• Without Understanding (1:31) – fools; those who are willfully ignorant when it comes to spiritual and moral things.
  • Covenant Breakers (1:31) – liars; untrustworthy; unreliable.
  • Without Natural Affection (1:31) – cold, hard, and unloving even toward friends and family.
  • Implacable (1:31) – always the victim; they can never be satisfied in any situation so as a result they become unforgiving, bitter, and resentful toward others.
  • Unmerciful (1:31) – those who are so damaged by sin that they have absolutely no pity or compassion for anyone.

III.THE MARK OF UTTER DEPRAVITY (Rom. 1:32)

Not only engaging in sinful behavior ourselves, but applauding and advocating it in others is definitive proof of our wickedness.

Everyone has the spiritual disease of heart corruption to some extent. Apart from God’s restraining and saving grace, we would all become consistently depraved, which is why we need the grace of God which can only be found in Jesus Christ.

God Gave Them Up

(Part 3)

Romans: From Guilt to Glory (10)Sept. 23, 2018 Pastor Alan Cousins

Text: Romans 1:28-32; and Selected Scriptures

Introduction: Beginning in 1:24, Paul makes three statements about God’s judicial abandoning of sinners to continue in their sin when they repeatedly rebel against Him. These abandonments are:

Evidence of our sin.

Evidence of God’s just penalty against sin.

Evidence of God’s wrath against sin.

Paul uses the sin of homosexuality as an illustration of how pervasive sin is in the culture, how perverted mankind can become when following its own passions, and how much we all need grace.

Therefore, the Gospel is something we all need to hear:

Christians need to hear it so we’ll remember again what God has done for us and why we should have a merciful attitude towards those who are unsaved; why we need to be more patient with one another; and why we need to be continually thankful to God for His mercy and grace.

Unbelievers need to hear it because they are under the wrath of God and facing His final judgment, and the Gospel is the only solution for their predicament.

KEY CONCEPT: Paul delivers his crowning argument by pointing out that we see sin at its worst not only when people practice it, but when they enjoy it, when they enjoy others involvement in it, and when they advocate for others “right” to sin.

I.THE VINDICATION OF GOD’S WRATH(Rom. 1:28)

God’s justice is never arbitrary. His sentence always fits the sin.

When people no longer want to think about God, He hands them over to their own desires and the vanity of their own imaginations.

The Progression of Idolatry: (1) The sinner is abandoned to their own impure desires; (2) The sinner is abandoned to their own degrading passions; and (3) The sinner is abandoned to their own depraved minds.

God gives sinners over to wallow in their sin. Since He gives the sinner exactly what he wants, no one can argue that God’s judgment in unfair.

II.THE CATALOG OF SINS DESERVING OF JUDGMENT(Rom. 1:29-31)

This list of sins is proof of the universality of sin. We should hold up this list like a mirror and ask ourselves if we see any evidence of these sins in our own hearts.

The True Extent of Mankind’s Depravity:

  • Unrighteousness(1:29) – the rejection of God’s standards of righteousness.
  • Fornication (1:29) – the general term that covers all forms of sexual immorality.
  • Wickedness (1:29) – delight in wrong-doing.
  • Covetousness (1:29) – greed; an over-reaching craving for more and more.
  • Maliciousness (1:29) – evil, depravity, or badness with the intent of causing harm.
  • Full of Envy (1:29) – displeasure which is aroused by seeing someone with something we want.
  • Murder (1:29) – envy often leads to murder, both actually and metaphorically.
  • Debate (1:29) – strife, a spirit of unwholesome competition and rivalry; a bitter conflict, or a quarrelsome disposition.
  • Deceit (1:29) – evil cunning and treachery; tricking and lying to others to get what you want.
  • Malignity (1:29) – the spiteful desire to harm others.
  • Whisperers (1:29) – gossips who commit character assassination by word of mouth through rumor and jumping to wrong conclusions.
  • Backbiters (1:30) – slanderers who openly destroy people’s reputations in print or through public humiliation.
  • Haters of God (1:30) – those who are not content to just ignore God, but actually resent Him. They work hard to exclude Him not only from their own thoughts but from the thoughts of others as well.
  • Despiteful (1:30) – insolence; treating others with contempt and/or shaming them without mercy; bullying.
  • Proud (1:30) – those who are arrogant. Most of the time they make unwarranted claims about their superiority.
  • Boasters (1:30) – braggarts who love the sound of their own voice.
  • Inventors of Evil Things (1:29) – those who are so twisted they think up creative ways to sin.
  • Disobedient to Parents (1:30) – denying parental authority leads to the rejection of lawful authority and God’s authority.