The Necessity of Salvation: Understanding Sin and Grace

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now, come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

We're going to go ahead and open up our Bibles to Romans Chapter one.

We're going to pick up where we left off last week, looking at the sermon series Theology Matters.

And we're going to be talking today about some.

Some difficult topics.

And for the next few weeks, we're going to be digging into what we would call the study of sin.

Now, the really technical term for that is harmartiology.

Harmartology, you don't have to remember that.

But we're going to look at what the Bible says about sin, why we need a Savior, why we need salvation.

We looked last week in verse number 16 of Romans chapter 1, that we are not to be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Why?

For it is the power unto salvation.

Why do we need salvation?

That's a good question.

We're going to learn in verses 18 through the rest of the chapter why we need salvation.

And we're going to see that the, the reason we need salvation is because of a problem.

And that problem is the problem of sin.

And, and the Bible says that there is a problem of sin and there's a punishment for sin.

The Bible says for the wages of sin is death.

We're going to talk about that.

We're going to talk about the wrath of God, but there's also a payment for sin.

And the payment for sin is the gift of Jesus Christ.

And so that's what Paul's talking about here.

He says, I am not ashamed of the Gospel.

Why?

Because it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God, verse 17, revealed from faith to faith.

As it is written, the just shall live by faith.

And so what he's really doing in this chapter is he's contrasting to two types of people.

He's contrasting the person who is living in their sin, who is living without God.

And he's talking about a person who is living in faith, living in the righteousness of God.

And so there's this unrighteousness, living in our own strength.

There is righteousness, living in the grace of God.

There's this judgment that will come in the wrath of God if we live outside of God's grace, but we live in God's grace and justification.

So the just, those that are declared righteous by God, they're declared just through, as the Bible says here, faith.

So the contrast really, is this a person with faith or a person without faith.

What does that look like?

What are the differences?

And here in verse number 18, we see that God explains in the book of Romans what it looks like for someone to live outside of the grace.

The sermon this way, this is a sermon looking at what it means for a person when they are, as we would say, before Christ.

We have in, in the world today, when we measure dates, we have BC Before Christ and anno Domini ad.

Right?

So we could talk about this sermon is describing someone before Christ, or we could even say it this way, someone without Christ.

And, and we see a lot of people that think that they can live their life outside of the truth of God, outside of a higher power, outside of anybody, telling them what it means to be a good person.

They say, you know what?

I, I define what it means to be a good person.

We're going to see what that individual looks like in accordance to Scripture.

So he says, the just shall live by faith.

Verse 17.

And then we see verse 18 here, verse 18, we see a flip in the script.

It says, for the wrath of God.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

So what do we see here?

It says here the wrath of God is revealed to those who are in ungodliness and unrighteousness.

Now, what is the wrath of God?

This is the thing that we all deserve.

The Bible says that all of us in our sin deserve the wrath of God.

Now, sometimes that phrase wrath of God becomes something that we actually grow uncomfortable with, right?

Because we liken the wrath of God to the wrath of a man.

Now, now our human anger, our human wrath is usually based in selfish revenge, right?

It's all about us.

Well, the wrath of God is based in his holiness, in his righteousness.

And so when we see that phrase wrath of God, it doesn't mean that he's sinning.

It doesn't mean that he's doing anything unfair.

He is in his holiness and in his righteousness, giving to people what they deserve.

And that is judgment says, for the wrath of God, what we deserve is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness.

What does ungodliness mean?

Ungodliness, essentially rejecting God, doing The things opposite of what God calls us to do.

And unrighteousness of men, meaning this.

So this is a rejection of God's ways that is manifested in how we deal with others.

Unrighteousness to other people.

And then it says here that someone who is rejecting God, someone who is living in their own strength and their own wisdom, it says here, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

Now, now, what does that mean?

That means this, that there are individuals who, because of their sin, are, as it says here, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.

So, so those who are outside of the faith, those who are walking in the sin in the flesh, are going to suppress the truth of God.

Some of you have maybe even seen this happen practically in the world today.

You ever seen someone after a football game or after an event in the Olympics get up and they want to start thanking their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

What usually happens, they start getting uncomfortable.

They start trying to turn away the cameras, right?

Because the world and Satan and the all of the enemy is trying to suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness.

