Suppressing the Truth in Unrighteousness

I'm sure that many of you, if not all of you, have followed some of the headlines this week in the news. It would be difficult not to hear all the different things that are going on with television, the Internet, the radio, and newspapers. There is a constant stream of information before us in the news.

A couple of weeks ago, on a Sunday morning, a guy by the name of Steve Foley, a Chargers linebacker, was shot by an off-duty police officer. Then this week, you couldn't turn on your TV without hearing the name Mark Foley. They are not brothers; they are two different people. However, the scandal in Washington, D.C., involving Mark Foley and some members of the Republican Party has captured significant attention.

We had three different school shootings this last week, two of which targeted young girls in our nation. One of them really captivated the nation—the incident in Pennsylvania that devastated the Amish community there.

Another interesting news article I came across this week reported that British scientists wanted to take human embryos and implant them into a rabbit. They aim to use this rabbit as a host to ultimately try and develop some sort of ethical way of conducting stem cell research. It seems like a sort of Frankenstein rabbit experiment going on in England.

National attention was brought to our own Escondido last Wednesday night when the city council voted three to five to pass a city ordinance regarding renting rental units to illegal aliens. There is certainly a lot going on in the news.

On Thursday night, I was driving home from the church, and I had the radio turned on. There was a radio host on AM radio interviewing a man named Sam Harris. He has just written a book published a couple of weeks ago called A Letter to a Christian Nation. Sam Harris is an atheist who is concerned about the direction our nation is taking under predominantly Christian leadership, as he sees it.

I decided to pick up the book at Barnes & Noble and started to read through it. It contained some interesting points, but he seemed to echo many things I have heard before. As I considered all the events happening in the media and around our nation, as well as in our own town of Escondido, a verse began to resonate in my mind. It is found in Isaiah 5, verse 20. Isaiah 5:20 says,

Let's pray. God, I ask that You would open our hearts and our minds to hear from You this morning. As we've spent this time singing praises to You and worshipping You, Lord, we prepare our hearts for You speaking to us.

As I consider all the things that are going on, it reminds me of the passage in Psalm 46, where the psalmist says, "Why do the heathen rage and the nations plot a vain thing?" In the midst of all this raging of the nations, it says that You uttered Your voice and the earth melted. Lord, You are still on the throne; You are still in control. You are still high above all this mess that is going on down here, and You still have a work that You are seeking to accomplish and will accomplish in our own lives individually, but also in this world as a whole.

Paul said that we can be confident of this very thing: that You who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. I ask, Lord, that You would continue that work in each of our lives as we look at Your Word and consider it this morning. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Would you turn from Isaiah chapter 5 to the right in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 1? Romans chapter 1. Paul the Apostle, the writer of this book or this letter, wrote to a church in Rome, a church that was there in the midst of the capital of the world empire during that time.

Rome was an interesting civilization. It began somewhere around 753 B.C. with a man by the name of Romulus and his brother Remus. These two men started this little civilization, this town in the middle of Italy. Romulus became the king of this place called Rome. For the next couple of hundred years, this group of people was led by seven different kings until around the mid-400s B.C. The monarchy of Rome was cast off by the Senate of Rome, which came and overtook that group of people.

The Senate continued to hold power in that region for the next several hundred years until the turn of the centuries from B.C. to A.D. If you were to go to Rome today and look at the different ruins throughout the city, I was there just about a year and a half ago.

All throughout the city, you see inscribed on different ruins, S.P.Q.R., which stands for the Senate and Republic of Rome. The Senate and Republic of Rome believed that their form of government was the true form of government that would help the world in their time. Does that sound familiar to anybody?

However, around the turn from B.C. to A.D., we see that the Senate lost its power when the Caesars began to rule over the Roman Empire. By that time, they were the world empire. This massive empire of Rome began to go downhill; it started to disintegrate. Remarkably, it was never overtaken or conquered by anyone. Instead, it died from within, as the Caesars indulged in various pleasures and wickedness. The city of Rome was completely given over to paganism and hedonism.

