Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Sinnerama in Panorama │ Msg 544 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Sinnerama in Panorama │ Msg 544 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: If you brought a Bible with you, I'd invite you
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Speaker 1: to turn to two places. In one place, I'd like
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Speaker 1: you to place the outline for the morning message. You'll
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Speaker 1: find it tucked away in the worship folder. Just put
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Speaker 1: it at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. We'll start there in
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Speaker 1: a few minutes, but for now, let's look at Romans
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Speaker 1: chapter 1. This is clearly the last half of Romans 1.
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Speaker 1: The most vivid portrayal of depravity, certainly in all the Bible,
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Speaker 1: perhaps in all literature. It is not a pleasant picture,
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Speaker 1: but it is real. Romans 1, beginning at verse 24,
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Speaker 1: down through verse 32. Therefore God gave them over in
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Speaker 1: the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their
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Speaker 1: bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the
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Speaker 1: truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served
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Speaker 1: the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen.
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Speaker 1: For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions.
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Speaker 1: For their women exchanged the natural function for that which
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Speaker 1: is unnatural. And in the same way, also the men
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Speaker 1: abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in
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Speaker 1: their desire toward one another, men with men, committing indecent acts,
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Speaker 1: and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of
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Speaker 1: their error. And just as they did not see fit
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Speaker 1: to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to
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Speaker 1: a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper,
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Speaker 1: being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice.
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Speaker 1: They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful,
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Speaker 1: inventors of evil, disobedient to parents. without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.
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Speaker 1: And although they know the ordinance of God, that those
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Speaker 1: who practice such things are worthy of death, they not
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Speaker 1: only do the same, but also give hearty approval to
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Speaker 1: those who practice them. Today's message is not an easy one,
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Speaker 1: and it certainly is not one that is free of
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Speaker 1: possible offense. But today we will do our best to
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Speaker 1: declare the truth as we understand it. If you will pray.
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Speaker 1: And we will be in this together in a few
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Speaker 1: moments after this time of prayer and offering. Please join me.
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Speaker 1: We praise you, our Father, from whom all blessings flow.
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Speaker 1: They come in such abundance, there are days that we
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Speaker 1: don't think we can take them all in. And we
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Speaker 1: join our voices with all these creatures here below. to
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Speaker 1: express our praise for your goodness and your grace. Thank you, Father,
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Speaker 1: for your grace. And there are heavenly hosts who give
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Speaker 1: you their praise, whom we have never seen, never heard.
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Speaker 1: But with them, we echo our hallelujah. We give you
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Speaker 1: our thanks today. And from good health and good jobs
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Speaker 1: and the ability to make a living, we find ourselves
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Speaker 1: at this moment passionate in our worship of giving. Worship
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Speaker 1: is a human response to a divine revelation. And as
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Speaker 1: we find truth revealed, this is one way we can
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Speaker 1: express our gratitude tangibly. And so we do that. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for this church. Thank you for our past. We're
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Speaker 1: grateful as we anticipate our future. It's all from your hand.
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Speaker 1: Now quiet us, we pray, as we pause to let
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Speaker 1: the wonder in. And as we give you our gifts.
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Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus. Everyone said. Amen. As most
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Speaker 1: of you know, during my years of preparation for ministry,
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Speaker 1: there was a segment of time in which I spent, oh,
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Speaker 1: let's see, several months with a man who marked me
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Speaker 1: for my life. His name was Ray Stedman. I was
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Speaker 1: among his very first interns, and there were two other
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Speaker 1: men who served that summer with me, and I with them. One,
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Speaker 1: a man named Gib Martin, who is still ministering in Seattle.
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Speaker 1: And the other young man just recently had come from
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Speaker 1: Buenos Aires with a set of twins and his lovely
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Speaker 1: wife named Luis Palau. Luis and Gib and I were
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Speaker 1: there for months of observation. The three of us knew
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Speaker 1: that we learned when we didn't talk. You learn when
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Speaker 1: you watch. You learn when you listen. And I watched
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Speaker 1: virtually every move Ray Stedman made there at his church,
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Speaker 1: Palo Alto Peninsula Bible Church. I was just like a
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Speaker 1: bug on the wall around him, listening, watching, and learning.
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Speaker 1: During that summer, he was taking us through the letter
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Speaker 1: of 1 Corinthians. And it was his habit to say
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Speaker 1: each Sunday, now I want you to read ahead because
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Speaker 1: this is where I will be next Sunday. And he
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Speaker 1: told all of us that particular Sunday, I'll never forget
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Speaker 1: the day he preached on it. He said, I want
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Speaker 1: you to read verses 9, 10, and 11 of 1
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Speaker 1: Corinthians chapter 6. Let me read the verses for you.
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Speaker 1: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit
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Speaker 1: the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators,
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Speaker 1: nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate. The word implies the
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Speaker 1: idea of male prostitutes. Nor homosexuals. Nor thieves. Nor the covetous.
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Speaker 1: Nor drunkards. Nor revilers. Nor swindlers. Careful how you pronounce that.
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Speaker 1: Will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you.
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Speaker 1: But you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you
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Speaker 1: were justified. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: And in the spirit of our God. Well. When I
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Speaker 1: read that, I sat alone that following Monday or Tuesday wondering,
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Speaker 1: what in the world is Ray going to do with
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Speaker 1: a passage like this? And if you know Stedman, he's
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Speaker 1: gone now, but if you knew him, you remember he
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Speaker 1: had a touch. He had a way with the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: And the following Sunday morning, he stood to preach, and
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Speaker 1: he said, I would like to have all of you
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Speaker 1: turn to First Californians, chapter 6, verses 9 through 11.
