Suppressed Living.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Welcome to Village Church. If this is your first time here, [0:03] I am glad to see you. I’m excited to be here. [0:06] I hope you are as well. [0:07] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to Romans. [0:10] Chapter one will be starting in verse twenty four this morning. [0:13] We’re going to cover a little more ground in a few verses

[0:16] that we were in last week as we didn’t have time to do that. [0:19] And then we’re going to cover a little bit of new ground this week [0:21] and then finish out chapter one, Lord willing, next week. [0:26] You never know. [0:28] But, you know, what we’ve seen over these past few weeks, [0:32] as we’ve been in the book of Romans, is that God has revealed

[0:37] through his son two things. [0:40] First, Jesus shows the absolute righteousness of God. [0:45] And the way that he does this is he shows that God is holy [0:47] through his absolute sinlessness, that Jesus came, lived a perfect life. [0:53] But then he shows us something else about his holiness, [0:56] that his holiness is filled with love.

[0:58] And we see this through the fact that Jesus came and died a sinless death. [1:04] And the reason that he did this was to uncover this great truth about God, [1:07] and that is that God desires to save people, [1:11] even though we have rebelled against him, [1:15] even though we have worshipped things other than him, [1:18] even though he designed us to give him glory.

[1:22] And we’ve chosen to attempt to find our satisfaction [1:25] and then thereby giving other things glory. [1:29] He’s shown us that he still loves us. [1:32] And he loves us enough to lay the justice [1:35] and to lay the penalty onto his own son. [1:40] On the cross, Jesus dies to save sinners.

[1:43] So in his righteousness is this perfect love, greater love we’ve never seen. [1:49] But there’s a second thing that it shows, and that is our unrighteousness, [1:54] that when Jesus comes and he lives this life of perfect obedience to God, [1:59] he lives a life obeying God the Father perfectly. [2:02] He lives a life in which he gives God the Father ultimate glory. [2:06] He says things like, Father, not my will, but yours be done.

[2:09] He submits to the plan of God for him. [2:14] And when we see this, we see something totally different than what we see in ourselves. [2:19] And that’s because we are unrighteous. [2:21] That’s because in our worship, we have chosen to try to fill ourselves [2:26] with all the things that this world has to offer. [2:28] Power, money, sex, everything that this world can give us.

[2:32] We’ve said, I’m going to find my satisfaction. [2:34] I’m going to fill myself with that. [2:36] And the entire time God is there and he’s always told us [2:39] that you will only find fulfillment through my design for your life [2:43] and his design for our lives is that we live it towards him. [2:47] So in that gospel story, we see a bit of our unrighteousness.

[2:51] But in realizing our unrighteousness, we actually find hope. [2:56] Anyone that believes that he or she is completely righteous doesn’t need hope. [3:00] It is only in coming face to face [3:03] with what perfect beauty and perfect righteousness is that we see our unrighteousness. [3:08] And when we see our unrighteousness, we see a need to be saved from it. [3:12] And that’s what Jesus offers us.

[3:15] And last week, Paul told us the story [3:19] of why we need salvation. [3:24] God designed us for one thing. [3:26] We’ve done something else. [3:28] And this week, Paul continues to unfold that story [3:32] because last week was mostly about the way that you think.

[3:36] The way that you believe your life has meaning, [3:38] the way that you believe that your life has purpose. [3:41] And this week, Paul transitions to show how have you taken that belief [3:46] and actually lived it out in this world. [3:51] God has designed us to live and function in certain ways. [3:56] And our false beliefs have led us to exchange it

[3:59] for the perversion of his design. [4:03] It’s kind of providential, I believe, that we’re in this section of scripture this week. [4:09] The beauty of going through an entire book of the Bible is that you cannot avoid [4:13] the parts that may be a little uncomfortable for us, [4:17] the parts that may be a little timely, the parts that may be a little controversial [4:21] as opposed to the way that the world is working all around us.