And so here in verse number 18, it says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

Let me tell you before Christ, without Christ, this is what we all deserve.

This is the path that we are all on in our lives.

The Bible says that before we came to Christ in faith, we were enemies of God.

We were walking in our flesh, we were walking in our guilt.

But the Bible says that in salvation we had the chains of bondage, the chains of sin broken.

And, and we are free to walk in the truth of God and hold, as it says there in verse 17, the righteousness of God in our life.

And so if you are a believer this morning, you are characterized not by your righteousness, but by the righteousness of God outside of God.

We are based in our own unrighteousness because we can say, you know what?

I'm a good person.

But in a good person compared to what?

Well, I'm a good person compared to that person over there.

The truth is, is that if we're going to do any comparing, we must compare ourselves to, to the one who is perfect.

And that is Jesus Christ.

And compared to Jesus Christ, none of us, none of us can hold a candle to his righteousness.

The Bible says, he who knew no sin became sin for us.

He knew no sin.

And so when we look at God's righteousness, we look at our quote unquote, Righteousness.

We realize that what we deserve is the wrath of God, the judgment of God.

But in faith, we have received the justification of God.

Justification means we are declared righteous.

So it goes on here.

In verse number 19, it says, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them.

So what we actually see here in this case is that God has written the law, his law, on everyone's heart.

And what really happens is when, when people reject God, they're rejecting what's already written on their hearts.

They're pursuing their own path.

They're rejecting what is clearly in front of them.

And that is the power of God.

Romans chapter 1, verse 20 says, for the invisible things of him.

So.

So the spiritual truths of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.

This is something called general revelation, meaning we can look out into this world.

And the Bible says that we can look out into this world and see God's creation and, and know that there is a God, to know that there is a creator.

Now, that's not what saves us.

I can't go out into the world and look at a, you know, let's say a tree, this beautiful tree.

I can't look at the tree and go, wow, there is a creator.

Therefore I'm going to trust in this tree and I'm going to be saved.

No, the Bible says that that's not how it works.

That would be something called idolatry, which we're going to talk about here in a few moments.

But what that does mean is that we can look out into the world, into creation, and see that there must be a designer and we pursue him.

And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He reveals himself through the word of God.

And so the Bible says here that we can see the creation, that we can see what's around us, and we can know that there is a God.

And it says, it even reveals, as it says there in that verse, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

This is a tough passage to preach because this isn't something that's normally preached.

But what the Bible says is that there's no one, nobody that has an excuse.

Everybody in this world, as it says, has the law of God written on their hearts.

Everyone can look out into creation and know that there is a God.

Everyone that pursues God and wants to know who God is, God will reveal himself to them.

There's the classic question of, well, you know what that person is living in an area that isn't Christian.

And that person maybe didn't get the gospel told to them.

So they're without.

They have an excuse.

They're not guilty.

The Bible says that all of us are guilty in our sin.

Now we do believe that God is gracious.

And I don't know how this all works in the grand scheme of eternity, but what I do know is that there are individuals who are not able to come to the truth of God, I.

E.

Let's say a baby, right?

And I believe that God's grace covers that child.

I do know that there are individuals who intellectually don't, don't have the function to understand the concepts of creation, the concepts of the gospel.

We understand that God has grace upon them.

But what we're seeing here is that those who are rejecting God are without excuse.

Why?

Because God has clearly revealed Himself to them.

Verse 21.

Because that when they knew God, so.

So there is a point in time when humanity knew God.

They glorified him not as God.

Neither were thankful, but became vain or empty in their thoughts or imaginations.

And their foolish heart was darkened.

So the Bible says that humanity has rejected God.

They've.

They've looked at God, they've experienced God, but they've turned their backs against him saying this.

He's not my God.

They weren't thankful for what he has done for them.

They're not thankful for creation.

They're not thankful for his grace.

They're not thankful for the opportunity to know salvation.

They're going to try to do it their own way.

And so the Bible says the.

The product of that heart, the product of that pride would be vain in their imaginations, meaning this.

They're empty.

There's.

There's no hope, there's no substance, there's no content to their belief.

It's all just about believing what they feel is right.

And it says that their foolish heart was darkened.

And so their heart becomes darkened in that process.

Verse 22, it says, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

Those who reject God, profess to be wise, profess to have information, profess to have all the answers.