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Speaker 1: And all of us did just what you're doing. And
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Speaker 1: he said, we will read very relevant words here. And
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Speaker 1: he read them. Suddenly there was a silence that swept
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Speaker 1: over the congregation. And then he said, All of you
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Speaker 1: understand what Paul has written, but you may have missed
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Speaker 1: how personal he made it. As he, beginning at verse 11, writes,
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Speaker 1: Such were some of you, but you were washed, you
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Speaker 1: were sanctified, you were justified. And he paused and said,
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Speaker 1: And such were some of you, If the things I
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Speaker 1: had just read characterized your life in days past, would
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Speaker 1: you simply stand to your feet? I thought he didn't
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Speaker 1: just say that. One man stood. Two ladies in front
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Speaker 1: of me stood. Without hesitation, half a row stood. Two
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Speaker 1: or three high schoolers stood. an older gentleman by himself stood,
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Speaker 1: and before I knew it, over half the church was standing.
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Speaker 1: he said then thank you you may be seated two
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Speaker 1: things occurred as a result of that epical moment first
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Speaker 1: of all the bible was suddenly and instantly relevant There
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Speaker 1: wasn't a soul sitting in the meeting who did not
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Speaker 1: realize this is speaking to people like us. This is
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Speaker 1: speaking to me. Second, every thought of throwing stones, feeling proud,
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Speaker 1: left everyone's mind. These were no longer the sins of Corinth.
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Speaker 1: These were now the sins.
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Speaker 2: Of us.
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Speaker 1: It is easy when we come to a passage like
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Speaker 1: Romans chapter 1 to feel smug. Don't you dare do that. C.S.
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Speaker 1: Lewis often puts his finger on the real issue in
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Speaker 1: a way that you don't expect. Listen to his words
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Speaker 1: from mere Christianity. If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity
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Speaker 1: as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins
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Speaker 1: of the flesh are bad, but they are the least
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Speaker 1: bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual.
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Speaker 1: The pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of
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Speaker 1: bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport and backbiting. The pleasure
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Speaker 1: of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside
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Speaker 1: me competing with the human self. They are the animal
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Speaker 1: self and the diabolical self. And the diabolical self is
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Speaker 1: the worst of the two. That is why a cold,
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Speaker 1: self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far
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Speaker 1: nearer to hell than a prostitute. But of course, it's
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Speaker 1: better to be neither. Just in case there happens to
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Speaker 1: be one or two self-righteous souls sitting in this place today,
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Speaker 1: I urge you to get rid of it. What we
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Speaker 1: will read today is not about someone else. What we
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Speaker 1: will read today is not about people we hate. What
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Speaker 1: we will read today is our biography. Ugly and dark
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Speaker 1: as it may be, it's us. And if not mentioned,
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Speaker 1: were I to find a list where all the sins
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Speaker 1: are mentioned, we would all be on our feet because
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Speaker 1: we are all mutually guilty, all equally in need of
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Speaker 1: God's matchless grace. and the blood of Jesus to forgive
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Speaker 1: our sins. In light of that, it is no wonder
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Speaker 1: to us that we come to the place in Romans
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Speaker 1: 1 verse 18 where we read of the wrath of God.
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Speaker 1: It means what it says, but it may not mean
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Speaker 1: what you think it means. Wrath to us is a
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Speaker 1: temper tantrum. It's road rage. It's an explosion of anger.
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Speaker 1: None of that is in the word rendered wrath. God
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Speaker 1: doesn't throw temper tantrums. It is God's holy aversion to
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Speaker 1: all that is evil. As we learned last time, it
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Speaker 1: is a settled, just wrath. It is a supernatural response
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Speaker 1: to to our natural ways. And it is revealed against all.
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Speaker 1: Don't miss the word. Not a few, not certain categories, A-L-L.
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Speaker 1: All unrighteousness, all ungodliness among those who have suppressed the truth.
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Speaker 1: Allow me a brief review. We suppress things when we
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Speaker 1: sit on them, when we push them aside, when we
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Speaker 1: restrain them. Think of a box with a lid that
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Speaker 1: keeps popping up. You sit on the box, you suppress
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Speaker 1: the box, you suppress the contents. Truth is within the
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Speaker 1: box of God's realm. And as the truth is revealed,
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Speaker 1: we can embrace it or we can sit on it.
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Speaker 1: When we continue to sit on it, we deny Christ,
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Speaker 1: we deny the cross, we deny even the existence of God,
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Speaker 1: and our lives begin to run their natural course and
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Speaker 1: humanity in its wrong goes on display. It's called by
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Speaker 1: theologians the depravity of humanity. The word appears in our text.
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Speaker 1: in depraved mind. It doesn't mean that mankind is as
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Speaker 1: bad as it can be. We can always get worse.
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Speaker 1: We're watching it happen. It means we are as bad
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Speaker 1: off as we can be without Christ in the eyes
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Speaker 1: of God. No one closer than another, whoever is without Christ,
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Speaker 1: is as far removed as those who have heard of
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Speaker 1: Christ and rejected him for 20 years. You either are
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Speaker 1: in Christ or you are out. If you are outside
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Speaker 1: of Christ, your depravity has a way of controlling you.
