Exposed: The Great Cover-Up, Part 9

And turn to Romans one. Romans chapter one, where we
have been. Working through this section
that I have been called, I’ve been titled rather the great
cover up, which has been exposed and exposed by God. We have been
working our way through that section beginning in verse 18,
which itself is, in essence, another reason why Paul was so
eager, so desperate to get to Rome to preach the gospel. He
was eager to preach the gospel because it was the gospel of
God. It was God’s gospel, which he
explained in verse 15 through 17. It was God’s gospel and it bore
the power of God for salvation. And it revealed the righteousness
of God. And without the righteousness
of God, there would be no salvation. Paul was eager to go and to preach. He was eager to go and to preach
God’s good news to those who so desperately needed it. Not
just in Rome, but anywhere the Lord in His goodness would take
him. If you would, I want to go all
the way back to verse 18. We’ll take a running start at
this section that we’ll be in this morning. Where Paul wrote,
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men. who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
because that which is known about God is evident within them, for
God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the
world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine
nature have been clearly seen being understood through what
has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though
they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks. But they became futile in their
speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing
to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the
incorruptible God for an image. in the form of corruptible man
and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore, God gave them over
in the lust of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might
be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth
of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather
than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason,
God gave them over to degrading passions. For their women exchanged
the natural function for that which is unnatural. In the same
way also, the men abandoned the natural function of the woman
and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men, committing
indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty
of their error. And just as they did not see
fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved
mind to do those things which are not proper. Being filled
with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, malice, They are gossips, slanderers, haters
of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient
to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. And although they know the ordinance
of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death,
they not only do the same, but give hearty approval to those
who practice them. And with that, Paul closes not
only chapter one, but he closes essentially what has been an
introduction into the sin of the Gentile or the heathen world. That’s Paul’s purpose, and we
do the word a disservice to step away from that there have been
countless many who make too much of these verses and hear me out
when I say that. I’ve been in more than a few
services where someone will grab something out of this list, this
catalog of vices and preach on it as if even the slightest slip
is an indication that one is going to hell. If anybody’s involved
in an argument, they are people of strife. If anyone ever shares
any news, then they are gossips and hell bound. If they are even
the slightest hesitation in their obedience to parents, then they
are worthy of death. Well, I hope we can balance it
out as we go through it. Because Paul had a purpose to
these verses. What he was doing was painting
a picture of the Gentile or the heathen world. Paul was basically saying that,
look, this third cycle in the cycles of judgment, which were
introduced there in chapter 21, where we see the pattern rejection,
replacement and reprobation over and over again. Rejection, replacement,
and reprobation, where each time God gave them over, not out of
a capricious heart or spirit, but He gave them over to exactly
what they called for. If you would go back to verse
28, where Paul says, as we get into
the rejection portion of this phase, this third and final phase,
We’ve seen where God gave them over to essentially idolatry. We have seen where God gave them
over even to impurity. Here we see God give them over
one more time to themselves and to their own desires. Just as
they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, they rejected
him. Completely. The verb is a simple
verb that requires, we’ve seen it many times, it refers to testing,
it was used of testing gold, the process of determining whether
a metal was pure or not. It implies approval after testing. And essentially what it points
to here, what it means is they tested or they proved God and
they found Him wanting. They decided not to keep Him. They decided that He was worthless. Shocking. As one said, to acknowledge God
is to know Him in the sense of acknowledging Him, reckoning
with Him, taking Him into account in the practical affairs of one’s
life. A knowledge that goes beyond
a knowledge of God and which includes glorifying and thanking
Him. What they have refused to do
is seriously take God into account. The sin described here as refusing
to have God literally in their mind. They want to put him out
of their mind. And that has been their goal, remember, from the
very start. They sought to suppress the knowledge of God in their
sinfulness, in their unrighteousness. What they should have done is
each time they saw one of the beautiful attributes of God presented
to them through creation and in nature. What they should have
done is imbibed that and take it in and appropriate it into
their lives, which would have borne fruit in not only glorifying
God, praising God, giving Him thanks, but it would have borne
out in a thankful spirit, one that carried them beyond just
an initial worship service, it would have given them a thankful
heart, a thankful spirit. But instead of receiving the
revelation of God in nature, instead of receiving it as it
was a precious treasure, a bright light to them. They constantly and consistently
tried to suppress it in every way and at every turn. They didn’t
consider God to be worthwhile even to pay attention to. The passage moves along very
quickly. It isn’t like in times past where
Paul had to develop the thought here, he lays it out, they didn’t
see fit to acknowledge God any longer, and it moves quickly
to point to the replacement or The reprobation is both. The
replacement here is the reprobation. The reprobation is the replacement.
