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The NEED

The Gospel: Promised, Powered, and Proclaimed

John Carter · Sunday, 4 May 2025 · Romans 1:18-32 · 54:16 · 8,199 words

Romans S2 · 1:18-32 Flushing

Listen to this message

The preacher continues a Romans series, showing that after the good news of the gospel we must confront humanity’s sin and God’s wrath revealed from heaven. He argues that creation and Scripture display God’s power, yet we suppress truth and replace Him with idols. The message asks every listener to examine what lies and idols they are holding onto, and to turn back to God in repentance. Those who do not yet know the Lord are invited to call on Him, trusting that true life is found only in Jesus.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

altar 17 bad 32 idolatry 12 new 44 exchange 11 put 38 replace 10 aspect 14 choose 16 arrogance 6 religion 13 humanity 11

Topics

The Gospel 9 Righteousness 3 Sin 3 The Wrath of God 2 Salvation 2 Israel 2 Faith 1 Prayer 1 Freedom 1

Scripture referenced 32

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 1 0:51 Romans 1 2:33 Romans 1 5:56 Romans 1 6:07 Romans 1:18 6:16 Romans 1 7:11 Romans 1:17 7:11 Habakkuk 2 7:18 Habakkuk 2 7:23 Romans 1:17 7:56 Romans 1:18 7:56 Habakkuk 2 8:24 Romans 1:19 12:01 Hebrews 11:1 12:22 Hebrews 11:1 12:36 Romans 1:21 18:15 Deuteronomy 8 21:01 Romans 1:14 22:15 Jeremiah 2:4 23:53 Romans 1:22 26:09 Exodus 32:4 27:35 Romans 1:4 29:52 Romans 1:24 37:19 Romans 1:26 38:31 Romans 1:26 39:16 Romans 1:29 41:12 Romans 1:32 46:10 Deuteronomy 30 47:29 Deuteronomy 30:19 47:43 Deuteronomy 30 47:46 Jeremiah 6:15-19 50:29 Romans 8 51:55

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 5 lines, 0:24. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey everyone, my name is Zach Hannon and thank you for checking out the message today.

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Thanks again for joining us today and we hope you are blessed by today's message.

See you everybody.

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open to Romans chapter 1.

Last week we started our new series in Romans.

And listen, this is going to be a long series.

We're going to go all the way into November with this sucker, right?

This is going to be long, all summer long.

And I'm going to do my best to try to keep you informed

about what we talk about.

What we've talked about in the past and where we're going in the future.

And it's really important to recognize this about the letter of Romans that Paul is writing.

It's not really one of those books that you can kind of jump in the middle and figure it out.

It kind of builds on itself each week.

And so I'm going to do my best, my very best, to try to remind you where we've been

and where we're at so that you're cued in to what's happening.

But let's say during the summer you can't come here

or during the summer you've got some plans with your families.

We're going to try to get every message put online so that you can watch it.

And I want you to use that as a resource.

So let's say you go on vacation with your family.

You're gone.

Man, the next time you're in gathering, you can go back and look

because it's going to build on itself.

And so I want to make sure you guys know about that resource.

You can go get it from the app, get it from the website.

You can watch it on YouTube as well.

I think the River Church Flushing has a YouTube that you can find the messages.

It's very important because imagine as Paul is going to start building his,

if you will say,

his dissertation on the gospel, right,

and try to walk in the middle of his argument or what he's trying to lay down,

you may find it a little bit harder to grasp or a little bit more confusing.

So I want to give you that encouragement to follow up with that, learn that,

use that resource for your advantage.

Last week we talked about Paul really as he's writing his dissertation.

He comes up with his thesis for the whole dissertation in the first part of Romans 1

as it pertains to the gospel.

Right?

We looked at this, that the gospel was something that was promised long before Paul ever came onto the scene.

Paul lays that foundation down that it is a promise that has been given by God to humanity

from the very beginning of when humanity fell.

The very curse on the serpent where Jesus says there is going to be someone who comes and crushes the serpent's head.

Right?

That promise was given that the gospel, the good news of Jesus was coming long beforehand,

long before Paul came onto the scene.

So Paul's argument, his confidence, what he's basing all of his arguments on is rooted in what he defines as the holy scriptures.

They've been around for ages and the prophets and what they proclaim.

And so Paul uses that and so we saw that the gospel is something that is promised.

He also goes into last week that the gospel is powerful.

Right?

Like it's not just some idea or ideology or some good practice to pay attention to.