Amidst this paganism and all the chaos, a church had started. Paul tells us in Romans 1 that their faith was heard throughout the whole world, indicating that this church was a faithful church, even in the midst of great darkness in their civilization. Paul had never been to Rome by that time, but he longed to go there, as he expresses in Romans 1. He desired to impart some gift unto them of the grace of God. He knew that there was already a church that had begun there.

In the midst of all the wickedness and darkness, there was still a remnant of those who believed and followed the Lord. As we look at our nation today, we can see that we are charting a similar course to that of the Roman Empire, which ultimately died from within after a long reign, due to wickedness and sin.

Paul writes to this church in that place and states in Romans 1, verse 16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith." In the midst of a dark civilization, we must hold on to this truth.

In the midst of a group of people who are so given over to darkness and sin, as was the case in the city of Rome, there is the temptation, especially against the backdrop of all the mockery that often comes, to be ashamed of the message. Paul the Apostle, when writing to his son in the faith, Timothy, in 2 Timothy chapter 1, tells him, "Do not be ashamed of me, the messenger of the Lord, nor of the message."

Paul, here in Romans chapter 1, says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel," this message that you and I have been given to proclaim. Jesus said to his disciples at the end of his ministry in Matthew chapter 28, "All authority has been given unto me; therefore go unto all the world, preach the gospel, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." We have been commissioned to preach the gospel.

What is this message that we have been given? Well, it surrounds a bleeding situation on a cross 2,000 years ago, as Jesus was crucified there. The scripture tells us that He, Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us (2 Corinthians chapter 5). The one who lived a perfect and sinless life, the Son of God, Jesus, the Lamb of God, came to take away the sin of the world. He took my sin and your sin upon Himself on the cross, and all sin was punished upon Him there, so that we might be the righteousness of God in Christ.

By faith, as Paul talks about here in Romans chapter 1, we are called to believe upon Jesus Christ and this message of Him becoming sin for us, taking the punishment of our sin upon Himself. Through that message, we would be renewed, transformed, and born again. Romans 1:16 states, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it, the gospel, the message, the good news, is the power of God unto salvation."

The message of Jesus Christ upon the cross 2,000 years ago and the work that He accomplished there is the very power of God to save sinners. For therein, in the gospel, in this message, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written in Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 4: "The just shall live by faith."

The message of the gospel is that you and I put our faith in Jesus Christ only for our salvation, to remove our sins, because He took our sin upon Himself and was punished for it. We are called to put our faith in Him, and from faith to faith, the just shall live by faith.

Now, Martin Luther, the one basically used of God to begin what we would call the Protestant Reformation, is someone we kind of celebrate on October 31st. Once upon a time, we did celebrate that day, but now it's called Halloween. Halloween has become the most celebrated of all holidays in the United States, and yet I don't know that we really understand what we're celebrating. I didn't really understand it at all until I moved to Germany. There, I was on October 31st, and it was a Sunday. We remembered Reformation Day, not Halloween, because it is believed by those in Germany, where Martin Luther was from, that it was on that day, October 31st, somewhere in the 15th century, that Martin Luther went to the church door of the Catholic Church in the city of Wittenberg. He took a thesis, 95 questions that he had for the Catholic Church, and he nailed it to the door, asking the Catholic Church to make their argument for why they have the papacy, why they have indulgences, and why they had relics, along with all the other things they had during that time.

It was upon this very verse in Habakkuk chapter 2 that the life of Martin Luther was transformed. He had been a Catholic monk, but his life was transformed at the reading of "from faith to faith, the just shall live by faith." Prior to that point, Martin Luther believed that the only way the righteousness of God could be revealed so that man could see it was through the wrath of God. How did he believe that? He figured that the only way for God's righteousness to be truly seen by man was for them to see their wickedness in light of His righteousness, which could only come through God's wrath.