God basically gives them themselves. Gives them themselves in all
their sinfulness. In other words, they get what
they wanted all along. God gave them over to a depraved
mind. The word translated here, depraved,
is a fascinating word. As I began to get into it in
this past week and studying, it’s translated a number of different
ways in Scripture. First Corinthians 9.27 translates
as disqualified in the NAS. Second Corinthians 13 refers
to it as a failed test, which is interesting. Later on in that
same passage, it points to one who is unapproved. Second Timothy
3.8. Rejected. Titus 1.16 and Hebrews
6.8. It translates worthless. It’s actually a play on words.
And it’s a fascinating thing that Paul does here. With the
words translated that we have translated to acknowledge and
depraved, Paul has a play on words here. It’s adokimon and
adokimon. And while that sounds funny to
our ears, essentially what it means is that whereas they didn’t
approve of God, God gave them over to unproven minds. God gave
them over to worthless minds, rejected minds. Minds which were,
as one said, unable to stand the test that was applied to
it. A reprobate mind, said one pastor,
is a mind that is abandoned or rejected by God and therefore
not fit for any activity worthy of esteem. In other words, just
a life of foolishness, a life of stupidity, a life that is
rejected before God. And it’s a life that occurs not
just in the mind, but the mind being given over as worthless.
If you can imagine that mind controlling the body, controlling
the attitudes, controlling the temper, controlling the tongue,
controlling the priorities and the affections. Well, they get
what they always wanted. Look at verse 28 again. Just
as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them
over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper. Now, when I read this, I thought
that maybe the new American standard had knocked the rough edges off
a little bit. When it calls these things not
proper, I thought that maybe in the translation something
was lost, but it really isn’t. It’s a fairly mild word. And
so it led me to wonder why on earth would Paul not say it stronger
here? He’s actually after all, he’s
drawing a conclusion here. He’s landing the plane, as we
say. The only thing I could think
of here is that Paul is making an intentionally gross understatement
for effect. What he’s saying, it would be
akin to after watching somebody beat somebody else silly, telling
them, don’t hurt them. Be kind. Don’t be too hard on
them. What Paul says when he says he
gives them over to do those things which are not proper, it couldn’t
get any worse. Couldn’t get any worse. Yeah,
they’re not proper. Now, regarding this list of sins,
this what has been called catalog of vices, Paul addresses a third
form of reprobation here. As I said, God has given them
over to idolatry. That was the first phase that
referred to their relationship with God. He gave them over,
secondly, to impurity. That was the second phase that
referred to the relationship with their own physical bodies.
And here, with regard to their relationship with others, God
gave them over. Let’s consider this list. And
in case you glance down at the bulletin and you saw the passage
that I provided you, which said that this is part nine of the
series, And you see in the bulletin, in the order of service, you
see part 10 in the series. This isn’t a forecast. I do intend
to get through this list today. I intend to preach it as Paul
may have preached it when given the opportunity. It is a unit.
And by God’s grace, we’ll keep it as such. Paul says this, just
as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them
over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper,
being filled with all unrighteousness. And remember, that’s where it
started, right? That’s where this whole discussion started
back in verse 18. The wrath of God revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They know what’s right. They
know what’s proper. That unrighteousness is a blanket
term. It’s a generic term that suggests
that this is the starting point for all of the rest. They are
filled with all unrighteousness and Paul is going to color it
in graphic terms. All unrighteousness and wickedness. People who take delight, literally,
in doing what is wrong. That’s how it’s used. Jesus used it of the Pharisees.
In the Gospels, it’s recorded that Jesus addressed the Pharisees. You Pharisees, clean the outside
of the cup. They were so concerned about
germs. They were so concerned about
being impure or being made impure in a physical sense. You clean
the outside of the coffin of the platter, but inside of you,
you are full of robbery and wickedness. Jesus addressed their sin. They took delight in doing wrong. Ephesians 6.12 says it this way.