[4:27] This past week, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear [4:31] a few cases on same sex marriage. [4:34] Therefore, Richmond’s government sanctioned the first marriage licenses in the city [4:39] to people of the same sex. [4:41] And this is the specific example [4:44] that Paul will use to show how we are deceived

[4:49] to attempt to take the authority from God [4:53] and give it to ourselves to change God’s design. [4:58] This is the text. [5:00] If it makes us uncomfortable, it is the way that the text leaves us. [5:05] Paul explains that the suppression of truth [5:07] that God has laid out in this world will lead us

[5:12] to living suppressed lifestyles in which we build for ourselves [5:17] a prison of lies and seeking freedom from God. [5:22] We build a prison for ourselves of condemnation, [5:25] understand now as well as later. [5:29] So I want to go right now and just simply read the text [5:33] in Romans, chapter one, starting in verse twenty four.

[5:35] This is what Paul says, therefore, and that therefore is there [5:40] for to show us that he’s connecting the suppression of truth [5:45] that leads us to believe lies with what he’s about to say. [5:48] Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, [5:53] to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, [5:55] because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie

[5:58] and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator [6:02] who’s blessed forever. Amen. [6:03] So he’s kind of bookending one thought, beginning a new thought, [6:08] all in the same line. [6:09] We saw last week that he says that we’ve made an exchange in two places. [6:13] First, we’ve made an exchange of God’s worship for the worship of creation.

[6:17] And here he’s saying that exchange has also led you to not only worship. [6:23] There’s a second word in there. [6:25] And serve. The creature [6:28] rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. [6:31] So he’s going to take what is going on inside of us, [6:35] what is happening in our identity, what is happening in our belief

[6:39] of meaning and purpose. [6:41] And he’s going to say it’s extending out into how you live [6:45] and function in this world. [6:47] That’s the serve part. And he continues. [6:52] He says, for this reason, he’s going to restate what he said in verse twenty four. [6:56] God gave them up.

[6:59] In other words, God is allowing something to happen [7:03] that he doesn’t believe should. [7:05] God is allowing something to happen that is actually to your detriment. [7:10] God is allowing you to go into a manner of living that he did not design you to live. [7:16] And because God’s giving you up to that, that’s the beginning of the wrath on you. [7:21] God gave them up to dishonorable passions

[7:24] for their women, exchanged natural relations [7:27] for those that are contrary to nature. [7:30] And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women [7:33] and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts [7:38] with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. [7:45] And that’s probably as far as we’re going to be able to get today.

[7:50] The reality of what the scripture is leading us to here.

[7:56] Is going to be controversial in our world.

[8:03] There is one train of thought that would lead us to say [8:06] that God, through this text, is not.

[8:11] Full tilt rejecting the lifestyle of homosexuality.

[8:18] The only way that you can do that is to deny. [8:23] The text. [8:26] Because what he’s saying, and this is going to lead us into the entire morning, [8:29] is that in the same way that we have turned [8:33] worship of God upside down [8:38] and trying to fill our lives and satisfy our lives, the things of this world

[8:42] in that same way, he’s going to use an example of the world. [8:46] We can find proof that we’ve done that [8:50] because we are attempting to turn sexuality under God’s design [8:55] completely upside down.

[9:01] Some preface it this morning that that is where the text leaves us.

[9:10] And if that makes us uncomfortable, if we begin to say, but. [9:16] What Paul would say to us is that is the suppression of truth in your life.

[9:22] I’ve said this many times. [9:25] Where scripture disagrees with me.

[9:29] I am wrong.

[9:33] God is always right.

[9:37] And true faith submits to what he says.

[9:43] Rather than submitting to what I feel.

[9:48] And so it’s going to lead you, if you believe that, [9:51] if you allow that to captivate your worldview, [9:54] if you believe that God is right and man is wrong, that’s going to leave you [9:58] in a bit of a contradiction with our culture. [10:02] It will. But I want to go through this morning [10:06] three ways that this text actually gives us hope

[10:10] and understanding that unrighteousness will lead us to redemption. [10:14] All right. [10:15] And number one, this morning, what he wants to help us understand [10:17] is that freedom from God is a prison. [10:22] Freedom from God is a prison. [10:25] When the text says God gave them up in verse twenty four,

[10:30] what he’s saying is, is that God’s allowance of sin [10:34] to happen is a judgment from God. [10:40] To be free from the rule of God [10:44] is to be held captive by the rule of sin. [10:49] There’s a false belief that is suppressed by our by our sin. [10:53] There’s this there’s this false belief that’s furthered by it, rather.

