Good morning, loved ones. I hope today finds you all well and doing good. Please, if you would, open your Bibles to Romans chapter 1 as we continue to go through this letter and the section we are in. Paul in Romans 3 23 he writes for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and what he's doing so far in this section as he's proving that point that there's not one single man or woman that does not sin and fall short of God's glory. So please, as we go through this, keep that in mind. I want to share that with you. Good to see people here. Hope you guys are feeling better. It's Good to see you here for a few hours and then back you go, huh? so I Hope you are truly enjoying your grandson So and it's good to see you though. It is good to see you. So Let's go ahead and pray and then we'll we'll start. I Father thank you for our time this morning that we can be here to Look at your word father and know that it is your word Thank you for the songs that we sing father. Thank you that Lord Jesus that you did come from heaven to earth to be the way and the truth and the life to us and that no one comes to you or to the father except through you and So we just thank you that you have done this for us and now I just pray that you would come and convict our hearts father where we need to be convicted and Encourage us where we need to be encouraged father Show us your holiness father in light of our sinfulness that we would just worship you for your glory. So we ask that you would do this, Father. In your Son's name we pray. Amen. So the title today is Unbelief Part 2. What I forgot to send was Man's Depravity. This is what we're seeing. We're seeing men's depravity or utter depravity is what we have. Solomon tells us that there is nothing new under the sun. So what we see today in the areas of sin is is not new it's it's been around since the beginning We see where the fall in Genesis chapter 3 and then in Genesis chapter 4 we have a murder So there's nothing new under the sun with sin. But I think sometimes because of the media or the social media and our televisions, whether we got cable or we got streaming or what we have, we have this bombardment. where we see it everywhere all around us we see the depravity of man wherever we turn we see it we talked about it in sunday school sin is being applauded we are uh... we applaud those for being themselves and feeling this way or that way and we applaud them for what they're doing and yet we know that this is the very wrath of god That is upon them being revealed. So today we'll look at three areas of depravity of man's Depravity showing clearly that all are guilty before God and man is desperately wicked and totally depraved So look at with me in Romans 1 we're gonna go 23 We looked at last week, but we're gonna pick up there and read through 32. This is what he writes Start with 22. Professing to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness 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 so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchange the truth of God for a lie, and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their females exchange the natural function for that which is unnatural. And in the same way also the males abandoned the natural function of the female and burned in their desires towards one another. Males with males committing indecent acts and receiving in their own person the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind to do those things which are not proper. having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful, And although they know the righteous requirements of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. So this is a pretty lengthy passage that we're going to deal with today. But I want us to notice the exchanges first. What do they exchange for? The unbeliever exchanges the glory of the incorruptible God. They exchange the truth of God for a lie. And they exchange the natural for the unnatural. So our first point today is man's depravity sexually. This is what he deals with, is their sexual depravity. In Romans 1, 24 through 27, he talks about the natural to the unnatural. He talks to the heterosexual and he talks to the homosexual. However you want to look at that, that's what he is talking to. It says God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie in Worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who's blessed for every men So we know that there are many areas that we see sexual impurity today we see this sexual impurity and what we watch and We see it in what we read and what we listen to in in how we talk Jesus brings it down to the simplest things in Matthew 5 27 and 28 He says you have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart This is just not men looking at women, but this is women looking at men. This is the impurities that we have. This impurity is a decaying matter. It's physical or morally unclean. In regards to this impurity, Paul writes to the Ephesians and he says in 418 and 419 regarding the Gentiles, he says, They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. He's saying the same thing in this passage in Romans that we're seeing that unbelievers, this unbelief of man, they're giving themselves up to every kind of sensual impurity. Whatever you can think or imagine, It's there. Every kind. In Ephesians 2, 3, after he says