Romans chapter one, and the Lord
willing, we'll finish this chapter tonight, beginning with verse
22. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. and changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image like to corruptible man and to
birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore,
God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own
hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. who
changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served
the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause, God gave them
up unto vile affections, for even their women did change the
natural use into that which is against nature, and likewise
also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their
lust one toward another, men with men working that which is
unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error
which was meat. And even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind to do those things which are not convenient. being filled
with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers,
backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, bolsters, inventors of
evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant
breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing
the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are
worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in
them that do them." I want to entitle this message tonight,
Men Becoming Fools. Men Becoming Fools. How did that
happen? How did this come about? We know
Adam, he was created in the image of God, but he introduced sin
into God's creation, into God's world by his disobedience. And yes, we see in Adam and Eve's
firstborn son, Cain, how he became a fool. Now Cain became a fool. He pitted his reason against
God's revelation. We know that is so. He pitted
his reason against God's revelation. God had revealed to Adam and
Eve the way of forgiveness is a blood-sprinkled way, that is,
it is through the sacrifice of a substitute. And we know that
Adam and Eve, they instructed their children because Abel,
their second son, he worshiped God according to what God had
revealed unto Adam, but not Cain. Cain pitted no doubt his reason
against God's revelation. God revealed the way back. is the way through a substitute,
through a lamb, through a sacrifice, through bloodshedding, and that's
the only way back. But what did Cain do? Well, we
know he was a farmer, and I'm sure he picked the very best
of his crops, the most beautiful fruit that you could harvest,
and he reasoned. He reasoned. This is what is
so important here. He reasoned that what was acceptable
to him would be acceptable to God. That's man's reason. What pleases me surely will please
God. You know, there's two Old Testament
scriptures I want us to turn to. I hope you have these marked
in your mind, maybe not in your Bible. Wouldn't hurt to mark
them. But I want us to see these two
things about God which are so important. Because man by nature,
he pits his reason against God's revelation. And that's a fatal
error. That's a fatal mistake. That's
what Cain did. This is beautiful. Oh, I love
this. This looks so good to me. Surely
it's gonna please God. No, no. Let's look at these two
verses. The one is in Psalm chapter 50. Psalm chapter 50. Psalm chapter 50 in verse 21. God speaking, these things hast
thou done and I kept silence. Here it is. Thou thoughtest that
I was such a one as thyself. That's a fatal error. Thou thoughtest
When I read that, thou thoughtest, I think about Haman, when he
came, the Syrian who came with leprosy, came to the house of
Elisha, seeking cleansing, you remember, from the leprosy, because
a Jewish maiden had told her master, her mistress, I should
say, what to God, he was in Israel, because the prophet would restore
him from his leprosy. And that was the best news that
man had ever heard. No one had ever heard that a
person could be healed of leprosy. And so he takes off with the
king's approval and loaded down with money, changes of raiment,
silver, everything to impress and to buy this healing. And
you know the story, when he got to Elisha's house, Elisha didn't
even come out. He sent his servant out to him
and said, go, go wash in Jordan seven times and you'll come up
clean. And what happens? Well, he followed his reason,
didn't he? I thought I thought at least
he would come out and strike his hands over me. But his servants, they had more
wisdom than he had. They convinced him. Under God,
I know that, but under God, if he had told you to do some hard
thing, if he had told you to climb a mountain, if he had told
you to make a pilgrimage on your knees over glass, You would have
done that. But he told you just go dip in
Jordan seven times. And so he did. And he came up
clean, didn't he? I remember hearing Brother Lester
Roloff years ago preach a message in a big old tent from that passage. Seven ducks on a muddy pond. Seven ducks on a muddy pond.
He came up clean. Yeah. Well that's one verse of
scripture to always keep in mind. Thou thoughtest that I was such
a one as thou. And he isn't. He isn't. And the other one is in Isaiah
chapter 55. In Isaiah chapter 55 in verse 8. God declares, for my thoughts
are not your thoughts, and neither your ways my ways, saith the
Lord. Man's reason, reason against
revelation. In our text here tonight, in
Romans chapter one and verse 21, Paul had given two steps
in men becoming fools. He says, knowing his eternal
power and being. What does that mean? That means
that man in God's world knows that this didn't just happen.