[10:56] And it’s truth that is suppressed by our sin [10:59] that would lead us to believe that real freedom [11:02] is the ability to do whatever you want. [11:06] That real freedom is just just complete lot in parcel. [11:09] You have all the say, you have all the authority, you have everything. [11:14] But that is not possible.

[11:17] If there’s a God.

[11:20] There’s only two kings that you can have in this life. [11:25] And you’re not one of them.

[11:28] One of them is God. [11:30] And as we saw last week, I don’t want to rehash that. [11:34] God is that ruler that we were designed to be under. [11:37] That is God’s definition of freedom, [11:41] is that you live under his reign, under his design, [11:44] because he, as the creator, knows the way that we were designed to function.

[11:51] How audacious would it be to go to someone who invented this machine [11:55] and say, I think you’re doing it all wrong.

[12:00] Be foolish. He’s the designer. [12:01] He knows what it was meant to be for. [12:04] God is the designer. [12:05] He knows what we were meant for. [12:07] We were meant to be completely dependent on him. [12:09] And there’s the only place of freedom that you will ever have.

[12:12] Making your own rules is not freedom. [12:13] Making your own rules is tyranny of sin.

[12:19] Second ruler that you can have in your life is sin. [12:22] And you will be held captive by that sin, according to this text.

[12:28] Sin gives us the deception that we’re free [12:31] so long as we’re under its rules, so long as we’re under its tyranny. [12:35] But the suppression of truth that Paul talks about in verse 18 [12:38] is further understood here. [12:41] You are never truly first out of reach of God’s rule. [12:46] Do you know that?

[12:49] When the text says there, God gave them over. [12:53] What the text is actually communicating to us is that first, [12:57] never believe that you’re out of God’s reach. [13:00] Never believe that you have gone so far into your own self-authority [13:05] that God is not the ruler over where you are. [13:10] The fact that God gave us up to dishonorable passions

[13:14] serves as an indicator that God is still the God of us [13:19] when we’re under those dishonorable passions. [13:22] He is actually the God of the destination that you’re headed to [13:25] because he created it all.

[13:29] But then there’s a second thing that we have to understand there as well. [13:34] And that is, the second reason is encapsulated in the first. [13:40] When you rebel against the rule of God, [13:42] you simply come under the command of another ruler, sin. [13:46] Philippians 3 puts it this way. [13:49] For many of whom I have told you and now tell you, even with tears,

[13:53] walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. [13:57] Their end is destruction. [14:00] Their God is their belly. [14:02] And they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.

[14:10] You believe the lie that shame is somehow glory.

[14:15] Your end will be destruction. [14:18] Sin is never freedom. [14:22] Here’s what it is. [14:23] It is the exchange of a benevolent God [14:27] who desires your eternal pleasure [14:31] for a maleficent ruler of your own flesh

[14:35] that will ultimately join Satan in eternal condemnation. [14:41] It’s a foolish exchange that we make. [14:44] Everything in the gospel, everything in creation serves to show us [14:49] that God is a benevolent ruler, that he loves each and every one of us, [14:54] that he desires for us to have joy, [14:57] that he desires to give us pleasures forevermore, the psalmist tells us.

[15:05] And when we make the decision to say, [15:09] I think I know what my design should be used for [15:13] more than he knows my design should be used for, [15:15] what Philippians is telling us is that we have exchanged the benevolent rule of God [15:21] for the maleficent tyranny of sin. [15:26] It’s your God is your belly.

[15:30] What he means by that in this day, [15:32] they would say basically that your inward parts is where your life is. [15:37] Culturally speaking, [15:39] they would say you will seek to fill yourself up with everything that this world has [15:45] to offer. [15:46] Whatever the pleasure of the week is, you will seek to fill yourself up,

[15:50] but it will not change your destination. [15:54] Because ultimately, no matter what you’re trying to fill yourself up with other than God, [15:59] it’s all leading to the same place. Hell.

[16:04] The judgment of God giving us over to sin is simply God giving us what we want [16:09] and its destination will ultimately be.

[16:13] Hell.

