Romans Devotional #9: Given to Impurity

"Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen" (Romans 1:24-25).

Bound to Sin:

During a recent teaching in the bush, I used an illustration about sin that my mother taught me when I was a child.  I had a young man come to the front of the room and asked him if he thought he was strong.  He smiled but said nothing.  Turning to a room full of pastors, I asked, "Is the man strong?"  "Ya, da man strong," was their answer.  I told them we were going to test the man's strength with a spool of thread.  The class laughed. "Sin is like this thread," I said, "you think you master it but one day it will master you."  With that, I unwound about 6 inches of thread, holding it between my two hands, I asked the class if they thought the man could break it.  "Ya, da man break da tred" was their response (Liberian English).  With no effort, the man snapped the thread.  Next, I held out several pieces of thread and asked the class if they though the man could break them.  The class laughed saying, "tred caunt hole da strong man."  Again, with no effort the thread broke.  Next, I read verses from Scripture that talk about sin leading to bondage.  I looked intently in the young man's eyes and told him that sin could bind even him.  I had the man hold the thread with his hands folded across his chest.  While teaching, I had the man spin as the thread wrapped numerous times around his body.  After a few minutes, I asked the class if they thought the man could break free.  The class was fully convinced that thread could not hold a strong man.  I told them, "I want you to never forget that sin is like this thread, you think you master it but one day, it will master you."  We all counted down 3, 2, 1 and the man struggled with all his might but could not break free.  The class was shocked.  He was bound.  

The theme of Romans 1 is, "They are under sin."  Romans 1 talks about "their" sin while chapter 2 talks about "your" sin.  While talking about "their" sin in chapter 1, Romans mentions 4 reasons why "they" deserve the wrath of God.  During the last lesson, we learned the first reason:  Though they "knew" God they did not worship Him, they betrayed Him.  Today, we are studying the second reason.  

Jesus once told a parable about a wayward son (Luke 15:11).  In this story, the wayward son asked his father for his inheritance, early.  The loving father graciously gave him his inheritance, resulting in the son leaving and spending it on wild living.  In time, the son came to the end of himself and returned to the father.  Jesus told this parable to help us understand what our Heavenly Father does to those who have a rebellious heart.  God gives them over to their sins so they will come to their senses and repent.  One of the sins God gives them over to is impurity.?  

They were given to Impurity:

Lets read Romans 1:24-25 again.  

24."Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves 25.because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen."  

These two verses describe a tragic wedding that took place between people and sin.  Due to their wayward hearts, God gave them to impurity.  It is important to know that God gave them to impurity only after they had already given themselves to the sin.  Ephesians 4:19 says, "They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity."  

As you read Romans 1:24-25, picture God as a loving Father, "They" are the bride and "Impurity" is the groom.  It is a dreadful thing for God to give a person away in marriage to sin!  Think about the seriousness of the words you are about to read.  In this verse, God walked them down a spiritual isle, placed "their" hand into the hand of impurity, let go, and gave ownership of their lives to impurity.  God then steps back and "they" became slaves of impurity (Romans 6:16).  They are now free from the control of righteousness.  God lets "impurity" do its evil work in them hoping they will repent.  Impurity now owns them.

What is "impurity?"  The greek word for impurity means moral uncleanness. People become morally unclean as they follow the lust of their hearts (Romans 1:24).  This sin looks different for different people.  For some, the sin leads to substance abuse.  Their flesh desires the high that comes from alcohol and drugs.  They begin using alcohol and drugs to take the edge off their day rather than allowing God to be their source of peace.  Slowly, they slip deeper and deeper into substance abuse and become impure.  For others, their flesh desires sex.  These people spend away themselves in various relationships or are filled with the lust of pornography.  For many, their flesh hungers for material possessions.  They work hard to acquire new possessions not realizing this pursuit will never satisfy.  In time, these possessions begin to possess them.  Many people chase after words of affirmation.  These people work hard for the next complement and words of praise.  Unfortunately, man's affirmation can never satisfy.  The desire to look beautiful is another lust of the heart.  Those who chase after beautify stop at nothing to have the perfect shape, wearing only the clothes that make them feel beautiful.  The list could go on and on.  Thinking they will never be mastered by impurity, impurity slowly wraps its evil chords around them until they are in bondage to sin.  

Impurity has completed its work when they have exchanged truth for lies and begin worshiping and serving created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).  God gave them to this sin hoping they would repent.  If they refuse repent, God will give them to another sin.  We learn about these other sin in the next two lessons.

Bible Marking:

Next to Romans 1:24 write, "They were given to impurity."