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Speaker 1: And in the control of the depravity, as you suppress
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Speaker 1: the truth, God gives you over to it. As he
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Speaker 1: says on three separate occasions, God gave them over, verse 24.
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Speaker 1: God gave them over, verse 26. God gave them over,
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Speaker 1: middle of verse 28. all the same Greek term, rendered,
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Speaker 1: gave them over. Don't think of a passive God with
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Speaker 1: arms folded, looking at us over his glasses saying, you
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Speaker 1: made your bed, now lie in it. It's up to
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Speaker 1: you from here on. It's not that. No. No, this
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Speaker 1: is a judicial abandonment. This is a divine, active giving over,
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Speaker 1: a deliberate release of humanity. to the judgment and the
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Speaker 1: intensification of the aggravation and cultivation of lusts, so that
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Speaker 1: our hearts build in our lust with the result that
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Speaker 1: we reap for ourselves the consequences and a greater toll
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Speaker 1: of just vengeance. That's being given over. When he gives
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Speaker 1: us over, we turn to idolatry. That's mentioned in verses
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Speaker 1: 24 and 25. See in the verse 25, they exchange
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Speaker 1: the truth for a lie. Idolaters worship the creature rather
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Speaker 1: than the creator. We worship things rather than our God
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Speaker 1: because we suppress the truth of God. It's easy to
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Speaker 1: think in terms of the third world kind of idolatry,
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Speaker 1: but there is idolatry all around us. There's an idolatry
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Speaker 1: connected with possessions. A car you drive. A home you build.
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Speaker 1: A child you have. Furniture you own. A position or
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Speaker 1: status you're proud of. A role you've filled. All these
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Speaker 1: can be idols and we see them on display regularly.
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Speaker 1: They represent an exchange. We exchange truth from God for lies,
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Speaker 1: worshiping then the things God has given us rather than himself,
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Speaker 1: the giver. So much for idolatry. I don't want you
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Speaker 1: to miss, however, that in the process, Hearts become impure
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Speaker 1: and bodies become dishonored. Verse 24 tells us. Idolatry and
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Speaker 1: impurity are joined at the hip. Where you have one,
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Speaker 1: you have the other. And where you have impurity, you
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Speaker 1: will find the dishonoring of the body. We looked at
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Speaker 1: that last time. No need to go back over it. Second,
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Speaker 1: God gives us over To immorality. Verses 26 and 27.
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Speaker 1: See how it reads?
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Speaker 2: 26.
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Speaker 1: For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions.
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Speaker 1: The word literally means to passions of dishonor. And then
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Speaker 1: he goes on to describe lesbianism in verse 26. 26.
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Speaker 1: And then male homosexuality in verse 27, under the category
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Speaker 1: of passions of dishonor. Before I go into each, why
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Speaker 1: would Paul single the attention of his reader onto that subject,
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Speaker 1: where the natural is exchanged for the unnatural? By the way,
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Speaker 1: that's another exchange. In idolatry, there is the exchanging of
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Speaker 1: truth for a lie. Here, there is the exchanging of
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Speaker 1: the natural sexual drive for the unnatural. We'll get to
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Speaker 1: that in a moment. Why would Paul focus on that?
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Speaker 1: Several reasons. Number one, he's writing from Corinth. Corinth, the
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Speaker 1: sin capital of ancient Greece. Paul, I am sure, witnessed
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Speaker 1: it and was around it all of his ministry and
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Speaker 1: saw it certainly in and around the streets and back
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Speaker 1: alleys of Corinth. Second, in Greek culture of the first century,
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Speaker 1: It was taught that homosexuality was the highest form of love.
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Speaker 1: Children were taught this as they grew up. Adults believed
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Speaker 1: this as they reached adulthood. Many high-born Greeks maintained male
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Speaker 1: lovers along with marital partners in life. 14 of the
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Speaker 1: first 15 Roman emperors were practicing homosexuals. philosophers such as
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Speaker 1: Socrates and others, practicing homosexuals. So Paul mentioning the sin
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Speaker 1: or these sins merely is addressing the relevant subject surely
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Speaker 1: many in Rome wondered about. Specifically, verse 26 addresses the female,
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Speaker 1: and the reason I use that word is because that's
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Speaker 1: the Greek term Paul uses, and in the 27th verse
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Speaker 1: he refers to the males. Female with female, male with male.
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Speaker 1: Please observe in verse 26, as the subject of lesbianism
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Speaker 1: is addressed, that it is a change from the natural
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Speaker 1: function to that which is unnatural. What does that mean?
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Speaker 1: Let me help. When you think of natural, think of
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Speaker 1: God's created order. Think of God's original intentions. In God's
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Speaker 1: created order and in God's original intention, there was the
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Speaker 1: creation of the male and the creation of the female
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Speaker 1: to be brought together in a bond where there would
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Speaker 1: be the reproduction of life. Impossible male with male, impossible
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Speaker 1: female with female. Let me show you. Genesis chapter 1,
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Speaker 1: verse 26. Hold your place in Romans 1 and go
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Speaker 1: to the first book of the Bible. And look at
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Speaker 1: verse 26. After God had made all other things, he
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Speaker 1: comes to the making of humanity. Verse 26, chapter 1.