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers,
against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness,
against the spiritual forces of wickedness. Satan and his
demons and all of their vile ideas and vile agenda. That’s
the wickedness. Greed. Not only in righteousness
and wickedness, but greed. And when I first saw this, I
thought, you know, standard fare here. Talking about money. Talking about our tendency to,
no matter how much we have, to want more. The leech has two
daughters, says the Proverbs. Give, give. No matter how much
we want, we want more. There’s a lot more here. than
just monetary greed. There’s a lot more here than
just materialistic greed. It is a selfish desire for more
than what is enough. It is, as one said, the thirst,
the constant thirst for having more, always having more and
more and still more. One begins to bring out the true
nuance of this word when it says it denotes the ruthless self-assertion
of the man who will pursue his own interests with complete disregard
for the rights of others and for all consideration of humanity. And if you’ve ever driven I-25,
you know that this is a rampant disease. They don’t care about
you. I remember seeing a bumper sticker
that basically trumpeted this very attitude. Bumper sticker
just simply said, yes, as a matter of fact, I do own the road. They
don’t care about each other. They don’t care about the rights
and considerations of the rest of humanity. Another began to
color it this way when he said it is a ravenous self assertion. And I’m going to be delicate
here in the fulfillment of lustful desires at the expense of others. You know where we were last week.
Go back in your mind’s eye to that section with all of the
vile impurities that we addressed there. And then you add greed
to that in that realm. That’s what’s being spoken of
here. It isn’t just monetary materialistic greed. its greed
in order to gratify your desires, regardless of what it costs anybody
else. And in a nation, a culture that
is rife with rape and abuse of all sorts, we begin to see that,
yes, not only has this been true of heathen humanity throughout
the centuries, it is more true today than it’s ever been. Man cannot be his own physician.
Man cannot be his own healer. He cannot be his own cure. We’re
not getting better. We’re getting worse by the day. If you think I’m embellishing
this term greed, if you think you want to stay just with money,
this is exactly how Paul uses it later in Ephesians 4.19. They have become callous, they
have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of
every kind of impurity with greediness. In Ephesians 5.3, later on in
that same book, immorality or impurity or greed,
and in that context, that’s exactly what it’s talking about, must
not be named even among you as is proper among the saints. not only unrighteousness and
wickedness and greed, but evil, another general word. But it has a particular flavor. Evil is definitely a good translation
of this word, but sometimes it’s such an overused word, we really
lose the meaning of the word. What it talks about is cruelty. Just abject cruelty. Hatred that has legs. Hatred that is practically applied. It is cruelty of such a kind
that gives what one called an evil habit of mind that actually
desires the harm of others. It rejoices in another’s calamity. Titus 3.3 warned of those who
spend their life in malice and envy and maliciousness is a good
translation here. It isn’t just that one happens
to stumble into some bad behavior. This is someone who wakes up
planning the bad behavior. This is someone who’s given over
to it. When Peter warned the saints
to beware of this disease, he warned of what one translated
as a superfluity of naughtiness. Just an overabundance of naughtiness. And you know how Paul’s tendency
is to attach hooper super to everything. So many different
ways, both in good and bad ways, Paul attached that as a way of
intensifying that word. Overflowing with malice is really
a good translation even here. Ephesians 4.31, warned of those
to let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander
be put away from you, along with all malice. Put it away. And absolutely, should the Christian
live in such a way that we cannot hold on to grudges, we cannot
cultivate unkind feelings towards others.
We cannot harbor bitterness and cultivate those things because
the fruit of those things is this kind of malice. As one described it, it is naughtiness,
wickedness, malignity, moral pollution of every kind, which
seems to imply a manifold wickedness. In other words, they never lose
their creativity in finding new ways to apply this practical
hatred. Thomas Manton, the Puritan, So carefully said, there is an
unsuitableness between a filthy spirit and a pure holy word. And therefore, they that will
not leave their accustomed sinned or are unfit hearers, the overflowing
of malice. So it notes scoffs and railings
and evil speakings. In other words, the natural man
does not want to hear the word because he wants to grip and
hold on to so that he may exercise his practical hatred called malice,
evil. not only unrighteousness and
wickedness and greed and evil, but Paul goes on to say they
are full of envy. And when he does here, and may
I pause to just say there were many different attempts to categorize
this list and to neatly package this list into four elements
and then five and now twelve. At the end of the day, you shrug
your shoulders and say, and for what purpose? It is a list, a
catalog of vices. And they’re not even all here.