This didn't just spring up from a big bang. Man knows that. Creation shows God's power, his
mighty power. And it also shows His being,
the Godhead. Shows that there is a God. But
what does man do? He did not glorify God as God. Did not glorify Him as God. And notice this second thing.
Look at this in verse 21. Because that when they knew God,
now that doesn't mean that they had a saving knowledge of God.
Our Lord, in John 17, in His prayer, He said, this is life
eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Now, when Paul says that
when man knew God, he's not talking about that saving knowledge that
God's elect are given. When we trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ, we come to know Him. We come to know Him as our Lord
and as our Savior. as our Redeemer, as our Father,
as our Benefactor, as our God. They knew there was a God, these
that Paul is describing here, because that when they knew God,
they glorified Him not as God. But notice that second thing,
neither were thankful. You know, being thankful is so
important, isn't it? It is so important. We teach
our children, you teach your children to say thanks. At this time of year when you're
given a present, you teach them, thank the person that gave you
that present. Don't just take it in like you
deserved it and like it wasn't a gift. Give thanks. It's an
awful thing when men are unthankful. And this is the reason God says
they became fools. First of all, they glorified
God not as God, and then they were unthankful. They were not
thankful. And this resulted in vain imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. Now tonight, in looking at these
last 10 verses in this chapter, I want to point out three things
before we go ahead. First of all, We know that in
this part of the Word of God, in these first three chapters
of Romans, Paul is showing how that all men are guilty before
God, whether they had a written revelation like our Bibles or
they didn't. All men are guilty before God,
guilty of sin, and therefore justification cannot be by works. Being declared righteous before
God or by God cannot be by works. Why? Because all men are guilty
before God. And secondly, the account that
Paul gives in these verses of the sins of men, it was common
knowledge. He didn't have to cite any references
for what he says here. This was common knowledge. This
is the way men lived. And the men who were considered
the greatest in this world, the philosophers, they were the most
guilty of all in living as he describes here in this passage
of scripture. But the third thing I would point
out to us, we must not think that we're any different. Let that sink in. Reading this
awful catalog of sins and wickedness and evil that men are guilty
of, we must not somehow think, well, that's them, that's not
us. No, each and every one of us too, we have a deceitful heart
that is desperately wicked. Deceitful, Jeremiah said, above
all things. That's the heart I have, that's
the heart you have, that's the heart these men had. No difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Well, three things I want to
point out. First of all, the product of man's foolishness
in verses 22 and 23. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. and change the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds,
four-footed beasts, and creeping things. The true and the living
God is incorruptible, immortal, and his essential glory cannot
be changed. When we read here, change the
glory of the uncorruptible God. We know that cannot be referring
to his essential glory because God is immutable. God doesn't
change. God cannot be changed. This glory
that he's speaking of or guilty of was changing his relative
glory, his relative glory to his creatures. And this is what
man changed. God is spirit, but men taking
some object, something that's tangible, and worshiping it as
God are saying this represents God. They change the incorruptible
God into an image like an incorruptible man. Keep your places here, but
let's go back to Isaiah. where God through the prophet
here shows the absolute insanity, foolishness of idolatry. Let's look in Isaiah chapter
44. And there's several of these
chapters here in a row where God is speaking to the nation
of Israel, to whom he had revealed himself in so many ways, and
yet they turned to idolatry, the nation of Israel itself.
And God is saying, let them show themselves to be God. These idols
that you're worshiping, let them prove themselves. And the way
he supposes they might prove themselves is by foretelling
an event that comes to pass. Well, they couldn't do that.
And someone asked one time, some child, how do you know as their
parent, how do you know that what you believe is the truth?
