
• 27:28
  standard of right and wrong is simply whatever the majority is
• 27:31
  doing. Its motto is everybody is doing
• 27:34
  it. It relies on opinion polls and
• 27:35
  cultural consensus to justify behavior. 2nd is emotional
• 27:39
  morality, which dictates that if something feels good it must be
• 27:42
  right, and if it feels bad or requires personal sacrifice, it
• 27:46
  must be wrong. It is rooted entirely in
• 27:48
  selfishness. 3rd is situational morality, where you make up the
• 27:52
  rules as you go based on the specific circumstances.
• 27:55
  Ensuring you always act in your own self-interest without any
• 27:59
  absolute standard. Finally, there is sensitive
• 28:02
  morality, which claims there are no absolute standards of right
• 28:06
  and wrong at all, only personal truths.
• 28:09
  And the only real sin is offending someone by judging
• 28:13
  their behavior. These are all counterfeit
• 28:15
  moralities designed to shield the depraved mind from the
• 28:18
  terrifying reality of God's holy standard.
• 28:21
  They are elaborate smokescreens. People reinforce their own bad
• 28:25
  choices by urging others to make the same choices, seeking
• 28:29
  security in numbers because they refuse to submit to the Creator.
• 28:32
  It is terrifying to read this list because if we are honest,
• 28:36
  we all do this. When I look at situational
• 28:38
  morality, I immediately think of how I justify my own bad habits.
• 28:42
  We all have those moments of rationalization.
• 28:44
  I catch myself saying well normally I wouldn't do this but
• 28:46
  it has been a really hard week so I deserve to cut a corner.
• 28:49
  Here, or relying on statistical morality, telling yourself
• 28:53
  everyone else at the office is fudging their expense report
• 28:55
  slightly so if I don't do it I am actually at a disadvantage.
• 28:59
  We are all prone to building these custom idols to excuse our
• 29:02
  behavior and avoid the uncomfortable truth of God's
• 29:05
  standard. It is a universal human default.
• 29:08
  And that brings us to a final consideration to close out our
• 29:11
  deep dive today, since human beings are so incredibly adept
• 29:15
  at suppressing the truth. And so skilled at building
• 29:18
  custom idols that look like freedom.
• 29:20
  I want you to spend some time today looking at the areas of
• 29:22
  your life where you demand total autonomy.
• 29:25
  Ask yourself this. Could that fierce demand to have
• 29:28
  things your own way, to be completely free of God's design
• 29:31
  and run your own life, actually be the very thing locking you in
• 29:36
  a prison from the inside? That is a sobering reality to
• 29:39
  ponder. Our sincere hope is that your
• 29:41
  mind is renewed by the truth of God's Word and that you find
• 29:45
  true freedom in the alien righteousness offered entirely
• 29:48
  by His grace. Goodbye.
• 29:50
  Thanks for joining us for this deep dive into Romans chapter 1.
• 29:52
  Keep examining the text, keep asking the hard questions and we
• 29:55
  will catch you next time.