There are plenty of other sins and sinful behaviors that are
not listed in this catalog. But here there is a brief segue
into one particular sin that does have a tendency to lead
in and to issue forth a host of other sins. When Paul says
they are full of envy, that will lead to murder. Envy leads to
murder. Envy leads to strife. Envy leads
to deceit. And envy leads to malice. We’ll
come back to those. Envy. One of the oldest sins
of all. Hatred of others because of what
they have. This is life given to malice. We breathe life into it, we’ve
cultivated, we’ve hung on to it for far too long and now we’re
going to exact our justice. It is a malicious treatment of
people over things. It is a placing of things above
people. This little word, envy, is used
in a good sense. In a particular place, James
chapter 4, it’s used of God. He jealously desires. And that’s
the nuance here. It’s a jealous desire for something
that someone else has. In God’s case, God jealously
desires the spirit which He has made to dwell in us. Used completely
differently of God. But for us, it is that age old. Green monster of envy. Paul even warned that we should
be careful in the way that we even talk to each other. Because
it can lead to envy. He said it this way, that somebody
who is constantly engaging in these debates and questions is
conceited and understands nothing. He has a morbid interest in controversial
questions, disputes about words out of which arise envy, strife,
abusive language, evil suspicions. I’ve often said that Bible study,
the average Bible study, is a dangerous place. If it’s not carefully treated,
if it’s not guided, if you sit around and you talk about what
you think the passage means and everybody takes their turn, Paul
says, what’s going to grow out of that deal is envy and strife. And so often that’s exactly what
happens. Paul warned Titus to warn those
to whom he was ministering on the island of Crete that they
were to have a testimony to those people. They were to live lives
that proclaimed the Lord Jesus. And then he tells Titus why.
Why is it so important that we have a testimony in Crete? Why
is it so important that we have a testimony in Fort Collins?
For we also once were foolish ourselves. deceived, enslaved
to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and
envy, hateful, hating one another. It used to be us. That was us. And only by the grace of God
have we been set free. We can remember what it was like
to look down our nose at someone simply because of the thing that
they had, simply because we didn’t have it. We can remember that.
That’s what Paul tells Titus. Remind them. Remind them from
whence they came. This is the person who simply
puts things over people and resents others simply because of their
prosperity or because of their privilege. or because of their
position in life. And it often leads to hatred. It often leads to grudges. It
will lead to strife and conflict. And it will lead to bitterness. One characterized it in these
terms. He said one disputant, one part of the argument, one
person in one of these discussions, smarting under defeat, begins
to waste away. He is filled with malignant ill
will, with poisonous spite against the victor. What an interesting
way to color it. A poisonous spite. I’m going
to get him. It’s a matter of time. I don’t
know how or when I’m going to get him back. The first thing that Paul says
that it leads to, I believe, in this list is murder. He starts
with the worst. I mean, what could be worse than
that? This and the next three are all
these regular fruits of envy. Scripture often records instances,
you know, where envy led to murder. The very first murder, right?
Very first murder when Cain killed Abel was essentially born out
of envy. The attempt at the same by Joseph
and his brothers. And you basically have that pattern established in scripture
and played out through history. One individual envies another
for what he has essentially goes to take it away and either accidentally
kills the individual or a much easier way to secure that property
is just to get him out of the way completely to begin with.
Nations operate on the same principle. One nation wants what another
nation has, whether it’s goods or whether it’s the people for
slavery. They begin to move forward with
that plan, perhaps to adopt them as slaves, and if they won’t
comply, then they kill them. Murder. Not only murder, but
strife. This is where trouble begins.