There is power in the gospel, power even to save us is the way Paul says it.

It's not just yeah, there's some good principles, what Jesus taught and what's written in the scripture.

There's some good ideas in there.

No, it's life changing, transformative power that is rooted in the good news and who the person of Jesus is.

So we walked through that last week, just the good news of the gospel.

Paul also last week really sets the,

the foundation for himself as one when we receive the gospel, it is something we must proclaim.

We must share it.

We must talk about it.

It's not something that we can, in essence, brush under the rug or keep in the closet.

It's something that will pour out of us, not just in our words, but with our actions and the way we behave and the way we conduct our life.

And so Paul speaks of the power of the gospel.

He speaks of the proclamation of the gospel and the promise of the gospel.

And when it comes to good news, thinking about this this week, you know, good news is only as good as the corresponding bad news that it's, it's going against, right?

Like I was thinking about an example of this, like I'm a diabetic, okay?

And so like someone might come to me and say, hey, John, listen, good news.

I ate the donut so you don't have to.

Now, listen, that's, that's good news.

I get it.

You know, I probably shouldn't eat that sugar, but man, I really like donuts.

So I don't really know if that's good news or not because, because, you know, I wanted that.

But if I go and I have this life terminal disease, this, this illness that says, hey, the doctor comes to me and says, hey, dude, you've got two weeks, get your affairs in order, you got two weeks.

And then someone else comes to me and say, hey, here's the deal.

I got a cure for you, right?

Like the, the scale, the scale of the good news is very contingent on how bad the bad news is, right?

And so when we talk about the good news of the gospel, we got to put it in this context and this is what's going to be where we go into with Paul and the rest of church.

And in the rest of chapter one, Paul has to let us understand, yes, he's laid the foundation for the good news, but good news is only as relevant as how bad the bad news is.

And Paul is going to hit some very hard things in the remainder of chapter one that really helps us understand how bad it really is.

So it is in this context that we're going to begin in verse 18.

Before we start reading the word, let's just go to the Lord in prayer.

Ask his spirit to lead us, to guide us, to direct us as we open his word and read it.

For application in our life.

Heavenly father, Lord, we love you.

We thank you.

We thank you so much for Paul and his wisdom and his brilliance.

And Lord, we, we, as we walk through these passages and we know we're in here for a long haul, Lord, we pray that you and your spirit would lead us and guide us and give us the instructions for our lives so that we will grow and become more and more like you.

Lord, we're so excited to, to walk through these instructional writings of Paul for us.

It wasn't just to the church in Rome.

It's for us today.

Help us use them and live it out in a day-to-day basis.

I ask this in Jesus' holy name.

We really established the theme of Romans in verse 17 of chapter one.

And I, last week I, I correlated this to Habakkuk 2.

This is really where Paul is quoting.

Paul's quoting Habakkuk 2 when he says the righteous shall live by faith.

And Habakkuk, the prophet of Habakkuk is complaining because he's like, listen, why is it, why is it, God?

This is his complaint to God.

Why is it that it seems like the unrighteous are devouring the righteous?

You're a good God.

Why does it seem like all of the evil seems to prevail and there's no righteousness that is, is, is succeeding in a sense?

That's his complaint.

And we, we see that Paul lays this down.

There's a connecting thought from verse 17 to verse 18.

It's the word reveal.

If you have your Bible open and you look at that, I would circle the word reveal in 17 and see how it works.

How it correlates in 18.

You see in 17, Paul says these words just to refresh your memory for in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith, right?

How is the righteousness of God revealed?

It is through our faith in the person of Jesus Christ and put this in context with Habakkuk 2 where Habakkuk is complaining about the unrighteous and how they seem to get away with everything.

And it is also in this context that Paul says, beginning in verse 18, where he says,

This is a really important thing.

I'm going to hammer on this.

I'm going to spend probably more time than I should on this one verse.

But I really want you to understand what Paul is doing here.

You notice in this phrase when he reads this, the wrath of God, he doesn't say the wrath of God is revealed through man on earth.

Pay close attention to his words.

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven.

Who has the right to administer the wrath of God?

Not me and not you.

And it's really easy as we hear and read some hard subjects or as we go through some aspects of scripture where we are often and I hear, man, so and so really should have listened to that message.

That was good for them.

We do this.

Listen, it's okay.

It's real, right?

Like, I'm pretty sure I've done that.

Don't tell Liz.

She's not in here right now.

Really needed to hear that message or that.

I thought that.

I have thought that.

