Man's Rebellion

Verse 18, Romans chapter 1, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifested unto them, for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so they are without excuse.

Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful, but they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image, made like unto a corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed beasts, and to creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and they worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word, and we ask that as we look at it tonight, that you would help us to understand very clearly what you, you've all heard from the world what they think is right and wrong, but what you and how you define sin, and what it is that troubles you so much about it.

May we understand it and see it clearly. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

You may be seated. Here is Paul gives to us essentially, and as I already said, a biblical definition to me of sin. Now most people would define sin as doing something wrong, and then maybe they'll pick up things like the Ten Commandments, and they'll point to something there or another place.

But essentially, Webster actually, he defines sin as a transgression of divine law. And here in Romans chapter 1, Paul gives to us kind of not Webster's, but his definition of a transgression. And it begins, I'm going to give you a series of words, because I love those type of things.

They help me a lot. But the process here that as we go through them, I think Paul through the rest of this chapter, which I hope to get through tonight, Paul breaks down for us very simply and powerfully the processes of sin and how it, what it is really all about. The first he gives to us in verses 18 through 20.

And over those, I have the word insurrection essentially here. But in verse 18, it says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God has manifested unto them, for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even as eternal power and Godhead.

So they are without excuse. Paul's first and critical sin here, I suppose, the fundamental sin, I suppose that there is in all of the Bible. There's a lot of people that they look at sin.

And sometimes that there are sins that you look at and that seem to be very bad or terrible. They have immediate repercussions about them. And then there are some sins, I suppose, that might be a little less obvious.

Some though that are much more deadly and almost much slower to take effect. But here Paul gives to us the most fundamental of all sins. And these sin, from which all other sins essentially project, all stem, they're all rooted in this.

If a person is guilty of this sin, there's no capacity at this point to do anything but sin. And that is the very first thing here is that when somebody there, because they know who God is, what is known of God has been manifested unto them. God has revealed himself to men.

His right to rule and reign over men, and they've denied it to him. Simply as he says there in verse 18, that the unrighteousness of men, and it says there who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Or you may have in your translation there that men have suppressed the truth in unrighteousness.

And that's exactly what it means essentially to suppress something. Perhaps you've seen in legal terms when somebody, you know, the police go about a raid, and it wasn't legal. They didn't have a proper warrant to go into somebody's house or do something.

They get all the evidence of what somebody did, but they didn't have a proper warrant, or they didn't read people their rights, or some point of law they failed at. And all the information they gathered, now the attorney goes to suppress it. He goes now, even though it's there, it's obvious, it's clear to anybody that looks at it, but because that it wasn't gained right, now he goes to the judge, and he says, you can't look at any of this information, and they suppress it.

They willfully choose to say, yes, it wasn't collected right, so therefore we are not going to acknowledge it, even though we know they did it. They willfully choose to ignore what they know for some legal means. Well, here what essentially, what Paul tells us is that men suppress.

They know who God is. They know his right to rule and reign in life. The invisible things of God, he says, they're clearly seen.

They're known by all. They've been manifested to them. God has shown.

He's revealed himself to the world, and is clearly seen, and they're understood. Here the apostle Paul says, there's not a human being in the world that doesn't, in his heart of hearts, know no matter how he wants to collect and gather information, make his decisions, but at the very core of it, he knows that God has a right to rule and reign his life. He knows the invisible things of God have been revealed to him, but he has chosen insurrection.

He has chosen essentially, I'm moving out from surrender to God, from yielding my life to God, and there is a deliberate insurrection of the spiritual life of the man that has removed himself from God. That's the fundamental sin of all sins. As soon as somebody is guilty of that, doesn't make any difference, essentially, now that they've denied their very identity and their very rightful master, whatever else they do.

Now, if I decide I want to go change my name, and I do that, I don't decide, I don't like the name Donald Ricker McClure, and it's Scottish. It's a wonderful Scottish name. If you laugh, it just shows your ignorance to tremendous names, but it's something there that a lot of ignorant people here, aren't there? But anyway, but it's something there to where if I decide I'm going to go out and make up another name and choose another identity, whatever it is that I do is now fraud.

