 Well, if you're visiting with us this morning, we have embarked upon a verse by verse study of Paul's epistle to the Romans. The book of Romans is essentially an exposition or an explanation of the gospel, right? And that word gospel meaning good news. Now we need some good news, don't we? You need good news this morning. I feel like we need good news with all that's going on in the world. Everywhere you look, things just seem to go from bad to worse, don't they? Our society today is in a moral free fall. Cheating, lying, hypocrisy, slander, abortion, divorce, homosexuality, corruption, perversion, violence, murder, pornography, strife, contention, crime, injustice, war. The family today is in shambles. Our politics are a global embarrassment. Our schools are a global embarrassment. Our social institutions are a global embarrassment that are run by blind, leading the blind, attempting to help the blind. Everyone seems to realize, everyone recognizes that we're plagued by serious problems and everyone is quick to offer an excuse, aren't they? Poverty is the problem. Education is the problem. Racism is the problem. White supremacy is the problem. Inequality is the problem. Global warming is causing everything that we see wrong with our country today. But in this letter, in Paul's epistle to the Romans, Paul doesn't point to the failures of our culture as the reason that you and I need good news. Paul isn't peddling panaceas or placebos. Paul points to the wickedness that lies within your own heart, within my own heart as the reason that you and I need to hear good news. There is a problem that lies deep within your heart, within my heart. It's a problem that you and I must deal with. We must stand before God and do business with Him regarding the problem that we find there within our own heart. Man, not our culture, not some nebulous thing out there in the political sphere. It's not something you're gonna watch on the five o'clock news. That's not the problem. Man is the problem. It's not a social problem. It's not an economic problem. It's not a political problem. It's a heart problem. And the Bible offers absolutely no excuse. Paul essentially begins this letter to the church at Rome by building a universal case against the sinfulness, the depravity of all men. Here's the problem, right? Here's the problem. Apart from the grace of God in salvation, verse 28, Paul describes the natural man as not wanting God in his knowledge, not willing to retain God in his knowledge. Verse 29, all men are filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness. They're full of envy. They're hearts full of murder, strife, deceit, evil mindedness. The terrifying problem you face as you sit here this morning, it's not a problem they're talking about on the five o'clock news. It's not out there somewhere in the culture. The real problem that you face is the sin against God that continues to pour out of your own heart. And God has said that the soul who sins shall die. God is just in pouring out his wrath on the ungodly. God is just in pouring out his judgment upon those who are in unrighteousness. God is righteous. You and I are unrighteous. We are unrighteous and deserving of hell. To make matters worse, there's nothing that you can do, nothing that I can do to make ourselves righteous, to clean ourselves up. You can't cleanse yourself. You cannot forgive yourself of your own guilt. You cannot make yourself right with God. You cannot cause your soul to live. But what you could not do for yourself, God does. God does it by sending his only begotten son into the world to live and to die in the place of sinners that whoever believes in him through genuine saving, repentant faith will not perish but have everlasting life. Paul says in chapter one, verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, the good news. Why? Because the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for everyone who puts their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how does that work? How is it that the gospel, through the means of the gospel, God pours out his righteousness in order to save wicked sinners like you and I? How does that work? How is it that a righteous God can forgive and remain righteous himself? How is it that a holy God can justify and save someone who is unrighteous? How is it that God can save you despite all of your sin against him? Because verse 17, in the gospel, God's own righteousness, the righteousness of God is revealed as a free gift given to the unrighteous through his faith. As it is written, the justified man shall live through his faith. So turn from living in your sin and trust yourself, your life to the Lord Jesus Christ and you can be saved. Now it begs the question, doesn't it? So we're working through Paul's letter to the church at Rome here, save from what? Save from what? Save from sin and from the wrath of God. There is a just condemnation, a just and righteous wrath that hangs over the head of every condemned sinner. There is a justice in God's wrath. There is a righteousness. It is judgment, verse 18, because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. What is the dilemma? What's the problem that the gospel is given to address? The devastating revelation of the righteous wrath of God against held deserving sinners. The