Rome, the eternal city. Or at least that's what the Romans have long called and referenced Rome.
If you go back and look at dates and times, we could go back to the Roman poet Dibulus in 54, that he was alive, 54 to 18 BC, and the Latin poet Ovid, who penned the following words, Rome is the eternal city. Now, as to why they said that, there was research that indicated that Rome, no matter that there were many who said Rome, no matter what happened to the world, no matter how many other empires might rise and fall, Rome would always go on. It would last forever.
You know, founded in 753 BC, Rome was the capital and certainly the most important city of the Roman Empire. Rome sits in what is now modern Italy. I don't have to tell you that. You're well aware. It's located on the banks of the Tiber River, which means it's about 15 miles from the Mediterranean Sea. If we go back to when the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Romans, the city at that time would have had about a million people, mostly slaves. As you recall, Paul's first visit was in shackles to Rome. And that would have taken place as we read in Acts 28. We can see details there, where in that case he was in prison in his own house. It was in Rome where Paul received Onesimus in Aphrodite, and we can read details of that account. And it's in Rome also where Paul was likely martyred. If you recall, by background he happened to be, we think, beheaded around 65 to 67 BC. Separately, Peter happened to have been crucified upside down, as history has it. But in a case like this with Rome more than last, excuse me, with Paul, more than likely he was beheaded.
You know, we recently completed the book of Acts, and in doing so we were able to detail so many parts of the history of the New Testament church, God's true church. So today I thought we'd move on. We've established a nice foundation with Acts to take us into the next book. And I'm going to ask that we look at the book of Romans today, and that we make our way through just one chapter today. Romans 1. So I've entitled this message simply the book of Romans, background and a lesson in righteousness. Background and a lesson in righteousness. You know, I think back to the time when I was at Ambassador College and when I sat in Epistles of Paul. And for me, that was 1987. I took more notes on Epistles of Paul than any other class I took. So I'm going to go and, for much of this sermon, refer to those notes. I also had opportunity because I wanted to go check and see what the Ambassador Bible College offered on the topic. I went and used them as a source. I'll also make mention of a couple of additional sources. One, which I found online, which I was surprised by, was Alexander Hyspeth's Two Babylons, which again gives us some indication in history surrounding the events that take place in part in the book of Romans. So before we get to the book, I think it's wise that we set some kind of background. And in doing so, I think we should break this up in three sections. I've done the following. Let's first of all understand the background of the church in Rome. We'll look at a couple of spots in Scripture that refer to that.
Next, we'll deal with the book of Romans in general and what it entails. Then we'll look at the purpose of the book before we actually get into Romans 1. So let's start by looking at the background to God's work in Rome. Here becomes a contrast, and you'll see here shortly why. By several indications, the church of Rome came out of what took place in Acts 2. So I'm going to ask you to go to Acts 2, and we'll look at some language that appears here. Now, you know what happens in Acts 2. We're well familiar. On the day of Pentecost, we revisit this section of Scripture each year, and we're reminded of how God raised up the New Testament church. And we read in Acts 2, verse 1, the following. Now, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And then by account, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat on each of them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And so we see the establishment, the giving of God's Spirit, as promised by Jesus, Christ, here in the beginning of Acts 2. Now, if you move further ahead, in fact, I don't, I've rarely ever done this. I haven't always given attention to some of the details that involve who is actually here. And you can begin seeing here in verse 7. One of the things that we're well aware of is they're not speaking gibberish. We know that they were speaking, they were able to hear in the other person's language. And we can read in 7 what this entailed. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own language, in which we were born? So there was a miracle being performed here. Now note where they're from.
Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene. And here's where I'm going with this, the last section of verse 10. And it reads this way, Visitors from Rome, both Jews and Proselytites. Now the reason why I would make reference here is we know that this is the establishment of the New Testament Church. And we see among the group here, who receives the Holy Spirit, those who happen to be from Rome. This is the first recorded place in Scripture that we have indication of people becoming a part of the New Testament Church. So we would have to deduce from that that those called from Rome, there had to have been some who traveled from Rome to Jerusalem in a case like this. And then over a period of time, we're not even sure how long they might have stayed, but at some point they likely would have gone home, and they would have then at that point been instrumental as tools of God to raise up a church.
So we have some indication of that. Now that explanation comes in stark contrast, and I'm not aiming to step on any previous Catholics here because you probably know the Catholic religion better than I do. But in a case like this, the origin of the New Testament Church according to the Catholics is a very different discussion, isn't it? Well, they take some of the Scriptures here, but they kind of modify themselves. As many of us know, Catholics contend that the church, the Catholic Church, is the one true church. And so I got curious here even in terms of fundamentally why would a Catholic believe that they're one true church? And as you can easily go to the web and a number of other sources, one of their primary claims is that they are a continuation of the papacy going back to Peter. That's how they reference in terms of the first pope being Peter. Their supremacy, their claim to what would be the true church. There are a number of flaws, though, with this claim, and I'll just offer a couple of them that come in contradiction to this.
One is that Catholics claim Peter was in Rome at the time, and yet when we look at the book of Romans, Paul doesn't refer to Peter, and this would kind of be a slap in the face. In fact, I'll just flip over to Romans the tail end, Romans 16. You can go to Romans 16. Remember what Paul has done here. He has written a letter to a church, and in a case like this, he goes from verse 3 all the way through, and you can read in detail all these names, read in detail all the way back to the tail end of the book. In fact, my eye is trying to fall upon the very tail end of those he mentions, even to verse 23. And surprisingly, Peter's name is not mentioned anywhere here.
So this poses a problem, at least for the Catholics. It would be an indication that Peter was not there. So first off, Peter was not in Rome. Secondly, Paul said he wanted to come to Rome to establish spiritual gifts. If you want to stick with me, and you can leave a marker in Romans 1, because we'll go back and forth here. There's an interesting phrase that's written in Romans 1, particularly verse 11, that also gives us indication that Peter would not have been there, because it was routine at the time that wherever a church had been established, Paul wouldn't have to come in and offer some encouragement that a spiritual gift would be given. And if you recall here at the very beginning of the first chapter of Romans, Paul says this. He says, For I long to see you, that I may impart, verse 11, to you, some spiritual gift, so that you may be, here's key wording, may be established. In a case like this, Paul was really referring to the fact that there was no church, or if there was, it had to have been the smallest of churches without a pastor at the time. So that language, and I'll only add something here referring to it, but not turning to it, it's also interesting that Paul notes in Acts 1520 of the statements made in regard to the sins that were being committed in Rome at the time. Acts 1520 gives indication again, confirmation that Peter would not have been there.
So we have two reasons why likely Peter was not the one who established the Catholic Church. Three, we also know from Galatians 2, verse 8, that Peter was sent to the Jews and not the Gentiles. Now, this is an important point as well, because in a case like this, we know that Paul was the one who was sent to the Gentiles. And we know in the early part of Acts that this is clear to us. We also know that Galatians 2, verse 8 specifies this. One of the realistic things that we have to understand then, or be reminded of, is that Rome was a Gentile city. Peter would really have no reason to be in that city. Which leads us to a fourth point. What we see in a separate location, in fact, Peter writing in 1 Peter 5, verse 13, is that likely he would not have been in Rome because he was in Babylon. And I'm flipping to 1 Peter 5, verse 13. Again, this is Peter writing.
1 Peter 5, verse 13, by background here. The tail end offers, but may God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered, to him be glory, and the dominion forever, amen. Verse 12, by Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying, that this is the true grace of which God, in which you stand. She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greet you. Now, how would he be able to say that? Only way he could say that is if he was somewhere else. He had to be in Babylon. So does Mark, my son. One of the questions that sometimes arises is, why in the world would he be in Babylon? Well, it would have been a central location in order to make sure that ministers were moving, pastors were moving, and congregations were being cared for. So then we raise the issue, well, if the Catholic Church oftentimes references Peter as the first pope, who in the world were they referencing?