[16:15] Sin is the only real prison that exists in this world. [16:20] No, who is condemned? [16:23] It is the one who rebels against God’s design. [16:26] Paul calls it calls you if that’s you. [16:29] This is you’re the enemy of the cross of Jesus. [16:34] To live under God’s rule is truly freedom because in it you find real joy.

[16:41] You find real life. [16:43] God is the freedom fighter of those who are in prison. [16:47] How do we know that Jesus? [16:50] God’s rule is so powerful that you cannot even free yourself. [16:56] You need God to free you. [16:58] Everything else is alive that leads to destruction.

[17:01] How can you look to the God who is eternally fighting for your freedom and say, [17:07] I would rather do it myself. [17:10] When everything in the world says you’re just constantly trying to fill your belly [17:14] with things that God never intentioned for you to.

[17:19] To understand that prison further, you have to understand point number two this morning. [17:25] If you believe a lie, you will live a lie.

[17:31] If you believe a lie, you’ll live a lie. [17:35] Friends, did you know that false belief leads to false action? [17:40] When we say that freedom is only found in God’s design for life, [17:44] when you don’t believe that, you seek to find your identity and purpose in something else. [17:50] Whatever that is will determine the life that you practically live out. [17:54] This leads to things that you fill your life with and the actions that you take.

[17:59] What you believe will determine how you live. [18:02] And in that is the understanding that sin suppresses the truth of why we exist [18:08] and then it extends out in the way that we actually live in everyday life. [18:13] In God’s giving people over to the rule of sin, [18:18] we do not then have an excuse for sin in order to point back to God and say, [18:23] well, you made me this way.

[18:26] What kind of a loving God would make me this way?

[18:31] God’s not the author of sin. [18:34] He’s not the one that believes the lie. [18:38] He doesn’t do the action. [18:41] He simply gives us over to the direction that we chose to go. [18:47] That’s why Romans 1 20, just a few verses previous, [18:50] is so important in its ending when it says that they are without excuse.

[18:59] And what we’ll do is we’ll try to weasel our way out. [19:03] We’ll try to weasel our way into an excuse of why we did what we did. [19:06] Well, God blessed the broken road that led me right here. [19:09] No, he didn’t.

[19:13] If he’s God, he could have done it on a straight road without all those bumps. [19:17] And you could have had joy in him that entire time. [19:23] But only in the suppression of truth do we look at brokenness and say, [19:28] well, I’m so glad for sin.

[19:33] Do you know what you’re saying in that moment? [19:37] You’re glad for the thing that cost the Son of God is very life.

[19:43] You’re glad for the prison that kept you from joy, [19:47] that you will not meet a person that can truly say they have no regrets. [19:50] That person doesn’t exist. [19:52] They’re lying.

[19:55] We all have regrets, friend. [19:58] Every moment of sin is regretful. [20:01] Every moment of disobedience is regretful [20:04] because every moment of disobedience keeps me from the life of joy that God has me for.

[20:10] But the reality is, is that there is a way in which you can look back at those regrets and say, [20:15] I am finally free. [20:17] Oh, friend, I wish I hadn’t wasted all those years. [20:21] But thanks be to God, I don’t have to waste the rest. [20:24] Thanks be to God that there is redemption for where I am right here and right now. [20:29] And I can now begin to bring him glory and live the way in which that he designed me

[20:33] to live. [20:36] And when you understand that and only when you understand that, [20:39] can you make the greatest exchange of all time. [20:41] And that is the exchange of sorrow for sin, [20:44] for joy in God, [20:47] joy in God’s design,

[20:49] joy in God’s plan. [20:52] Ephesians 4 19 puts it this way. [20:55] Speaking of those who do not believe in God, [20:58] they are darkened in their understanding, [21:00] they are being alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance that is in them, [21:05] due to what? Their hardness of heart.

[21:09] They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, [21:12] greedy to practice every type of impurity. [21:15] Where does the responsibility for my sin lay? [21:20] It lays directly at my feet.

[21:23] It’s not because of God’s ignorance.

[21:26] It’s not because of God’s hardness of heart.

[21:30] It’s mine. [21:32] When it says that God gave them up, [21:36] the reality is that God gave us up to what we wanted.