That’s exactly what James 4 said, right? You do not have Because
you do not ask, you do not have, and you end up with murder. Strife, wrangling, contention. In fact, a lot of times strife
just bubbles below the surface because we’re too afraid to commit
the murder. But strife, I would even go so
far as to say, is essentially a slow murder. This wrangling,
this contention, this hatred that just bubbles just below
the surface. One said of it, it is the person
who lost the debate, who is unwilling to admit defeat. Bitter discord
ensues, one man constantly contradicting the other. You see those conversations
again, Paul talked about in first Timothy six, four. Careless,
ridiculous conversations about foolish things produce strife. No wonder Paul reiterated his
advice to young Titus, the only elder on the entire island. It
was tasked with going around and planting not only churches,
but planting elders. And he said, you’ve got to you’ve
got a lot of work ahead of you. You need to avoid a few things.
Avoid foolish controversies. Don’t get into that stuff. Don’t
get into all those political debates. Don’t get into all this
stuff. Don’t get into the genealogies.
Don’t get into the strife and the disputes about the law. Why? Because they are unprofitable
and they are worth less. Won’t save anybody. It won’t
advance the cause of Christ even a bit. strife. It’s a contentious spirit. It’s somebody who is just always
ready to argue. I know an individual like this,
I’m sure we all do. It doesn’t matter what the subject
is. It doesn’t matter what position you take. I’ve often been amused to even
the slightest, most mundane subject. If I were to claim that the sky
was blue, this individual would retort, well, it’s actually a
form of blue green. It’s a quarrelsome disposition
that ultimately carries forth with consequences that will tear
relationships apart. Not only strife, but the third
part of this fruit of envy is deceit. The interesting word
here is this word was used of fishing bait or bait if you wanted
to set a trap for an animal. It was to tease. It was to lure
someone. It was to trick someone for the purpose of entrapping.
And so it speaks oftentimes of treachery or cunning. Paul says,
you know what? This is just the third form of
envy where people begin to just trick and trap and manipulate
other people with their lives. There’s an interesting string
in Peter’s first epistle as well. It’s a string of thought where
he says in 1 Peter 2.1 that we are to be putting aside all malice
and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Well, that
goes without saying for a Christian, right? I mean, after all, he
goes on to say in 1 Peter 2.22, that’s how the Lord lived. He
committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. And
it’s amazing that Peter comes full circle and comes back to
us again. And he says, look, this is unfitting for a Christian.
The one who desires life, the love to see good days must keep
his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, trickery
and all of that manipulation and all of that deceit. Lying is unfitting for a Christian. It’s not how our Lord lived.
The fourth fruit of envy, not only murder and strife and deceit,
but malice. And I know that I’ve used that
word already before to translate essentially evil. This particular
word is used only here in scripture. And it does talk of, again, of
malice or malignity, kind of a cancerous spirit, spitefulness. One said that it denotes conscious
and intentional malice. The desire to harm people, but
here in this context, you’re talking about vindictiveness.
Remember, it started with envy. They didn’t get what they wanted.
They want what they don’t have, and so So the thing begins to
unravel. And it issues forth in a vindictive
spirit, one that is only trying to get back all the time. There’s another pair when Paul
says they are gossips, slanderers that really should be considered
as a pair. The first, though, and it’s an interesting word. There’s a bit of an onomatopoeia
in it, where the word sounds like what it means. I’ll try
it. Both of these words. Gossip and slander refer to those
who go around. Trying to destroy the reputation
of others by misrepresenting the truth. But the difference between these
two words. Is that this word. refers to whisperers, slanderers
who will only whisper in someone’s ear this slander. It is a whisperer, and this whisperer
is a far more vicious animal than the one who just slanders
outright. I remember years ago, I shocked
The people, when I said that I much prefer a robber to a thief,
I respect a robber far more. Because a robber will at least
have the courtesy to come up and look you in the eye when
he sticks the gun in your ribs. A thief, that wily scoundrel,
squinty-eyed, sneaking around your house at night when you’re
not there, at least the robber has the courage to look you in
the eye as does the slanderer. But the gossip, the gossip that
whispers and will pretend to your face that he didn’t say
what he said, far worse. The slanderer refers to one who’s
unafraid. He’ll proclaim it from the housetop
if he’s given an opportunity. This is the detractor. This is
the one who just Callously and coldly goes about saying whatever
he thinks is true, regardless of the facts. It means to speak against and
it’s translated so many different ways by so many translations,
but they give it so much color. King James, speak not evil of
one another. The message, don’t bad mouth
each other. Another one said, stop talking
harshly, stop slandering, don’t talk against, don’t disparage
one another. It’s used over and over again
in Scripture. One pastor talked about this critical, careless,
derogatory speech in these terms. He said to speak harshly of or
to speak evil of someone else in that person’s absence, to
criticize, to insult, to slander someone when he is not there
to defend himself is the sin of those who meet in corners
and gather in little groups. Those are the whisperers. But there are several kinds of
evil speaking. Whispering is the private defamation of our
brother. Backbiting or slander is more public. Both may be done
in many ways, not only by false accusations, but by divulging
of their secret evils, by extenuating their graces, by increasing or
aggravating their faults, by defrauding them of their necessary
excuse, By depriving their good actions through the supposition
of sinister aims, we won’t even let them have a good moment.