that you are dead in your trespasses and sins, he says this to close it. He says, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of life like the rest of mankind. At one point in time, brothers and sisters, this was us. We were the very same people we were carrying out the passions of our flesh. We were Had the desires of the body in the mind. We were by nature children of wrath Praise God that he saved us This is what it is. Second Corinthians says it this way. I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and I might have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier, and I'm not repentant of the impurity, the sexual immorality, and the sensuality that they have practiced. This was going on in the church. the body of Christ This was taking place this impurity this sexual morality and the sensuality Ephesians 5 3 it actually says that within God's Church as believers there should not even be a hint of sexual immorality Because of who we are, our lives are to be lived a holy life, holiness. We are to know how to control our bodies. But Paul was writing this to the Corinthians, that they had not repented of this. So we can't be too hard on the unbeliever when Paul writes to a church that this is the same thing that's going on. He's showing the absolute depravity of man and what sin does This passage shows us that unbelief actually causes us to abandon God. They exchange the truth for a lie, Romans 125, because they exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the creator who's blessed forever, amen. This word exchange means to change. They abandon God. They want other things. They want to worship the birds and the animals and the creatures. They exchange this, the glory of God. And so what does God do? He abandons them. Listen to Judges 10, 13. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore, I will save you no more. 2 Chronicles 15 2 He went out to meet Asa and said to him, Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. Matthew 15 12 through 14 says then the disciples came and said to him. Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying he answered every plant that my Heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone. Leave them alone. They are blind guides and if the blind lead the blind both will fall into a pit and then in Jeremiah 10 15 He says they are worthless a work of delusion at the time of their punishment. They shall perish Brothers and sisters, this is what happens to the unbeliever. They abandon God, so God abandons them. Again, this is where we are to be grateful. We are to be thankful because in Hebrews, Hebrews talks to the believer and he says this about Jesus, that He never leaves you nor forsakes you. We are not forsaken Christ was forsaken, but we are not forsaken Christ was condemned, but we're not condemned but to the one who has unbelief They turn their back on God and God leaves them to himself and we're starting to see this He leaves them to their sin. He leaves them to Reap what they they sow this is what he'll do and The depraved heart of the man. What does he do? He worships the creature rather than the Creator. This is what happens. Man becomes the idol. Right? We have these truths, right? We have athletes, or we have movie stars, or we have people we love to sing, or even we have celebrity pastors that we put on the pedestal. We are worshiping the creature instead of the creator. This is part of the depraved mind that we have. Man has become the idol. Habakkuk 2.18, what prophet is an idol? When its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies. For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols. This is what we do when we have idols in our lives. They speak lies to us. It's a fallen sense of our minds. And in this sexual depravity, we see that there's a perversion of God's design sexually. What is God's design? We have to ask us that, right? What's God's design? It's real simple in Genesis 1 and 2, right? Male and female. That's the design. The design is sexual intercourse within marriage. A male and a female. This is the design. This is the blueprint. Anything outside of that is sin. Romans 1, 26 and 27, for this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions, for their women, or the females, this is the actual word is female, exchange natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men, or the males, likewise gave up natural relations with the women and were consumed with passions for one another, men committing shameless acts with men, receiving in themselves a due penalty for their error. These verses clearly speak about the perversion of God's design. It's not right. I mean, even if we think about it, even nature tells us it's not right. Right? We don't see a buck with a buck. Right? We see a buck with a doe. We don't see a boy dog with a boy dog. We see a boy dog and a girl dog. This procreation type of thing. Even nature itself shows us that this exchange, this natural for the unnatural is wrong and it's sinful. This word that God gave them over, right? It means that he delivers them up to, he yields them up to. It's like taking a prisoner and taking the prisoner over and giving them over. This is what God has done. But what is he giving them over to? Look at our passage. It says he's giving them over to degrading passions. This is dishonor, this shamefulness, this vileness. When