And then I have to repent because I'm like, I probably needed to hear it more than she did.

Right?

And we do this.

But I really want, as we're walking through this passage, as we recognize this, that even as Paul says, like, this notion of the unrighteous suppress the truth.

Man, what a danger that is for us as individuals.

And it's really easy to look outside and point the finger everywhere else.

But today, my prayer, my hope is that you will take this.

This passage of Scripture and apply it to yourself.

You see, it's easy to say, well, so-and-so is deceived.

They're tricked.

They're not following this or they're not doing that.

But what is it in your life that you are lying to yourself about?

What truth are you suppressing in your life as you are walking through your faith and saying, hey, God, you know what?

I like that truth.

I don't like that truth.

So I'm going to ignore it.

I'm going to create a lie, in essence, about that particular truth.

And I'm going to deceive myself.

And I'm going to deceive myself about something.

I don't know what it is.

We'll get into that.

But we see that Paul very clearly is stating this fact that the wrath of God is not something that is not going to be revealed.

Right?

Just as we talked about the good news, Paul is very clearly going to walk down a path of bad news.

Where you find yourself.

I've often said this.

You either find yourself in the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness.

There's no neutral ground.

There's no Switzerland, if you will.

Where you can have one foot in darkness and one foot in light.

It doesn't work that way.

And so you are going to have to examine your own self.

Examine your own.

I have no power.

I have no authority to administer the wrath of God to anybody.

And neither do you, by the way.

The only person that has the right to administer the wrath of God is God himself.

I think that's very important as we establish what Paul is about to go through.

And so Paul says this as he continues in verse 19.

The known about God is plain to them.

Because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived.

If you want a correlating passage that kind of affirms what Paul is saying here, go to Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1.

One of my most favorite passages of all time.

It is what compelled me from shifting from atheism to finding and learning who God is.

And in Hebrews 11, verse 1, it says this.

Is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen?

I had this conversation with a man up at a men's retreat this last week as he's trying to encourage his dad to really examine his faith and what it means.

Man, I'm here to tell you, you know, we're not just believing in some invisible figment of our imagination.

God is very clearly perceivable, as Paul says.

There is enough evidence.

There is substantial proof of the existence of an eternal.

Paul here, he says, listen, we can see his invisible attributes, his eternal power and his divine nature.

They've been clearly perceived ever since the very creation of the world and the things that have been made.

Go take a walk in Flushing Park.

Walk through and see the beauty that is there.

The animals, the trees, the flowers.

Look at the people that you're walking by.

None of us look the same.

There is a God that made us intricately so divine and so powerful as he.

That in this creation we see his incredible creativity, his power, his magnificence that I'm not just some cookie cutter guy.

Jesus wasn't just stamping me in a factory and like, oh, I can only have five Johns in this world.

No, there was only enough room for one.

Same for you.

You're uniquely designed.

You're uniquely created by God.

Every aspect of you God knew about, thought through, planned, decided and said, you are good.

I'm creating you in my image.

That's what God says.

And we can see God's eternal power just by looking at the human person.

Whether it's the intricacy of the cells, the way our anatomy is designed, the biology of the human cell.

It's incredible.

You go, wow, this is amazing.

We have a God.

We have a God that has incredible power.

We have a God that has an incredible divine nature.

So when we examine this, we have to recognize the next part of the line where Paul says, so we are without excuse.

We're without excuse.

You know, I've had the privilege of traveling a lot around the world.

I grew up in Japan.

So one of the things I did is, I guess I was a college age man.

I didn't get to the very top of Mount Fuji, but I got above the cloud lines, right?

And so I got to see the expanse of the heavens from the mountain and looking over the clouds.

So high was I that I could see the shadow of the mountain on the top of the clouds.

And I can just remember, I'm like, you made all of this.

How big and powerful are you?

I've been in Europe, and I've seen the Alps there in Switzerland, and I've seen the magnificence of God's hand in his creation there.

I've been in the Middle East, and I've seen what seems to be a barren land of desert, but it's beautiful.

And in Africa, and I've seen the plains, and I've seen the animals and the wildlife, and I cannot help but realize how small I am and how big God is.

So when I really come down to this examination, I have to come to the conclusion there is a God.

What does that mean for me if I'm on the wrong side of God?

What does that mean for me if I haven't come to terms with who he is and put him in his right place?

See, this aspect of suppressing the truth is something that humanity has struggled with from the very beginning.

Go back to Adam and Eve.