And this is a whole separate sermon, and I know that. All you have to do is go back and read the account in Acts 8. Do you remember who's in Acts 8? There are multiple indicators here that the Catholic Church actually traces itself back to Simon the priest, or in Acts 8. What do we call him? Simon the magician, or Simon Magus. With that said, if you go back there, Alexander Hyslop actually has a nice section on this in terms of background of the Catholic Church on this topic. But in a case like this, Peter that's oftentimes referred to, and again, the term Peter's used in many different cases throughout the Catholic Church, would have been a Peter priest, and that Peter priest in all likelihood would have been Simon Magus. So with that said, if we're dealing with a New Testament church, we get one explanation which scripturally seems unfounded. We get a separate explanation in Acts 2 that indeed indicates that some had to have come from Rome to Jerusalem and returned back to Rome. So that gives us some sense of how the church at Rome was established. Let's talk briefly then about some background here. Well, the internal evidence in Romans and external evidence indicates that likely the book of Romans was written around 55 or 56 AD. In fact, there's a section in Acts 20, in fact the first three verses of Acts 20, that give us indication of when Paul likely would have written the book of Romans, the letter of Romans, but we term it the book of Romans. Acts 20 verse 1 reads this way, after the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to him, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia. Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece. Now we're well aware here that Corinth is in Greece and stayed, we got a timetable here, three months, and when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. So what we get here is again a three-month span, and if we're matching up times and dates in terms of what's referenced in the book of Romans, we would have pretty good indication to lead the writing of Romans back to these verses. That three-month period, he would have opportunity to write the letter that we know as Romans. Let's then, as we're moving through topics of it quickly here, let's then get some framework for the book of Romans. Romans is really a book about the problem of human sin and reconciliation to God. We're going to see a number of themes that come up as we move through this book. If you were looking at the first eight chapters, they are a reminder of the fact that humans all have gone astray. So Romans 1-8 reminds us that all have gone astray. It's Romans 9-11 that we begin to see God dealing with the Jews and his concern specifically for them. That's Romans 9-11. And the fact that the Jews are going to be saved. They're not lost. In Romans 12-15, we get an exhortation for the brethren in Rome to move forward, to take the information that's provided and to build on it so that the church at Rome continues to grow. And at the tail end of Romans, this book, we see in Romans 16 a number of final greetings and final comments. So with that said, let's now tackle what Romans 1 is, just 32 verses.
And we'll work our way through this. Romans 1 is specifically a chapter written to the Gentiles. So what we'll see here, and I'll review this even as we close today, chapter 1 focuses on the unrighteousness of the Gentiles, chapter 2 focuses on the unrighteousness of the Jews, and chapter 3 focuses on the unrighteousness of everyone. And so what we're going to find here is we break down just the first chapter, and there is a clean break between the two, is we're going to see an introduction which happens in verses 1 through 17, and then in verses 18 through 32 we're going to actually see Paul as inspired to address the Gentiles specifically and their need for salvation. Okay, you've been with me up to this point. We covered some ground. Let's head through the verse, through this chapter, verse by verse. So we start with Romans 1, verse 1. Paul, we know our author, a servant of Jesus Christ. Now this one was drilled into me, probably like it was drilled into you in times past. That term, servant, in the Greek is one of doulos, of slave, of bondservant. And so what he's saying right up front is, I am a slave to Jesus Christ. Called to be an apostle, he offers his role there, separated to the gospel of God. Now, apostle, if you recall here, is one cent. It was clear that he was sent by God to the church at Rome, those who happen to be at Rome. The notion of gospel we're well aware of this, this language just simply means the good news, the good news of Jesus Christ. We had reference to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his coming kingdom. That's all a part of this gospel that we read here, and he's referencing so concisely in verse 1. Verse 2, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures.