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Speaker 1: Then God said, let us make man in our image
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Speaker 1: according to our likeness. And let them rule over the
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Speaker 1: fish of the sea and over the birds of the
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Speaker 1: sky and over the cattle, over all the earth, over
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Speaker 1: every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Now watch
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Speaker 1: the natural order. God created man in his own image.
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Speaker 1: In the image of God, he created him male. And female,
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Speaker 1: he created them. God blessed them and God said to them,
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Speaker 1: be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. That is
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Speaker 1: the natural intention of God's creative plan. And that is
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Speaker 1: what Paul means when he says they exchanged the natural
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Speaker 1: intention or the unnatural. I appreciated the writings here of
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Speaker 1: John R. W. Stott, as I often do in my study.
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Speaker 1: His work on Romans is a masterpiece, and in this
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Speaker 1: particular section he writes, at the beginning, the creator made
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Speaker 1: them male and female, and said, for this reason a
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Speaker 1: man will leave his father and mother and be united
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Speaker 1: to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
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Speaker 1: So they are no longer two, but one. Then Jesus
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Speaker 1: added his personal endorsement and deduction. Therefore, what God has
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Speaker 1: joined together, let man not separate. In other words, God
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Speaker 1: created humankind, male and female. God instituted marriage as a
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Speaker 1: heterosexual union. And what God has thus united, we have
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Speaker 1: no liberty to separate. This threefold action of God established
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Speaker 1: that The only context which he intends for the one
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Speaker 1: flesh experience is heterosexual monogamy. And that a homosexual partnership,
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Speaker 1: however loving and committed it may claim to be, is
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Speaker 1: against nature. And can never be regarded as a legitimate
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Speaker 1: alternative to marriage. Let me make two closing comments before
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Speaker 1: we go on to another subject. And these comments will
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Speaker 1: take a little bit of time. Bear with me. First,
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Speaker 1: to view lesbianism and homosexuality as anything but sinful is
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Speaker 1: to remove any hope from the ability to recover. Repeat.
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Speaker 1: To view lesbianism and homosexuality as anything but sinful is
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Speaker 1: to remove any hope of being able to recover from it.
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Speaker 1: If it is a sickness, as we're told in many
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Speaker 1: corners of this world today, it is the only sickness
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Speaker 1: mentioned in the Bible that is deserving of death. It
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Speaker 1: doesn't fit a sickness. Furthermore, you are left to explain
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Speaker 1: what Paul meant when he said, and such were some
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Speaker 1: of you. adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals. Such were some of you,
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Speaker 1: but you were washed. You're not washed from a sickness.
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Speaker 1: What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood
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Speaker 1: of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but
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Speaker 1: the blood of Jesus. I realize that some of you
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Speaker 1: have opportunity, as I do, to give counsel to those
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Speaker 1: who who are in the midst of this lifestyle. I'm
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Speaker 1: grateful for the words of one particular man who writes,
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Speaker 1: To inform a Christian client in an early interview, your
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Speaker 1: problem seems basically to be the result of sin, does
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Speaker 1: not discourage him, but rather gives him hope. Christians know
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Speaker 1: that sin and its effect can be dealt with because
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Speaker 1: God has said so in the scriptures. And Christ died
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Speaker 1: to overcome sin, so when sin is mentioned, There is
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Speaker 1: real hope. One is not a homosexual constitutionally any more
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Speaker 1: than one is an adulterer constitutionally. Homosexuality is not considered
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Speaker 1: to be a condition but an act. It is viewed
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Speaker 1: as a sinful practice which can become a way of life.
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Speaker 1: He adds a little later in another work, the newest
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Speaker 1: escape among Christians that has come to attention is the
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Speaker 1: propagation of the idea that Satan is in a special
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Speaker 1: way directly responsible for homosexuality. While Satan surely rejoices in
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Speaker 1: its prevalence and encourages its spread by holding the temptation
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Speaker 1: before men, he cannot be blamed for homosexual sin in
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Speaker 1: such a way as to remove the responsibility from the
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Speaker 1: one who commits it. Homosexual behavior is sin, not the
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Speaker 1: product of irresistible satanic influence or demon possession. or control.
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Speaker 1: Such an idea involves an attempt to moderate the plain
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Speaker 1: biblical position regarding homosexuality and as a result again removes
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Speaker 1: hope from those who accept this faulty explanation. In no
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Speaker 1: passage scripture in which homosexuality is condemned is it ever
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Speaker 1: specially linked to satanic or demonic influence. Second comment I
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Speaker 1: want to make. It is unbiblical Inaccurate and grossly unkind
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Speaker 1: to say God hates lesbians and homosexuals. Don't do that.
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Speaker 1: It's terribly unchristian. No more than he hates the thief
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Speaker 1: or he hates the murderer or he hates the gossip.
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Speaker 1: We do the hating. and thereby block many an opportunity
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Speaker 1: to win the hearts and minds of those trapped in
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Speaker 1: the sin. May I return to my friend Ray? I
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Speaker 1: wasn't there at the time, but a fellow intern some
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Speaker 1: years later said that he was with Ray when Ray
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Speaker 1: Stedman read a newspaper advertisement where a group of homosexuals
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Speaker 1: were meeting, not far from where Ray lived. Ray said
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Speaker 1: to the intern, why don't you come with me tonight?
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Speaker 1: Let's go to the meeting. The intern said, me? There
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Speaker 1: are several others that are interns. He says, you. So
29:38
Speaker 1: he said, they got in the car. They drove there.