They knew the truth of God's word, what God spoke to them about the tree, yet they allowed the lie of a serpent to convince them that it was better.

They knew the truth.

See, as we're going to walk through this, and this is very important, as we're going to walk through the bad news,

very, very rarely is it an aspect of ignorance.

It more in line falls with willful, willful disobedience and rebellion.

That tends to be the problem with humanity is we know, but we choose to ignore.

We know, but we're going to create a lie, a false idol, or something else other than God to prioritize.

And this is where Paul is going to walk us into the bad news.

See, when we see what happens, it's this suppressing of truth.

It is not this aspect of ignorance.

It's a resistance.

It is us and our heart saying, I see and I hear, but I'm not going to do it anyway.

This is the start of sin.

This is what happened with Adam and Eve.

This is where sin begins, this willful, arrogant pushback against divine authority, against God's rightful place as our creator and our maker.

So we see Paul when he says those words, they are without excuse.

We know that also includes us.

The they is really the me, right?

It's easy to look outside.

I'm going to ask you to look inside.

So as Paul continues, he says this in verse 21, for although they knew God, although they knew God, they did not honor him as God.

They did not honor him or did they give him thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.

You see what Paul is doing here is just knowing God, right?

Like this is really important to grasp.

Knowing God is not the same thing.

Paul is going to walk us through this aspect of idolatry and worship and really what that means in our life and how we have to wrestle with this and know what is God asking.

He's asking to be put in the seat of honor.

Really and truly he's saying put me in the seat where you worship me.

That's the place of honor, where you don't substitute God for some futile imaginary thing that you think is good enough.

Put me in that place.

Place of honor where I am worshiped.

Paul is going to confront this aspect of idolatry.

See, idolatry is more than just a graven image.

Idolatry is more than just creating some kind of, you know, I grew up in Japan, so I've seen the little Buddhas all around the world, all around the street.

I mean, right down the street corner, there's a little concrete altar.

There's a concrete little Buddha with a little red little handkerchief.

And on it, people would place little things like snacks or oranges.

Or cans of soda.

Like, that's foreign to us in America.

But I grew up in an environment where there were graven images.

Idolatry is so much more than graven images.

It's what we are worshiping or what we are replacing God with.

Some do put statues, carven images, whether they're made out of wood or stone.

But then there's other people that put things like their career or money or some addiction to some sin as their God that they choose to worship.

Paul is talking about what happens.

When we replace God in his honorable position, when we change from putting him who is the light of the world and we choose something else, what follows is darkness.

This darkening of our heart.

I think Deuteronomy, remember, all of Paul's arguments stem from the Old Testament.

I think Deuteronomy chapter 8, Deuteronomy is probably one of my favorite Old Testament books.

In verse 10, Moses warns the people of this aspect of not forgetting God's rightful place.

Verse 10, he says,

To be full, this is Moses speaking to the people of Israel, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

He says,

Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes which I have commanded you today.

Lest, here's the warning,

Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and you live in them,

and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold,

and all that is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied,

when things are going really good, in other words, what Moses is saying,

when you get comfortable that God doesn't want to bless you,

but the warning is when you're in that position, man, be careful lest you start misprioritizing God's place in your life.

And he says, verse 14,

Then your heart will be lifted up, that what he's speaking of there is the arrogance and the pride of man, humanity.

Ladies have pride too, I get it.

But here Moses is saying,

Man, listen, be careful when you're sitting in that seat of comfortableness where you think you've got it all figured out,

you think you know everything, you think you have all of the things covered,

and your heart becomes arrogant, lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God.

I want you to see this.

Who brought you out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of slavery.

Don't forget what God did for you, O people of Israel.

Man, what a great correlation that is, and quite frankly, it's very relevant to the American church.

What Moses said way back then to the people of Israel, to the American church.

Listen, when you get comfortable, America, because of your wealth and the incredible blessings that God has played on your land,

don't forget the place that God holds in your heart.

Lest you forget what he's done for you.

This picture of being in bondage and slavery from Egypt, being taken out of the house of slavery.

Guess what, American church, church us, me looking in.

God has taken us out of the bondage of sin and brought us out.

How wonderful that is.

How often do we forget his proper place as the one who did it.

Jeremiah chapter 2 verses 4.

Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel.

Hear what the Lord is saying.

Thus says the Lord, what wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me?

This is the Lord speaking.

Listen, God himself is saying, guys, what did I do?

What did I do wrong that you would choose something other than me and you would seek something far from me?

It goes on in this aspect of idolatry that is being confronted in both Deuteronomy and Jeremiah.