However, Romans chapter 1, verse 16 shows us something very awesome and interesting: the power of God is revealed through the gospel, the message of the gospel, and God's righteousness is revealed through that very message. God's righteousness, His perfection, His rightness is revealed through the message of the gospel.

But there is a time and a day that is set aside and appropriated for the wrath of God, the revelation of the wrath of God upon all unrighteousness. We read it there in verse 18 of 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. The Apostle Paul says that the righteousness of God is revealed through the gospel.

However, there is a time when the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. God, because He is a loving God, has a nature that is love. John tells us that God is love. But Hebrews also tells us that God is not unjust. Our God is love, but He is also just. Because of God's love and God's justice, as a result of sin, God will judge sin.

As I mentioned a moment ago, when Jesus was crucified on the cross, He took the sin of the world upon Himself, and sin was judged in His body as He was crucified. The judgment that should come upon my sin and upon your sin is placed upon Him as we put our faith in Him to take our sin upon Himself.

For the person who refuses and rejects that gracious gift of Jesus Christ there upon the cross, we are told in verse 18 of Romans chapter 1 that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Ungodliness and unrighteousness are two different things. When you look at these two words in the original language, you find that ungodliness means a lack of reverence towards God. Ungodliness is a lack of reverence towards God; it is wickedness.

Unrighteousness, much like ungodliness, is injustice or a deed violating the law of justice. In Exodus chapter 20 in the Old Testament, we find one of the most pivotal moments in the history of man. Moses is on Mount Sinai, and God gives to the children of Israel and to the world as a whole the Ten Commandments. Those Ten Commandments can be kind of split; the first four dealt with our existence before God.

The first four of the Ten Commandments dealt with our existence before God. Those who transgress these four commandments fall into the category described in Romans chapter 1, verse 18, of ungodliness, which reflects a lack of reverence towards God. They have broken the first four of the Ten Commandments.

The second portion of the Ten Commandments, the last six commandments, addresses our existence before other men and women in this world. A person who breaks any of these second six commandments falls into the category of the unrighteous, as mentioned in Romans chapter 1, verse 18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Some Bibles may say "who suppress the truth through unrighteousness" or "in unrighteousness."

Thayer's Bible Dictionary defines the phrase "to hold the truth" as going against the current in a boat. The current flows in one direction, but to hold the truth in unrighteousness, or to suppress the truth in unrighteousness, is to go against the current of truth. Although the powerful river of truth flows one way, some choose to go in the opposite direction because they want to oppose the truth that God has laid out in His Word and in this world. Unfortunately, I would say that probably the majority of people in this world today hold the truth and suppress it in unrighteousness.

The Scripture tells us in Romans chapter 1, verse 18, that the wrath of God will be revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. This means that every single person in this room or in this world who holds the truth in unrighteousness, who stands against the current of truth found in God's Word, is in a position of coming wrath. Romans chapter 2, verse 5, provides further insight, where Paul states, "But after the hardness and impenitent heart, they treasure up for themselves against the day of wrath the revelation of the righteous judgment of God."

What Paul conveys in Romans chapter 2, verse 5, is that the person who is impenitent—who refuses to repent and turn to Jesus Christ, the only one who is the propitiation for sin—is storing up for themselves wrath for the day of judgment.

There is coming a day of judgment. The Bible speaks very clearly of this coming day. We read of it throughout, but especially in the Book of Revelation, where we read of that white throne of judgment. Many will stand on that day and say, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? Have we not cast out demons in Your name? Have we not done many marvelous works in Your name?" And He will say to them, "Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness; I never knew you."

You who hold the truth in unrighteousness suppress the truth of God and refuse to repent. The righteousness of God is revealed through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and through faith in Jesus Christ. However, the wrath of God is going to be revealed. It is interesting when you read in verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed. The wrath of God is revealed. It is in a tense in the Greek that means it is happening even at this moment as we speak.