It may be very, I may, you know, help little old ladies across the street. I may do all sorts of wonderful things and build and, you know, buy park benches for the city park and do wonderful things, but nonetheless, if I have denied my real identity, known, I rejected and go off into another life, whatever else comes out of it is fraudulent because that person that I now pretending to be simply does not exist. And as far as God is concerned, when a human being has removed himself from him, he is guilty of insurrection.

Now, whatever else he does is wrong. He is deliberately suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. God's right to rule and reign within his life.

That's the sin from which all other sins are going to follow. And as soon as you take away real identity, you're in trouble. I drive a General Motors car.

It's a Buick. It's about six years old. It's got about 60,000 miles on it, but it's fine car, very good car.

I'm very happy with it. But the day that I forget it's a Buick, the day I forget it's made by General Motors. Now I'm in trouble.

Anytime anything goes wrong with it and I want to get something repaired, I go to a Ford dealership or a, you know, Maserati dealership or a Ferrari or a Volkswagen or any other dealership. And I go in there with my Buick and I don't, you know, take it to its rightful manufacturer. No matter what, they're going to look at this thing and they say our service department, we don't have those parts.

We don't deal with those parts. We don't even know the part numbers or anything else for it. We're a Ford dealership.

What do you bring it here for? And I said, well, I want it to be a Ford today, you know, or whatever else. I mean, it's something there. They look, well, we don't have the manufacturing specs or, you know, the things for it.

We don't service them here. And it's essentially as soon as man forgets who made him and who it is that created him and he's decided I'm going to, take everything off the car that says General Motors. I'm going to take everything off that says Buick and I'm going to be something else.

Then they're in trouble. And essentially, that's where all sin starts when man forgets who he is and who he belongs to. The tragic thing is essentially where it is rooted and he tells us in verse 21, it says, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God.

The fundamental reason for insurrection is impiety. That is somebody there and an impious person is somebody there that was refuses to give God the glory that is do his name in their life, that they refuse to surrender over to say, God, you made me, you created me. You've got the right to rule and reign and lead and guide and fill and bless and control my life from stem to stern, from bumper to bumper.

It's all yours. And I give it to you. And as soon as I stop, you know, I remove myself from the manufacturer.

And the reason is, is I've chosen not to submit to the manufacturer. I don't want to go on with, you know, with him. And and here it'd be men are guilty of impiety because they won't glorify God.

They won't let him rule and reign within their life. The result of that is going to be the next step as Paul goes into. And it says, because that when they knew him as God, they glorified him not as God and neither were they thankful.

The next thing here that you start off with insurrection, it'll result in impiety and that'll result in ingratitude. Now there is somebody. Why in the world would anybody be thankful to a God they don't acknowledge has the right to rule and reign their life? They won't glorify him.

He didn't make them. And the result is they're not going to be thankful to him. It says neither were they thankful.

You see, once you deny God his creative right and identity to rule and reign. And I forget that. I forget that he exists.

I don't give him any glory. Then I'm not going to be thankful to him for anything either. And I suppose this is one of the where when we really begin to experience in our own lives, the real tragedy begins to settle into us.

We oftentimes don't think of it in its initial stages when in our pride, in our arrogance, we take over our own life and rule it and reign over it and glorify ourself. But then what begins at the effect is, now there's a person that they lose the true gratitude of life, the thankfulness of life that they ought to have within them. You see, real thankfulness, as far as the Bible is concerned, real gratitude.

It ought to come from a simple realization tonight. Every one of us ought to be filled with a tremendous thankfulness, a tremendous sense of gratitude, only knowing, only needing to know that God made me, that he loved me, he created me, he designed me. And even when I failed, he forgave me.

He sent his Son. He has a right to rule and reign within my life, and I've given my life to him. And for that and that alone is where real gratitude ought to be.

It ought to come from that simple and wonderful realization that we love him and we glory in him. We give him the throne. We give him the kingdom of our life.