problem that the gospel is meant to address is the condemnation that hangs over the head of every man and woman born in Adam. You and I were born under the law. We were born under the curse of the law and the curse of God's judgment hangs over us apart from the grace and mercy that God has provided for in the person and work of his son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the point at which Paul begins. Paul's not soft peddling a message to make you feel good. Paul's not concerned with what you want to hear. Paul is concerned with what you need to hear. Do you see? Paul's concerned with your most pressing, most urgent need. He's not concerned, as it were, so much with what goes on in the five o'clock news. That's a testimony of the depravity of man. What he's concerned with is the condition of your heart and soul before him. This is the point at which Paul begins. Certainly not God loves you as a wonderful plan for your life, is it, right? It doesn't start there. Paul apparently thinks that the last thing that you and I need is more self-esteem, right? Are you feeling good about yourself today? Well, we need to correct that. That's right. Why is that? Why is that? We're familiar with that here. We hear sound preaching and teaching from God's word. God's word is very clear about it. Why is that? Why is it? It's because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. David said, you will save the humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty that you may bring them down. If you're prideful today, if you're living in your pride, if you're haughty, God determines to bring you down. Paul determines to bring you down through the preaching of God's word today. If you will humble yourself before him, you'll not be humbled by him in the judgment. Knowing this, Paul begins his gospel presentation now in the book of Romans with a scathing indictment of man's sin. The question is, will you humble yourself now under Paul's indictment? Will you humble yourself under the word of God? Or will you continue to live in your rebellion against him? As we approach our text this morning, Romans chapter one verses 18 through 25, we, you and I, take our place as it were before the bar of God's justice in the courtroom of heaven. All mankind stands accused of the worst possible form of treason. The court is called to order and Paul, the prosecuting attorney, begins to lay out his case against you. The evidence, as we'll soon see, the evidence is overwhelming, leading to the inevitable verdict. In chapter three, verse 10, there is none righteous, no, not one. I think I'm a pretty good person. No, you're not. I know good people, no, you don't. According to God's verdict, God's verdict, there is none righteous, no, not one. People are basically good. No, they're not. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become worthless. There is none who does good, no, not one. Romans chapter three, verse 19. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God, guilty. With the verdict of guilty comes the sentence of eternal death. How did we get to such a terrible place? How did you get to this place? Paul says that it all begins with a rejection of revelation. A rejection of revelation. Verse 18, ungodly and unrighteous men, and that's everyone apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Ungodly and unrighteous men suppress the truth of God in their unrighteousness. With your sin, you labor and strive, you may not think about it that way, but you are definitely certainly doing that. In your unrighteousness, trying to, laboring to justify yourself in your sin by suppressing the truth of God against you. We certainly can't claim ignorance, can we? Verse 19, God has made clear his revelation in them, the work of the law written on their heart, their conscience bearing witness, and verse 19, God has shown it to them, namely through his work of creation. Both of those sources of revelation, the work of the law written on their heart, their conscience bearing witness, and the work of God in creation, both bearing witness that men are without excuse. We are indefensible. With this, Paul begins to defend the righteousness and the justice of God's wrath. It is a righteous wrath, it is a just judgment. By asserting the sufficiency of that revelation, he makes his case in verse 20. Look at verse 20 with me. There has been sufficient time to establish the guilt of man. God has revealed himself in this way since the creation of the world. There is sufficient clarity, sufficient content in this revelation to establish the guilt of man. His invisible attributes, his eternal power in Godhood are clearly seen. There's been sufficient comprehension to establish the guilt of man. All men understand this revelation as pointing to God who created it all. You can look at the heavens, you can look at the firmament and show it's manifesting that God created it, that it has a creator, a creator God. All this is working together to supply a sufficient basis for judgment. Verse 20, so that all men are without excuse, without defense, your hand over your mouth. The revelation that God has graciously given of himself in creation alone is sufficient to render all men indefensible before the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are without excuse. If you're