I believe we saw this a little bit last week or a couple of weeks ago in Luke chapter 16 when we read about the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man, upon his death, was immediately in a place called Hades, and there he was in torment. In torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, being comforted with Lazarus. He was in the place of abiding in the wrath of God.

So, those who have died without repenting, without turning to Jesus Christ, what we see in Scripture is that the wrath of God abides upon those individuals. Why does it abide upon them? We read in verse 19 that that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 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 that they are without excuse.

We are told in verses 19 and 20 of Romans chapter 1 the reason why wrath abides upon them: because this unrepentant person has suppressed the truth.

They've held back the truth. What truth? The truth that God has revealed to them, that which may be known of God has been manifest to them. It's been shown to them. God has given us two great things to reveal His manifold wisdom to us.

The first one is our conscience, which God has written upon our hearts and minds—the moral law that God has given. That conscience either excuses or condemns us. It is planted in our hearts to show us the way, saying, "Walk ye in it." So, God has given us a conscience, as stated in verse 19: that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it unto them.

The second thing, besides the conscience, to declare His existence is creation. Verse 20 tells us that the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen. God is invisible; we cannot see Him, but we can see His fingerprints upon creation. The invisible things of God are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, the things that He has created, even His eternal power and Godhead.

You see, if there is a God—which I believe there is, and I hope you do as well—then He must be unbelievably powerful, immensely powerful to create all that you and I see and even that which we cannot see. Not only must He be very powerful, but He must also be eternal. He has got to be outside of this creation that He has created.

Paul speaks of this in verse 20, stating that the invisible things of Him are clearly seen, even His eternal power. The impenitent person, the one who refuses to repent in light of all the truth, suppresses the truth. Even though all the truth of God's conscience and the creation around us go against them, they still try to move forward and say, "I am not going to submit to Him, the one true God." Therefore, they are without excuse.

The fool has declared twice in the Scriptures, as we are told in Psalm 14 and Psalm 53, that there is no God. The fool has said in his heart that there is no God.

Science, the study of the physical world, believes itself to be intelligent. It has claimed that because we cannot observe God, He therefore does not exist. Bertrand Russell, an atheist and philosopher during the last century, was asked near the end of his life, "Mr. Russell, what will you say if, when you die, you stand face to face with God? What will be your explanation to Him?" Russell plainly answered, "I will tell Him, you did not give me enough evidence." He repeated, "You did not give me enough evidence."

Is there enough evidence in the conscience and in the creation that God has given to us? We are told that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and do not want to adhere to it, even though it all goes against them like a strong river heading towards a waterfall. They suppress the truth in ungodliness.

In 1970, Bertrand Russell died. He stood before the Creator, and perhaps he tried to say, "You did not give me enough evidence, not guilty." But the scripture says, "Sorry, no excuse." The phrase "no excuse" in the original language is "apologetos." In Greek, when you take the word "apologetos," which relates to our word "apologetic" or "defense," and you put an "a" in front of it, you negate it, meaning "no defense."

The person who denies the existence of God, in opposition to the truth of their conscience and the creation, will stand before God one day with no defense, no excuse. It's interesting to look into science. When I was in high school and studied science, there were many things they taught us, but there were also many things they didn't tell us. There is a lot of bias in the science that is taught in America today. Since graduating high school, I have done my own research here and there.

I read different articles, journals, and things like that, and it's interesting when you start to look at some of the things that physics has to say, some of the things that geologists have to say, and some of the things that are said throughout different levels of science. Modern-day astrophysicists have proved that the universe has a specific time in which it came into being.

Understand what I just said. Modern-day astrophysicists, with all their study of science, have concluded, through the scientific method, that the universe came into existence at a certain point in time. They can't really explain, with their understanding and methods, how it all came to be at one point in time, but they do know that it did. One of them, who believes in a creator, is a man by the name of Robert Jastrow. He was an astrophysicist and also the director of NASA's Goddard Institute at one point in time.