Prayer to Pray:

Father, we boldly walk before Your throne, humbly bow down, and ask You to please judge our lives now while we have time to repent.  Reveal truth about ourselves that we do not see.  Reveal all our sins and wickedness.  Please forgive us for our sins.  We are truly sorry for the times in our lives when we have served created things and not You.  Please break the chords of sin that hold us so we can serve You in freedom.  We want our only desire to be Your desire, our only love to be Your love.  We give You our lives again.  Please empower us to walk in righteousness.  We love You. 

Review:

Chapter Summary Picture:  They are under sin

Overview of the Gospel:  Romans 1:14-16. 

The Gospel is for everyone.  The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

The map of salvation.  We are saved by faith.

The message of the Gospel:  God wants to destroy sin and save the sinner.

They are guilty of 4 sins:  Romans 1:19-32

 Sin 1: They are without excuse, they knew and betrayed God

Sin 2:  They were given to impurity and did not repent

Scripture quotations are from The ESV (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version). copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, used by permission, All rights reserved.

Romans Devotional #8: They Betrayed God

19.For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  20.For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.  So they are without excuse.  21.For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  22.Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23.and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things" (Romans 1:19-23).

Their Sin:

The focus of chapter 1 is on "their" sin.  The words they, them, their, and themselves are mentioned 25 times in the 13  verses of Romans 1:19-32.  Contrast this with the 35 times the words you, your, and yourself are mentioned in chapter 2.  To gain a full understanding of sin, it is important for us to apply all that we read in chapter 1 to "them" and chapter 2 to "yourself."  

In the Old Testament there was a famous king named David.  David's greatest failure was his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, resulting in her pregnancy   The king used everything at his disposal to cover his sin.  After exhausting all other means, David arranged to have Bathsheba's husband killed.  Following Uriah's death, David married Bathsheba and thought his troubles were behind him.  That was, until God spoke to the prophet Nathan.  

God gave Nathan the assignment of confronting the king's sin.  Nathan was very wise in how he spoke to David. Nathan told David a story of someone else's sin before confronting David's sin.  When King David heard the story of a rich man's cruelty toward a peasant, David's anger flared and he demanded the rich man be brought to justice.  David's judgment opened the door for Nathan to say these heart chilling words, "David, you are that man" (2 Samuel 12:7).

Nathan was wise.  He understood human nature.  He knew it would be easier for David to see sin in another person than it would be to see his own sin.  Ultimately, Nathan helped David see his own sin by looking first at someone else's sin. 

While confronting sin, Paul skillfully used Nathan's strategy in the book of Romans by talking about "their" sin in chapter 1 before talking about "your" sin in chapter 2.  So, for now, you are off the hook.  There is no need to become defensive nor to live in denial as you read chapter 1.  Chapter 1 is not about you.  Read chapter 1 the same as you would read a tabloid that exposes other people's secret sins.  Watch from a distance and see what happens as wicked people interact  with a holy, sinless God.  By the end of chapter 1, you will likely think to yourself, "Wow, those people are truly messed up."

They betrayed God:

While addressing sin, "They are without excuse," were the first words written from the divinely inspired pen of Paul.  If Romans 1 were a movie, the music would be chilling as the words,"no excuse" spill out of the mouth of God.  God would then turn, looking into their eyes, while shaking His head, saying softly, "You have no excuse because you knew me.  I made myself known to you."

Betrayal, is the first sin "they" were guilty of.  Verse 19 makes it clear that God chased them like a passionate lover, revealing everything that could be known about Himself.  Everywhere "they" looked they were surrounded by revelations of God's invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature.  God revealed these things to them through creation.  Revelations of God endlessly blared out of creation like a large sound system playing at full volume.  

They knew God intimately:

"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him" (Romans 1:21).

Romans 1:21 shows the depth of their betrayal by revealing how well they knew God.  The Greek word "knew" in verse 21 is the same word used to describe Mary and Joseph's relationship in Matthew 1:25.

"When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.  And he called his name Jesus" (Matthew 1:24-25).

Their betrayal was serious.  Their knowledge of God was not casual but intimate.  God was more than friendly toward them, yet they rejected Him for another lover.  As a result, their minds became full of worthless thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.  This is the greatest betrayal known to man.  God created the world and gave it as a home to His lover.  In response, His lover worshiped and served God's creation while rejecting Him.  