We’ll attribute it to some sinister motive. We won’t even let them
have the hope of repentance. How do we know if we’ve seen
or caught somebody in some particular slip? How do we know that they
didn’t immediately repent of that behavior, that action? Haters of God. Haters of God. Wow. That gives you pause, doesn’t
it? But that’s who they are. That’s
what they do. The only place in all of Scripture
that this word is used, and yet it’s a common sentiment on the part of sinful
men. They don’t want to listen to God. They don’t want Him telling
them how to live their lives. That’s why they hate Him. As
I said, it’s the only time in all of Scripture that this word
is used. But in light of all that we’ve seen, the rejection
of God, humanity rejecting deity, it’s an entirely appropriate
place to break out this word. If you’re ever going to use it,
what better place than here? This is the truth. This is the
bottom line to all this sin and cover up and rejection of God
is that they hate him. There are gossips, slanders,
haters of God, insolent. Now, this one gave me pause as
well. We parents fear this. We fear
an insolent child. And that’s typically how it’s
used in reference to worst case scenario in the home. But that is far too mild a consideration
for this word. As one said, it refers to a violent,
wanton, licentious man. A man who in his confidence,
in his own superior power, wealth, social status, physical strength,
intellectual or other ability, treats his fellow man with insolent
contemptuousness and thereby affronts the majesty of God. It is translated in 1 Timothy
1.13. If you know the book, that’s
Paul’s testimony. And Paul called himself a violent
aggressor. Same word. His insolence and contempt of
others issued forth in acts of wanton outrage, ultimately murder. And God in his grace had mercy
and saved him as his testimony goes on. But this is one. No
wonder we fear his parents. The worst thing that anybody
could turn out to be. Insolent. Arrogant. One that is so common. I’ll limit my comments upon it,
but it’s haughtiness. It’s thinking that you’re just
so important, so proud, so above helping anybody out, so above
the possibility of stumbling. One said, the haughty are the
friends of the world, for the world promises to satisfy their
pride. The world will bathe you in it,
which God will not do. The lowly or the humble realize
they have nothing. They are happy to receive God’s
rich grace. which satisfies their souls,
whereas pride shuts itself off from God. It does not know its
own need. It cherishes its own dependence. It does not recognize its own
sin. Not only pride, but boastful. arrogant, boastful. This refers
to the person who always is trying to impress everybody around them.
I sat down in a Starbucks the other day and couldn’t help listen to the
conversation next to me as the man sold himself to some prospective
client. And I could just sit. I had full
view of the client’s face and I had full ear. of the would-be
salesman with boast after boast after boast. The would-be client’s
face became more ashen and more shocked with each revelation.
The man’s claims became more fantastic with each sentence. And it was a reminder of this
particular situation. But in this particular deal,
The way Paul uses it here, the way it was so often used, it
was used of charlatans. It was used of phonies. Imposters
with all these claims, presumptuousness, all this outward show in their
attempt to impress others. Boastfulness. I said it before. One time, everybody
likes a somebody. Some even like a nobody. But nobody likes a nobody who
thinks he’s a somebody. That’s this guy. Always going
about trying to present himself in such a way as to cloud over
the real truth. Robert Johnstone said of this
particular word, instead of thus humbly and gratefully acknowledging
your dependence on God, in your vain glorious dreams you exult
and you boast, speaking high, swelling words of confidence
regarding the future, all such glorying as we have here, boasting
in self, not in God, through proud presumption of secure life
and health and success. And all the while, we don’t know
what tomorrow brings. Not only that, but Paul goes
on to say they are inventors of evil. Again, another phrase not used
in Scripture, but given the context, how appropriate finding new ways
to sin. Disobedient to parents. And the meaning of the word here
is literally to disobey, to clearly disobey an order. And this is
replete throughout scripture, this standard. Exodus 2012, honor
your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged. Proverbs
20, he curses father and mother, his lamp will go out in this
time of darkness, reiterated in the Gospels. Paul reiterates
it as well in Ephesians 6, to honor your father and your mother,
which is the first commandment with a promise. We live in a society that has
come apart at the seams. The family unit is torn apart.