And that in itself, God, I'm so thankful that I have you. I'm thankful I have you with me to lead me and guide me and to work within my life. And so often, though, unfortunately, that isn't the source, many times, of gratitude.

In fact, sometimes I think maybe tonight, if you're Christian and you're thankful, oftentimes we're still thankful for the wrong things. And if you're not thankful, we're usually, again, not thankful as well for the wrong things in a sense. Sometimes we look around and I'm thankful if I feel good today.

God, I thank you. I feel good today. And if I don't feel good, well, then I'm no longer thankful or something, or I'm thankful I'm in good health.

I'm thankful I have a good job. I'm thankful that my wife and children rise up and call me blessed, you know, or something. But then when they don't, you know, we lose our sense of gratitude.

In other words, a lot of our, of our real sense of gratitude is external. It's conditional. It has to do with people and events and feelings and careers.

And I'm not saying that we shouldn't be tremendously thankful for God's hand in his work and his blessing in our lives for these things. But ultimately, they'll all fail us. Ultimately, all human things around us will lose our health.

We'll lose our sight. We'll lose our, our senses. You know, in many ways, we'll lose many, many things.

But if we have acquired in life a sense of who God is and his right to rule and reign and to be supreme and to be my king. For that, I can be thankful all the way and unwavering every day of my life. God, I'm thankful.

I'm never without you. That even in trials and tribulations and in persecution or whatever else, when you stop and think, you're over a million. And I'm sure that many of them wonderful, wonderful Christians already have been killed this year for their faith.

And, you know, for one reason or another, around our country, around this world, around this globe, the persecution that goes on and the terrible things that happen to wonderful people that you can't figure. But at the same time, the gratitude for every one of us, whether tomorrow we may be called upon in our country and to go through potential, you know, persecution or whatever, or we could lose many Christians in other countries. They lose their job.

They lose their benefits. They lose relationships. They come to Christ and they pay a tremendous price.

But their gratitude. God, I'm so thankful. I've come to know who you are.

And it's worth losing all the externals for the eternal, all the finite for the infinite. And here, real gratitude is one there to realize there that God, that we can look and there's no insurrection. There's no impiety.

And if there's none of that, there also won't be ingratitude. But if, well, when we realize, God, I'm so thankful for who you are. And then he goes on.

He says, Neither were they thankful in verse 21, but they became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened and professing themselves to be wise. They became fools here. Now the thing is, is that you start off just with insurrection, not notice, not big.

It results in impiety. Impiety results in ingratitude and ingratitude results in ignorance. Now you got somebody that they're strutting around there.

They become vain in their imagination. The foolish heart is dark and professing themselves to be wise. They're fool.

They have just slit their own throat in their ignorance and didn't know it. They just cut themselves off from God as the insurrection happened. The impiety happened.

They're now moved away from his glory and his right to rule and his right to reign. They've lost gratitude and that turns into absolute ignorance. You know, one of the most amazing things, I suppose, about our generation today is we probably got many of the most brilliant minds in history.

Geniuses, our colleges and our universities, the things that we've invented, the things that we've been able to do, the medicines that we have, the space flight, the things that we've done in science. They're absolutely amazing. And yet at the same time, the ignorance spiritually that has happened and essentially within our world around us.

It says there they became futile, vain in their imagination. Their foolish heart was darkened. You know, see here, essentially you sin against the spirit.

There this first, it starts off with God's spiritual right within our life to rule and reign, to be glorified as God. And I'm thankful for him that I have him. But if I sin against that, a sin against the spirit is now going to result essentially in a sin against the soul.

And you rob yourself of your maker. And now you've robbed your soul of the life it needs to lead it and guide it and fill it and anointed and blessed. And here you lose the capacity to reason.

You've disconnected yourself from your creator. There's an absence of spiritual truth. Now that's going to result in an absent of intelligent truth.

And you're going to find yourself while you profess yourself to be wise. You may have an IQ of 180, but you're a fool as far as the eternal things are concerned. You've deprived your soul of spiritual life, professing themselves to be wise.

They become fools. What a tragic mistake. You've literally got me now.