You may ask, "How did they know God intimately?"  Let me ask you a few questions, the breath they breathed, who gave it to them?  Who kept their heart beating?  Who sent rain on their fields so they could eat?  Who watched over them while they slept and woke them in a new day?  They were completely dependent upon God for every aspect of their lives yet they gave God the one finger salute as they chased other lovers.  They used the very breath God gave them to curse God.  God's love is amazing.  While cursing God, He kept their hearts beating and continued to give them the breath of life.  They are truly without excuse.  

Examine the picture:

We are in the process of creating new pictures for the remainder of this chapter.  For now, I will share the pictures we are currently using.  Look at the picture at the top of this post.  The message of this picture is, they are without excuse because they know God through His creation.  

The picture we are painting keeps this theme but adds in the idea of betrayal.  Once the picture is finished, I will share it with you.  Like the picture above, the background will show God's creation.  The picture's focal point, however, will be different.  It will be of a Liberian woman dressed in her wedding gown, throwing away her wedding ring, walking away from Jesus as He chases her.  

Mark your Bible: 

1.  Above chapter 1, write these words, "They are under sin." This will remind you that Chapter 1 is about "their" sin.

2.  Next to Romans 1:19 write these words, "They are without excuse, they knew and betrayed God."  

3.  Underline the word knew in Romans 1:21.  Write, "Matthew 1:24-25" next to the verse to remind you that they knew God intimately.

Prayer to pray:

Thank You for loving me.  Thank You for chasing after me when I am rebellious.  You are a passionate lover.  Thank you for sustaining me even when I have been unfaithful.  I repent.  There is none like You!  Please forgive my sins and lead me through this day.

Review:

Chapter Summary Picture:  They are under sin

Overview of the Gospel:  Romans 1:14-16. 

The Gospel is for everyone.  The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

The map of salvation.  We are saved by faith.

The message of the Gospel:  God wants to destroy sin and save the sinner.

They are guilty of 4 sins:  Romans 1:19-32

 Sin 1: They are without excuse, they knew and betrayed God

Scripture quotations are from The ESV (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version). copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, used by permission, All rights reserved.

Romans Devotional #7: They are under Sin

Chapter Summary Pictures:

Before we move forward in this study, I need to introduce you to chapter summary pictures.  You may have noticed that today's picture is oriented vertically on the page while other pictures lay horizontally.  The pictures that stand vertically are chapter summary pictures while those that lay down horizontally summarize verses within each chapter.  While teaching these lessons in Liberia, we clip the pictures to a clothes line so people can see the message of Romans from beginning to end.  Since the chapter summary pictures stand vertically, it is easy to see where one chapter ends and another begins.

We use a lot of repetition in our teaching and have our students take turns retelling the story behind each picture.  By the end of the study, our students are able to retell the message behind each picture and thus retell the book of Romans by memory.  For us, this is the solution we have discovered for training illiterate or barely literate ministers of the Gospel.  Our pictures, along with recorded Scripture (distributed on micro memory chips or solar powered audio Bibles) become their oral and visual Bibles.  As you go through this study, take time to review past pictures.  Make it your goal to memorize the message behind each picture.  

Let's take a moment and review the flow of the book of Romans.  Romans is divided into 5 parts.  For now, it is not important to know the chapter breakdown for each section.  Try to memorize this flow for Romans: 

Part 1:    Sin 

Part 2:    Salvation

Part 3:    Sanctification 

Part 4:    God's Sovereignty 

Part 5:    Our Service.

Today, we start the study of sin (Chapters 1-3).  Let's take sin, place it under a microscope and see what we learn.  I have to warn you, the study of sin leads us to dark and hopeless places.  Though the journey ahead is dark, we must go through it so we can understand the fullness of salvation (Chapters 3-5).

Look again at the summary picture for Romans 1.  The message of chapter 1 is, "They are under sin."  Later we will learn that the message of chapter 2 is, "You are under sin."  For today's devotion, read Romans 1:19-32.  As you read, circle the words "they," "them," and "their" in your Bible. You will be surprised how often they occur.  Notice the words "you," "your," and "yourself" are not mentioned in chapter 1.  These words are reserved for chapter 2.  Chapter 1 is about "their" sin and chapter 2 is about "your" sin.  As you read chapter 1, do not think too much about your sin.  Chapter 1 is not about "you."  It is about "them."  Let your mind wander as you look at the effects of sin in other people.   

Note:  Chapter 1 uses the words "they," them" and "there" to describe Gentiles.  Chapter 2 uses the words "you," "your," and "yourself" to describe Jews.  

Prayer to Pray:

Father, please help me understand the Gospel's message.  I want to see it clearly.  Use its message to change my life.  I know that the Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.  Please pour out this power on me.  Save me and make me holy.  