But the Bible actually says that the actual content of their thoughts and their quote unquote wisdom would be that they become foolish.

The Bible says in the Old Testament the fool has said in his heart there is no God.

It is a foolish as this is not Pastor Josh's opinion.

This is the word of God.

It is a foolish concept to say that there is no God.

There is A foolish concept to say that I can save myself on my own.

The wisdom is this, I cannot save myself.

There is a God, I must come to him.

And that's what Paul is explaining here.

The sinful hearts of man pull away from God.

They suppress the truth.

They.

They say that their own minds are the source of their wisdom.

And it says there they become fools.

Verse 23.

And this is what happens.

This is what the product of this thinking produces and change the glory of the uncorruptible or the immortal God into an image made like to corruptible man, into birds and four footed beast and creeping things.

What does this mean?

They create their own God.

Now back in the times of the Bible, they would create their own gods by carving out something out of stone or wood or metal.

Today we create our own gods by other things.

And the truth of the matter is that that's idolatry.

Idolatry is this.

Idolatry is taking anything and saying that is my God.

And that's the heart of someone without Christ is they want to find their own God.

And many, in many times, in many ways, we actually become our own gods in our own life.

That's humanism.

Humanism is lifting up yourself.

You are the answer to all of your problems.

You are the better version of you.

You can become a better version of you.

Worship yourself, do things for yourself.

That's actually the worldly focus in the world today.

It's this idea of putting myself up on a pedestal.

That's the lie from the very beginning.

If you look at Satan's lie to Eve, it was all about lifting up herself.

She can become like God from the very beginning.

The lie is humanistic.

We are the center of the universe.

And what we can see here is that when someone is living outside of the justification of Christ, someone living outside of faith, what do they do?

They produce their own God.

They worship the creation instead of the Creator.

Verse 24.

Wherefore God also hath gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts.

What God does here is he says, you want that, that you're pursuing.

I will turn you over to that.

I will turn you over to the desires of, of your hearts, the lust of your hearts.

And what that brings is uncleanness, sin, dishonor.

And it says here to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.

We're going to talk a little bit more about this next week.

But essentially what it says is this.

When someone is given over to their own desires, they will not only offend themselves in their body, but they will offend others with their body.

Verse 25.

Who changed the truth of God into a lie?

What happens when we are living outside of the truth of God?

The truth of God, it's morphed into a lie.

And so what people say is this.

The truth is wrong and wrong is good.

Lies are the truth.

Truth are the lies.

And what we can see is that when we live in a world of lies, when we live in a world of deception, when we live out truth, it looks strange, right?

When we as Christians tell people the truth, people look at us and give us a side eye.

Why?

Because we're living in a world of lies.

The Bible says that that's not Pastor Josh's opinion.

What we see here is in the book of Romans, it says that God is going to allow these people that are rejecting him to turn over to their unclean ways.

And essentially what's going to be done is that the truth of God is going to be turned into a lie.

And what did they do and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever?

They don't worship God.

They worship something else.

They worship their own creation.

They worship not the creator, but the creation.

So that's a lot here.

This morning you say, well, are we done?

No, we're going to dig into this.

We're going to look at what this is all about.

Because this morning most of us are tempted to say, you know what?

That's not me.

I'm a Christian.

I'm not living without Christ.

But the truth is, is that.

What is Paul saying in verse number 16?

He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

So.

So what can we take from this?

It's this.

We must preach the gospel message to people.

Why?

Because there's more at stake than just having more people at Middletown Baptist Church.

There's more at stake than just having more moral people around us.

The Bible says that really the need for salvation is explained here in verse 18, that the people that are walking outside of faith in Christ are walking in the wrath of God.

And none of us want to face the wrath of God because the judgment of God is a complete judgment.

It's a judgment that is final.

And the Bible says that we must proclaim the word of God to those around us.

Why?

Because we are called to be the salt and light into the world so that people can know him and so that people can trust in him, and so that people can understand what it means to have everlasting life like we Have.

But then you might say, well, look, you know what?

I'm a Christian, but I'm, I'm living.

I, I'm, I'm looking here and I'm living in many of the ways that are described here in verses 18 through 26, 18, 25.

The truth is, is that many times in our life, even as Christians, we're tempted to go the way of the world.

We're tempted to buy into the lies of this world.