The Lord says, not only did you go far from me, but you went after worthlessness.

And you became worthless.

Wow, those are very harsh, convicting words.

What are you replacing and putting in the place of God?

What's your substitute for God?

Think as we read.

Really examine what Paul is saying there.

We want to really confront spiritual arrogance or spiritual pride.

The thing that leads to idolatry and self-exaltation is the lack of gratitude.

When I start to think, hey, John, you've got it all figured out.

Man, God, it's good that you're my sidekick.

That's when I start into thinking I'm something way more than I ever should be.

Self-exaltation.

And then I start to look at things like, man, I did this.

I did that.

I became this.

I did this.

And all of a sudden, God's sitting somewhere away.

And all that's left is my own arrogance, my own pride, and selfishness.

And God's somewhere in the back going, like, dude, what did I do wrong?

Didn't I pull you out of that pit of misery and sin?

Did you forget what I've?

So what I'm saying is this, and what Paul is reflecting on is this.

Gratitude for what God has done is a sure way to keep the arrogance at bay.

And as Paul continues in verse 22, he says, as this is really a condemnation to bad news to humanity, he's saying,

Be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of an immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

This is full-on idolatry.

Exchanging the glory of an immortal God.

Taking the eternal and trading it for the temporary.

Man, that sounds like a bad trade deal.

I don't know if you ever traded cards when you were kids.

Sometimes you got games.

Sometimes you got good deals.

Sometimes you got bad deals.

This is a bad deal.

Exchanging the glory of God, his magnificence, his power, his awesomeness, his kindness, his love, his forgiveness, his mercy.

Exchanging everything God offers to humanity and saying, nope, I'm going to pick this, and I'm going to build an altar to this.

Whatever this is, this is for you.

And I'm going to make this my God.

Because this is clearly the truth.

And nothing really illustrates this more.

Than when the Israelites in Exodus, I think it's Exodus 32, verse 4.

When the Israelites, I mean, I just can't even fathom this.

They experience, they experience the ten plagues that fall on Egypt, and they are spared.

The Lord allows them to flee their bondage of slavery and go towards something new.

They don't know exactly what it is.

And they come to the Red Sea, and they're terrified because the enemy's like, nope, changing my plan.

I know I promised you could go, but I'm Indian.

I'm a giver, so to speak.

I'm going to go, and I'm going to trade.

I'm not going to follow up on the deal that I made with you.

And so this army is coming after them, and they're terrified.

And the Lord parts the sea, and they all walk, not with muddy feet.

Listen, my yard is a muddy mess right now, and I hate that I have to wear muck boots when I walk through it.

To walk through mud, it's kind of hard.

It's difficult if you've ever done it.

Nope, that's not how God treated his people.

It was dry land.

They were able to walk.

They were able to carry.

And pull their carts through with no problem.

It was dry.

The enemy, of course, is destroyed.

And then the Lord leads them by a fire, a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.

And they're like, this is awesome.

This is great.

We're just going to follow you.

They get to Mount Sinai, and Moses goes up to get the instructions from God.

And what happens?

I want you to see this.

A group of people who got impatient, put God off to the side, chose to say, hey, I want to worship something.

And I really don't want to worship God, the one that I've been saved.

I don't want to worship God, the one that I've been seeing doing all these wonderful, powerful, mighty things.

I got an idea.

I'm going to go back to what I used to worship.

I'm going to go back to worship the thing that I used to worship.

And they started collecting gold.

And they made a golden calf.

If you want to talk about the altar of idolatry, they put this golden calf on here.

And look at what they say.

They said, these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

It's shocking to even think about it.

And imagine somebody saying that after going through what Israel went through.

What they're in essence is saying is this, hey, here's my savior, this golden calf.

Maybe they had more than one because it says God's plural.

This is my savior.

This is what's going to get me through the tough times.

This is what's going to help me when I'm standing before God almighty.

I'm going to bring up this golden calf and say, hey, here's my God.

This should be good enough for you, right?

I know that sounds ludicrous in our mind to even consider.

How many of us do the same exact thing?

How many of us do the exact same thing?

There's this teaching out there right now where we put self on the altar.

Put self on the altar.

And I'm all for making sure you know how to take care of yourself.

It's not a bad thing.

But when it starts turning into self-worship, self-idolatry, this idea of being totally autonomous,

where I have the right to self-express and tell everybody about my truth,

we are walking on the altar of self-worship.

We've replaced God.