Now, if you can go back, in fact, I was on the way over here thinking about how many prophecies there were regarding Christ coming to this earth. I remember at one point, depending on the source, I know that there are tens, if not hundreds, of prophecies here. And I could not remember, and you may correct me at the tail end here. You may have a specific number of prophecies that Christ would come to this earth in mind. But that said, there is no question that over and over we see in the scriptures, and even at this time the only scriptures that exist would be the Old Testament scriptures, is that Christ would come to this earth and give his life as a sacrifice for all.
You know, we can go in the New Testament here and just see reference to this in Galatians 3. We'll go look at a couple of other places, so make sure you leave your marker there. I'll make sure I do the one in the same so you don't beat me back. Galatians 3. Galatians come before Ephesians, so I know I'm ahead of time. Galatians 3, verse 8. Again, here's Paul writing a separate location to the church at Galatia. And the scripture foreseen that God would justify the nations by faith. There's reference to the message we heard just by Mr. Davies. Preach the gospel to Abraham beforehand saying, in you, in your lineage, lineage, and in you all the nations shall be blessed.
So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. So we see here one prophecy that indeed a fulfillment of a prophecy that Christ would come. Let's go to one other place. I had you over in 1 Peter. Let's go back to 1 Peter. I should have left a marker there, but we only have so many markers and so many fingers, so we'll have to flip. 1 Peter 1, verses 10 and 11. Again, there's a prophecy that's noted here. A reminder that Christ was to come to this earth and give his life for all. 1 Peter 1, verses 10 and 11. Here's Peter writing, of this salvation the prophets have required and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating that he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. So again here we see reference in the New Testament of those prophecies that were offered in the old.
And again, we're well aware that there were many, many prophecies that Christ would come to this earth and sacrifice his life for all. We're back in Romans 1 and I'm going to head for verse 3. Concerning his Son, so here's the prophecy, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. Now, Christ was of divine lineage. We have no question of that. In fact, we can go to a number of different places that remind us of that. He was from the Father and he was this seed of David. Certainly he was physical, but he was also God.
Now we can go, we don't have to do at this point, we can go through the lineage of Christ by going not to the book of Matthew, because if you recall here that happens to be Joseph's lineage, and legally that had to be established in that Joseph was his stepfather. But we know in the book of Luke, and we can see there, that we see Mary's lineage going back all the way to Abraham.
So we have indication here clearly that there was divine lineage that was fulfilled. We also know from a couple of other places that Christ indeed fulfilled those prophecies. I made reference to Luke 3, the early part of Luke in terms of Christ's lineage. If you go and read just verses 23 through 38 thereabouts, it clearly indicates that he was from the tribe of Judah. That was prophesied. And Hebrews 7 verse 14 also reminds us that it's evident, and I'll read from there, that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.
So what we even see in Hebrews 7.14 is that Christ had to come from a certain genealogy, a certain lineage, in order to fill prophecy as divine from God. Verse 4 says this, "...and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead." We also, though, then see additionally that Christ was divine through the Spirit.
We see it referenced here. We see Paul reference this in verse 4. If we're applying this, then, individually, we might see that the resurrection is really the point at which we are given opportunity to be like God. It's only by Christ being the first fruit that we have opportunity to be glorified like God as a Son of God.
Though we see reference here Christ and the importance of His resurrection, we see also, and are reminded also, that it's by Christ's sacrifice that we have opportunity to also become part of the family of God. Verse 5, "...through whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ, to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints." You know, that certainly applies to you and me as well today, those who happen to be called to be saints.
That's what we've been called to. "...Grace to you and pray in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the world." You know, that's really a tall tale in a case like this, because at the time, as we drop down to 11, we're clear that there is not necessarily a pastor in this area.