And the enemy, hey, if he can't take your soul, if he can't take your life, what he want, what does he want to do?

He wants to take your impact.

He wants to silence you.

He wants you to buy into the lies of this world.

And so we go back and we look at verse 18 and it says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

Folks, sometimes we forget what we have been saved from.

And when we've been, when we've been reminded of what we've been saved from, it drives us to understand the grandeur of the salvation that God has extended to us.

Folks, all of us can be characterized by.

Characterized by those that are ungodly and unrighteous.

But because of God's grace and because of God's love and because of God's forgiveness, we are no longer living under the wrath of God.

We are living in the freedom as those who are children of God.

So the beauty here is this.

I need to be reminded that what I deserve is the wrath of God.

What I deserve is the punishment of God.

But because of my faith in Jesus Christ, I have escaped that wrath.

I have found salvation.

All the more reason why I need to be excited for the things of God.

All the more reason why I need to tell other people about that.

All the more reason why I need to live in the truth of God in boldness to the cause of the gospel.

We need to be aware of those folks that suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

Folks, if there's someone that's trying to avoid the truth of God, don't say, well, okay, I'm going to concede to that.

What do we need to do?

We need to proclaim the truth of God more.

We as believers cannot suppress the word of God.

Why?

Because the world is suppressing the word of God.

And if we as Christians suppress the word of God, we are joining in.

We are becoming just like them.

What does that look like?

Well, you know what?

I don't want to really quote scripture because I Don't want to seem like a bigot.

I don't really want to quote Scripture because maybe they don't believe Scripture.

Folks, the Bible says that the word of God does not return void.

There's power in the word of God.

Hebrews chapter four says that the word of God is alive.

And so we don't just stop quoting scripture because someone doesn't believe in Scripture.

This is what we live by.

This is our guide.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God.

Is profitable for doctrine, for approved for correction, for instruction.

Righteousness.

So what we do is this, instead of as Christians, instead of suppressing the truth, instead of holding the truth down in unrighteousness, we proclaim the truth of God.

And righteousness proclaim the truth of God by what we say and also by what we do, by word and by deed.

And so the Bible says that if we are Christians and we are living opposite of these people that are being described here in verse 18 and on that we are to do the opposite.

And the opposite would be instead of suppressing the truth, proclaiming the truth, not being embarrassed of the truth, not being ashamed, as Paul says, of the truth of God.

And so instead of suppressing, let's proclaim.

But then we see verse 19.

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it unto them.

The truth is, is that we don't need to avoid the word of God.

Why?

Because the word of God is written on the hearts of man.

Every human being is created in the image of God.

Now they've rejected that and they're living in rebellion to that.

But the Bible says that we should use the word of God as a tool to bring people to Christ, to reconcile them.

All of us.

In Second Corinthians, chapter one and on it teaches us that we have something called the ministry of reconciliation.

And we have a message of reconciliation.

The message of reconciliation is the gospel.

The ministry of reconciliation is proclaiming that gospel.

So all of us are trying to bring mankind back into the fold.

That's the whole picture.

Originally, God created all of his creation as good as.

But because of sin, because of our sinful nature and our brokenness.

And we're going to see this in Romans chapter 5.

Because of the sin of Adam, we are now all born into sin.

We all need that reconciliation.

And so we proclaim that message of reconciliation to the world because the Bible says they are without excuse.

Why?

Because we can point people to things around us.

Folks, the truth of the matter is, is that someone to be an atheist, someone to reject the existence of God is rejecting what is evidently right around them.

How did this world come out of nothing?

Okay, even scientifically speaking, order out of chaos doesn't make sense.

And so we look into this concept of what the Bible is telling us here.

Is this someone who rejects that there is a God?

It's not Pastor Josh saying this.

This is the word of God.

It says that they are fools professing themselves to be wise.

They became fools.

And verse number 22 really contrasts the wisdom of this world to the wisdom of man.

And one of the major reasons why we as Christians don't profess the truth of God is because we're afraid that other people know more than us.

And the truth is, is that wisdom outside of God is foolishness.

The foolish sin is heart.

There is no God.

So what do we do?

We stick to what the Bible says.

We stick to what all the scripture points to.

And that is a need for a Savior, creator of the universe, the one who knew no sin, the one who came to die for us on the cross.

And so what do we need to do?

Don't be afraid of the wisdom of man.