[21:41] God gave us up to the direction we were going.

[21:46] God gave us over to our hardness. [21:48] God gave us over. [21:50] And we then therefore are responsible for our actions. [21:57] Then it turned into what Romans 1 26 calls dishonorable passions.

[22:05] This is the life that you live apart from belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. [22:10] What you find your identity in will lead to what you do in your life and how you define the life to be lived. [22:19] Ultimately, the prison of lives that lies that we put ourselves in when we disobey God [22:24] is a belief that we have any grounds of authority over ourselves to define anything. [22:30] It is the mirage that freedom is found in creation ruling itself.

[22:39] Does no good to cry about how great freedom is. [22:43] So long as it’s simply a delusion of self-control.

[22:48] Sin gives the deception that you are in control. [22:54] To believe that you’re in control of your own destiny will change how you live. [22:58] But it will not change the ultimate destination. [23:02] Your control is a lie that leads you to live out that lie, which simply ends the same as everyone else’s. [23:10] There’s so many examples in this world. [23:13] Paul uses last week.

[23:14] He says, when you look at the world around you, it’s obvious that there’s a creator beyond ourselves. [23:19] This world is not the ends. [23:20] This world is simply the means to get us to the ends. [23:22] And that is God. [23:24] But there are so many things that happen each and every day that show me that I have absolutely no control. [23:29] I did not want it to rain yesterday.

[23:32] But when I went outside and I said, you stop it.

[23:36] That did me no good. [23:39] I had no control.

[23:44] There are accidents on the road causing traffic backups. [23:46] And I just say, get off the road.

[23:50] Nope, nothing.

[23:54] I get sick and I say, body, you obey me. [23:58] Nope, still sick.

[24:01] Natural disasters happen. [24:03] Call them natural disasters because they’re not human disasters because we have no control over them. [24:10] So everything in this world screams, I have no control. [24:16] Yet I will still in foolishness say, I control my own destiny. [24:21] No. [24:22] No.

[24:23] No.

[24:26] Your destiny is controlled by the God of the universe. [24:30] And you can either submit to that or you cannot submit. [24:35] But you will not ever get outside of this grasp. [24:40] It will either lead to your good or to your bad. [24:46] That’s the reality of what scripture leads us to in the end of verse 27. [24:50] When it says that we have our due penalty.

[24:53] There is a penalty when we do not believe God. [24:55] There is a penalty when we do not look to the cross and say, I will trust in that. [24:59] I will turn from my sin. [25:01] I will find beauty in what God finds beauty in.

[25:06] There’s a lie that will lead me to change what God made good. [25:11] And to something that’s ultimately destructive.

[25:16] When I think I’m in control. [25:18] I order my life as though I’m the author of it.

[25:23] Here’s the reality. [25:25] Since I’m a sinner. [25:27] I will order it wrong. [25:30] I will begin to reorder everything under my own wisdom and rules of my own making. [25:35] And that is why I will ultimately only end in destruction.

[25:41] There’s enough evidence in every one of our lives. [25:45] That we’re not all knowing. [25:48] All powerful and completely wise. [25:51] That should lead each and every one of us to pray that there’s a God. [25:58] Because we are ignorant people.

[26:03] But then Paul. [26:05] Ends this section. [26:08] Sorry. [26:08] With evidence. [26:11] To show us how our control will lead to utter futility. [26:16] And the things that we find hope in.

[26:19] And the example that he uses is what is sort of timely about this week is that is he uses the example of homosexuality.

[26:27] So the third point this morning is just simply this. [26:31] Homosexuality may seem like freedom. [26:35] But it is a prison of lies.

[26:40] I say that with the understanding that for many of us in this day and age we either do struggle in this area. [26:50] Or we know someone that struggles in this area. [26:53] We have a family member that means a great deal to us. [26:56] That struggles in this area. [27:00] And so when I say that it is not to anyone’s detriment. [27:04] It is for the hope that redemption would blossom.

[27:08] Because what I mean to say this morning is that the reason that Paul’s language is so forceful is not because of Paul’s anger but because of Paul’s love. [27:17] It is only in this world and under our sin and our delusion of control that we would call something that is loving hateful.