It doesn't seem to be at the time. And yet these people, the example they set is known throughout the civilized world. If we go back to even the way Mr. Davies referenced, what is the conduit? Was it the medium at the time? The human beings were the medium. We are actually, and even as he was writing, I have no idea if you do this and I trust you do the same, even as he was writing, I thought, that's an interesting fulfillment of even Matthew 28 today, 19 and 20, about preaching to the whole world.
We oftentimes, when I was a kid, I always thought to myself, well, I sit at church and all the preaching to the entire world is something that the media does by way of a World Tomorrow broadcast or some other publication. And even as he was speaking, I thought to myself, no, no, no, that's not how this works. That is a vehicle for preaching the gospel, but we're vehicles.
In fact, we at the temple of God are even probably better vehicles of God's truth than we might see in some other form, a 30-minute broadcast or otherwise. So that said, we see that spoken of here in verse 8, For God is my witness, whom I serve with my Spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without seeking I make mention of you always in my prayers.
Now, that's an interesting set of language here from this vantage point, because this gives us indication here that we know we have a human spirit. That's clear to us. We see that in a number of different places, and we know that God's spirit is given to us. There is then this interconnection that we see Paul reference here. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my Spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without seeking I make mention of you always in my prayers.
You know, one of the discussions we oftentimes have when we're anticipating baptism is, how does this work? How in the world does God's spirit, once given to us, increase over time? And there have been a range of different descriptions for this. One that oftentimes is a helpful reminder, at least for me, whenever I was in Ambassador College, is someone brought in two glasses.
And I don't even recall who that was. I'm not sure if that was Mr. Dean Blackwell, though he taught the class. But he would oftentimes talk about the fact, with one full glass of water and one with just air, what happens when God puts his Spirit into us? And he would slowly pour. And we would have this discussion based upon the displacement of human spirit, the human nature, which we inevitably have until the day we die. Until we croak, we're going to be fighting this human spirit.
It doesn't go anywhere. Talk about frustrating. Maybe this is just me. But the beauty is that God has the ability to place his Spirit in us, at baptism, and as we commit ourselves to him, as we stir up that Spirit by going to his Word, by praying, by beseeching him, by changing, by acting in faith, God is able to increase that Spirit. So as we oftentimes, as we saw in class, he talked about, what did I just do when I pour water from one glass to the other?
And he says, I'm displacing the air in that glass. And that's the way God's Spirit works. Slowly over time, it increases. And that, in part, is one of the things I take from verse 9. Verse 10, making requests, if by some means now, at last, I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. He's desirous of coming, unable to. Verse 11, for I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established, that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me.
Paul is really good, and we see this in a number of different places, of never placing himself above his audience.
Notice how he even writes that section of Scripture, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith of you and me. He doesn't say, I'm going to come do all the work and you're going to listen, does he? He comes and says, I'm going to come share my faith with you and you with me. The aim is for me to be encouraging, and both of us are going to grow from it.
Now, I can't speak to anyone specifically in times past, but you may have come in contact with me. Someone who oftentimes felt like it was only a one-directional relationship.
If you ever asked any questions, you were treading on dangerous territory. That's not how Paul writes here. That's not how Paul thought.
Indeed, that's what he indicates by this language in verse 11 and 12. Verse 13, Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often plan to come to you, but was hindered until now. Why was he hindered? Well, there may have been a physical disability. There may have been difficulties in terms of him being bound at different times. There may have been Satan involved. And we have to acknowledge the realization that he may have been prevented by Satan. That I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.
I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. You know, this notion of barbarians we just saw recently, those who happened to not be Greek, who sounded uncultured, who lived uncultured, were referenced as barbarians here.