29:40
Speaker 1: and they went. They sat in the group, and they
29:41
Speaker 1: were meeting, he said, as I recall, the second floor
29:44
Speaker 1: of a home. And he said, we were surrounded by
29:48
Speaker 1: homosexuals and lesbians. And he said, the man up front
29:53
Speaker 1: spoke of the hatred that many of the people had
29:55
Speaker 1: encountered from one person or another And he said, if
29:59
Speaker 1: any of you have something you would like to share,
30:00
Speaker 1: I'd like you to stand. And the intern said to me,
30:02
Speaker 1: I could not believe it, but Ray stood up. And
30:06
Speaker 1: he said, hi, I'm Ray. I'm here to say I'm sorry.
30:16
Speaker 1: You see, I'm a Christian, and I'm sorry for the
30:18
Speaker 1: way other fellow Christians have treated you. He said... He said,
30:28
Speaker 1: you talk about silence. It was like they did not
30:33
Speaker 1: know what they were going to hear. And Ray, without one,
30:36
Speaker 1: one word that was ugly or misplaced, he spontaneously and
30:43
Speaker 1: and just from his heart said, I want all of
30:45
Speaker 1: you to know I'm a pastor of a church and
30:49
Speaker 1: you're welcome to come. We're right down here at Middlefield Road.
30:57
Speaker 1: And you're welcome. And he said, by the way, I'll
31:01
Speaker 1: stay if you want to talk. I just want you
31:04
Speaker 1: to know I regret that you've ever experienced hatred because
31:09
Speaker 1: you were not hated. Our God absolutely loves every one
31:15
Speaker 1: of you. And there's hope for you. The following Sunday,
31:21
Speaker 1: there were a number of them there. I wonder how
31:26
Speaker 1: we would feel With a number of them here. I
31:34
Speaker 1: love it. Where else are they going to hear. Words
31:40
Speaker 1: of hope. Where else. Is there a community. That knows Jesus.
31:51
Speaker 1: Is willing to say to them. Hey. That's your sin.
31:57
Speaker 1: I tell you. I got my own. But together, you
32:01
Speaker 1: know what? We can know a God who forgives. Please.
32:09
Speaker 1: Be very careful how you express your hatred for the sin. Please.
32:17
Speaker 1: Already this day, I've had three individuals come to me
32:21
Speaker 1: who talked openly about their struggles. And they said, It's
32:28
Speaker 1: hard to find a place as we try to figure
32:32
Speaker 1: out what life is like and about. I mean, where
32:36
Speaker 1: they don't throw you out. And our part of the
32:42
Speaker 1: country is bad about that. Okay. Let's forget geography. Let's
32:52
Speaker 1: forget roots. Let's remember Christ. who was criticized not for
32:58
Speaker 1: spending time with the religious. He was criticized for spending
33:03
Speaker 1: time with the sinners. Admittedly, verse 27 concludes with serious words.
33:18
Speaker 1: Men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their
33:21
Speaker 1: own persons the due penalty of their error. It happens
33:25
Speaker 1: with lesbians also. It happens with homosexuals. There are unique
33:32
Speaker 1: penalties connected with it. Confusion of self-worth, self-identity. There are
33:40
Speaker 1: sexually transmitted sins that come only in that manner. There
33:44
Speaker 1: are a number of things. Paul doesn't spell them out,
33:46
Speaker 1: nor should I. But the sad fact is that only
33:51
Speaker 1: adds to the horror of Of all that goes with
33:55
Speaker 1: that lifestyle. God gave them over. To idolatry. Which led to.
34:08
Speaker 1: Bodies that are dishonored. God gave them over. To passions
34:13
Speaker 1: that are degrading. God now verse 28. Gave them over.
34:20
Speaker 1: To a depraved mind. Look at that. Look at the
34:24
Speaker 1: words depraved mind. Adokimos, A-D-I, A-D-O-K-I-M-O-S. Adokimos means tested and
34:37
Speaker 1: found worthless. Tested and found to be of no use.
34:42
Speaker 1: When I worked in a machine shop going through school,
34:45
Speaker 1: there were times that we would run off pieces of
34:47
Speaker 1: the product we were making and they would be out
34:50
Speaker 1: of dimension. They would not be useful products. They were
34:54
Speaker 1: known simply in one word as scrap. You would take
34:57
Speaker 1: the product and you would toss it in a pile
35:00
Speaker 1: of scrap metal. That's what this is about. Here is
35:04
Speaker 1: a mind that becomes like scrap. Full of that which
35:09
Speaker 1: is worthless and useless. Now to the hedonist who hears this,
35:14
Speaker 1: Paul writes as an exaggerated, narrow-minded Jewish Pharisee. And his
35:20
Speaker 1: narrowness comes out. in these words like a hysterical moralist. No, no,
35:26
Speaker 1: Paul is a realist. Paul has spent his life of
35:30
Speaker 1: ministry with just such individuals as this. It's a portrayal
35:37
Speaker 1: of life that leaves God out. It's depravity on parade. Interestingly,
35:44
Speaker 1: when James Montgomery Boyce begins to write on verses 28
35:48
Speaker 1: to 32 in his fine work on Romans, He entitles
35:51
Speaker 1: the chapter, Lifting the Lid on Hell. There was a
35:59
Speaker 1: litany of 21 vices between verse 29 and verse 31.