[27:27] And that then leads us to begin to define things that are hateful as loving. [27:32] To not be this open and honest with someone is not loving at all. [27:37] It is to deny scripture. [27:38] It is to deny God’s goodness. [27:42] There is a train of thought. [27:43] There is a field of theory that is seeking to undo even this text right here and to say that it is not talking about homosexuality as a whole.

[27:53] But rather it is simply talking about promiscuous homosexuality. [27:57] But the truth is that you would not read any book in literature that way. [28:02] The narrative of what Paul is laying out here is to explain to us that the way in which you’ve gotten worship upside down is the way in which you’re getting sexuality upside down. [28:14] God did not create men to be with men and women to be with women. [28:19] God created man to be with woman and woman to be with man. [28:22] And to undo that is an example of where false worship leads to false servanthood.

[28:30] That is why when verse 25 says that you have worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, he follows with this example. [28:40] Because Paul means to use an example that will lead us as far away from God’s design as he can.

[28:48] Because this is the ultimate undoing of God’s design for sexuality. [28:52] But why is sexuality so important? [28:55] Well, in first Corinthians chapter six, verse 18, Paul tells us this. [29:02] He says, flee from sexual immorality.

[29:04] Every other sin a person commits outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. [29:12] So he means to help us begin to connect the dots and say that what is going on inside of you will eventually make its way out. [29:19] So why is disobedience to God and sexual things different from everything else? [29:27] What makes it inside of the body? [29:30] It is used because it goes to the very design for which God created us. [29:36] You see, God ultimately created us to bear his image to the world around us.

[29:40] And one aspect of this is the coming together as man and woman, as husband and wife, and through committed heterosexual monogamy, [29:52] show God’s covenant faithfulness to one another and experience pleasure and joy from God in his design.

[30:02] That’s the way it was from the beginning. [30:04] That’s what Genesis lays out. [30:06] To deviate then from this original vision and covenant for marriage that God designed is referred to as a sin against the body.

[30:20] Because the human body right before that is referred to as God’s temple. [30:25] It’s an extension of what it means to bear the image of God. [30:29] When we change what God meant for our bodies to be used for, specifically in sexual ways, we sin against his temple. [30:41] With pre or extra marital sex, we change the design.

[30:50] With homosexuality, we go even further down that path. [30:55] And it is shameful according to God. [31:00] It is not what we were created for.

[31:06] There’s two things that author Sam Albury will say that homosexuality does in this passage. [31:13] First, Paul points out that homosexuality is unnatural.

[31:18] You may think that the option of homosexuality is a freedom, but in reality it is a prison that will kill you. [31:28] When you exchange worship of God for self-authority to do what you want, it is a due penalty that will lead you to the wrath of God for eternity. [31:39] When Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6,9 that the practice of homosexuality will not inherit the kingdom of God, [31:44] he lumps it up with a list of other sins as well. [31:48] He writes this, he says,

[32:07] There’s a big list. [32:11] And in our present climate, there’s only two things in that list that we would say, [32:17] Oh, but wait a second, we have authoritative autonomy over our sexuality. [32:24] So if I want to be promiscuous, that’s my say. [32:28] And the second one is homosexuality. He puts both of them in there. [32:31] That’s how we know that receiving both a designation is sinful.

[32:36] But we would look and say someone that swindles people out of money. [32:39] That’s clearly sin.

[32:45] But Paul puts both of them in the list. [32:48] For us to understand that all of it is the undoing of God’s design for us. [32:52] And he did not design us for these things. [32:54] He designed us to be obedient to him, to live under his design. [32:58] And when we simply push our lives further and further towards the trust of those things, [33:03] ultimately we will not inherit his kingdom.

[33:05] We will inherit his wrath.

[33:10] Friends, creation cannot tell the creator that we have a better idea of how the thing that God designed should work. [33:19] No matter how natural something feels to us, if it goes against what God says it should be for, it is wrong.

[33:31] Friends, just because something feels natural doesn’t mean that it is natural. [33:37] We fight seemingly natural feelings all the time. [33:43] Because we are corrupt in our sin.

[33:48] We fight it constantly.

[33:53] There are times when I think it’s just natural. I’m going to sleep the day away. [33:57] I don’t do it. I’m here, aren’t I?