Verse 15, So as much as in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you, who are in Rome, also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And again, this fits exactly with what we just heard that very first message today. If we're looking at a number of different things here, this faith to faith reference involves from beginning from or from new faith to a mature faith. It might also mean going from a Jewish faith, because remember the Jews happened to be the ones who thought they had the corner on faith, from a Jewish faith to a a new faith, a New Testament faith, or it could refer to a physical faith to a spiritual faith. We're not clear which explanation works best, but they might all apply here. So if we move through this first section, first 17 verses, we've then navigated some of the greetings that are involved with the book of Romans. Let's go then to the section that deals with the need of salvation for the Gentiles, which is 18 through 32. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. Now, I'm sure you've already thought about this. There is a currency. There is an immediacy of God's truth. We know that God's truth is living. In fact, even as we read this latter part of chapter 1, boy, this is going to feel like it cuts close to home, like it fits close to home. Because what we're going to read as we move forward here is the realization that those of this world choose to not follow God. And we're going to see that language come through up through verse 32. As we see here, this notion of suppress refers to the fact that they hold back the truth. They may come to a realization of the truth, but they choose to conceal it. They choose to deny it. They choose to hinder it. That's where all that Greek language or what that term suppress means in the Greek language. Verse 19, we know the following, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. Now, there was an interesting note here that Mr. Roy Holiday offered in terms of the Ambassador Bible College class. He said, at what point did those after the flood, after Noah's ark, after the flood, choose to deny God? Because if only Noah's family came through the flood, and families and nations came from that group. At what point was there then denial about what had happened previously? There had to be at some point people who went, ah, it really didn't happen. How many generations did that take? Two, three, four, five, how many? These were people that were long periods of time. Did this take a thousand years before something? Before all of a sudden there was denial? Or did it happen earlier? You know, it's an interesting note that he makes.
I'm not sure who made note of this recently. It may have been Dr. Holiday. You can look all around you and you can see God's handiwork. And we can recognize God. Psalm 1, 1956 says, the heavens declare the greatness of God. And I don't recall if that was you more recently. I just remember that all you have to do is go outside. I mean, I've been interested, and we've had discussions of late, and you may have as well, about how all of a sudden, as NASA seems to be fighting for its life, it's all of a sudden discovering planets.
This is kind of funny for me. Because as the funding starts to dry up, all of a sudden we have found something that looks just like the Earth. I don't know if you saw the more recent news.
And I think they had found something more recently on Jupiter, or something like they said, oh, we've got another discovery. Haven't heard from NASA for years, and all of a sudden they're fighting things left, right, and center. All you have to do is look at God's creation and recognize that God's hand is involved. And that's really what's referenced here. It really takes someone effort to deny the fact that God has created so much, everything that's right and good. If we go back to the language in Genesis. Verse 19, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power, and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. I'm going to ask you to leave a marker here. It is... it must be noon because they're mowing, and it's Saturday. I figured out the timing of these guys. It's Monday, I mean it's Saturday, it's noon, it got a mow. I'm over in Hebrews 11, verse 3. This is a reminder about how God shows Himself by that which is invisible, by the visible. He shows the invisible by that which is invisible. Verse, we just were in Hebrews 11, verse 3 reads, by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of the things which are visible. In other words, God is the one who created these things. You know, we oftentimes think about, well, how in the world would God do this?
And I don't think we have some... any idea. The greatness of God is so far beyond. All He has to do is say the Word and that... whatever it is, it's put into existence.
Now, there's an interesting set of terms that appear here at the tail end of 20 that I'll just ask you also to give some attention. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made. Even His eternal power, His eternal power, is established by that which we see and also His divine nature. Your language may say there there's a reference in mind to the fact that the Godhead reflects His divine nature. That also is seen. So we actually see two things here. We see God's power in what's created. We also see His nature. You know, if we look at this clearly, a knowledge of God, an understanding, an acknowledgement of God actually creates... well, what we see is we see from God that our God, the great God, is a God of order.
There's not chaos in what He creates. There's perfection and there's peace.
You know, it's a helpful reminder that as He works with us, as we put His law in our hearts and minds, as we strive to grow, Galatians 2.20, as Christ lives His life in us, so too do we have that.