here this morning, you've never turned from your sin to trust Christ. You are without excuse. You have no excuse. You know God. You know that God has created all things. You have the work of God, the work of the law written upon your own heart. Solomon says that eternity is written upon the heart of man, you know God. And although you know God until this point, you've been suppressing the truth of God in your unrighteousness and a judgment for that and accountability for that is coming. Don't delay, don't continue to live in rebellion against him. How then do we respond to this revelation of God? God has given a gracious revelation of himself in creation. How do we respond? Well, rather than responding with appropriate worship, glorifying him as God, and rather than responding with appropriate gratitude, giving thanks to him for all that he has done, what we see in verses 21 to 23 is a shameless rejection, a brazen rejection. Look at verse 21. All men are without excuse under the wrath of God, verse 21, because although they, all men knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were they thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and forfeited animals and creeping things. Now first, from the text, I want you to see, we can infer the response which is expected. We can infer from the text the response which is expected. How should all men respond to God's gracious self-revelation? Now listen, the revelation that we're talking about is just the revelation in creation. If you walk outside and you look up at the sky, like you walk outside at night and you stare at the night sky, you see that there's a creator. You know there's a God. What should be the appropriate response of men to that revelation of God in creation? Verse 21, they should glorify him as God. Verse 21, they should give thanks to him for all that he has done. Drop down to verse 25. They should uphold the truth of God and reject the lie. In verse 25, they should worship and serve the creator rather than worshiping and serving idols. Now listen, this is a very important point and I want you to get this, listen. With knowledge of God comes responsibility for worship. With knowledge of God comes responsibility. Implied in the language of the text, informed by the revelation that God has given of himself in creation, all men who understand that revelation, all men are under obligation to worship and to serve and to glorify him. They're to uphold his truth. They're to be grateful, thankful for all that he has done. Knowing God as he has revealed himself obligates us to respond to that revelation with worship. Knowing God should compel us, should constrain us to glorify him as God. Is that what men do? Is that what you did before the Lord saved you? It's not what fallen depraved men do, is it? Second, notice the response which man has given instead. We've seen the response which is expected. Look at the response that man gives instead. We see it from the text in terms of a shameless rejection and that rejection accompanied by bitter fruit. Look at verse 21. Because although they knew God, what did they do? They did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful. It is a shameful rejection. Although they knew God, right? Based upon assertions already made, do the observable, clear, sufficient, understandable, comprehensible revelation of God given simply in creation, all men know God and yet note their shameless rejection. They did not glorify him as God, nor were they thankful. If you think about it with me, being in possession of a knowledge of God that should compel all men to ascribe to God the glory that is due him, being in possession of that knowledge, all men refuse. They refuse. They reject him. It is a shameless rejection. To glorify God here doesn't mean to add to his glory. It doesn't mean that we somehow supply God with more glory. God is already perfect in glory. His glory is incorruptible as incorruptible as God himself is, does not change. We can't add to it and we can't take away from it. So to glorify God then means to ascribe to him with our words, our thoughts and our actions, to ascribe to him the worth, value, praise and worship the affection, the devotion, the service that rightly belongs to him as a reasonable response to all that he has revealed. God has revealed himself to be omnipotent, revealed himself to be the creator God, revealed himself to be all powerful, all wise, revealed himself to be good. So to glorify God means to ascribe to him and our thoughts, our words, our actions, all of that worship, praise, love, affection, devotion, value that rightly belongs to him as a reasonable act of service on our part toward him for all that he has revealed. The knowledge of God that all men possess by virtue of that which God has simply revealed in creation should elicit from us that kind of worship, that kind of devotion, that kind of gratitude, that kind of love. The heavens declare the glory of God and yet the pinnacle of God's creation, man refuses to do so. It is a shameless rejection, you see? Additionally, possession of that knowledge of God revealed in creation should not only compel us to glorify him as God, but should also elicit from us a heart of gratitude, a heart of thanks. Not only do all men fail to ascribe to God the glory that is