We broach today’s subject with our continued reliance on the Lord for guidance and wisdom in our studies. <\/p>\n
This portion may very likely be one of the most powerful passages in
\nscripture delineating the wrath of God and also often misused. It has
\nbeen used to show how God hates homosexuality and also used to support
\nthat men can be saved by looking at creation. I’ve seen this portion
\nused for teaching that the only way to preach the gospel is to start
\nwith creation. It has been used to illustrate the pre-flood conditions
\n(and subsequently limited to that time period) and a few times I have
\nseen it used to support homosexual relationships. <\/p>\n
I am not supporting these views, simply mentioning them in a
\ntuning-fork format. Perhaps you have heard the hum of today’s passage
\nin one of the tone’s mentioned in the previous paragraph. Yet, an
\ninteresting feature about each of these arguments is that they
\nsometimes focus so wholeheartedly on the point they’re trying to make
\nthat they ignore what the passage is actually saying. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Just Shall Live By Faith?short review God answers the shuddering prophet with words of comfort that are to God’s Wrath Against Unrighteousness in the Heathen (part one) The verses then progress to point out that God has made certain Paul takes a step back, to cover all the bases, and shows how from No, the invisible attributes that are spoken of here are the eternal Sovereignty of God in Creation Praise the Lord that He is so powerful. We see the aspects of design Choosing Against God This process then is not so much an argument against types of sin, Don’t be confused by what Paul is saying here. It is no small thing Now we find a decision by God. If men decide to turn from Him and So no longer is man focusing on the finite and natural, but focusing This isn’t rape spoken of here, nor is it "temple-homosexuality". Unrepentant Men and the Downward Spiral No longer are they simply slaves consumed to the burning of the Now the verses end with the fact that although these wicked people This is a dark charge against the heathen, indeed. God has shown The moralist is in the same boat, we’ll see in the next post. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We broach today’s subject with our continued reliance on the Lord for guidance and wisdom in our studies. This portion may very likely be one of the most powerful passages in scripture delineating the wrath of God and also often misused. It has been used to show how God hates homosexuality and also used to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[34,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-romans","category-study"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/strong>If you remember, we left off
\nwith a discussion regarding the point Paul made that "The Just shall
\nlive by Faith". We brought to light that this was a direct quote from
\nHabakkuk where the prophet was asking God some serious questions.
\nFirstly, he asked God why the violence in the world hasn’t been dealt
\nwith. When God answers that He has raised up a cruel nation to be God’s
\nbringer of wrath, Habakkuk is moved to ask why God uses wicked people
\nto hurt people more righteous. <\/p>\n
\nbe written in stone and to be counted on, for these words are true.
\nAlthough the wicked will feel wrath in the oncoming judgment, the just
\nshall live by faith. If you wish, substitute the word "live" to
\n"survive" and you’re closer to the comfort God was offering Habakkuk. <\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>It’s in light of this verse that we find ourselves in chapter
\n1 verse 18 where Paul points out that the very wrath of God is revealed
\nfrom heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
\nsuppress the truth in unrighteousness. Paul is about to illustrate how
\nGod is righteous even in his expression of wrath?by the very fact that
\nHe judges those unrighteous acts of men who are willingly and guiltily
\nsinful. <\/p>\n
\naspects of Himself known to these guilty sinners by placing this proof
\nwithin them and before them. Note that the passage does not say that
\nthese men can not recognize the truth nor does it say they can not
\nchoose to obey the truth. What it says is that they suppress the truth
\nwith their unrighteousness! <\/p>\n
\nthe very foundation of the world the invisible attributes of God are
\nclearly seen. Some readers completely ignore the middle phrase which
\npoints out which invisible attributes Paul is referring to. Paul is not
\nreferring to the gospel seen in creation, or the cross of Chris, nor
\neven the love of God. Those things are seen at the cross where Holiness
\nand Love collided to fulfill the scheme of God to redeem His creation! <\/p>\n
\npower of God and His Divine nature. These things deal with His
\nauthority, His rule over all creation and His spiritual and powerful
\nbeing so much above the visible finite creation. If you wish, the fact
\nthat He is All Powerful and the fact that He is Sovereign. <\/p>\n
\n<\/em>So often, some of us hear the term that "God is sovereign" and we