[34:06] Friends, there is a natural feeling in many people for violence.

[34:12] Their natural feelings would lead them to hurt, to kill, to maim, to harm.

[34:22] It may feel natural, but it’s not right.

[34:27] There are desires inside of many marriages to leave those marriages. [34:31] Because it feels natural. I don’t want to be married anymore. [34:35] In our world, and even many of us inside of the church, we do great harm to God’s design for marriage. [34:41] When it’s just, we have irreconcilable differences. [34:45] Yeah, sin.

[34:48] Just because it feels natural doesn’t mean that it’s good.

[34:53] Paul includes in that list, he says, there are going to be some of you. [34:56] This is where the heart of Paul’s message is coming out. [35:01] It’s going to feel absolutely natural to have same sex attraction.

[35:07] But it’s not.

[35:10] Why?

[35:13] It’s the only answer that I can give you.

[35:17] Because God says it’s not. [35:20] And see, I know that that’s not enough for the world at large. [35:28] I know that may not be enough for some of you in here this morning.

[35:33] But the reality is that that is the difference between faith in God and faith in yourself.

[35:43] I simply believe whatever God tells me. [35:48] Because I trust in him. [35:51] Why?

[35:53] Because he sent his son to die for my son. [35:57] And that’s evidence enough for me. [36:00] Because Jesus rose from the dead. [36:03] And if he rose from the dead, if he has that ability, then he’s God. [36:09] And that changes everything.

[36:13] Your sexuality, this goes for everyone. [36:19] Your sexuality is not ultimately about you.

[36:26] It is ultimately about God. [36:31] And God has chosen to be worshipped through heterosexual, monogamous marriage. [36:38] And the pleasures within that relationship. [36:41] That is how God has chosen to be glorified. [36:46] And if we are to believe him, we must submit to his design. [36:53] No matter what feels natural.

[36:56] I must pray for the Holy Spirit to undo my sinful, seemingly natural, but very unnatural feelings. [37:08] I must pray that God will change them.

[37:11] Any other path, friend, is what verse 18 calls the suppression of truth.

[37:22] But secondly, not only is it unnatural, but homosexuality is a sign of God’s judgment. [37:32] The prison now of this sin is that it hinders human flourishing on every level. [37:45] Same-sex marriage is not good for society. [37:51] Yet we think that it is freeing. [37:54] It imprisons all of society and continuously undoes God’s design. [38:01] Even in light that every study is revealing that no one is healthier by these freedoms in the end.

[38:11] No one.

[38:14] Yet we continue down this path of destruction. [38:17] We continue down this path to fight what human flourishing will do. [38:21] We continue down the path and believe that we have beaten biology.

[38:28] But we cannot beat God’s design, never. [38:30] We can’t do it. [38:32] God has designed for things to function in specific ways. [38:35] And we must believe that the only way for humanity to flourish, the only way for society to continue, [38:42] is if we believe that God is freedom and sin is prison. [38:47] We are building prisons for ourselves by approving of these false freedoms.

[38:58] We will not heal the pain that sin causes by renegotiating God’s design or by the approval of those that attempt it. [39:09] It does not help to approve of something that God calls sinful. [39:14] And this whole belief that what other people do doesn’t affect us is a lie.

[39:24] When children are harmed in terms of their education and chance at life through things like same sex adoption,

[39:35] everything deteriorates the further we get from God’s design. [39:40] And every study is showing us that when kids don’t have a mom and a dad, they don’t do well when they’re older.

[39:49] Romans 1-18 tells us that the wrath of God is revealed in unrighteousness and ungodliness, and this section reveals how. [39:57] One aspect of God’s wrath is right now.

[40:01] It is God giving you what you want. [40:04] He allows sin to intensify so much that you glory in what God calls shame. [40:09] Don’t do that. [40:11] We feel an urge to lighten the punch of these texts so that people will feel better about themselves. [40:17] Don’t do that. [40:19] It should sting us all because what is revealed in sin is God’s wrath, now and later.

[40:26] At the very end of verse 27, we see the term that God has given us over to His due penalty, and that equals eternal destruction.