We live in a world today where evolution is so taken over. We have a generation of people that are convinced that they are their own imagination and their own creation. Essentially, we literally go around there and we live in a world now where people actually think they made themselves.

You know, I suppose we've all heard of the self-made man who worshiped his creator. And that's what a lot of people do. I worship me because I made me, you know, or something essentially.

But it's, I mean, it's the most foolish thing in the world. If I go take my car out there and I decide it's not a GM, not a General Motors, and I take that off of it any insignia, any suggestion, if I take the word Buick off it everywhere and somebody looks at my car and says, that's a nice car. What is it? And now I've got it.

Well, I don't want to credit who really made it. And so I got to find somebody else that's going to come up with it. And I decided instead of a GM, this is a DM.

That's what it is. And they say, what's that stand for? Dumb machine? Well, kind of. It's actually Don McClure.

But anyway, not much difference. But the point of it is, is they look at this thing and say, wow, you made yourself. Yes, I did.

You know, and that's, that's something until something goes wrong. And now I go down to the auto parts store and I need a part. And they immediately say, well, what kind is it? I said, it's a DM.

And they look there and it says, we don't have a DM. We don't know anything about a DM. Never heard of a DM.

And then they said, you know, because we don't even know where to get parts and what to do with the thing. I suppose you just try to go down to the junkyard and pull off any parts you can off something. It looks like it might fit.

And all of a sudden, you're just left to the most ludicrous ways to fix yourself. You have no manufacturer. You have no creator.

You have no designer. You have nobody to do anything in the ignorant ways that people now live. Intelligent human beings that have cut themselves off from God become fools, as the Bible says.

I mean, here to have a car where there's tens of thousands of employees that have these, you know, all the parts, all the equipments, all the thing that would literally repair and reproduce my entire car from one end to the other. And today, and they literally say, I don't care. I'm going to ignore them.

We wouldn't do that with a car, but we do it with ourselves every day. A while back, I need, I only had one ignition key and I need to go get down. And so I went down to Buick and I said, I need an ignition key.

And he said, well, that's why I got a little resistor thing in it. So nobody can steal it. And you got it.

And so they told me, they said, we need the number, the vehicle identification number, the VIN number. If you'll give that to us, which says it's not only it says it's a Buick. They literally told me the day it was manufactured, the day it rolled off.

They told me the color of it, the paint, the interior, everything about that specific car, what equipment it had, how it was designed, all by that one number specifically for my car. And they literally told me what the key design was, what the number for the resistor. And they produced a key without me even having to give them one.

They charged me for it. But anyway, the, but, but you, but you talk there and you realize here, when you go to the manufacturer that has made something, and you know it, that is not a, that's the most intelligent thing you can ever do essentially is when there's a problem, you go to the maker. And there you just, you know, a while back, I had another Buick.

I like Buicks. And this one that I got had a warranty still on it. And they transferred it over to me, which is wonderful because during the life of that car, it had onboard computers on it.

Two of them went out. They were a thousand dollars each. They had a bunch of gears that went out, rear view mirror, motor broke on it.

There were hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I just took it in. They pulled up the information and for a $25 deductible, fixed everything.

Just said, we'll take care of it. And the wonderful thing is all you got to do, just confess the maker. I just wouldn't go in there.

Then they said, it's warranted. We'll take care of it. Well, that's, that's the way God is.

When somebody knows who God is and they go in and confess, God, I'm your child. God, you made me. God, I want you to rule and reign within my life.

I got in an accident. He says, well, it's all right. I insure my kids, you know, and I, there's a warranty on you.

I'll fix you. I love you. No deductible, zero.

It's all paid already at the cross. That's what we celebrated tonight. It's all paid for.

Just bring the car in. But I did a dumb thing with it. I ran into a telephone pole.

That's all right. I insured dumb stuff. But I ran over my wife and kids while I was in the, doing the telephone.

Yeah, you ran off at the mouth. Didn't you? Yeah, I did. I kind of bulldozed.