How do you know that this book, that you teach us is the truth. But one of the ways we know it
is the truth, historically, it cannot be denied the dates of
these books. And yet, future things were foretold
hundreds of years before they came to pass. So that there's
no way that an idol who cannot tell what's gonna happen tomorrow,
or even man cannot foretell the future. That there's no way that
we could have this book lest it be divinely inspired
by God Almighty. Because there's just too many
prophecies that could not have been fulfilled by chance, no,
by God's power. But here in Isaiah 44, this is
one of these chapters where God remonstrates with the nation
of Israel over worshiping idols. Let me begin in verse 14. We
won't read all that's in this chapter about idolatry, but notice
in verse 14, he supposes a man, He heweth him down cedars, taketh
the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself
among the trees of the forest. He planteth an ash, and the rain
doth nourish it. Now get the picture here. There's
a man who plants a tree. He plants his tree. And he watches
it grow. Seasons pass over it. God sends
rain, God sends sunshine, and this tree grows and becomes a
larger tree. Then, shall it be for a man to
burn, he will take thereof and warm himself. He cuts his tree
down and he uses part of it in the fireplace to warm his body. And he puts some of it in the
oven. Bake his bread. Same tree, same wood. And he maketh a God. He takes
part of it he had left over from warming himself and cooking his
food. And that's about the way people want to treat God, isn't
it? Whatever's left over, my time, my gifts, whatever's extra, that's
what I'm going to give to God. No, God should have our best,
the first, first fruits. But this man, he just takes whatever's
left, makes himself a God, and worships it, bows down to it,
prays to it, make it the graven image. And I'm sure he worked
with it, with a wood chisel, you know, and just made it ever
so perfect, yeah. And we've seen some beautiful
carvings, haven't we? Man has the skill to do that,
and surely he would have done that with his God, make it as
beautiful as he possibly could. Well, he burned part of it there
in the fire, and part thereof he cooked his food, he roasteth
roast, and he's satisfied, yea, he warmeth himself and say, aha,
I'm warm, I've I've seen the fire, and the residue thereof
he maketh a God. Even his graven image, he falleth
down unto it, and worshipeth it, and prayeth unto it, and
saith, Deliver me, for thou art my God. They have not known,
nor understood, for he hath shut their eyes, they cannot see,
and their hearts they cannot understand, and none considereth. In his heart, neither is there
knowledge nor understanding to say, he doesn't reason with himself
and say, I burned part of that tree in the fire. I baked some bread with part
of the coals. I've roasted some flesh. Shall
I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down
to the stalk, that which is left of this tree, and worship it? Notice, he feedeth on ashes. A deceived heart, a deceived heart hath turned
him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor save. Is there
not a lie in my right hand? You would think man could reason.
How could that be a God? How could that be a God? I remember
in Mexico preaching in a village. I preached there for several
years. And one man was named Santos. I still remember Santos. And he told me he had been raised,
of course, in idolatry there. But he went to a fiesta. Different
towns, villages, they all have their fiestas a certain time
of the year. And he went to one, and he said, I saw a man making
an idol. He said, it just came into my
mind. That man there is making that
idol, and I'm supposed to buy it and take it back home and
worship it? But you know, the only reason
he thought like that is because God gave him that grace to see
that. Because so many people see the
same thing by their idol, burn a candle before it, worship it,
pray to it, think somehow it's going to bring a blessing or
be a help to them. No. Why? Because his heart is
deceived. A deceived heart. Now, back in
our text in Romans, we see in this, as we see with all sin,
that there is a progression. It's always downward. Starts
off little and grows larger. Starts off small and gets bigger. Sin always progresses in a downward
way. Man begins with a man. I'm going
to make a myself a god, and I'm going to fashion this god after
a man. And we know the Greeks were especially
guilty of this, of worshiping man, his body, his physique,
making it ever so handsome. But like I heard Brother Rolf
Bornert say one time, that after a while became too big for him,
a man. So then he switched over to a
bird. And before long, a bird became
too big for him, and he switched over to a beast, a four-footed
beast. And last of all, all of these,
the man, the bird, the beast, all too large. So he started
worshiping these little roaches and things that crawl
on the ground. You say, do men? Yes. Man has
done that, and I'm sure there's places in the world even today
where men are still steeped in idolatry, paganism, worshiping
things of this nature. Man has a deceived heart. So that's the product of man's
foolishness. Second, the result of man's foolishness
in verses 24 through 28, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness
through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own
bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into
a lie, worshiped and served the creature more than the creator,
who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave
them up into vile affections, and for even their women to change
the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise
also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their
lust one toward another, men with men, working that which
is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of
their error. which was made, and even as they
did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them
over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Three times in those verses we
read, God gave them up. God gave them up. First, God gave them up unto
uncleanness, Then God gave them up unto vile affections. And lastly, God gave them up
to a reprobate mind. What does it mean when we read
God gave them up? God just left them alone. God
just left them alone. That's what it means. He ceased
to restrain them. Man without the restraining hand
of God always will progress downward into sin. He suffered. God suffered them to act out
what was in their evil hearts. He gave them up. He gave them
up. He gave them up. First of all,
he gave them up to uncleanness. They changed the glory of God.