He wrote this, and I quote, "Now we see how the astronomical evidence supports the biblical view of the origin of the world." This is an astrophysicist. He says, "Now we see that the astronomical evidence supports the biblical view of the origin of the world." You don't read that in your science books at school, do you? The essential elements in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are now the same.

Consider the enormity of the problem. Science has proved that the universe exploded into being at a certain given moment. It asks the cause: what cause produced this effect? Who or what put the matter and energy into the universe? Science cannot answer this question. For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of his own reason, the story ends now like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance. He is about to conquer the highest peak. He pulls himself over the final rock and is greeted by a band of theologians that have been there for centuries.

Science, through all its wisdom, understanding, and reason, comes back to the very same conclusions of the Bible. And yet, they refuse to side with the biblical worldview. Why? Because in siding with what the Bible says, they have to submit to the writer of the Bible. They have to yield to the one who wrote the moral law, and they don't want to do that.

Why? Because they want to live according to their own way, their own plan, their own pattern. The fool has said in his heart that there is no God.

Napoleon Bonaparte, not Napoleon Dynamite, but Napoleon Bonaparte, was walking with a group of his generals one day under the night sky. They were discussing the existence of God, as many French philosophers have done. Maybe you've read some of them. As they spoke about the existence of God, Napoleon stopped his men, looked at them, and said, "Sirs, if you're going to do away with God, you must first do away with those," as he pointed at the stars.

Why? Because Psalm 19 tells us in verse 1 that the heavens declare the glory of God. In Psalm 97, verse 6, the psalmist says, "The heavens declare His righteousness, and all people see God's glory." When they look up at the heavens at night, they see the glory of God. However, unrighteous and ungodly men who do not want to yield to the law of God suppress the truth in ungodliness because they refuse to yield. Even though the flow of truth goes vastly against them, they become fools, as we see in verse 22 of Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1:22 states, "Professing themselves to be wise, they became as fools." I find it interesting that many of these scientists, many of these men who espouse such atheistic and humanistic worldviews, teach in the large universities of our nation. What do they call themselves? Professors. Professing to be wise, they became as fools.

It is interesting to follow the progression as we move on from verse 22 through the remainder of Romans chapter 1. We see that there is a progression for a person, for an individual, who holds the truth of God in unrighteousness and refuses to submit their will to the will of God. As they profess to be wise, they become as fools. Verse 23 says, "And they change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible men and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things."

You see, the progression is this: when you depart from the truth of the Creator, the truth of the moral law-giver, God,

When you depart from the truth, professing to be wise, you become a fool and begin to worship something. God has planted within the heart of every individual—every man, woman, and child that has ever been created—the innate desire to worship. The individual who departs from the truth of God and the truth of the moral lawgiver changes the glory of this incorruptible God, the uncorruptible God that we have in heaven, into something made like corruptible men. They begin to worship man, then move from the worship of man to the worship of birds, four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, as stated in verse 24. God allows man to go in this direction, rejecting Him and turning away from the one true God. However, the ultimate result is foolishness, and the ultimate result is vanity in their worship. In verse 25 of Romans chapter 1, it says, "who changed the truth of God into a lie." In the Greek, it is not just a lie; it is the definite article, so it is "the lie." They worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

This progression shows that when an individual turns from the truth of a Creator God and a moral lawgiver, professing to be wise, they become as a fool. They change the image of God into created things, dishonoring God in their affections and in their worship. God allows man to continue in this uncleanness, dishonoring his own body as they change the truth of God into the lie. This is the lie that removes worship, honor, and praise from the one true God and places it on that which He created.

It would be like going out and worshipping the Mona Lisa, praising the painting and not the one who painted it. When we consider this artistic work that God has created, we realize that this beautiful world we live in is a reflection of His glory.