due him, they couldn't care less that all they have comes from him. Do you see? They're not thankful, they're not grateful. In him, we live and move and have our being. We owe our very existence to God and yet apart from a changed heart, apart from being born again, apart from Jesus Christ, we couldn't care less. Natural man doesn't like to retain God in his knowledge. He labors to suppress the truth of God in his unrighteousness and that is demonstrably ungrateful. The most rebellious, ungrateful, self-absorbed teenager is but a faint shadow reflecting the magnitude of our own rejection of God before the Lord stepped in to give us a new heart. John Murray says this, here the apostle sets forth the origin of that degeneration and degradation which pagan idolatry ultimately epitomizes. We have the biblical philosophy of false religion. In other words, as lost, unregenerate, fallen men see the glory of God as revealed in creation and reject, refuse to glorify him as God nor were they thankful, men fall into what is epitomized by pagan idolatry. Men suppress the truth in their unrighteousness and fall into paganism. Paganism, false religion, is the ultimate fruit of this shameless rejection of God. Notice the bitter fruit that accompanies this rejection. Verse 21, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor were they thankful and so what is the degeneration and degradation which follows, what's the bitter fruit? They became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. In other words, man's mind, his reason, his thoughts no longer anchored to reality, he can't think straight. Man becomes stupid is what happens. His thoughts become futile, his foolish heart darken. His thoughts futile, meaning useless or worthless, futile in the sense that they're incapable of producing results, his heart is foolish, meaning senseless, uncomprehending, lacking any judgment. His foolish heart then is darkened, meaning that he's unable to perceive, unable to understand. He couldn't find truth with two hands and a search warrant, right? In other words, the entirety of man's being, the seed of his reason, his heart, the seed of his intellect, his imaginations, his desires, his affections, the seed of his emotions, every faculty of man's being rendered senseless. He's stumbling around in the dark, hating the light because his deeds are evil. He's stumbling around in the dark. He acts with a ruthless determination against the truth that has been revealed to him. He labors to suppress it in favor of his sin and he stands accused by his own conscience. And so what does he do? He rages against all wisdom to invent justification for his rebellion and becomes an idiot. I came from a monkey. That's what men do, what sinful men do. God reveals himself to man at the very least, at the very least in creation. We have a great revelation of God. You have one of these in your hands. But God reveals himself to us in creation. What do men do? Men, in their ungodliness and in their unrighteousness, they labor to suppress that truth in their sin. They suppress that truth in their sin, but he stands accused by his own conscience. That truth doesn't go away. So what does man do? Man begins to justify himself, justify his rebellion and in his self justification, he becomes stupid. He becomes futile in his thoughts. His foolish heart is darkened. Evolutionary theory as an explanation of human origins is a good example of this. All joking aside, it's a good example of this, right? It has been thoroughly discredited by reputable science. It should be dropped like the hot mess that it is by any reasonable person. And yet it stands, evolutionary theory stands as an ongoing testimony of the ignorant lengths to which fallen men will go to avoid the truth of God and suppress it in their sin. It is a testimony to how far men will go in their ignorance to avoid God. They'll reject clear science in favor of their ignorance. It's amazing. Man believes himself to be a thinker. He says, I got it all figured out. He professes, looking for verse 22, professing or claiming to be wise, they became fools. The word there for fools means devoid of any good sense. They're devoid of any good sense. His thoughts are futile. His foolish heart is darkened. Now listen, this is not describing some unknown person out there. One of the 350 million people in this country, this is describing you. This is describing me apart from Jesus Christ. If you're living in sin for yourself, this describes you right now. This is God's assessment of the condition that you're in. Your thoughts are futile. Your foolish heart is darkened. You don't have any sense. You lack comprehension. You don't see things as they are. You don't understand reality. Unable to perceive, unable to understand, and yet man in his pride calls it wisdom. It's not merely a rejection of God then. You see, it's a shameless rejection, professing to be wise. They made themselves fools. That's what it means. From the grammar there, verse 22, it doesn't simply mean that although they claim to be wise, they were actually fools, but the grammar would suggest that while they are pretending to be wise, they make themselves fools. Case in point, CNN this week was just absolutely bewildered, shocked. CNN responding to North Dakota legislation referencing biological