Don't be afraid of however many letters someone has after their name.

Okay?

Sometimes we get on the Internet and we see, well, this guy's a PhD.

He must know what he's talking about.

He might know the field that he's talking about, but he might not know what the word of God says.

And what do we live by?

Do we live by the wisdom of man or by the wisdom of God?

I hope that we as believers are living by the wisdom of God.

No, I'm not saying that we reject everything in science.

I mean, I'm not saying that.

Hear me out.

Well, what I am saying is that if something contradicts the word of God, it's no longer science anymore.

It is, as it says here, foolishness.

Like, there are people out there today that say, well, I know that the Bible says this, but science is telling us something else.

Well, first of all, maybe, maybe science isn't telling us that, but maybe even if, quote, unquote, science is telling us that what we have to be careful of is contradicting what the word of God says.

We're going to talk more about this next week.

But God has designed certain things to be the way that he defined it and not the way the world defines it.

We're going to talk about how these people who are living this way that have been turned over to their uncleanness, have taken certain Paths.

And that would be the path, as the Bible says, that is against God.

That is unnatural.

And we look at a world today and we see people that are living contrary to the Bible, openly against the Bible.

And we look at it and Christians today are tempted to say, well, we've got to just accept that.

We just have to be okay with it.

We just have to actually promote it.

Folks, there's one thing.

It's one thing to tolerate something, it's another thing to promote something.

What we have to understand in our culture today is there's going to be sin around us.

Look back into history if you're saying to yourself, pastor Josh, Paul didn't understand corruption.

Paul didn't understand debauchery.

Paul didn't understand sin, okay?

We in America today have some crazier sins than you could ever imagine.

Let me tell you, the.

The culture that Paul was living in was just as evil as the culture that we're living in, if not more evil because of some of the things that they were doing.

Okay?

That's not to say that we're okay today.

But what it is saying is that Paul understands completely the type of sin that we are facing today around us.

And Paul doesn't say, well, hey, you know what?

Condone it, just tolerate it.

No, what does he say?

He says, promote it.

Now, some people would take the other side of this and they would say, well, what is the Bible saying?

That we attack all those that are around us, that are not like us?

No, the Bible says that we're to treat everyone with love and with grace.

But treating someone with love and grace doesn't mean accepting the wrongdoing that they are living.

It doesn't mean promoting that wrongdoing that they're living.

And what we do is we tell them the truth of who God is and what he has done for us.

We say, look, this is what the Bible says.

It's not what I feel.

I mean, I.

My feelings are irrelevant to the issues of life or death, to the issues of salvation and judgment.

My opinions are irrelevant.

Really.

It's the word of God that matters.

It's the word of God that matters.

And so I think that one of the things that I've struggled with in my life and maybe I can help you with if you've struggled with this is, hey, you know what?

If you're in a situation where someone is opposing you and your beliefs, what do you go to?

Don't go to logic or reason necessarily, okay?

Because logic and reason sometimes can be like, well, hey, it doesn't make sense that you've given your life to Christ.

Okay, like, so, for example, let me give you just highlighted example of this.

Someone recently was talking to me, and I traveled back to Florida, and they said, why did you ever leave Tampa, Florida and move to Delaware?

I still don't understand it.

Because why, in their logic, they didn't understand it.

They were like, well, it just doesn't make sense.

You went from a place that's nice and warm all the time to now it's.

It's cold.

It's like freezing up there.

They think it's the Arctic up here.

By the way, people that live in Florida, I think it's like, so cold.

And so why do I say, don't appeal to logic and reason?

Because sometimes when you're appealing to logic and reason with someone, it's their logic and their reason, right from their perspective.

So if I'm talking to someone, they go, well, the reason I do this sin is because I was raised this way and it makes sense for me to do this.

Okay, so what do we do?

What do we.

What do we pull them to?

We pull them to the Word of God.

This is why I believe what I believe.

Even if it doesn't make sense to you, even if it doesn't fit into your narrative and your life and your experience, hey, we have to go to Scripture.

We have to go to the Word of God because our feelings and our emotions can be swayed because of circumstances.

And I completely understand that.

I completely understand that.

But what we have to do is we have to go back to the one thing that does not change, and that is the Word of God.

And so when we're talking about these things to people, as it says here, why, because they were not thankful, they became vain in their imaginations.