Well, bring them in with you and we'll fix you all. But there's something there that God looks at man and how ignorant we are of a God like this. Who is so awesome, professing themselves to be wise that foolish, terrible things, you know, that happen.

And as soon as you, foolishness, it turns into idolatry. For in verse 23, it says they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the image made like unto corruptible men, into birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Now you've got somebody.

Again, all these are just little teeny steps from one to another. Insurrection to impiety, not big. Impiety to ingratitude, not big.

Ingratitude, you know, there to ignorance, not big. Ignorance now to idolatry. The next thing you know, you got an ignorant guy.

Doesn't, he's forgotten who created him. Doesn't know how to glorify him. Doesn't turn his life over to him.

Won't let him do the work within his life. Well, he's got to follow somebody. He's got to find some thing to worship.

Someone there to identify with. Someone there to draw some energy or hope or direction or way to direct his life or fill his life or enjoy his life. And the next thing you know is you find the amazing things that people will do in their ignorance, how ignorance will result in idolatry.

That they'll change the glory of the incorruptible God in the image like unto a corruptible man. What a tragic thing. Isaiah 44 identifies idolatry for us wonderfully.

You might turn to it because I want to read a little of it. Verse 9 defines idolatry. Essentially, it says, they that make a graven image, all of them vanity and their delectable things shall not profit.

They are not their own witnesses. They see not nor know that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a God or a molded image or graven image that is profitable for nothing or anything? Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed.

And the workmen, they are men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up.

Yet they shall fear and they shall be ashamed together. The smith with tongs, no relation to Chuck. But anyway, actually related to K, but I won't get into that.

But no, I'm just kidding. The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, fashions it with hammers, worketh it with the strength of his arms. Yea, he is hungry.

His faint, his strength faileth. He drank, he drinketh no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches out his rule.

He marks it out with a line. He fits it with planes. Here's a man making his God.

Here's literally whether it's a, you know, an iron smith or silver smith or a carpenter is carving it out. But here is they're making their own God. They're getting exhausted doing it.

Their arms are weary. He's hungry. His strength fail.

He drinks no water. He's faint. The carpenter stretches out his rule.

He marks it out with a line, fits it with planes, marks it out with a compass, makes it after the figure of man according to the beauty of a man that it may remain in the house. He hewn him down cedars and taken the cypress and the oak and he strengthened it for himself among the trees of the forest. He planted an ash and the rain does nourishes it.

Then shall it be for a man to burn. And he will take thereof and warm himself. Yea, he kindleth and he baketh bread and yea, he maketh a God.

He worships it and he makes a graven image and he falls down there too. He burneth part in the fire and with part thereof he eateth flesh. He roasts the rose is satisfied and he warms himself and he says, aha, I am warm.

I have seen the light or fire, but light essentially. And the residue thereof, he makes a God, even his graven image. He falleth down to it and he worships it and he prays unto it and he says, deliver me for thou art my God.

Here he just got through making it and now he literally turns around to it and he says, deliver me. You're my God. When he made it, now it's supposed to deliver him.

Have they not known or understood? For he has shut his eyes. They cannot see with their hearts and they cannot understand and none considers his heart. Neither is there knowledge nor understanding.

He goes on verse 20. He feedeth on ashes. A deceived heart hath turned him aside.

He cannot deliver his soul nor say, is there a lot of lie in my right hand? Here you look at something very pagan that we would normally look at and say, well, that is pagan. To think they're a guy going out and making himself a little God out of, you know, gold and silver and fashioning it and heating it up and they, you know, the goldsmith doing it or he carves it out, cuts down a tree there and makes this God. But the interesting thing, I mean, most people in our country, we look at that thing and say, that's idolatry.

That is really idolatry because now he's turning around to it after he just made it and he's telling it, deliver me. And yet at the same time, when you stop to think here, when you look at this, here's somebody that goes out and he works and he works hard. He sweats and he's tired and he's thirsty and he's exhausted and he's making something.