sex said this, it's not possible to know a person's gender identity at birth. There is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth. You know what you call that? That's a fool. That's a fool. Their understanding is darkened. Their foolish hearts darkened. They have no sense to the point where they reach the gutter of this descending progression in verse 23, where in verse 23 we see a dark exchange with false religion, a dark exchange. Verse 23, and he changed or better exchanged. He exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and forfeited animals and creeping things. Into the void left behind by the absence of the truth of God flood the foolish idolatrous musings of fallen men. Glory, God's glory is incorruptible as glory cannot be changed. His perfection's not subject to change or to decay. Paul means that fallen men have exchanged the glory of God as the object of their worship for something else rather than ascribing that glory, that worship, that praise, that value, that worth to God alone who is worthy, men ascribe it to something or someone else. It's the nature of the dark exchange. Fallen men want something else, anything else but God. Namely, here they reject the glory of God. They replace it with an image made like corruptible man. Now how and why does this happen? Why don't they just reject religion altogether? Why do they fall off after idolatry? Well, man is wired to be religious. It's in his DNA you could say, right? Man was made in the image of God. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 11, Solomon says that God has put eternity into the heart of man. Romans chapter two, verse 15, we show the work of the law written on our hearts. In other words, we were made to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. It's the first question in the Catechism, right? However, to the natural man, a true revelation of God was like a stench in his nostrils. And he can't get rid of it and he absolutely hates it. Just thinking of illustration for this. To the natural man, the revelation of God, the truth of God is like a stench in his nostrils. You can imagine a lifelong fisherman, right? Think with me for a moment. Imagine a lifelong fisherman, a New England fisherman dealing with fish all day, every day. He's handling fish constantly and the smell of the fish on his hands, on his clothes, on his body, driving him crazy. He's got the stench of fish in his nostrils all day, every day. He can't get rid of it. Everywhere he goes, he smells it on his hands, smells it on his clothes. And so what does he do? He labors to suppress it. He doesn't wanna smell it. It's a stench in his nostrils. He wants to get rid of it. So he wears gloves to try to suppress that smell. He uses a gaff instead of using his hands, tries not to touch the fish. He buys the best soap, the most expensive soap. He tries scrub brushes, brillo pads, right? No matter how hard he tries to suppress the smell of the fish, it's always there. It's always there. It doesn't go away. It's always there. It would seem that the smell is baked in. It's simply a part of who he is and he hates it, hates it. So unable then to fully rid himself of the smell that he despises, what does he do? He covers it up. He covers it up. He labors to suppress it, but that's ultimately unsuccessful. He knows that it's there. So what does he do? He tries to cover it up. He searches for smells that he likes. He tries to substitute the smell of the fish with a smell that he prefers. A smell that suits his own taste. A smell that he can use when and how he wants to. They smell like perfume to him, right? Smells good to him. These smells that he tries to cover up the smell of the fish with. He bathes himself in these manufactured odors to cover up the smell that he despises. He doesn't realize, doesn't realize that those smells that he's using to cover up the smell of the fish is the stench of death. That's what men do with false religion. They can't fully and ultimately get rid of the knowledge of the truth of God. They can't ultimately suppress the truth of God. God has written his law in their heart. God has written on the heart of man, eternity. We're made in the image of God. Can't get rid of it. So what do men do? They try to suppress it. When they can't suppress it, they cover it up with false religion. They gladly exchange the truth of God for a lie. Now the contrast couldn't be clear if you look at the text. They exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for nothing more than an image of fake made like corruptible man. Rather than give their affection to God, their devotion, their worship, their praise to the one true and living God, they would rather worship birds, four-footed animals and creeping things. Right, it's the height of paganism. It's the height of man's folly. There've been religious groups throughout history like this, haven't there? Worshiped birds, storks, eagles. There have been foolish man-made religions that have worshiped rats, frogs, beetles, flies, snakes, bulls. And a little closer to home, Exodus chapter 32, the Israelites worshiped the golden calf, didn't they? This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. They worshiped the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness. They called it Nuhush-tan and they worshiped