What it basically says is that people will start to dwell upon things that are empty, that.

That don't matter, that don't have lasting impact.

And so verse 21 tells us that they were.

They were foolish in their heart, and their foolish heart was darkened.

They weren't thankful.

Actually, what we see here is that there's an ingratitude.

There's no attitude of gratitude in their life.

They're not thankful for what God has given them.

They're thankful for what they have in their own life through their own strength is what they think.

And so they've rejected God, they profess themselves to be wise, and they become fools.

So what wisdom are we going to appeal to today?

Well, it makes more sense to do this.

It makes more sense to choose this path.

Well, the Bible says, if it makes sense to you, that doesn't mean that it's right.

What does the word of God have to say?

And so the verse 24, it says, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, to the lust of their own hearts.

Folks, we don't want to be in this place.

We don't want to be characterized by people that are going after our own fleshly desires, what our own heart wants.

You know, that sounds good.

Like, you know, our kids watch a movie and I'll hear things.

And I'm probably not a good person to watch movies with because I always pick out, like, how that's not a biblical worldview.

And it's like, trust your heart.

You know, if you just follow your heart, everything will be okay.

Let me tell you here this morning, biblically speaking, following your heart is not the path to take.

Why?

The book of Jeremiah says, our heart is desperately wicked.

It will deceive us, it will lie to us.

So don't go with your heart.

Some of you are like, well, Pastor Josh has crushed me.

Hey, I've always thought I should just trust my heart.

Well, trust.

Trust the Lord.

Trust his guidance, trust the Spirit.

Now, maybe your heart is aligned with the Spirit, and that is a good thing.

But the Bible does say that your heart can deceive you.

And so what I can tell you here this morning is this.

When.

When you're, when you're seeking after the things of God, when you're trying to profess the truth of God, don't, as it says, as it says there, don't.

Don't follow the lust of your own heart.

Follow the desires of God.

And so, as it says here, the product of following their heart is what they dishonor their own bodies between themselves.

So essentially, it's a life characterized by sin.

It's a life characterized by rebellion.

It's a life characterized by brokenness.

And as we close here, it says this.

Who changed the truth of God into a lie?

What does that mean?

It means this.

People are going to take what we do as Christians and say, and they're going to try to find the evil in that.

Okay, so, for example, if I say to somebody, look, I don't agree with your lifestyle.

I think that it's a lifestyle that is something that God has said is wrong and that is sinful and it brings shame upon him.

Okay, what can happen is, is that someone says, well, that's hate.

How was that hateful?

How?

It is not hateful.

Okay.

But what happens is, is that the world is going to try to twist the truth of God into a lie.

And so what I would encourage you to do is don't allow the world to define.

Define for you truth.

Allow the word of God to define truth in your life.

And then it goes on to say, here we change the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the Creator.

What eventually happens, the outcome to this path, is essentially idolatry.

Now, what I, what idol?

I don't know.

I don't know what an individual's idol might be for.

For.

I would say.

I, I would venture to say, okay, that most people within this world today, their idol is themselves.

Look at American culture.

It's about lifting yourself up.

It's about picking the path that you feel is right.

It's about identifying with whatever identity you want it to be.

It's about picking whatever persuasion that you want to be a part of.

And then, hey, celebrate that.

Proclaim it.

Essentially, they become evangelists for themselves instead of evangelists for the Lord.

And what we have to do is we have to be on guard of that, and we have to be on guard into allowing ourselves as Christians to take that philosophy and to allow that philosophy to leak within the church.

And so what do we do?

We don't worship the creation.

We don't worship the gift.

We worship the gift giver.

It would be like, it would be like, you know, we get our kids gifts for, for Christmas.

And instead of the kids thanking us, the ones who bought that gift for them and wrapped the gift for them, they go, thank you.

And they look at whatever gift that is.

So, you know, let's say we bought him a bike.

Thank you, bike.

You're a great bike.

I love you more than anything else in this world.

Right?

They, they, you guys see the, the, the, the absurdity of that.

When we get a gift in this world, we know that we're supposed to thank the one who gave us that gift.

But what happens is, is that God gifts us something in our life.

God gives us something amazing in our life.

We can even take something that we would consider to be good and allow that to become an idol in our life.

