Rachel Workman: 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all
the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their
wickedness, Wow I've read these verses before but never have they hit
home so hard. Our wickedness suppresses the truth of the Lord. We are
seeing that now. The entire world has suppressed the truth with their
wickedness it seems. 19 since what may be known about God is plain to
them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the
creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine
nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so
that people are without excuse. God has made himself known to all
people and no one is without excuse for rejecting Him. Just because
there is no written word or bible translated in to ones language does
not mean God has not revealed his divine nature to them.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as
God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish
hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they
became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for
images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and
reptiles. I love how these verses say their thinking became futile
and their foolish hearts were darkened. I need to guard my thoughts and
my heart.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their
hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They
exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created
things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. And God still turns us over to the
sinful desires. The world has exchanged the truth about God for lie.
Notice how it says the degrading of our bodies. Whatever the sexual sin
is it's a degrading of our body and our minds.
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21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Saying that God created everything would be giving glory to the one who is worthy. Those who believe in something other than and God said, “let there be…” have bought the lie just like Eve bought the lie from Satan, the father of lies.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Woe to those who God calls a fool.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. With the invention of the internet and the number of websites dedicated to “hooking up”, this verse in particular describes the world we live in today better than any other verse in the Bible.
25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. The “They” worship themselves and in doing so they serve the lie that is the science worldview of evolution and big bang.
Thanks be to God who is forever to be praised. I have included a link to what I consider one of the top five sermons I have ever heard. I hope you take the time to watch or listen to it and although it is sad to think about God abandoning a nation, it should also encourage you and remind that God never abandons us and that we are getting closer to his return because these verses describe God’s wrath that will be poured out on the wicked and we are His adopted children and not children of wrath.
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Krista Cook: 18 The
wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and
wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since
what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to
them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible
qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
- There is no excuse for all the sinful behavior we encounter on a daily basis.
God has made His word very plain for us to understand and live by.
- This is the result of desiring things contrary to God. We'll see this phrase repeated several times in this chapter. God gives us the ability to make choices...it is up to us to make the righteous choices.21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.24 Therefore God gave them over
in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
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Mike Grimm: 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress
the truth by their wickedness, Why is God
angry at sinful people? Because they have substituted the truth about
him with a fantasy of their own imagination. They have stifled the truth
God naturally reveals to all people in order
to believe anything that supports their own self-centered life-styles.
God cannot tolerate sin because his nature is morally perfect. He cannot
ignore or condone such willful rebellion. God wants to remove the sin
and restore the sinner—and he is able to,
as long as the sinner does not stubbornly distort or reject the truth.
But his anger erupts against those who persist in sinning. We must make
sure that we are not pursuing a fantasy rather than the true God. We
must never suppress the truth about him merely
to protect our own life-style. 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible
qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made, so that people are without
excuse. Does anyone really
have an excuse for not believing in God? The Bible answers with an
emphatic no. God has revealed what he is like in and through his
creation. Every person, therefore, either accepts or rejects God. Don’t
be fooled. When the day comes for God to judge our response
to him, no excuses will be accepted. We must begin today to give our
devotion and worship to him.
Here,
Paul also answers a common objection: How could a loving God send
anyone to hell, especially someone who has never heard about Christ? In
fact, says Paul, God has revealed himself
plainly in the creation to ALL people. And yet people reject even this
basic knowledge of God. Also, everyone has an inner sense of what God
requires, but they choose not to live up to it. Put another way,
people’s moral standards are always better than their
actual behavior. If people suppress God’s truth in order to live their
own way, they have no excuse. They know the truth, and they will have to
endure the consequences of ignoring it. That being hell.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became
futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images
made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and
reptiles. How could intelligent people turn
to idolatry? Idolatry begins when people reject what
they know about God. Instead of looking to him as the Creator and
sustainer of life, they see themselves as the center of the universe.
They soon invent “gods” that are convenient projections of their own
selfish plans and decrees. These gods may be wooden
figures, but they may also be goals or things we pursue such as power,
money, or comfort. They even make misrepresentations of God
himself—making God in our image, instead of the reverse. The common
denominator is this—idolaters worship the things God made
rather than God himself. Is there anything we feel that we can’t live
without? Is there any priority greater than God?
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their
bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about
God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the
Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. People
tend to believe lies that reinforce their own
selfish, personal beliefs. Today, more than ever, we need to be careful
about the input we allow to form our beliefs. With TV, music, movies,
and the rest of the media often presenting and glorifying sinful
life-styles and unwholesome values, we find ourselves
constantly bombarded by attitudes and beliefs that are totally opposed
to the Bible. We better be careful about we allow to form our opinions.
The Bible is the only standard of truth.
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Tomorrows reading for Romans 1:26-32
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
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