That is so beautiful. We are in a fallen state and condition, and to realize how awesome God's artistry is, yet to not worship Him for what He's done, is one of the highest forms of dishonor. They change the truth of God into a lie, and when they depart from a Creator God, they begin to look as though this world created them. The Bible speaks about this whole view; it's not a new thing. Evolution, for instance, has been addressed even in the Old Testament. The prophets speak about those who look to a rock and say, "You are my father," and to a tree, "You gave birth to me." It's not new.

Sure, maybe Darwin wrote it down in a book a hundred and some years ago, but it's not a new view. What happens when a person departs from the view of a Creator God and moves towards the idea that this rock gave birth to them? It just kind of happened. For millions of years, here we are, from the goo to the zoo to you. It just happened. We don't know what the Big Bang came from, but we know that it Big Banged four billion years ago.

It's interesting when you ask these people who believe such things about the Big Bang. You ask them, "Well, what was it that banged?" They respond that it was all these gases and this and that. But where did those gases come from? They say it was just there. When I say, "Where did God come from?" I respond, "Well, He was there." They go, "You're a fool." But wait a minute. What about what you said?

Sadly for them, as we read that quote just a moment ago from Robert Jastrow, he says that in the end, it's like a bad dream. They wake up and see that the science they've put their faith in begins to prove the very things that are in Scripture. We can't have that. Why? It all comes back to a will and a desire to not submit to the rule and law of God. That's what it's founded in; that's what it's based in.

I don't remember who said it, but one man once said that nothing good can come when the will is wrong. When their desire is to stay away from the law and the rule of God, then nothing good can come from their science. Nothing good can come from their theories because their will is wrong. But continuing along,

As they change the truth of God into a lie, in verse 26, we read, "For this cause, God gave them up to vile affections, wicked things." For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lusts one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves the recompense of the error that was due.

You see, when you remove yourself from the Creator God and put your focus on something else, you might think, "Well, I just came from that thing over there that looks like me. It walks upright, has fingers and toes, so it must be my ancestor." Recently, Time Magazine featured a cover story with a picture of an ape and claimed, "We're not much different than we are." But that's exactly where you end up when you distance yourself from the truth of a Creator God and a moral lawgiver, driven by a desire to rebel against Him. You move to a place where you conclude that we are just another animal, like all the other animals out there.

What is the end result of that? Vanity, foolishness, and stupid things, as we read here. They give up the natural use and leave the purpose for which God created them. They don't realize that we have been created in the image of God. In the image of God, He made man, and He made man with a purpose: to be the representation of the glory of God here upon the earth. "Let us make man in our image." Then God made them male and female for the purpose of bringing them together in the marriage union.

Why? What is the whole purpose of marriage? Paul talks about it in Ephesians chapter 5 in the later verses. When he speaks about man becoming one with his wife, he says, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." Marriage is not just an elaborate scheme to procreate the earth; it is the very picture that God has given us to show the relationship He desires to have with man. That is the purpose of marriage. Why do you think the enemy has been so dead set on destroying marriage? Because it is the one picture that God has given to us.

The most beautiful picture of all pictures shows the relationship He desires to have with His church: the closeness, the intimacy, the communion, and the fellowship. However, when man departs from a Creator God and begins to look at all the four-footed beasts and those that stand upright, he loses sight of his true purpose. He departs from that which God created him for—to be the representation of His glory.

Did you know that Ephesians chapter 4 tells us that you and I, as the church of God, are on display? The angels watch us to see the manifold wisdom of God. God's manifold wisdom is expressed to all principalities, powers, and heavenly places through us in the church. We have a purpose that God has given to us. When you teach a group of people that they have no purpose because they have no Creator and no moral lawgiver, you must ask why someone would go into a school, bind up a whole bunch of children, and shoot them execution style. Why would he do that?

He has been taught for years that he has no purpose and no meaning. When you instruct people in that way and tell them they have no purpose and no meaning, don't expect things to go really well. There was a movie a few years ago with a quote that said, "It's purpose that defines us and drives us. Without a purpose, we go insane." We see that insanity in our world today.