36:07
Speaker 1: And it's like the lid of hell is lifted. That
36:10
Speaker 1: isn't original with Boyce, by the way. He got it
36:13
Speaker 1: from John Gerstner, who wrote The Atonement and the Purpose
36:16
Speaker 1: of God. in which Gerstner writes, man as sinner hates God,
36:21
Speaker 1: hates man, and hates himself. He would kill God if
36:25
Speaker 1: he could. He does kill his fellow man when he can.
36:31
Speaker 1: And he commits spiritual suicide every day of his life.
36:34
Speaker 1: Penetrate beneath the thin veneer of human culture and respectability
36:39
Speaker 1: and you lift the lid of hell. Here the lid
36:42
Speaker 1: is lifted. And you can read in these few verses
36:48
Speaker 1: life as it is when God and the truth of
36:51
Speaker 1: God are suppressed. I confess to you that it is
36:56
Speaker 1: almost impossible to categorize these 21 vices. There's no neat
37:03
Speaker 1: classification for them, so we will sort of work our
37:06
Speaker 1: way through them since you know the meaning of most
37:08
Speaker 1: of them and don't need that explained. Allow me. The
37:11
Speaker 1: first four sins are general types of sins with which
37:16
Speaker 1: human depravity is filled. See how it reads, verse 29,
37:22
Speaker 1: being filled with, here are the four, all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil.
37:35
Speaker 1: General categories of sin, and you could take any one
37:40
Speaker 1: of them and develop a whole series of statements to
37:43
Speaker 1: be made about them. In the next group, we find
37:47
Speaker 1: five more sins that the depraved are full of. You
37:50
Speaker 1: know how we'll sometimes say rather sarcastically, oh, he's full
37:54
Speaker 1: of it. Well, this is what the depraved are full of.
37:58
Speaker 1: Verse 29 concludes, full of envy, full of murder, full
38:05
Speaker 1: of strife, full of deceit, full of malice. Imagine living
38:13
Speaker 1: in a society like that. My friends, we do. We do.
38:21
Speaker 1: We have come to the place where we not only
38:23
Speaker 1: acknowledge that it goes on, we no longer blush. We
38:28
Speaker 1: no longer get a chill up the back of our
38:30
Speaker 1: neck when we read of a mother drowning a family
38:33
Speaker 1: of children. Shocked a little, but we read another of
38:40
Speaker 1: a A couple of boys that walk into a high
38:43
Speaker 1: school and indiscriminately fire away these assault weapons, killing one another, another,
38:49
Speaker 1: and another, along with principal, teacher alike. We will read
38:55
Speaker 1: of men invading little innocent children at school and binding
38:59
Speaker 1: them and killing them after assaulting them. They're full of it.
39:08
Speaker 1: And so are you. And so am I without Christ.
39:14
Speaker 1: Take away the cross. I'm running for my life from
39:18
Speaker 1: the law. And so are you. This isn't about them.
39:24
Speaker 1: It's but for the grace of God. It's about us.
39:29
Speaker 1: Don't ever forget. that. And then he turns to two
39:36
Speaker 1: of the more acceptable sins, especially for Christians. Gossips and slanderers.
39:46
Speaker 1: Chances are good in the last two weeks you've done both.
39:53
Speaker 1: One is behind closed doors. It's done in secret or
39:56
Speaker 1: with your family. Where you say things that are hurtful
40:00
Speaker 1: and malicious. And the listening ears are then impacted by
40:07
Speaker 1: what is said in the gossip. And it tends to
40:10
Speaker 1: smear the reputation of one who isn't there to defend
40:13
Speaker 1: herself or himself. Putting a wrong twist on an innocent act.
40:20
Speaker 1: The other is out in the open. It's slander. It's
40:23
Speaker 1: trumpeting words that are hurtful and marked by accusation and
40:28
Speaker 1: deliberate attempt to smear reputations. Both have no place in
40:33
Speaker 1: the Christian family. Both have no place in the believer's life.
40:39
Speaker 1: Stop it. If that is your habit, conquer it. You
40:45
Speaker 1: have the spirit of God within you who is grieved
40:49
Speaker 1: every time you do either. The four sins that follow
40:55
Speaker 1: seem to be related to different forms of extreme pride.
41:00
Speaker 1: Look closely. Verse 30, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful.
41:13
Speaker 1: Haters of God, there's pride there, insolent, arrogant, boastful. boastful.
41:20
Speaker 1: These would be those puffed up with elevated opinions of themselves,
41:26
Speaker 1: wanting to control, wanting to take charge, wanting to be known,
41:33
Speaker 1: wanting to be seen. We do it in a dozen
41:37
Speaker 1: different ways. The next two are a couple of independent
41:40
Speaker 1: types of sins that I find shocking. Look closely. One
41:47
Speaker 1: is inventors of evil, and the other is disobedient to parents.
41:53
Speaker 1: Taking the last one first, this has reference to disrespecting
41:59
Speaker 1: those who have reared us, given us birth, trained us
42:04
Speaker 1: as children, helped us through our adolescence, and now may
42:09
Speaker 1: not be quite as effective as they once were. Our
42:13
Speaker 1: tendency and pride is to race on beyond them. how
42:16
Speaker 1: wonderful it is to see adults respecting their parents. Cynthia
42:24
Speaker 1: and I have an attorney friend who recently lost his father,
42:29
Speaker 1: and our email has been somewhat full of reports of
42:33
Speaker 1: the man's adoration for his dad, who never got beyond
42:36
Speaker 1: the eighth grade in his education. My attorney friend, of course,
42:40
Speaker 1: has his law degree, but he said what I learned
42:44
Speaker 1: from my father could not even be put into words.