[40:39] When God’s design is unraveled to the point where bad is called good and good is called bad, the due penalty for this error is received. [40:47] First, the judgment of being allowed to live in this sin is God allowing us to continue in ignorance.

[40:56] Second, foolish ignorance that is building up the due penalty of God’s eternal wrath and what the Bible calls hell.

[41:05] We must realize that sin tears the world apart. [41:09] The world that God created for His glory. [41:13] But we must also realize, as last week showed, that this world is not the end. [41:20] It was designed to be a means to an end, and that end is God. [41:25] You, friend, do not have the authority to redesign what God has designed. [41:34] None of us do.

[41:37] It destroys people, and it will destroy you.

[41:43] It harms society because it hurts real people with real lives. [41:51] And I cannot sit idly by and in silence approve, nor can I sit by and applaud what is really a prison that people will lie to themselves and call freedom, and neither should you. [42:10] We must always, always, always believe God above all other voices. [42:16] We must always, always, always seek truth. [42:20] No matter how many lies the world around us will fill our heads with, no matter what it costs us, we must not allow it to cost us God. [42:30] We must not allow it to cost us the Gospel.

[42:33] And I realize that there are some in here this morning that this may be so against where you are in life that it’s shocking to you. [42:48] There may be some of you in here that are struggling with the very thing that God has just called sin. [42:55] I want you to understand that the reason for which God comes at it with such a punch, and I know it stings, but don’t fight that. [43:05] Next week he’s going to level everybody else too.

[43:09] Don’t fight that.

[43:12] But understand that we must see our unrighteousness before we can be thankful for God’s righteousness.

[43:22] There’s a lie that I think sin would tell you this morning, friend. [43:31] And that lie is that because of this sin you’re hopeless.

[43:35] That lie is that because of your sin you’re worthless.

[43:42] One of my heroes, his name is Rick Warren, he said once, [43:48] that when you feel that way, understand that you’re so loved that God loves you this much.

[43:59] God loves you so much that that sin that breaks his heart that you’re struggling with, he sent his son to die on a cross for him. [44:09] So that you who would not have to bear what Paul wrote in verse 27 is the due penalty for your sin. [44:17] That God loves you so much that it cost him his own life to give you salvation from sin. [44:25] And he wants to save you today. [44:29] He wants to save you right now.

[44:34] It is love that brings this type of message to you. [44:38] And my prayer this morning.

[44:45] Is that we will admit it.

[44:50] That we will not deny the only path that will make us right.

[44:58] Turn from trusting your sin and trust Jesus.

[45:05] As the band comes up, every week we reflect on what the scripture calls the Lord’s Supper.

[45:18] And every week it’s timely because what it proclaims to us is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[45:26] The cup that you’ll see on the tables around this room, it represents the blood of Jesus.

[45:33] Blood represents life.

[45:39] Jesus bled and he died and life left his physical body for you. [45:47] The bread represents his broken body. [45:51] Beaten, whipped, skin pierced by nails and a spear.

[45:59] For you. [46:00] You say why?

[46:04] Because we in our sin have sought to undo God’s design and for that we deserve his wrath.

[46:15] But Jesus wanted to take our place.

[46:20] Jesus put himself on that cross and not only did he endure physical pain. [46:25] The Lord’s Supper teaches us that he endured spiritual pain. [46:30] That the penalty for your sin, all of your sin. [46:34] My sin, all of my sin. [46:36] The moment on the cross was laid directly on him and in that moment he paid for my sin in full. [46:43] So that I could be redeemed forever.

[46:46] You say how can I believe that type of thing? [46:48] Because that same Jesus rose from the dead.

[46:53] And if he has the power to rise from the dead then he has the power to forgive your sins.

[46:58] And this morning he wants to do that if you trust him.

[47:02] If you’re in here this morning and you want to trust in Jesus the answer is to realize that you’ve sinned against God. [47:11] Feel the sorrow for that sin.

[47:14] But then trust that Jesus paid it all.

[47:19] And he wants to give you a new life. [47:22] And when we reflect on communion we drink and we eat.

[47:28] Because it represents the life of the son of God who has resurrection power entering into our lives.

[47:35] And when you do it you proclaim, I believe.

[47:41] And then walk in this world seeking God’s design for your life. [47:47] When you’re ready, come.