Standing on the Slippery Slope
Scripture text: Romans 1:18-32
C.S. Lewis aptly described the slippery slope of moral decay that occurs when we fall away from God. It has been said that the greatest tragedy that can befall a nation is the tragedy of forgetting God. Paul describes the universal problem of original sin so that we can we can see our need of God’s saving grace. Paul works like a lawyer in the first three chapters of Romans showing both Jews and Gentiles their common need of the Savior. He has set forth the premise that we are only justified by faith in Christ. Now he builds a case against us so that we admit our sin and in so doing, accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. Paul works up to one great truth:
“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” Romans 3:22-24
I. THE WRATH OF GOD:
Paul tells us the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven.
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Romans 3:18
1. Paul speaks of "the wrath of God” only four times in his
Writings:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Romans 1:18
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. Romans 5:9
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Ephesians 5:6
For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. Colossians 3:6
2. God has put a moral order in the universe. We break it to our own peril:
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." Genesis 2:18
Wrath is the natural consequence of sin:
"Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die. Ezekiel 18:4
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8
3. Jesus saves us from the coming wrath
And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. 1 Thessalonians 1:10
II. THE REVELATION OF GOD
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. Romans 1:19-20
1. God’s nature is revealed in creation:
His eternal power:
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3
and his divine nature:
"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. "So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31
2. God’s law is revealed in creation. Nature teaches us that we are responsible. So we have no excuse. Nature teaches us about wrath and consequences of breaking God’s law. The world teaches us that suffering follows sin. The law of Genesis is still in effect:
“You must not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…or you will surely die” Genesis 2:17
If we break the laws of agriculture our harvest fails.
If we break the laws of economics, fiscal policy fails.
If we break the laws of nutrition, health fails.
If we break the law of love, relationships fail.
If we break the laws of architecture, our buildings fail.
III. FALLING FROM GRACE
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Romans 1:21-23
Here is portrait of what sin does:
1. We fail to act on our knowledge of God.
2. We look to ourselves instead of to God. This is the essence of humanism. We become “fools” focused on our will instead of God’s will:
The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good. Psalms 14:1
We fashion a self-centered universe instead of a God’s-centered universe.
3. We become self-sufficient and take credit instead of giving praise to God. We fail to recognize and to reverence Him as our source:
"But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Deuteronomy 8:18
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. Acts 17:28;
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
James 1:17
4. Our thinking becomes futile and foolish hearts darkened. We are deluded in thought and immoral in action.
5. Idolatry is the end product. Why make an idol? An idol represents a god made in our image to do what we ask it to do instead of coming to terms with who God really is and submitting to him. Idolatry is refashioning God in our own image.
IV. HAS GOD GIVEN UP ON US?
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts
to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every
kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. Romans 1:24-32
1. The fall of Rome. Paul is documenting the downfall of the Roman empire in his day. There were no recorded divorces in the first 320 years in the Roman republic. The first recorded divorce of a Roman was in 234 B.C. when Spurius Carvilius Ruga divorced his wife. By the time of the first century divorce was rampant. Seneca said “women were married to be divorced and divorced to be married. Juvenal cites the case of one woman who had eight husbands in five years. He cites the case of Agrippina, the empress herself, the wife of Claudius, who used to leave the palace at night to serve in a brothel. Fourteen of the first fifteen Roman Emperors were homosexuals. Paul’s indictment of the Roman world was confirmed by the historians of his day. The Roman age was one of indugence and luxury. Caligula sprinkled the floor of the circus with gold dust instead of sawdust. Seneca spoke of “money, the ruin of the true honor of things,” and added that “we ask not what a thing truly is but what is costs.” Lucretius described “that bitterness which flows from the very fountain of pleasure.”
2. The freedom of the human will:
a. We become what we worship:
For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Romans 1: 25
b. The pursuit of pleasure ends in emptiness (desires, or epthumia)
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. Romans 1: 24
The Stoics defined this word as a reaching out for pleasure that defies all reason. William Barclay sums it up as “the way of life of a man who has become so
completely immersed in the world that he has ceased to aware of God at all.”
c. Quality of life starts in the mind:
“They did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God.” Romans1: 28
Over time that which was one shameful, becomes the norm. Things which were once considered abnormal become normal. Does this not sound as if it were written just to describe the day and age in which we live.
3. Why God abandons us to our own devices:
a. God abandons us because he respects our right to choose. People can abandon themselves to pleasure. Paul speaks of those who:
“having lost all sensitivity have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” Ephesians 4:17
b. God’s abandonment is an expression of his sorrow not his anger. Jesus’ story of the prodigal son depicts a heart-broken father who waits for his son to return.
c. God’s abandonment is also his discipline. The real punishment of sin is more sin. Sin is both the crime and punishment wrapped up in one. We become slaves to sin in the process:
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? Romans 6:16
Conversely, obedience brings a blessing
"Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.”
Deuteronomy 28:3
d. God’s abandonment is hope-filled:
And 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. Romans1: 27
The goal of judgment and discipline to is to bring us back to him. God’s desire
is our salvation not our destruction:
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9