42:47
Speaker 1: And the memorial service was just an honor to the man.
42:50
Speaker 1: Cynthia and I talked about how great it is to
42:53
Speaker 1: see that and how unusual. Please observe, not satisfied with
43:04
Speaker 1: the expected, there are those who invent new forms of evil.
43:10
Speaker 1: You really have to let your mind tumble to go there.
43:13
Speaker 1: An illustration will help. We were friends with a woman
43:18
Speaker 1: who had colon surgery. They found cancer. They cut into
43:23
Speaker 1: her abdomen, large scar, painful surgery, very painful recovery. And
43:29
Speaker 1: while recovering, she was finally able to get to her feet,
43:33
Speaker 1: carrying this large scar and really walking gingerly to get about.
43:41
Speaker 1: She decided one day to have lunch with her friend
43:43
Speaker 1: and This lady was available, and they drove to a
43:45
Speaker 1: place that was, this is out of the open, broad daylight, lunch.
43:49
Speaker 1: She gets out one side. The friend gets out the
43:51
Speaker 1: other side who had been driving. Both of them are
43:54
Speaker 1: assaulted by thugs. One of them kicks her in the
43:57
Speaker 1: belly time after time after time after time. She bleeds,
44:02
Speaker 1: of course. Her friend is being kicked in the face
44:06
Speaker 1: and in the back. Thugs. A friend from another country
44:11
Speaker 1: is visiting there, a person from Canada. who walks up
44:15
Speaker 1: to help and gets teeth knocked out of his head
44:18
Speaker 1: in the process. But he does succeed in getting rid
44:21
Speaker 1: of the thugs. As the police came and the charges
44:27
Speaker 1: were filed, the police said with a sigh, in our
44:30
Speaker 1: part of the country, this is now the new thrill.
44:33
Speaker 1: By the way, they never took their purses, their money,
44:35
Speaker 1: their keys, or their car. They wanted nothing but to
44:39
Speaker 1: see them bleed. that's depraved. That's today's world. Just the
44:53
Speaker 1: thrill of watching them groan and pass out. You reach
45:04
Speaker 1: the bottom of the rung when you come to senseless, faithless, heartless,
45:08
Speaker 1: and ruthless. Senseless. They don't learn lessons in life. They
45:15
Speaker 1: keep doing the same thing again and again, which is
45:18
Speaker 1: a form of lunacy. Faithless. They're not willing to honor
45:22
Speaker 1: agreements and contracts. We see it every week. They're faithless. Heartless.
45:31
Speaker 1: Bonds of human affection are destroyed, sometimes deliberately, to get
45:36
Speaker 1: one's own way. And carelessly. And ruthlessly. totally without pity
45:43
Speaker 1: and without mercy. Final blow, as if it could be worse,
45:49
Speaker 1: verse 32, although they know the ordinance of God that
45:54
Speaker 1: those who practice such things are worthy of death, they
45:57
Speaker 1: not only do the same, they give hearty approval to
46:02
Speaker 1: those who practice them. Not only are they done doing
46:12
Speaker 1: they are watched and applauded by fellow depraved humanity. Personal
46:20
Speaker 1: friend and fellow pastor and author Dr. Kent Hughes of
46:25
Speaker 1: the College Church at Wheaton writes this in his fine
46:29
Speaker 1: work on Romans. This was one of the supreme horrors
46:33
Speaker 1: of the Roman Colosseum. Those committing the mayhem were supremely guilty,
46:39
Speaker 1: but those watching and applauding were perhaps even more wretched.
46:44
Speaker 1: What a telling application this has on our media-captivated society.
46:50
Speaker 1: Millions sit in their living rooms watching debauchery, violence, deceit,
46:54
Speaker 1: and many other vices and applaud what they see. It
46:58
Speaker 1: makes little difference whether the vices are real or portrayed.
47:02
Speaker 1: The effect is much the same. An increasingly depraved mind
47:07
Speaker 1: on the part of the viewer approving another sin or
47:11
Speaker 1: encouraging another sin is a sign that life has reached
47:15
Speaker 1: its lowest dimension. The Christians are not exempt from this.
47:20
Speaker 1: Satan knows that if he can get us to laugh
47:23
Speaker 1: at things we believe we would never do, our defenses
47:27
Speaker 1: will fall. Maybe someday our unwitting approval will give way
47:31
Speaker 1: to action. We need to be careful what we watch
47:36
Speaker 1: and applaud. You need to be careful what your children
47:41
Speaker 1: watch and applaud. You need to screen the video games.
47:51
Speaker 1: You need to stop excusing it because it is all fantasy.
47:57
Speaker 1: Where do these boys learn to carry assault weapons to schools?
48:05
Speaker 1: The media helps them invent the evil. On this despairing note,
48:14
Speaker 1: the most vivid portrayal of humanity, depraved humanity ends. It
48:22
Speaker 1: is ugly, dark, scandalous, shocking. Listen to a review. So
48:34
Speaker 1: God said, in effect, that's what you want. That's what
48:37
Speaker 1: you get. It wasn't long before they were living in
48:41
Speaker 1: a pig pen smeared with filth, filthy inside and out.