But after he's made it, you know, the rain came down, it grew and whatever else, the elements around it blessed it somewhat there and it grew and the rain nourishes it. But then thereafter, this guy, he poured his energy into something and he built it and his sweat was there and then other circumstances came around and it grew up around him. And the next thing you know, he takes part of it and it says there and he makes a fire, part of it there, you know, he bakes his food with, part of it he worships but here's somebody essentially to me, just a picture almost in our 20th day, America.

A guy goes out and he works and he works hard and he's got this little business or this little company but he sweats and works and puts in the hours and then with time and other processes and the elements and the conditions of the economy around, it gets blessed and nourished and it grows up. And he's got enough now, he can go build a house and he's got enough there, he can pay his utilities and he can heat him, warm himself and he can pays for his food and he's got food to burn or to eat and he makes himself a meal and then after he makes himself the meal, he sits down there and he warms himself and he says, ah, I've seen the light. Look at this.

And then he turns around with essentially his career, his job, his world that he's fashioned and he's formed and he says to it, he makes it a God, he falls down, he worships it, he prays to it and he says, deliver me, take care of me, watch over me, that's idolatry. You see, this is what happens to a human being and now finds another form of security and stability and deliverance, the place that God ought to have within the heart. And that this is whether we look over it, you know, a pagan society and we understand idolatry with it, but we don't realize idolatry is just as rampant in our country as it is in any other place in the world, if not more so.

Only it's when it just isn't seen as clearly, but it's there. And the result of that is that now because of the idolatry in verse 24 says, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. And here now God looks at man, he says, because of the insurrection against me, the impiety, the ingratitude, the ignorance and now the idolatry.

Now, as he looks him, God gives him over there now, essentially there, when somebody is now sinned against the spirit and now it results in a sin against the soul, they lose a consciousness of God and the soul is now left to itself. It isn't long until the soul will now produce sin within the body. And now what has happened is men now, they find themselves there to where the uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.

And now a sin against the soul has now resulted in immorality. Now what has happened is that, you know, idolatry essentially is usually the parent to immorality. You look at most of the idolatrous countries where they find themselves around their gods and their goddesses as soon as they build one.

And now they have something there to worship. You go through all of history, idolatry will always result in immorality. They find it there to be an opportunity for a sexual in, you know, an immoral sin.

And the spiritual realm sin results in the soulish realm and the soulish realm soon you'll be over into the physical realm. And here we have God as a result. It says for this cause, he gives them over again.

There's another line they call it. There's a line between the spirit and the soul. And then they sin within that.

Now God gives them over into another line. They cross over. And for this cause, God gave them up to vile affections for even their women did change the natural use that which is against nature.

And likewise, also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one toward another. Men working that which is unseeming and receiving themselves that recompense of their error, which was meat. And now immorality results in iniquity.

And it seems like usually when you go through most societies, immorality is usually also the parent to homosexuality. And here it's which is again a society. You just watch the processes through which it happens in how it goes.

And, you know, as soon as I turn myself away from God and he doesn't exist and I'm not accountable to him and I'm not thankful to him and then I'm not. And that results in in ignorance and the ignorance results in idolatry and the idolatry results in immorality. Immorality will turn into homosexuality and iniquity, a grosser form of of sin where there's another line that is crossed.

Immorality is essentially a sin against God, but not against nature. And what I mean by that is in a sense for a man to be with a woman is a natural thing if it's spiritually right. But if you move away from God and now you just move around from one woman to another, you're still doing a natural thing in a sinful way.

But now, though, when now you go from a from the natural sin now to even an unnatural sin, as it's called here, where you lose, it's a sin against nature is what is now going on essentially in homosexuality. And the reason for that, I suppose, is because if you make yourself, the object ought to be to please yourself, I suppose. If God made me, then I have to please God.

But if I made me, then my job now is to make myself happy in whatever makes me happy. I suppose I ought to do it. To thine own self be true is what the natural man will be.

If there is no God to answer to and the only one to answer to is me, now I just decide that in my own selfish nature, what satisfies me? I've just got to say I don't care about anything else. What satisfies me? Which opens the door from immorality, homosexuality, and you see, because one of the things that's different about homosexuality from other sins is not, I don't want to get graphic here at all, but you got to explain a little, I suppose. In 1 Corinthians 7, the Apostle Paul explains there, he says, for the husband's body was made for the wife and the wife's body was made for the husband.