we start to look at this, we see the heinousness of sin. This is what we see. These passions, these affections, this lust, this is what he's giving them over to. He says that the women exchange the natural for the unnatural. This natural is this physical natural, what is physically natural, right, in this sexual area. The unnatural is contrary to what is natural. So what Paul is saying here, that seeing a woman with a woman, laying with a woman, that is not natural. It's unnatural because of God's design. And this is what God's wrath, this is where the wrath is coming, it's being revealed because they know the difference, right? They suppress the truth, we have to remember that. They know what is natural. Men abandon the natural function of the woman, same thing. This natural relations, the function is, what he means is this sexual intercourse with one another. That's what is natural, men and women in a marriage context. So don't get me wrong, men and women outside of marriage is still wrong, it's still fornication, it's still impurity. It's still lust. It's still passion. It's still sinful. Even though it's natural. It's within the context of marriage. That is what God has ordained it to be. Men and women in the context of marriage. Male and female. Adam and Eve. This is what he says. They were consumed with passion for one another. They were inflamed. Just think about it. They were inflamed. They were deeply inflamed. They were burning. We all have those times where we have burning desires for something. This is what was going on. They were burning with desires for one another. It was a deep-rooted sin. It was man at his depravity. to see this. Now the Bible speaks about homosexuality in a lot of places. Leviticus 18.22 says, you shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Leviticus 20.13, if a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. This is the seriousness that God looks at it. Their blood is upon them. Now, not only this, but when we read through Leviticus, he talks about adultery too. He talks about a husband sleeping with somebody else's wife or a wife sleeping with somebody else's husband, and it's the same penalty. They shall die. That was the strictness of the law. You commit adultery, you die. woman lays with another woman you die man lays with another man you die they shall surely be put to death this is a holy righteous God who can't look upon sin This is his decrees. 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11, Paul says, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. But he gives this and he says, there's a recovery and such were some of you, but you were washed and you were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God. Notice he said, those who practice these things. When God talks about a man laying with another man, he's talking about the act that takes place. That's what the abomination is. We have to remember, he's not talking about attraction. He's talking about the act. This is a verb. Our world today has changed it into a noun. It says it's a lifestyle. But when we read it in the Bible, it's an action. It's men with men. It's women with women in a sexual context. That is the abomination. 1 Timothy 9 and 10 says, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers for murderers, for the sexually immoral man who practices homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. But what I want us to see in these two passages, it's not singled out. Homosexuality is not singled out, but it's with a list of the sexually immoral, the idolater, the adulterer, the one who is greedy, the one who is a drunkard, a reviler, a swindler. We are on that list, brothers and sisters, because every one of us is an idolater. Every one of us has a bit of greed in us. We've had impure thoughts. So don't cast judgment. is what I'm saying because it's not our place to judge someone's heart. It's God's place to do those things. Jude 7 says it this way, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desires serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal life. What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, right? That's what he does. He destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 19, 5. Why? Because this, and they called a lot, where are the men? These are the angels. Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them. It wasn't a sit down, let's go have a beer at the bar. so we could get to know each other. That's not what they meant. When they meant so we can know them, the men wanted Lot to bring the men out so they can have sex with them. And God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah. And yet we live in a culture where this is applauded. Oh, we live in a deprived world, don't we? We of all people should see the need for Christ. This word abomination, it means detestable, an object of loathing. In a sense, this word abomination means that God wants to puke when he sees it. But homosexuality is not the only thing that is an abomination to God. Listen to these verses. How about coveting silver or gold? Deuteronomy 7.25 The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, or take it for yourselves lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. How about an animal sacrifice that is blemished? Deuteronomy 17, 1. You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect, whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God. Women