48:44
Speaker 1: All this because they traded the true God for a
48:47
Speaker 1: fake God and worship the God they made instead of
48:49
Speaker 1: the God who made them. The God we bless, the
48:53
Speaker 1: God who blesses us. Oh, yes. Worse followed. Refusing to
48:59
Speaker 1: know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either.
49:04
Speaker 1: Women didn't know how to be women. Men didn't know
49:06
Speaker 1: how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled
49:11
Speaker 1: one another. Women with women, men with men. All lust,
49:15
Speaker 1: no love. Then they paid for it. Oh, how they
49:18
Speaker 1: paid for it.
49:19
Speaker 2: Empty.
49:20
Speaker 1: Of God and love, godless and loveless wretches. Since they
49:28
Speaker 1: didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and
49:32
Speaker 1: let them run loose. Then all hell broke loose, rampant evil,
49:37
Speaker 1: grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on
49:41
Speaker 1: earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering and cheating. Look
49:47
Speaker 1: at them, mean-spirited, venomous, forked tongue, god bashers, bullies, swaggerers,
49:54
Speaker 1: insufferable windbags. They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives.
50:00
Speaker 1: They ditch their parents when they get in the way,
50:04
Speaker 1: stupid men. slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if
50:11
Speaker 1: they don't know better. They know perfectly well. They're spitting
50:14
Speaker 1: in God's face. They don't care. Worse, they hand out
50:18
Speaker 1: prizes to those who do the worst things best. How
50:28
Speaker 1: do you close a message like this? Honestly. I think
50:39
Speaker 1: two contrasting statements do it best. Number one, suppressing the
50:44
Speaker 1: truth incites the wrath of God. We've seen that. Suppressing
50:49
Speaker 1: the truth incites the wrath of God. You are responsible
50:52
Speaker 1: for the truth you hear. You even carry with you
50:56
Speaker 1: a book of the truth and claim you believe it.
51:01
Speaker 1: Practice it. That's our goal. Suppressing the truth incites the
51:09
Speaker 1: wrath of God. Embracing the truth invites the righteousness of God.
51:16
Speaker 1: Put the cross back in the picture and it is
51:18
Speaker 1: amazing what it does. What can wash away these sins?
51:26
Speaker 1: Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What do I have
51:29
Speaker 1: to do to be lost? Nothing. What do I have
51:32
Speaker 1: to do to be saved?
51:35
Speaker 2: Christ.
51:38
Speaker 1: And then I have his blood to wash away, to
51:41
Speaker 1: clean me up, to put me on my feet for
51:45
Speaker 1: the first time. John Bradford, one of the saintliest of
51:50
Speaker 1: the English reformers, stood in the shadows as he watched
51:53
Speaker 1: a poor soul being dragged through the streets in shackles,
51:58
Speaker 1: a murderer. On his way to the gallows to be hanged,
52:03
Speaker 1: it was Bradford who first said it there himself. But
52:09
Speaker 1: for the grace of God, go I. And when I
52:15
Speaker 1: look at this in Romans 1 there, but for the
52:18
Speaker 1: grace of God, am I. I'm right there. But for
52:25
Speaker 1: the grace of God, so are you. Let's bow together.
52:40
Speaker 1: You've been very gracious to sit and listen. I know
52:44
Speaker 1: you've had questions. I know you've wondered, but what about?
52:49
Speaker 1: Or you have an example you'd like to know about.
52:55
Speaker 1: Just pause long enough to let the truth in. Set
53:00
Speaker 1: aside the questions. As you look back over your past,
53:06
Speaker 1: can you see the cross of Christ? Do you find
53:12
Speaker 1: a time when you surrendered your life to Jesus? When
53:19
Speaker 1: you took up his way of life and released to
53:23
Speaker 1: him yours? When you believed that Christ died and had
53:30
Speaker 1: been raised for you? If not, you're lost. And your
53:39
Speaker 1: future is frighteningly grim. May God use these words to
53:48
Speaker 1: bring you to Christ is my prayer. If we can
53:54
Speaker 1: help you, we will meet in the prayer room. If
53:55
Speaker 1: we can help you, our soul care ministry is available.
53:58
Speaker 1: You'll find them all over the church. I'll be down front. Father,
54:06
Speaker 1: thank you for bringing us to our knees before you.
54:10
Speaker 1: Thank you for the healthy journey where we realize that
54:14
Speaker 1: we Are no better than any other soul. Thank you
54:19
Speaker 1: for the reminder. That hate never works. And it is
54:22
Speaker 1: totally un-Christ like. Thank you for the wrath. That opens
54:30
Speaker 1: the lid of hell. And allows us to see it
54:34
Speaker 1: at its worst. Thank you for deliverance from depravity. Thank
54:40
Speaker 1: you for a reason to go on. Thank you for
54:43
Speaker 1: hope beyond sin. Thank you for a reason. I pray
54:47
Speaker 1: that we will all grasp it and avail ourselves of
54:51
Speaker 1: it before it's too late. In the name of Jesus,
54:56
Speaker 1: everybody said, Amen.
55:01
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Cinerama in Panorama, was copyrighted in 2006, 2010,
55:06
Speaker 2: and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025
55:09
Speaker 2: by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc., All rights are reserved worldwide.
55:17
Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.