And we put ourself in the place.

Listen, I'll be very frank.

My truth doesn't really add up to anything.

I don't want you to know my truth at all, actually.

I want you to know God's truth.

And that should be our pursuit, that we know God's truth and live out the truth that God tells us to live out.

Self isn't the only thing we put on this altar in today's day and age.

We put success on this altar.

The success in career, our achievements, we worship those achievements and our whole identity.

Our whole identity is surrounded by that perspective.

Man, I'm a big business owner.

I've got a $5 million company.

I've got a $10 million company.

I've got a $30 million company.

Look at me.

You may have been an excellent athlete and you put that on the altar that you choose to worship.

Man, I did this in high school.

I did that in high school.

Or maybe you played college ball.

Or maybe you played professional ball.

That becomes your whole identity.

And see, what we're doing is we're replacing our identity in Christ with something that is temporary.

We're replacing our identity in Christ with something that is temporary.

We're replacing our eternal identity with God for something that is short-lived.

Self on that altar.

We put success on that altar.

We put pleasure on that altar.

I want to get uncomfortable.

I like AC just as much as the next guy.

We'll put entertainment on that altar.

We'll put food on that altar.

We'll put sexual gratification on that altar.

And all those things, all those things that we say, this satisfies me.

This is what completes me.

This is what makes me whole.

We ignore the satisfaction we get from an eternal, all-powerful God.

And we replace it with a lie, with things that are so short-sighted.

This is what satisfies me, God.

Right here.

Not you.

We don't think we have the same problem that Israelites have.

We're missing the news that Paul is trying to tell us.

Might put money or materialism on there.

This is going to hurt some people.

And I don't mean to hurt anybody.

But this is a real thing.

Put politics or nationalism on this altar.

We put this as something that we say, this is it, man.

This is it.

I trust my government.

I'm trusting God.

I'm trusting this ideology or that ideology.

And we make that the thing we worship.

Choose country to save us instead of God to save us.

We choose a man that happens to sit in a political position as the one that's going to save us.

Versus putting the person of Jesus as the one who did save us.

Listen, this is, I'm not trying to hurt.

I'm not trying to step on anybody's toes.

This is not a political campaign one way or the other.

There are ways.

There are many, too many of us that have replaced God and what he has done for us, the Savior,

for something that is not going to last.

We exchange the eternal for the temporary.

Religion without submission.

We love theology and we will dig through theology.

And theology is not a bad thing.

Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying.

But when I can tell you every aspect about theology but I don't live it out in my life,

I have a religion without submission.

I just have a religion.

And religion isn't really that big of a thing.

Religion isn't really that big of a thing.

Religion isn't really that big of a thing.

Religion isn't really that big of a thing.

Religion isn't really that bad.

Look at what James says.

True religion is this caring for the poor, caring for the orphan, caring for the widow.

Religion isn't bad.

But religion without submission is just another idol.

Following this tradition or that tradition, this doctrine.

I'm not living it out in my life but I can tell you every point about it.

Religion without submission.

Some of us even walk in this aspect.

This is so scary.

Where we think we are morally superior.

So morally superior are we that we're more superior in this moral category than God is.

Not himself.

Personal freedom.

I love freedom.

Don't get me wrong.

I think freedom is fantastic.

I am so blessed that I am an American in this country with all the freedoms that I have.

But here's the deal.

Sometimes we idolize this right to choose without accountability.

Think about what I just said there.

We sometimes say, hey, I have the right to do this.

I have the right to do that.

It's my freedom.

It's my choice.

I can do this.

And we don't want any accountability.

And that's idolatry for ourselves.

We've replaced God for something that's man-made.

Construct that's not real.

And we all struggle with this.

Paul continues.

I'm just going to jump ahead to verse 24.

Therefore God gave them up to 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.

They worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator.

See, the aspect of idolatry is heavy in Paul's message here about the bad news.

What are we worshiping in place of?

What are we substituting God for?

What are we exchanging the truth about God and putting a lie on that altar of worship and choosing to worship that instead of God?

What aspect of man are we serving rather than serving God?

The rebellion is this horrible, horrible trade.

Sin is this horrible, horrible trade where we exchange the infinite for the finite.

Where we exchange eternity for the temporary.

And as Paul continues in this in verses 26, and this is going to be hard for some of you to hear.

Listen to what he says.

I'm going to be honest with you.

The next line is probably some of the most terrifying judgment that God places on humanity.

I want you to hear what I'm about to say.