They were never made for themselves. If those of you that are married, you don't have to be married to you very long. And again, I want to keep this well within the confines here of all the subject matter here, but you don't have to be married long until you realize that in life, God has designed us in such a way that if you were there to satisfy yourself, your partner in life will not be satisfied and you can pick a room in the house and you're in trouble, you know, essentially.

God has designed us there for each other and in any room, any area of the house where I say no, I'm going to make myself happy and I'm going to use you to do it, you're in trouble. You're in terrible trouble. And God has designed us in such a way that for in just the whole way, he's made a man and a woman that if you get too selfish people trying to satisfy themselves, they'll never have a fulfilling relationship.

And that's in every area, but also the physical. But the interesting thing that human beings have found a way is there's a way to bypass that is homosexuality. Because now you can take two like systems, both designed under the same guidelines and they can both be totally selfish and both think they're immensely satisfied.

You can have somebody that is going out, they're immoral and they do immoral things and they sleep around with other people and it's never satisfying or fulfilling because they don't know any about how to love and it isn't in God's hands that are doing it. And the next thing you know, one day they decide to try, let's see what it is with my own sex. And so they do it and all of a sudden, they say, hey, I'm a homosexual.

No, you are selfish. Terribly, terribly selfish. You live for your own satisfaction.

You merely found a way to bypass the processes of God there to where you love other people more than yourself. And you found a momentary satisfaction. This is the tragic, terrible nature of what homosexuality is all about.

And the result there of the iniquity is that it results in an impenitent heart. The word impenitent simply means not feeling regret about one's sins. And in verse 28, it says, and even though they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, now there's somebody they've gone through from one step to another.

They just started there, you know, with their insurrection. And then it went to impiety and then to ingratitude and then to ignorance and then to idolatry and then to immorality and then to iniquity. And then iniquity soon is where you so deadened the senses that you now virtually can do almost anything at all and not feel bad.

Now you've gone to the degree of iniquity there when you've been able to cross over the line and burn in your last one towards another male against male, female against female. And now it's basically there's almost nothing that you're incapable of doing and not even feeling. You've so seared your own conscience.

You're absolutely impenitent. Even they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. God gave them over to a reprobate mind.

Their mind is so hardened, is so disassociated with reality, is so corrupted that they do the things which are not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteousness and then it just gives a list that they could just look at and just say, so what? Fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. Here is somebody now that they've actually, and it just gives a list.

We don't even need to go through them. You can look at them and we're out of time anyway. But it's just things there that a person now can do.

There's nothing almost they're incapable of doing. They have now one little step at a time. It's a huge step, I suppose, from an insurrection, just turning there and saying, you know, I think I want to run my own life.

And I don't want to glorify God. I want to glorify somebody else. Don't know yet.

I'm going to think about it. And then as soon as you start thinking, the ingratitude comes in and then ignorance comes in. And then each one is such an insignificant step from one line to the next, to the next, to the next.

And a line that, you know, God gives them over and God gives them over. And then you, but then one day you wake up and look there at this, at this being so unrecognizable, you know, in the processes that have happened. And then one day it results in that which is absolutely insidious.

In verse 32, it says, who knowing the judgment of God, they that which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but they have pleasure in them that do them. The word insidious in these words there, I had to find another one with I in it anyway. And so, but, but it's exactly what it means.

The word insidious is simply, according to Webster, it means intended to entrap and snare and beguile. Here now, what happens to these people? You go there from insurrection and then there from, you know, from there to impiety and then there from ingratitude and then there from ignorance and then to idolatry and then to immorality and then to iniquity. One, you know, after another.

And then there's an impenitent nature about anything. And then you end up where now, it is now you become an evangelist for all of those things that you've become. You now literally, you do the things and you take, you have pleasure in everybody else doing them too.

Today, I suppose, the homosexual movement is one of the most beguiling and trapping. You know, they're the most, you know, flagrant. Flaming evangelist, I suppose, in the world today.