it. They burned incense to it. Not only that, but men have worshiped the sun, they've worshiped the moon, the stars. Today in Roman Catholicism, they give veneration to icons, relics. Calvin called the heart of man a factory of idols. Paul effectively destroys the notion, with this statement, destroys the notion that man is somehow to be pitied for trying to climb up the mountain in search of God that he simply isn't able to find, right? He destroys that notion that man is to be pitied because all of these attempts at religion are just different ways up the mountain in man's quest for God. No, it's not what's going on here, right? This doesn't reflect a pitiable attempt from man to find God. This is reflective of the descent of man into paganism to avoid God, to do all that he can to cover up the smell that he despises. And he does it with false religion, false religion. That just doesn't just happen with paganism, right? It happens in professing Christian circles all the time. People seek out those messages that they like. Give me a sermon, give me a preacher that'll tickle my ears, tell me exactly what I wanna hear and what are you doing? You're covering up the truth of God with a lie. You're exchanging the truth of God. You've given up trying to suppress it, so what are you gonna do? You'll cover it up with a lie, false religion. Give me false religion, make me feel good. I wanna leave here feeling better about myself. I wanna know that if I say that prayer sincerely that I'm going to heaven when I die, or if I take this mass, or if I rub these beads, or if I do it in just this way, I'm okay with God and God's okay with me. It's not the way it works. What you're doing is you're avoiding the truth of God that God has revealed in his word. You're avoiding the reality of what God has revealed in his word. You've given yourself over to false religion to attempt to suppress the truth of God in your sin. When wouldn't it be so much better to turn to Jesus Christ and live, right? Give your heart and soul to him and live. Idolatry isn't restricted to birds and animals and bugs, you see. An idol is essentially anything that you place in priority before God. Anything that takes priority in your heart's affections. The thing about idolatry in that way, and idolatry can be with a job. An idol could be your family, an idol could be your spouse, an idol could be your money, could be your free time, could easily be your devotion to a sports team. Seeing devotion to sports teams that looks like idolatry could be devotion to a personal cause, a personal goal. Maybe it's your reputation, maybe it's your pride, personal accomplishment, relationship. Let me ask you this, what are they gonna put on your headstone? The people around you that know you best, if you were to drop dead today, would they know beyond a shadow of a doubt what they were going to put on your headstone or would they have to think about it and mull over it and determine what's it gonna be? This sports team or that club or this activity, what are they gonna put on your headstone? If they are not doggedly determined and convinced that it's that you loved the Lord Jesus Christ above all, then you should be concerned about where your priorities lie. Because if it's not evident, those around you, who is it evident to? Are you living for the Lord Jesus Christ? Is he your priority? Anything that takes priority in your heart's affections is an idol. Verse 25 explains the idolatry further. Verse 25, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator. The true and living God alone must be the exclusive object of our love and devotion and worship and praise. Men take the one true and living God, who should be the very center of life and devotion and love and service and praise and worship and desire and affection and they exchange him for someone or something that they find more suitable to their tastes. And listen, that's why the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. You see, the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. It is a shameless and a brazen rejection. It's not a minor matter, is it? All of this in Paul's opening argument then brings us to verse 24, and the last point on your notes, a devastating judgment, a devastating judgment. Therefore, verse 24, in light of the fact that men suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness, therefore, because they refuse to glorify him as God refused to be grateful, therefore, because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worship idols, therefore, verse 24, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. This is the wrath of God's abandonment, the wrath of God's abandonment. Notice the description of God's action in verse 24. He gave them up. That means that God handed them over. He delivered them up, God surrendered them. The same word is used twice more in context here. Verse 26, He gave them up to vile passions. Look at verse 28, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over, same word, to a debased mind. Here, He gives them up to uncleanness. Verse 26, He gives them up to vile passions. Verse 28, He gives them over to a debased mind. This is described here by Paul as one of the manifestations of God's wrath that hangs over the head of the unbeliever. This is a display of the wrath of