Sometimes what God does, he doesn't have to send fire or brimstone.

Sometimes all God does is he takes a step back and he says, okay, that's what you chose.

Have at it.

That's what you chose.

Go for it.

Sometimes the most terrifying judgment of God is when God lets us have our way.

Look at this.

For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions.

For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature.

And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another.

Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Since they did not see fit, here's the problem.

To acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind.

To do what ought not be done.

Now before you get on that high and mighty horse and say, yep, them homosexuals, I knew this was about time somebody preached against them.

You're about to see a list that Paul lays down that takes the lifestyle of a homosexual and the gossiper and puts them on the same playing field.

Before you get the finger and start pointing out, hey, there's an external sin.

I can see that sin.

That's a really bad sin.

This is why this notion of what Paul starts off with it, examining ourself.

It's so critical.

We're going to walk through this list.

So easy.

It's easy to point out the sin that we can see on the outside and never deal with the sin that's on the inside.

Paul is playing this level playing field.

He says, listen, and you're going to see through this list.

And I guarantee you there's not a single person in this room when we read this list who's going to say, oh, I'm good on all of those.

There's not a single person that's watching online when we go through this list where you're going to be able to stand up and say, nope, I am good.

I don't have any problems in those areas.

Look at it.

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.

Listen, I'm all for having goals, but how many times have you put in this goal board or this dream board maybe a new car or maybe a certain house?

That's called covetousness, guys.

It's like it sounds good, but what you're starting to do is worship.

Man, that's my identity.

When I get that car, man, I've made it.

Or when I get that house, man, I've made it.

I'm all for having goals, please.

I'm a very ambitious person.

But when I start to make my identity something I put on a wall and I ignore the very truth of God's word, I am in trouble.

They are full of envy, murder, strife.

You ever cause problems just because you can?

Listen, I was a troublemaker as a kid, okay?

I knew how to cause some problems.

And ask my parents.

You ever cause problems just to cause problems?

Like create strife?

Create division?

Create problems?

Just because you can?

Now, I'm sure we have always all told the truth all the time.

No little white lies.

No little fabrication of a story.

Fishermen, we've never told a lie about the one that got away.

Right?

Or hunters about the 30-pointer that you missed just barely.

You guys know what I'm talking about if you've done this, right?

Like, oh, man, there was a deer.

It was dark.

Had to be a 30-pointer.

Probably Bambi.

I'm going to tell like it was a big story.

This is just insane in my head.

But hunters would go up north.

They'd go out to the bars.

They'd behave lewdly.

And they would, on their way home, stop by a barn and grab a deer to prove to their wives that they were hunting the whole thing.

Just to not tell the truth.

Just to live in a lie of deceit.

To be malicious.

Here we are.

They are gossips.

We want to point the finger to the homosexual.

And I'm not sitting here giving any excuse to somebody that is living a shameful life that is contrary.

To the way God designed it.

Please understand what I'm saying.

But if we want to point the finger everywhere else and never examine our own self for the gossip that we may share.

Or the slander, that's the next word, that we commit against fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

We have a problem.

We're in trouble.

Continues and as he goes, he says, haters of God.

And if you want to know who haters of God are, just look at the opposite.

New Testament, many, many times over, says if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

So what's a hater of God?

Someone that doesn't love God is somebody that ignores his word and doesn't want to listen to what God has to say.

They become insolent, haughty, boastful.

We've talked about this already.

Pride, arrogance.

I know more than everybody else.

They are inventors of evil.

Listen, young kids, you're not out of the loop either.

You're still living with your parents.

Even if you're not living with your parents, there is this passage in here.

Have any of you ever been disobedient to your parents?

This is a hard list, right?

Like, you walk through this list and you're like, dude, man, what a depressing message.

If you're here for the first time, you're probably like, I am never coming back.

So sad.

Listen, I'm just trying to help you understand how big the bad news really is.

Because when we understand what the bad news is, the good news makes so much more sense.

When we understand the bad news, the good news tastes so much better.

He goes on and he says, foolishness, faithlessness, heartlessness.

And ruthlessness.

This aspect, humanity, we are desperately wicked in our hearts.

End on this, verse 32.

Though they know God's righteous decree.

Though they know what God has shared, the promise, the good news.

That those who practice such things deserve to die.

You're going to hear that line and go, what?

Yeah, that's just for the homosexuals.

No, that's not what Paul does.

He says the gossip and the slanderer.

They deserve to die.

Because they have sinned against a holy, righteous, almighty God.