I don't remember who conducted the test years ago, but they hired a group of laborers and said, "Come on out here; we have a job for you, and we're going to pay you this amount. It's a good wage." They asked what they needed to do, and the response was to dig a hole right there. So, they dug a hole according to the dimensions given. The next day, they were told to fill the hole in. They filled it in, received their money, and went home.

The following day, they returned and were instructed to dig a hole in the same place again. They dug the hole, and the next day, they were told to fill it in once more. They had no purpose. I don't remember the exact numbers, but within a few days, every single one of those people said, "Forget this. Sure, it's good money, but I’m not doing this. I have no purpose." For this reason, God gave them over to vile affections; they changed the natural use to that which is against nature.

Note this in verse 28. Underline this in your Bibles. It says, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge." Underline that. Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. You see, God, the master creator, in the same way that an artist signs their name on their painting or whatever it may be, has signed His name upon you and upon me. He has put a knowledge of Him in every single one of our minds. It's like the firmware in a computer; it's there and cannot be removed. The knowledge of God is present in every single one of us.

The person who rejects this truth, who goes against the truth of a creator God and a moral lawgiver, comes to a point of such vanity that they desperately want to rid themselves of the thought of God. Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, they just want to eliminate that thought. Why? Because they do not want to submit to Him. They do not want to follow Him. They do not want Him to be Lord over their lives.

And what happens when they reject God? God gives them over to a reprobate mind. The person who rejects this to such an extent, as Friedrich Nietzsche did, has an interesting story. At the end of his life, he died in an insane asylum. Why? Because he did not want to retain God in his knowledge, and God gave him over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.

Here are those things that are not good: being filled with unrighteousness, 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, and unmerciful.

As I read those things, maybe some of those words are ones you haven't heard before, or you may not know the exact definition. So, let's just run through them really quickly. Unrighteousness means moral wrong or injustice. Do we see that in our nation today? Yes.

It is the result of departing from the moral lawgiver and the Creator God. Unrighteousness and wickedness mean depraved, evil purpose, and desire. I don't know if we see that or not, but yes, they are probably present. Covetousness is a greedy desire to have more. No, that's not just in America.

Maliciousness refers to evil and wickedness that is not ashamed to break laws. Envy is ill will, spite, or jealousy. Murder means to slay or to slaughter. Debate, which is contention and strife, is evident when you turn on any of the news TV shows; you see a lot of debate, contention, and strife. Deceit involves craft and guile, subtlety, and trickery. Malignity means bad character and mischievousness.

Whisperers, gossips, and slanders are prevalent. The leading selling newspapers or publications in our nation all have to do with gossip and slander. Backbiters are those who defame and speak evil. Despiteful individuals are uplifted with pride and treat people maliciously. Proud, simply put, means haughty. Boasters are empty pretenders and those who brag. Inventors of evil things are those who contrive ill and harm.

Without understanding, they are foolish. Covenant breakers are faithless, which is why the marriage rate, or rather the divorce rate, in our nation is so high. Without natural affection, they are inhuman, unloving, hard-hearted, and unmerciful, which means merciless. We saw that in the brutal shootings in Pennsylvania this week—merciless.

Verse 32 of Romans chapter 1 states that those who know the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death. There have been those throughout the years in our nation who have said, "My God's not a God of wrath. My God's not a God of anger. He wouldn't do such things." Well, then he is not the God of the Bible.

What the scripture says here in verse 32 is that when we consider all of these things that have just been mentioned—unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, and so on—we must recognize the seriousness of these actions.

God says that those who commit such things are worthy of judgment. It's not like God is up there, the cosmic killjoy, who simply says, "No, I don't want you to do that. No, no, no, don't do that. I don't want you to have any fun down there." No. Those who do such things are worthy of judgment.

But here's the part that convicts me and hits me straight to the heart every single time I read it. The end of verse 32 says, "And not only those that do such things, but they that have pleasure in them that do it." I was looking over a book recently, and a guy mentioned it in a Bible study that I was listening to. In this book, the author has done some study on civilizations that rise and fall throughout world history. He says one of the things that characterizes a civilization as it dies is that they make their actors and their athletes their gods.