\nmay start preparing our counter-Calvinist argument. Let us not forget
\nin all of our studies that God is the ultimate authority and designer,
\nthat He has orchestrated how the very cosmos work together, down from
\nthe invisible quarks and anti-protons up to the stars and galaxies in
\nall of their expansive greatness. God upholds the entire universe,
\nencased in time while He Himself exists out and above time. Ladies and
\ngentleman, God is sovereign and praise the Lord that He is. <\/p>\n
\n(be you a young earth creationist or an old-earth believer) in the
\nawesome cosmos and it begs for the hand of an artist in such
\nawe-inspiring proportions! These things are clearly seen, not so much
\nas tangible evidence that there is an all powerful God but almost like
\na compass pointing North?these things point to the presence of God. <\/p>\n
\n<\/em>The argument can be made due to the tense that the fact that men
\n"knew God" but this loses it’s gloss, as it were, if one were to try to
\nuse these terms to mankind today. Rather the mind of man knew God, each
\nand every man, but they did not individually honor Him as God or give
\nthanks. This is true of every single generation and each unregenerate
\nsinner. The man has known God in these technical aspects and yet
\nignored the evidence and became weak or futile in his thinking. This
\nman’s heart which had embraced foolishness by ignoring the evidence
\nbefore him has lost it’s exposure to light and understanding, growing
\ndim and though this man professes to be wise he is actually become a
\nfool. <\/p>\n
\nbut rather showing the corruption or degradation of the guilty sin
\nfound in men everywhere?the rejection of the preliminary evidence of
\nGod. Because they have done these things in their now darkened thinking
\nand foolish heart, they decide to exchange the glory of the
\nincorruptible, all powerful, sovereign creator God into an image, a
\npicture or a sculpture of finite men, birds, four footed animals and
\nthings that crawl. The sin was the original rejection. The natural
\nprogression of the sin is the turning to something other than God,
\nturning from the infinite towards the finite. <\/p>\n
\nto have choices before God. This is exceedingly wicked was has been
\ndone here. Mankind has in effect turned from the worship of the One who
\ndeserves worship and have placed that worship on the creature. (v 24,
\n24) <\/p>\n
\nembrace foolishness and the lusts of their hearts are illustrated by
\nwhere they’re gravitating towards?God gives them over so that their
\nvery bodies are dishonored or bring shame among them (v 24). God gave
\nthem over to the very passions of their flesh (v 26) and the
\nprogression of being given over to those passions is to revel in every
\nconceivable action that can be done. <\/p>\n
\non corrupting the finite and natural by doing that which is unnatural
\n(v.26, 27). The verses say that women burned in desire towards one
\nanother and men committed with men that which is indecent and received
\nin their own bodies the penalty of their error?turning their worship
\nfrom God to something other! <\/p>\n
\nThis is all of those things including homosexual relationships in every
\nshape or form. This is every degraded action that results from having a
\ndarkened heart, weakened mind and consumed by the very passions of the
\nflesh. <\/p>\n
\n<\/em>What does man do? Does mankind realize his wickedness and turn
\nfrom it? No, just like in the days of Noah where men’s thoughts were
\ncontinually wicked all the time, mankind has enjoyed this position of
\nwanton disregard and they found that they didn’t even have to
\nacknowledge God any longer. God made a decision based on their
\ndisavowal of Him and that was that they were to be given over to their
\ndepraved minds. <\/p>\n
\nflesh, worshippers of creations, but they are also justifying it in
\ntheir minds which are now lacking of the water of God. Those minds,
\neager to be filled, seek now to be filled with every single form of
\nunrighteousness and wickedness and the list goes on. It spans from what
\nmean do in their actions (envy, lie, gossip, murder) through what they
\nare in their persons (haters of God, insolent, arrogant) and ends at
\nhow utterly void of goodness they are (untrustworthy, unloving,
\nunmerciful). Mind you, the verses at no point say that these men (past
\nor present) don’t know how to do good. It says that they knew the Good
\nand chose to ignore the Good. <\/p>\n
\nknew the ordinance of God that if a person practices these things they
\nare worthy of death, they in their depraved mind and consumed body, do
\nthese things and applaud those who practice these things as well (32). <\/p>\n
\nenough light to make people question and what do people do with that
\nlight? Suppress it. Ignore it. No longer acknowledge it. Revel against
\nit. God, in His sovereignty and supreme power decides to let them do
\nwhat they wish…He will not force them to change. He gives them over to
\nwhat they wanted and the human heart is exposed for the futile, foolish
\nthing it is. <\/p>\n