That is the consequence of sin.

It is not just a physical death, it is a spiritual death.

This is where we find ourselves as humanity.

This is the bad news, guys.

We've broken a righteous decree of God and we find ourselves in this place where we need help.

Where we need someone to come and save us.

Because we can't do it on our own.

We need someone to come and save us.

We need someone to come and save us.

But they give approval to those who practice such things.

Deuteronomy chapter 30.

As Moses is getting ready to, in essence, conclude his letter to the people.

They're going to go on.

He's going to stay back.

Says these words in verse 19.

Deuteronomy chapter 30.

He says, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today.

That I have set before you life and death.

Blessing and curse.

And if you think God's sitting here just waiting to just pounce you on.

All the sins you've done in your life.

I love this passage because it shows the very heart of God when he says,

Therefore, choose life, please.

This is the heart of God where he's like, I don't want to condemn you.

Says this as it continues.

He says, that you and your offspring may live loving the Lord your God.

Obeying his voice and holding fast to him.

Hanging on to him.

Clinging to him.

Worshiping him.

And not the fake.

False, temporary things we put in place of God.

This next line.

For he, he is your life and length of days.

When Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

He is confirming everything the gospel of God said.

And it's the same gospel that the son preaches.

He says.

All too often, this is the conviction of humanity.

This is the bad news.

We hear the words of God and we say, nope.

I'm going to put my false idols in.

I believe in them.

I'm going to put what I think is going to save me.

And I'm going to put it here.

Can you imagine one day, whatever your idol is.

We all have them.

Whatever your idol is.

I want you to think about how you're going to stand before God.

And you're going to place that idol in front of God and say, God, this is better than you.

This is what I'm going to choose instead of you.

It's on that person that when we started this, the wrath of God will be revealed.

It is on that person when you will experience the magnitude of that decision.

And I'm not saying.

I'm not saying that to scare you or to put any kind of fear in you.

Because God is loving, caring, and kind.

But it is that person that will experience the wrath of God that is poured out from heaven.

Not my wrath.

I don't have any of that ability.

I'm not even going to come close to stepping into place.

I'm going to read another passage.

But I'm already 15 minutes over.

So if you want to read it on your own, I'll give you the text.

It's Jeremiah 6, 15 through 19.

Very powerful passage from the prophet Jeremiah.

When they are confronted with their sin.

They have no shame.

They have no shame for their sin.

They don't even blush is what the prophet says.

The Lord is trying to tell them, hey, listen, go this way.

It's good.

Follow this path.

Walk in it.

It's good.

Find rest for your soul, the prophet says.

The response, unfortunately, is there are going to be people who say, no, I don't want it.

I'm not going to do that.

And it is on those people that the Lord says.

And that's not just the nation of Israel.

And you'll see it because he uses terms like, oh, nations, oh, earth.

The prophet Jeremiah says, I'm bringing disaster on you.

Did not pay attention to my words.

You ignored the truth and exchanged it for a lie.

That's the bad news.

If you're here today and you're like, man, dude, I'm in a bad space.

I'm in a bad place.

I want you to know you don't have to stay in the bad news.

There is hope.

Paul will speak about this as we walk through Romans and just even in Romans 8 where there is this promise that is laid out for those of us who repent and believe in the gospel, the good news.

Imagine being that terminally ill person that's got bad news.

You got two weeks.

You got two weeks to live.

And someone comes and says, hey, I've got the answer.

Stay over there and say, nope, not going to listen.

Get my affairs in order.

I don't want that good news.

Pray today that you would not.

If you're watching online, man, reach out to somebody.

Church, if you're here and you're a believer and you hear this message, I just want to challenge you.

What truth are you suppressing?

What have you put in the place of God's rightful seat?

What is it that you are substituting God for in your life?

I want you to be.

I want you to be challenged with that.

If you're here and you don't know the Lord, I just want you to call out to him.

Let's pray.

Be done.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much.

Lord, I know this is a heavy passage.

Not an easy passage for me to even preach, Lord, because it convicts even me.

Lord, I pray that in our hearts, Lord, we would choose you over anything and everything else.

Lord, wherever in my heart I am substituting you with something else, convict me.

Bring it to the forefront of my mind.

Lord, give me the strength through your spirit to deny it and choose you.

Lord, if there are individuals in this room who are struggling and hurting,

if they're hearing the bad news, I just pray they would know that there is good news.

That good news relies and hinges solely on what Jesus did for you and for me.

Love you.

We thank you in Jesus' name.

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