and men changing clothing. Boy, the Bible speaks even about that. Men dressing up as women. Found in Deuteronomy 22.5, a woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. Boy, I'm really glad for me that I don't covet silver or gold, and I don't, you know, sacrifice an animal of blemish, and boy, I'm really glad, Mark, I'm sitting here, and I don't wear women's clothing. And I don't have, I don't practice homosexuality. Man, aren't you glad that you're not an abomination to the Lord? Aren't you glad? Well, just in case you think you're feeling pretty good, listen to this one. This is what Solomon says in Proverbs 6. He says, there are six things that the Lord hates. Seven that are an abomination to him. Haughty eyes. That's a prideful person. How about this one? A lying tongue. Do you lie? Do you lie more than you should? Well, guess what? It's an abomination to God, brothers and sisters. When Christians lie, you are an abomination. It is detestable. He wants to puke when one of his children lie. Let's see if maybe those two didn't get you. Hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devises wicked plans. Feet that make haste to run to evil. A false witness who breathes out lies. I find it interesting that lying is mentioned twice in his top seven. Because he is the God of truth. We sit there and we say, oh, there's nothing God can't do. Yeah, there is. God cannot lie. It's outside of his character. He can't do that. And one who sows discord among brothers. These are things that are an abomination to the Lord. Like I said, what we're looking at here is the depravity of man. The ultimate depravity of man. What do they do? They receive in themselves a due penalty. Listen to Romans 1 27. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passions for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men, receiving in themselves a due penalty for their error. What's this mean? It just means they reap what they sow. Galatians, we talked about it in 6, 7, and 8. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For no one who sows to his own flesh will from his flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. But we reap what we sow. This is what they get. There's consequences to the sin, is what Paul is saying. We have this perversion of our sexuality, this depravity in our sexuality, but we also have this depravity in our mental state. Look at Romans 1, 28. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. This debased mind was stuff that's unapproved or worthless or a reprobate, a rejected mind. This is what God gave them up to. They didn't see fit to acknowledge God anymore. Well, why didn't they acknowledge God anymore? Because man was the idol, right? Man was the idol. They wanted to worship man more than they wanted to worship the creator. Job in 21, 14, and 15 says they say to God, depart from us. That's what they say, depart from us. They don't want nothing to do with God. We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. What is the almighty that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him? Jeremiah 422 for my people are foolish. They know me not They are stupid children. They have no understanding They are wise and doing evil, but how do you do good? They know not This is God's View of his people they're foolish Foolish people they know me not I Do you know your Savior? Do you know God? Do you know what He calls you to do? Do you know what He calls you to be? Jeremiah 9, 6, Heaping oppressions upon oppressions and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know Me, declares the Lord. You see this refusal to know Him. This refusal. What a, you know, I'm going to encourage everyone in here to come to Sunday school. Because this is what we are learning. Not a refusal to know him, but to know him. This is what Dick is going through. This in Christ, this union with Christ. That we would not be ones that God looks at and says, you refuse to know me. This is the unbelieving heart. The unbelieving heart is the one that refuses to know God. notice these words they they refuse to do it this is an act that they do their own volition they refuse to do it The same thing in Romans 118 that we've been talking about. With their own volition, they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They know they're suppressing the truth. If you're an unbeliever here today, and you don't come to Christ today knowing that your sin is detestable to God, you by your own volition suppress that truth. what you do and God's wrath is coming for you and it will be unbridled That is the truth. Romans 8, 7 and 8. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Titus 1, 16. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. Just in case you may be sitting here thinking that you are in the clear. Man, I'm still sitting here pretty good. I know you read all that stuff in Proverbs. I'm still feeling pretty good. Just in case you think you're feeling pretty good, this is what happens. The unbeliever Paul gives a list of what ought not to be done. Like I said, he's bringing the point that all sin and fall short of God's glory. Earlier he says there's no one who does good, not even one. This is what ought not to be done. Look at Romans 1 29 through 31. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, They're full of envy, murder. Now understand murder, right? Murder's not going out. Jesus brings a lot of this stuff down in the Sermon on the Mount to murder is just if you hate somebody. If you hate somebody, that's just as bad as murder. Strife, deceit, maliciousness. their gossips who glad we don't gossip as christians that's really good that's why i'm not a biggie on cut on uh... perchance this is just my own opinion there's no wisdom in this but it's just my opinion that because perchance can become gossip all of a sudden who did you hear about this person or did you hear what mark did or did you hear what jenny did i'm gonna pick on her because she's not in here We can do this, right? We can become gossips, right? And we might not think we're gossiping, but we are gossiping. Slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. This is the mental depravity that we have. Third, this is rock bottom depravity. Verse 32, though they know God's righteous decrees that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Men reach rock bottom depravity when they give hearty applause those who give themselves to sin. That is rock bottom depravity when men give approval to this stuff that is going on that God says deserves death. We applaud it. Good for you. That's what we do. Right? They deserve to die because they've sinned against an infinitely holy God. They violated his law, his design, his blueprints, his architectural work is what they do. Right? Listen, they give approval. This word approval is allow or be pleased. They're pleased with it. Romans 6 21 says this but what fruit were you getting at the time from the things of which you are now ashamed? Yeah, you know for the end of those things is death Psalms 50 18 if you see a thief You are pleased with him and you keep company with the adulterers We give approval Right? Hey, there's a difference, right? We can be accepting of somebody, but we are not to be approving of their sin. We can't do that. Because the minute that we approve of their sin, we're the ones sitting there going. We're the ones giving them the applause. That's what we're doing. Kent Hughes, he writes this. We Christians are not exempt from this. Satan knows that if he can get us to laugh at things we believe we would never do, our defenses will fall. Maybe someday our unwitting approval will give way to action. We need to be careful what we watch and applaud. We are not exempt. I love that. We are not exempt. Right? With everything that goes on in our culture, with all the sexual immorality that goes on, with all the disobedience that goes on, we can be lulled to not be indifferent to it anymore. We can just be those people that would be like, oh yeah, that's how it is. And that's what he's saying. That's what Satan wants us to do. He wants to bring us to that point because then our defenses fall. We must be on guard, brothers and sisters, of what we give approval to, what we watch, what we read, what we say, what we talk, and what we applaud. So to close, there's a quote from Kent Hughes that I wanna read about us Christians. If he writes this passage as if coming from a believer's standpoint, one who is walking with Christ, one who knows who Jesus is, one who is in Christ, this union with Christ, it's awesome, it's really good. He says it this way, therefore, to the believer not to the unbeliever but to the believer he says therefore god gave them up in their hearts to self-control and purity that their bodies might be honored among them for they kept and cherished the truth of god and worshiped and served the creator who was blessed forever rather than the creature amen For this reason, God gave them up to pure and wholesome lives, lived with carefree ease, even in the most intimate relations, so that all received in their own person the due reward of their fidelity. And just as they saw fit to acknowledge God in all things, God gave them up to sound mind, to do those things that are proper, being filled with all righteousness, goodness, generosity, kindness. They are gentle in speech, always building others up. Lovers of God, respectful, humble, self-effacing. Inventors of good, obedient to parents, understanding, trustworthy, loving, merciful. And as they know the ordinances of God, that those who practice such things are possessors of life, they do the same and give hearty approval who do likewise. May you and I be that believer. Let's pray. Father, thank you again. Your word, Lord, I pray, hits the depths of our heart, Father. Father, I pray that we would see the depravity of our own self. That we would give you glory for saving it from us. For saving us from our depravity. Lord, thank you so much that you are so good to us to reveal your gospel to us. Give us this burning desire within our own selves father to share the gospel with those who need it Father may we be a people that never applaud sin Father may we be those who? have eyes to be careful with what we watch, to be careful with what we read, to be careful with how we speak, to be careful with how we possess our own bodies. Father, your will is for us. This sanctification for us is that we would not be sexually immoral. May there be no one here at Faith Bible that is labeled that. But Father, may there be a sense of not even a hint of sexual immorality among us here. Lord, strengthen us in this area for your name's sake. Amen.