They're, I mean, they're looking there at the world and they're not only taking pleasure, they're demanding it's accepted everywhere. They want it in the schools. They want to have companies that are forced in any and every possible way there to where they not only pleasure, but they are looking there at the whole world and saying, who are you to judge us? Who do you think you are to tell us we're wrong? And they look there, they're so deadened, so hardened, so impenitent and not only they take, they now take pleasure.

Their now great desire is to bring it into acceptance into every possible realm of the world. It's what they're all about. And it's, but this is what sin.

Now, on one hand, the wonderful thing, God, and, you know, we all are in here. We all came into the world somehow or another. Sinful people.

How far we had to go through before God finally got his hand upon us. But wonderfully, God loves every sinner. There's not a single person on the list he didn't die for.

And there's not a single one he can't and doesn't want to redeem. But the thing is, is that here, and we're going to be getting into that tonight, we're going to end very unhappily. We're out of time in two minutes.

But the, but at the same time, it's a foundation for the rest of the book. There to look there and to the degree that we realize that when God looks at us, he says, this is who you are. But I love you.

I know exactly what you've done. I know where you've been. I know what you're struggling with.

But I also have the power to overcome it. This is the wonderful thing about the book of Romans. We aren't getting into too many of the wonderful, positive things tonight.

But sometimes the most wonderful and positive things only become glorious and wonderful when in the backdrop of the reality of what God is doing, what he is forgiving, what he is redeeming. When he looks at you and he looks at me and he says, I know you and I love you. This is who Jesus died for.

All of this list. He's going to be going around here, though all have sinned. But later on, every Christ died for all.

All sinned in Adam and Jesus paid it all for all of Adam's children, regardless of where they are. But the wonderful thing is tonight for you and I, we can on one hand, look at this process. Hopefully you see it.

And it's just a step, step, step. And then one day, all of a sudden, you look at this person. How did you get there? A step at a time.

But the wonderful thing, we can turn and glorify God. We can come and realize I want to go back to the manufacturer. I want to put the, I want to put God's name on the car again.

I want to get fixed. I want to go in and, and realize as soon as we can, you'll just let God tow you in. You look at it instead of, you know, beating you to death and say, well, you idiot.

This is a piece of junk. Look what you've done to this thing. I ought to slap you silly.

You know what God does. Boy, am I mad at you. Look what you've done to this, your life.

Look, man, you are one stupid idiot. You know, you are, this is an insurrection, you know, in gratitude, immoral, iniquitous, terrible, naughty, wretched sinner. You know, he looks at us and he says, I love you.

Get in to the dealership. I've got a warranty on you. I'll fix you.

But first you just got to tell me what you are. What's your make? What's your model? Let me say, I'm a human being made in the image of God. You know, the day I rolled out, you know, from the manufacturing, you know my, the moment of my birth, you know my thoughts before they, I think them.

You know my needs before I, you know my speech before I say it. Forgive me and fix me. And he will.

Amen. Father, we thank you for your word. And though Lord, in one sense, very hard tonight.

But yet, Lord, may we realize we live in a world that doesn't even know what sin is anymore. It doesn't even steal their life from God and don't even call it sin. Walk in their arrogance, say I'm a self-made man.

I rule my own life. And yet at the same time can be terribly guilty of idolatry. Sweating like a dog, building their business.

You still rain upon it and let it grow. And then he worships it. It says, deliver me.

You are my God. Lord, how that saddens you. When you're the one that supplied the rain and the energy and the strength.

And then to have him turn right around after you bless them and to deny you. But Jesus, may we be ones that we come and say, you are my God. You are my king.

You have a right to rule. And will you forgive me? I've crossed over a lot of lines and I've been ungrateful. And then I haven't glorified you, but I want to.

And Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would just draw us back to the dealership, back to the manufacturer, back to heaven's gate. And we'd find ourself there humbly sitting before you and then letting you and your love do a wonderful, glorious work. Thank you for your goodness.

Thank you for your word. May we gain even a greater understanding of it as we continue in it. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.