God. The Bible says that the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. Why? Because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. It's a present, active, ongoing, every day, day in and day out revelation of God's wrath. How is God's wrath revealed? In one way, here, by giving men up in their sin, giving them up in their sin to more and more sin. This is the wrath of God's abandonment, the wrath of God even now being poured out. Men reject God to the point where God hands them over to the wicked desires of their own idolatrous heart as a judgment against them. In other words, God gives them exactly what they want. You persist in suppressing the truth and unrighteousness. You persist in your sin long enough. You continue to do that without turning to the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance and what will God eventually do? God will give you to it. He'll say, have at it. And the stench of that thing will be so far up your nostrils you won't be able to do anything about it. You'll get it exactly like you want it. God gives them up, hands them over, surrenders them. And what is it described as that God hands them over to? Verse 24, uncleanness. It means sexual immorality, that which is dirty, that which is debased. In the lusts of their hearts, the lusts are cravings. He gives them over to the cravings of their own heart. The lust is already there within the heart of man. God simply delivers him over, surrenders him to his own lusts. He doesn't cause him to sin, right? God is not the author of sin, doesn't tempt anyone to sin. What does God do? God simply removes the restraints. He simply removes any restraint, removes any restraining grace and he allows them to plunge themselves into bondage to their own sinful desires and uncleanness. Praise God for his restraining grace, right? Praise God. If you're in Jesus Christ, you can say amen with me to that, that the Lord didn't entirely turn you over, didn't entirely turn me over, that he was exorbitantly patient with us, right? Exceedingly patient, exceedingly good, exceedingly gracious in bearing with our sin until the day that he did save us. God's grace, God's patience, absolutely amazing. There are many ways, many ways in which God sovereignly restrains the sin of fallen men. Think about it with me. He does so through your conscience. God in common grace to all men restrains man's sin through his conscience. He does so through the presence of the church in this world. If you're here today, maybe you're unsaved, you've never turned to Christ. God uses this as a means to restrain your wickedness. God may use a godly friend, a godly brother, a godly father to restrain your sin. And I've thought about it many times, that sometimes a genuine Christian walking into a room is like a walking talking rebuke to lost people who are there. All of a sudden the cursing stops. All of a sudden the bad jokes stop. Why, because they know who you are, what you're all about, right? Just your presence can be a restraint on the wickedness of men. Preaching of the gospel is restraint on the wickedness of men. God restrains sin through human government, through laws and civil punishments. He does so through the common operations of the spirit of God at work in the world. Judging the world, sin, righteous sin of judgment. He does so through common grace. All subject to God's divine will. There's a foreshadowing of the wrath like this that is coming at the end in 2 Thessalonians chapter two. Turn there with me, 2 Thessalonians chapter two. Let's look at this together quickly. God removing restraint, abandoning sinners to their sin. Now as a foreshadowing of eschatological judgment that is coming. 2 Thessalonians chapter two. Look there beginning at verse five. Paul says, do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things, he's telling them about the end, right? What's gonna happen at the end? And now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. And speaking of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. This is that one who exchanges the truth of God for a lie. Why, because he hates the truth and loves his sin, right? He didn't receive the love of the truth that he might be saved so he exchanged it for the lie. Unrighteous deception will come in among those who perish. For this reason, verse 11, God will send them strong delusion such that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure and unrighteousness. Now if you're used to sitting under false teaching today, used to going to those churches that tickle your ears, it's really uncomfortable for me just to read those verses that God will send them strong delusion that so that they should believe the lie. Now they believe the lie because they hate the truth. They suppress the truth in their unrighteousness, they've exchanged the truth of God for the lie and so they believe the lie. It's their responsibility, they're culpable, they're guilty for this sin but they're also condemned and they also perish. Verse 12, so that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Natural man does not love the truth. They would rather exchange the truth of God for a lie, they would rather take pleasure in their unrighteousness. And so what does God do? God removes the restraint and God gives them up, gives them over to a