No longer is there that cultivation of family love, as we’ll see
in a second. Disobedience to parents is a
gross understatement in these days. Without understanding,
foolishness, but that’s almost too soft a word. Guard their
ears, parents. It’s stupidity. Void of understanding. It’s not just a mental weakness,
but it’s a moral blemish. It’s stupidity born out of an
unwillingness to listen to God in the first place. without understanding, untrustworthy,
faithless, unloving, without natural affection. And you see
in our day and age where husbands kill wives, wives kill husbands,
and sons kill fathers, and mothers kill children. You begin to get a glimpse of
what Paul was talking about. Unloving, unmerciful, And Paul
brings it home. We started, I said, there are
those that have a tendency to make seemingly too much of this
passage to take any one of those things that apply into a particular
circumstance. But the far greater concern would
be to make far too little of this. Paul, no doubt, was talking
about the heathen world. But if any of those things are
true of us, if we’re cultivating any of those, in time we’ll cultivate
them all. Paul says, although they know
the ordinance of God. You say, how did they know? They
didn’t go to church. Remember, they’re heathen, they’re Gentiles. Paul says they know God because
he made himself known to them. He revealed himself through the
million acts of creation daily. They could have known God fully
if they appropriated those things, those truths, although they know
the ordinance of God. What is the ordinance of God?
Did they know the whole law? No. The ordinance of God is simple. It’s spelled out right here.
The ordinance of God is that those who practice such things
are worthy of death. In other words, they know in
their hearts that the way they live has not equipped them and
bound them for immortality. They know that they’re not going
to win a prize at the end of the life based on how they live. They know. They know the ordinance
of God. They know that death is the natural
result of sinful behavior. It always astounds me how plain
this is, that a murderer, why not just murder and live boldly? But a murderer then always tries
to hide the body, right? Because he knows. He knows through
the standard of God. He knows because of the ordinance
of God that he’s done wrong. Although they know the ordinance
of God, and I think what Paul does here, he saved the worst
sin of all for last. Although they know the ordinance
of God, they know God’s standard, they know who God is, they know
what God’s like, that those who practice such things are worthy
of death, they know that there’s a moral code. They know that
God is God. They not only do the same, They
practice all these sins. They’re very good at them. But they also give hearty approval
to those who practice them. Sin and sinners beget sin and
sinfulness and other sinners. One pastor said it this way in
closing, however severe has been the Apostle’s delineation of
the depravity of men, he has reserved for the end the characterization
which is the most damning of all. It is that together with
the practice there is also the support and the encouragement
of others in the practice of the same. We are not only bent
on damning ourselves, but we congratulate others in the doing
of those things that we know to have their issue and damnation.
In other words, they’re not only hell-bent, but misery loves company. They’re not only hell-bent, they’re
hell-bent on dragging everybody with them. As we close, if you’re a Christian, I would
admonish you to give thanks to God because it’s out of that
cesspool that he reached in and rescued you. You didn’t deserve
it. That was a good description of you and me. And if you’re
not a Christian, if these things are yours, If these things describe
who you are in your heart, even if you cultivate the least of
them, then you have need of repentance
and you have need of the Lord Jesus to forgive your sins. Because if you embrace one, you
will embrace them all. Let’s pray. Gracious God, Grant us the grace
to examine our hearts for any who do not know you. Lead them
to Christ, the Savior, the only one that can free any from sin. Even sins so gross as these can
be forgiven. Father, for those of us who do
know the Lord Jesus, we thank you and humbly praise you. that
you have set us free, not because of anything we deserved, not
because of anything in us, but purely by your mercy and grace.
And we humbly thank you for it. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.