We have order and we have peace. When we move from that, we have disorder. We have confusion. We have strife. And so we see clearly here that this point is made in verse 20. Verse 21, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.
This whole notion of futile thoughts means that they really turned to idolatry. They turned to anything but God in order to explain how to live life.
Verse 22, professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed peace, and creeping things. One of the things that we get here and we see, and we're reminded of this, is all the different religions of the world that choose to worship anything but God. They'll worship cows in India. They'll worship whatever. They will worship any violation and variation of the first two commandments. They'll come up with that!
They'll surprise you. And God says, indeed, that's what happens.
In a world where we choose to deny God, we don't find solace in anything else. We actually make ourselves fools. And how foolish will it be at some point once we have to answer or those who have to answer to God? Verse 24, therefore God also gave them up to uncleanliness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. This whole notion of giving themselves up is that they want, in essence, to worship. They want what they want. They want to worship what they choose to worship. In denial of God, they'll look for anything else to worship. And this dishonoring of their own bodies is one way that they worship themselves. Verse 25, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to a vile passions. And at 26, this notion of vile passions involves passions of dishonor. I don't have to go here in terms of explanation on this one. I think you have a pretty good idea, especially with our society today. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving their natural use of the women. Those marital duties, those canubial duties, burned in their lusts for one another. Men with men, committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. Now, again, if you want to leave a mark here, you're probably, well, I won't go there now. But if we go forward or if we go back to Leviticus, we know that verses 18-22 says, man shall not lie with man. There are many references here that God makes unmistakably clear. No matter what our Supreme Court would give indication, that God says, no, man and woman, that's the unit. That's how this works. And so we see the error of their ways in 27, then in 28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind.
To do those things which are not fitting. Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, we're going to get a long list, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, they are whispers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. Well, that is a long list. And I'll make a point here momentarily about that as we finish 32. Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. You know, if we're already noted here in 28 that this whole notion of debased mind is really one that references a uselessness or a worthlessness.
We give ourselves over to uselessness or worthlessness when we choose to attend an eye God.
So we then have this long list of generally what happens for those who turn their backs on God. Rather than dive into that list, let me just transition into a couple of points that I think we should take from this first chapter because it's going to apply here to those latter verses. The first thing we might take from chapter one is that Paul summarizes the consequences of rejecting God. Now, we just read in 29 through 31 what this looks like whenever we choose to abandon God. There's unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, and you can go through the long list. This is certainly the worst of humanity.
Indeed, humanity can take any other any any kind of variation, any deviant behavior, once we turn on God. You know, Jeremiah 17.9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? One of the things that God is struck by even early on, if you recall, is how quickly human beings chose to leave him. We can go back at the Tower of Babel and see the language there in Genesis 6. The reality is that whenever we choose to turn our backs on God, bad things happen, and they come in more forms than you can imagine. At the tail end of 32, there's actually an interesting couple of lines that I think we should give some attention, though, in addition to what we've already addressed here. It says the following, who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death. So if turning your backs on God all the way through this, when we do these things, those individuals are worthy of death, not only do the same, but we get a separate category here, but also approve of those who practice them. Now, I'm not sure if you just caught this, and I had to read this a couple of times in order to make sure I get this. God says if you turn your back on God, you'll be given over to these consequences. But also, He offers a warning for those of us who don't sigh and cry for those abominations. That's what the tail end of that verse means. If we reach a point of finding them acceptable, God says you'll suffer the same consequences.
Now, that's really hard, even as we heard in that first message, because our media today blows message after message after message at you. And it's easy to become desensitized to these things, to not feel like, well, it's not that big a deal, and it is a big deal. It's a huge deal. God says we can't not only take part in these things, we can't approve of them. We can't give indication as though they're acceptable or we'll suffer the same consequences. So it's an important lesson for us. Paul summarizes the consequences of rejecting sin. The second point I think that's helpful, and we're going to work backwards, because I'm going from the back to the front, is God makes clear the sentence of those who turn their backs on Him. Now, there's a series of phrases that happen in 24, 26, and 28, and it's a similar word structure. Therefore, God also gave them up to, remember catching that line, also gave them up to uncleanliness. If you drop to verse 28, it reads this way, for this reason God gave them up to vile passions. Let's drop down to verse 28.