Review:  

Overview of the Gospel:

Romans 1:14-16. The Gospel is for everyone.  The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

Romans 1:17.  The map of salvation.  We are saved by faith.

Romans 1:18.  The message of the Gospel:  God wants to destroy sin and save the sinner.

SIN Romans 1-3

Romans 1:  They are under sin.

Romans Devotional #6: Overview of the Gospel, Part 2

The Map of our Salvation

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith" (Romans 16-17).

When was the last time you used a map or GPS device?   This year, I brought a Garmin GPS unit with me to Liberia.  I mounted it on my dirt bike and use it while traveling to remote towns and villages.  One of the greatest thrills of my life is traveling down remote roads that do not exist on GPS while taking the Gospel where few people have gone.  As I travel, I watch the GPS blaze new roads on my monitor.  Fun!  

The job of a map is to direct people from their known location to an unfamiliar but desired destinations.  In Romans 1:17, God gave us the most important map we will ever read.  It is the map of our salvation.  

While teaching this verse to Liberians,  I ask them to draw a map to salvation.  How do we get from where we are to Heaven?  Where does salvation's journey start and where does it end?  Their answers reveal their faith.  Most Liberians are confused when it comes to salvation.  Their answers are a mixture of tribal beliefs and religious activities.  

What about you?  Can you draw a map to salvation?  If I asked you to explain where you believe salvation starts, the steps you need to take during salvation's journey, and where salvation's road ends, what would you say?    

Read Romans 1:16-17 again and see if you notice the map God gave us for our salvation.  

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith" (Romans 1:16-17).

God's map is very simple.  Our journey starts and ends at faith, nothing more, nothing less.  When our lives are over we will realize that every step we took regarding salvation was a step of faith.  We are saved by faith, not by any of our good works.  Look at the picture above.  As our study continues, this picture will take on more meaning.  We are saved from faith to faith.

The Wrath of God

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth"  (Romans 1:18).

To understand this verse, we must first understand the fearful wrath of God.  I remember sitting in my living room, March 21, 2003 watching my television as the United States began it's Shock and Awe campaign against Saddam Husain.  The goal of Shock and Awe was to have such an overwhelming demonstration of force that our enemies would loose perspective of the battlefield and surrender in fear.  During Shock and Awe, our military struck secret targets that our enemy thought we knew nothing about.  The message to our enemy was clear, you cannot run, you cannot hide, surrender or die.  Leading up to the day bombs started dropping on Bagdad, the United States built up the full strength of it's military forces on Iraq's borders.  At exactly 12:15 p.m. the United States unleashed its wrath against Saddam's regime.  The word wrath implies the use of one's full power, full knowledge, and full ability in judgment against someone or something.  

Now, let's think about God wrath.  Try to imagine God's unlimited power and His unfathomable wisdom being used to their full extent in pouring out judgment on someone or something.  This is a fearful thought.  Consider the fear that is produced by the sound of a single lightening bolt when it strikes and shakes the ground.  A lightening bold is microscopic compared to a full demonstration of God's wrath. I shutter thinking about it.

Read Romans 1:18 again and see if you can identify who or what God's wrath is against.  Is God's wrath, in this verse, against unrepentant sinners or is it against sin?

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth"  (Romans 1:18).

A careful reading of Romans 1:18 reveals that God's wrath, in this verse, is against sin and not against the sinner.  This is good news for us!  What an awesome way to introduce the book of Romans.  The image we get from this verse is of God at full-fledged war against sin, not the sinner.  The message of salvation is clear, God wants to destroy sin and save the sinner.  It is not until Romans 2:5 that we read about God's dreadful wrath against unrepentant sinners.

You may ask, when did God pour out His wrath against sin?  God's wrath was poured out as the full wisdom, power, and ability of God hung on the cross.  Jesus died and won the war against our sins by raising from the dead.  We will talk more about this later.

Prayer to Pray:

Father, You are good and your love endures forever.  Thank You for Your desire to destroy sin and save me.  I hate the sins that I struggle with.  Teach me how to walk in holiness.  I submit to you.  My faith is in You alone.  Do whatever it takes to produce righteousness in me.    

Review:  
Overview of the Gospel:

Romans 1:14-16 teaches us two things:  
1.  The Gospel is for everyone.  
2.  The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.   

Romans 1:17 reveals the map of our salvation.  We are saved "from faith to faith."  Every step we take is a step of faith.

Romans 1:18. The message of the Gospel is, God wants to destroy sin and save the sinner.

Hunger Months, Your Response

Thank you for partnering with us in sponsoring 250 children this year!  Here is a short video that shows what we were able to do together.  Thank you!