So let me give you some examples of that, because most of the time we think of idols and we think of like, something in the corner that's, you know, evil and has an evil motivation and all these nasty things.

But really what the Bible says is that good things in our life, if they become the first thing, can become a Bad thing.

So, so let me tell you here, I'm gonna.

I'm gonna step on some toes this morning and I.

And I love you.

But sometimes what we can do is we can look at another human being and end up worshiping that person instead of worshiping God.

God has gifted me with an amazing wife.

But if I look at my wife and say she's everything in my world and I'm going to put her before God, I am now not the husband that I need to be.

Why?

Because I put her before God.

But I love my children more than I love God.

I've got an issue in my heart because I'm not where I need to be.

And so what you see how I can take something good and elevate it to the best thing.

And now I'm missing the point of what God has called me to do and thanking him.

Because if you go back, what does it say there?

It says one of the characteristics of these people that came to this place of rebellion was that they were not thankful.

Neither were they thankful.

Verse 21.

It's when we lose thanksgiving and what God has provided for us.

And so we worship the gift instead of the gift giver.

Man, I can look out there today and see so many people with wonderful gifts.

Man, I see people get up and play an instrument and sing a song.

That's amazing gift that God gives you.

But the moment you start to worship that talent more than the one who gave you that talent is when we get into that bad place of idolatry.

Maybe some of you have great jobs and you say, man, God has given me an awesome job.

That is wonderful.

That is a gift of God.

But when we start to look at that job as the thing that we worship instead of worshiping the one who gave that to us, we miss the point.

And you see how that goes.

You see that without God we turn to things that he has created instead of turning to him.

And that's what verse 25 is all about.

Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever.

Meaning this.

The one we should worship, the only one worthy worship is Jesus.

The only one who is worthy of.

We reject what's around us.

We are living without an excuse.

We glorify God not as God, but as something else.

We're unthankful, we're vain in our imaginations.

We have a foolish heart that's darkened.

We are foolish because we profess ourselves to be wise in our own wisdom.

We Change the glory of the uncorruptible immortal God into an image.

So we're idolaters.

We're unclean in the lust of our hearts.

We've dishonored our own bodies and the bodies of others.

We are changing the truth of God into a lie.

So we're liars.

And we ultimately worship the creation more than the Creator.

So we are.

We're idolaters.

And so if we are to look at ourselves outside of God, we are thieving, adulterous idolaters who are broken in our sin.

We're liars.

And you say, well, that.

And I feel really beat up about myself.

Okay, well, I want to take you to a little bit farther on in Romans, okay?

I want you to see what Romans chapter 8 says.

This is where we're going to end.

So who we are outside of Christ, broken sinners needing repentance, deserving punishment.

But In Romans chapter 8, we see who we are in Christ.

So.

So I.

I tell people my BC years were not good years.

My before Christ years were not good years.

But who we are in Christ, I want to leave you with hope this morning.

Romans, chapter 8, verse 1.

There is therefore now no condemnation.

That word condemnation could be considered judgment.

Right?

Judgment upon me, wrath of God, that's judgment upon man.

That's what we deserve in Christ.

There's no more condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Salvation brings you free from what you deserve for what the law could not do.

So the law is what shows us where we're wrong.

Right.

The law serves a purpose, by the way, the law of God shows us where we're wrong.

For the law could not do in that it was weak to the flesh.

God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

And for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that is the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

It is the Spirit indwelling us that changes our heart.

Verse 6.

For to be carnally or fleshly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Because the carnal mind.

I want you to see this here.

He's contrasting again the flesh and the Spirit.

He says, for the carnal or the fleshly mind is enmity or enemies against God, for it is not subject to the law of God.

Neither indeed can be so.

Then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

The Bible very clearly teaches that if we are in the flesh, if we are walking outside of the Spirit, if we are walking in, in our own ways, we cannot please God.

But it says verse 9, but ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.

If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of this.

So if you are a believer this morning, you have the Spirit of God.

Therefore you are not characterized by your brokenness, by your sin, by your failures.

You're characterized by the hope that you have in Christ.

And so we end the chapter eight with this.

This is, this is a beautiful thing.

There's a question that's posed.

What can separate us from the love of God?

What can separate us from the salvation of God?

Verse 37.

Can we look at verse 35?

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine, or nakedness or peril or sword.