If you look at the Roman Empire at the end of their civilization, they were fixated on the gladiators. They knew that the judgment of God states that those who commit such things are worthy of death. But not only those who do these things, but also those who find entertainment in it and those who find pleasure in it.

As I read these things, the question always ultimately has to come back to us, because these kinds of words convict me, and they should convict every single one of us. Our minds should always come back to the question: What are we to do?

In Romans chapter one, verse 16, Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein, to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith."

What are we to do? At the end of Jeremiah chapter five, God, speaking through Jeremiah, says, "The prophets prophesy falsely, and my people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? What will you do in the end?" We have to come back to this question.

To the gospel. And what is the gospel? In Matthew chapter three, verse one, we read, "In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Jesus, in the next chapter, Matthew chapter four, verse 17, began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

The message of John the Baptist was to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The message of Jesus as He began His ministry was the same: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The message of the early church is found in Acts chapter two, where the church is birthed. As Peter preaches this great sermon, at the end of the message, the men cried out and said, "What shall we do?" Peter, in verse 38 of Acts chapter two, responded, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

The very next week, as Peter and John went up to pray at the hour of prayer, they healed a man at the gate called Beautiful. A great group of people gathered around them, and Peter preached another great message. At the end of it, he said in verse 19 of Acts chapter three, "Repent you therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, and then times of refreshing may come in the presence of the Lord."

Paul the Apostle, in Acts chapter 17, went to one of the most hedonistic and pagan peoples of his time in the city of Athens. He spoke there at the Areopagus, and at the end of his message, he said, "The times of this ignorance God overlooked in times past, but now He commands that men everywhere ought to repent."

In his second letter to the church at Corinth, in chapter seven, Paul says, "Now I rejoice not that you are made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance." He continues in verse ten of chapter seven, "For godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation."

In light of all the wickedness that goes on around us, and in light of all the truth that goes against us when we rebel against God, the word comes to you and me as we ask, "What must we do?" The answer is to repent. Repent does not simply mean to say you're sorry; it means to amend your ways for the better. Amend your ways for the better. Amend your ways.

For the better. It is a work that I believe only God can do by His Spirit through the believer in Christ because it's a work that He enables us to do by His Spirit. But repent and amend your ways. How are we to amend our ways? Well, the Scripture says, "How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to the word of God," because it is a light unto our feet and a lamp unto our path. We hide the word of God in our hearts that we might not sin against Him.

We're told in Ephesians chapter 5 that God has saved us. He has justified us so that He might sanctify us with the washing of the water by the word. I'm always blessed by the passage in First Corinthians 6, where Paul speaks of many of these same things that we see in Romans chapter 1: unrighteousness, wickedness, envy, murder, debate. He speaks of all these things and says, "Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." But then he says, "And such were some of you, but you've been washed." We've been washed, and we have a purpose in this world to declare the message.

Even though this world looks at it and says, "You're a fool if you believe that," I'm sure they said that about those Christians in the city of Rome during the time that Paul wrote this message. He says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation."

Let's stand and pray. Father, I ask that You would cement these things in our hearts, that You would help us, Lord, to walk in the way that You've called us to walk. As Paul called to the church in Ephesus in Ephesians chapter 4 and said, "I beg you, walk worthy of the calling wherewith you've been called. Be imitators of God as dear children."

Lord, we thank You that You have prepared good works that we would walk in them. I ask, Lord, that You would enable us by Your Spirit to do that which is right in Your eyes. Paul spoke in Romans chapter 12, where he said, "I beg you to present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto the Lord, which is your reasonable service."

Then he said, "Be not conformed to this world but transform by the renewing of our minds that we might prove what is acceptable to You." God, transform us by the renewing of our minds that we might be proof of what is right and what is acceptable in this dark day. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.