debased mind, gives them over to vile passions, gives them over to uncleanness. They're easily here given over to deception and they easily then believe the lie. Back in Romans chapter one, what is Paul describing then? In chapter one verse 24, what Paul is describing is a judicial determination of God's will in response to man's rejection of revelation. If you reject revelation, God will turn you over. As an act of divine judgment, God gives up individuals, God gives nations up, God delivers them over to the base desires and lusts of their fallen nature and it's an expression of his wrath. In other words, this is God's punishment against sin, one way in which God punishes sin. He pours out his judgment against sin by giving men over to more and more sin. Notice with me now in verse 24 that this is done for a purpose. Hang in there with me, verse 24. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts in order to dishonor their bodies among themselves. Do you see the purpose there in verse 24? To dishonor their bodies among themselves. To dishonor means to bring shame upon their bodies, to bring shame. This is part of the punishment. This is an aspect of God's wrath against their sin for rejecting God's revelation of himself in creation. In verses 26 and 27, Paul begins to describe that dishonor as homosexuality. By the end of the chapter, it's a whole host of abject wickedness. Look at verse 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, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness. They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil mindedness, they are whispers, gossips, right? Backbiter's, haters of God, violent, proud, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. All of these things, the revelation of God's righteous wrath. Often today, we're not used to hearing of God acting in this way, are we? You spend any time listening to TV preachers or reading terrible books that are out there today, you're not hearing that. This is exactly what God does when men reject the revelation that God has graciously given of himself in creation. God's judgment is against those, verse 25, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator. Man who is made in the image of God reduced to this ugly, ugly description. Is this not exactly what we see going on in our culture today? God giving men over to uncleanness, to vile passions, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, it's exactly what we see. The hypersexualization of everything we see, right? This is God's judgment. Then notice in the very midst of this dismal picture, this picture of man's depravity, Paul will not refrain from the worship of God and the proclamation of praise, right? Paul erupts in praise, he is, verse 25, the creator who is blessed forever, amen. Although Paul finds himself as we do in the midst of man's depraved and deranged rejection of God, whatever men say and whatever men do, God is blessed forever, amen. Though the nations rage, though the peoples plot vain things, though the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bonds and pieces, right? Let us cast their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. Lord shall hold them in derision, then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure. Yet he says, I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the Lord has said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. He's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, right, the psalmist. Now therefore be wise, O kings, be instructed you judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are those who put their trust in him. Let it not be that God should deliver you up to uncleanness, right, turn to Christ while there's yet time. Let it not be that God would give you over to debased mind, to dishonor yourselves among them, turn to Christ while there is yet time, let the wicked forsake his way, let the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts, let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him, let him return to God, he will abundantly pardon, amen, amen. Father in heaven, I'm so grateful to you for the gospel, God. So grateful that you in mercy have made provision for our sin. We know Lord that you didn't have to and we are certainly undeserving of it. But God's so grateful that you've determined in Jesus Christ to redeem a people, to magnify him, magnify his name, to glorify your own name and we praise you and thank you Lord. We know that we are not worthy in and of ourselves but Jesus Christ is worthy and we praise you and thank you Lord that you have determined to save a people to yourself. Thank you for the gospel. Thank you that in it the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed as a free gift to those who will put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, that he lived the perfect life which they cannot live, that he died the sacrificial death that they cannot die to save, to redeem his own, that we might be reconciled to God and justified for given of our sin and made to inherit all things in him. We praise you and thank you for all these blessings that are ours in Christ and may you be praised. We thank you and may you Lord, receive the everlasting praise of your people for your glory. We pray all these things in Christ's name. Amen.