to dishonor him, so he left them to dishonor themselves by doing
these dishonorable things. Second, he gave them up to vile
affections, disgraceful passions or desires, that is, to those
which are immediately specified here. The great object of the
apostle here, and I'm quoting now, Albert Barnes, the great
object of the apostle here, it will be remembered, is to show
the state of the pagan world and to prove that they had need
of some other way of justification than the law of nature. For this
purpose, it was necessary for him to enter into a detail of
their sins. The sins which he proceeds to
specify are the most indelicate. vile and degrading, which can
be charged on man." But he went on to say, this is not the fault
of the apostle. Him listing these sins, I would
just as soon pass over this passage of scripture and never preach
from it. But if I'm preaching through
the word of God, I'm going to deal with it. And like Albert
Barnes said, The fault was not the apostles that he named these
things. If they existed, it was necessary
for him to charge them on the pagan world. His argument would
be incomplete without it. The shame is not in specifying
them, but in their existence. Not in the apostle, but in those
who practice them. and imposed on him the necessity
of accusing them of these enormous offenses. You know, in preparing
this message tonight, I read several other writers and I read
several sermons. And one of the messages, sermons
that I read was preached by a famous Presbyterian pastor back in the
1950s, 1960s. He was on the radio. a very distinct sound of his
voice. I can still hear it. You may
have heard him, but I found this statement interesting. Remember,
this was in the 1950s. Now we're in the 2020s. And his statement has to do with
homosexuality. He said, and I quote, there will
be further efforts There will be further efforts, this is back
70 years ago, there will be further efforts to bring our nation to
a tolerant attitude toward this rebellion of sin. Haven't we
lived to see that? He didn't claim to be a prophet,
but haven't we lived to see that? A tolerant attitude in our nation,
so much so that now, Same-sex marriage is legal in our country,
and a Supreme Court justice cannot even define what a woman is. God has given them up to a reprobate
mind, just like here we read. That preacher went on after he
made that statement, he asked this question, Are man ignorant
of the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah? Are man ignorant of the fate
of Sodom and Gomorrah? Didn't God destroy those two
cities of the plains, raining brimstone and fire out of heaven
for this particular sin, this uncleanness that is mentioned
here in this passage of scripture? He gave them over, not only to
uncleanness, not only to vile affections, but he says to a
reprobate mind. They had some knowledge of God
from nature, but did not like to own or acknowledge him. And
so God gave them over to a reprobate mind, a vain, empty mind. My third and last point, the
fruit of man's foolishness. From hence to the end of the
chapter, beginning with verse 29, from hence to the end of
the chapter, follows a large and black list and catalog of
the sad characters of the Gentiles. And the best man they had among
them, for the apostle all along is speaking not of common people,
but of their wise professors and moral instructors. Then which
there never was a more wicked set of men that ever lived upon
the face of the earth, who under the guise of morality were guilty
of the greatest pride and covetousness and of the most filthy debaucheries
imaginable. That's what John Gill said about
the last few verses of the chapter. Man, man forget, better forget
about justifying himself. We need Christ. We need a savior. I'm reminded of that every day,
aren't you? Every day I live, I'm reminded
I need a savior. How many times have I said I'm
not going to do that again? I'm going to change. I need a
savior. I need a savior. And thank God,
God's given us one, hasn't he? Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. We'll sing a hymn and we'll be
dismissed.