And even, 23 this way, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up to. Okay, so what is the deal? God's got a pattern going here. Why is He having Paul use these words? Well, this notion of God gave them up to is actually a judicial term. It is simple. It is similar to the sentencing of one in court.
God allowed these people to be sentenced to the pain and consequences of sin.
That's pretty telling here. You know, if you think about the way God offers and reveals Himself, is God has a system of rights and wrongs. We're clear on that. And He allows that system, He allows us to violate that indirectly and suffer consequences. That's where Galatians 6, 7 comes in. Whatever you sow, you reap. But He also, at times, deals with sin directly.
Sometimes He can choose to bring a trial on us for good reason. You know, I was, again, that first message was going through, I was reminded of Nebuchadnezzar. You remember that whole section of Scripture right shortly after there, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Daniel was inspired to reveal the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. And he said, as long as you stay humble, you'll be good. That's in essence what he told Nebuchadnezzar. And he said, but the moment you lift yourself up on high, you'll suffer a consequence. And about verse 20, 25, 30, thereabouts, if you remember, Nebuchadnezzar is walking through his house and he says, man, I am, he pretty much says, I'll use modern-day language, I am good. I am really good. Look at all I did. And the language that appears there is that very moment that the kingdom was taken from him and he was made a beast. Now, the reason why I would offer that here again is God allows, indirectly, indirectly, he deals with sin. But make no mistake, he deals with sin. There are consequences for those who turn their back on God. And that's what we see in this first chapter of Romans. So let's go to a third lesson I have. Third, God establishes that he desires righteousness from his people. You know, we're going to see over and over as we move through the book of Romans, this same theme come up over and over. And I'll read just verse 17 again. For it is in the righteousness of God, excuse me, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Righteousness is a state of being right. We use this word and sometimes we don't remember what it means. It is a state of being right or it is a state of adhering, obeying God's laws. We are only righteous when we follow God's laws. And only his righteousness is the right righteousness. It really means that we have to be in a right state, lockstep, with God.
When we do that, that's the time when we have righteousness. And if it helps by synonyms of the language that's offered here in terms of righteousness, the synonym for righteousness would be justified or one who has experienced justification. You know, God deeply desires righteousness from us. He makes clear in Matthew 6.33, what is our goal? Seek first the kingdom of God and sometimes we drop off the back end. And what's the other part? And his righteousness. God wants more than anything else. Oh, if I had a heart in them that they would follow me.
He wants righteousness out of them. That's what he said to the Israelites.
We have to be people of righteousness. And so we'll pick that up as we move through the book of Romans. Not the first time, not the last. We'll see it multiple times. So what we then have done today is we've gone through some background information in terms of the book of Romans. We've done so by considering how the church was established, a few details about when it was written and the purpose for the book in general. And then we've made our way through the first chapter. Romans 1, as I've already noted, emphasizes the unrighteousness of the Gentiles. As we move up to Romans 2 at a future date, we'll see that Paul is then inspired also beyond the Gentiles to speak specifically to the Jews. And so we can read that. You can anticipate that in a future sermon. As we move to Romans 3, he's not going to leave anyone out. He's going to recognize that beyond Jews and Gentiles, which is all-encompassing, that everyone has fallen short of the glory of God. We know by verses there, memory verse, that 23 is a reminder. So I would encourage you in anticipation for Romans 2 at some point to read, to spend some time reading, to spend some time studying, to spend some time going through Paul's words here. I know that when you do, when I do, that face-to-face will be benefited when we both do.