As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as she for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So the Bible says that, yes, outside of Christ, you are all these terrible things that deserve judgment.

But in Christ, with faith, in Christ, with your life in Christ, you are now no longer defined by your sin.

You were defined as a conqueror in the righteousness of God.

And as it says, they're more than a conqueror.

The Greeks really literally means super conqueror.

You are super conqueror in Christ, and that is the beauty of coming to Christ.

And so that is why Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel.

That is why I'm going to proclaim the gospel.

Because, folks, we all need the gospel of Jesus Christ in, in our sin.

We need salvation to, to change us in our sanctification.

We need the Gospel to grow us and ultimately in our lives of, of hardship and difficulty.

We need the Gospel to affirm in our hearts and confirm in our hearts that we have everlasting life with him one day.

That is the point of what Paul is talking about here.

Now.

Next week we're going to look at some more difficult topics because, because Paul gets into the sin listing game, some of.

Hey, you're not Supposed to list sins.

Well, Paul says, hey, if you are living in your flesh, if you are living in rebellion, these are some of the sins that will be manifested in the culture.

It was in the culture in Rome, it's in the culture in America.

It's in the culture around the world.

It's in the culture because God is absent.

And when God is absent, these are things that manifest.

And I know next Sunday is our family Sunday, and we're going to talk about some things that.

That aren't normally talked about within church, but we're going to talk about things that are difficult.

And so, parents, you can read through that next passage and you can see what's there.

I would encourage you to have your children in the service because your children are hearing these things in their culture.

They're hearing these things.

Possibly if they're going to school, they're hearing that, hey, you can love anyone that you want to love.

It doesn't matter.

Embrace everything.

We're even coming to a month that it's celebrated.

What we have to do is this.

We have to show our children what the word of God says about this.

Not the way we feel, not our anger, not, not.

Not any violence.

What do we do?

We point people to the truth of God.

And the plan to help, help people understand what it means to know the truth of God and to know how they can combat against these lies of the world.

And so that's what we're going to be talking about next week.

And so I encourage you to be back.

And I hope that it'll be a blessing for you to kind of have an understanding and tools in your toolbox showing how you can profess and proclaim the name of Jesus Christ in this world.

Well, I'm gonna ask every head bowed, every eye closed, you can stand with me if you'd like.

As the music plays here this morning, I know it was a difficult message.

I know it's a tough one to kind of wrap our minds around application.

But what I will say is this.

This morning, there is a temptation in this world to fall into thinking and acting like the world.

And what does the Bible say here?

The world points us to emptiness.

The world points us to thanklessness.

The world points us to sin.

The world points us to foolishness.

The world points us to idolatry.

The world points us to putting anything material above the things of God.

And so what I would say this morning is maybe some of us have been tempted to start to believe the lies of this world.

That the things that I have or who I am in myself are more important than the things of God.

Hey, if that's the case, if you felt yourself slipping into that life of materialism, that life of idolatry, that life of pursuing the lust of our heart instead of the truths of God, hey, you know what?

This morning, come forward.

The Bible says if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It's as easy as turning myself over to him and submitting myself to his plan in my life and saying, lord, you are enough.

I don't need anything else.

I don't need that raise.

I don't need that extra thing that I've just been chasing and chasing for my own fleshly desires.

All I need is you.

All I need is that relationship with you.

And that is enough.

You are sufficient.

Maybe that's what you need to do here this morning.

But maybe you've been walking in those BC years, maybe you're in that WC years without Christ.

If you need Jesus Christ as your Savior here this morning, come forward.

We can show you in the Word of God what it means to know him and know salvation.

To know what it means to be justified.

To know what it means to be walking in the righteousness of God, not in the unrighteousness of ourselves.

Lord, I pray that you'd be in this time of invitation, working hearts and lives.

But I pray that you can help us understand what it means to have the necessity of the Gospel in every aspect of our life.

Lord, I pray that we can see why we should be bold and confident in the Gospel of Jesus in this world today.

Lord, help us as Christians to not live in the material things of this world.

Help us not to worship the creation, the creation.

But Lord, help us to worship the Creator, you Lord, the One who is eternal.

So Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working hearts and lives in Jesus name.

Amen.

As the music plays, follow as the Lord leads.

Here this morning it thank you again.

For listening to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

You would like to find out more.

Information about our church or this sermon?

You can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.

Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.