WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.439 So we're continuing our study through the book of Romans. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:07.280 This letter is Paul's theological masterpiece. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:10.320 Now, this morning I woke up early, had my little devotion. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:11.359 I checked my email. 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:13.759 I went and walked my dog just like last Sunday. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:15.679 I put on the song The Blessing. 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:17.440 I love the worship song, The Blessing. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:18.719 Last week I sang it for you. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:23.600 Remember, may his favor be upon you in a thousand generations. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:26.079 And your children, their children, their children, children, children. 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:28.239 And he's like, he's for you, and he's for you. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:34.159 Remember what I said last week is I said as I was preaching on God's wrath, is I didn't wake up thinking about God's wrath. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:43.119 I actually never really think about God's wrath, and I don't because I live in the blessing of Jesus' sufficiency that absorbed all of God's wrath. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:46.640 So Jesus is so sufficient, I don't really have to think about that all that much. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:50.079 And this week I'm preaching on our sinfulness. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:53.119 And yet I didn't wake up depressed. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:58.479 I didn't even wake up condemned, even while I know I'm fully depraved. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:00:59.840 Now, why is that? 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:01.920 Is that because I'm not a sinner? 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:14.719 Or is it because Jesus is so good and so sufficient that even while I'm a sinner, God fully loves me in his one way, love and grace to me. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:24.079 My point is that we're gonna dive into the depth of our depravity as to increase our joy in God's love to us. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:26.640 Yes, that's where Paul's taking us in the book of Romans. 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:27.359 It's a letter. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:30.000 He wrote it one time to a church. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:31.920 We're breaking it up in little chunks. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:33.680 So we got to keep in mind the end of it. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:34.799 Romans 8:1. 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:41.599 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:43.280 No guilt trips with God. 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:46.079 Now we might do guilt trips, but God doesn't do them. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:49.120 But we can't get there without a diagnosis. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:02:00.079 So Romans 1, 21 through 23, for although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:09.199 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images, resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:14.960 The point is this point number one, we reject God by exchanging the creator for the creation. 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:19.680 Paul says the root of our problem is not not believing in God. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:22.719 We know God, we just don't want to thank him. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:24.800 We know God, we just don't want to worship him. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:31.280 We love to give our hearts to other things for the very things we should be going to God for. 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:43.919 Martin Luther in the 1500s, he said this sin is the heart curved in upon itself, taking the worship that belongs to God and redirecting it to self and creation. 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:53.039 See, we call that idolatry, to give our hearts to something other than the very best thing that our hearts were created for. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:56.400 That's why John Piper says this. 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:58.960 This is a thesis of all of John Piper's work. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:13.919 He, God, is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him, which means your pursuit for joy in life, your pursuit of your joy and God's pursuit to be glorified are the same pursuit. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:18.080 God's most glorified when you're most satisfied. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:22.080 And you'll be most satisfied as he's being most glorified in you. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:32.560 John Calvin said in the 1500s, and this is our problem, man's nature, me and you, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:39.120 So Rebecca Peppert expands on that idea and says, This whatever controls us is our Lord. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:45.360 The person who seeks power is controlled by power, the person who seeks acceptance is controlled by acceptance. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:47.360 We do not control ourselves. 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:50.639 We are controlled by the Lord of our lives. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:57.439 About a year ago, we reviewed Tim Keller's idol framework from the book Counterfeit Gods. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:03:59.840 Here's how he thinks about idolatry. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:11.680 He says, an idol is anything we look to for what only God can ultimately give: identity, security, worth, control, comfort, hope. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:26.480 So what that means is that success, family, approval, work, all really good things, when they become idols, when our heart tries to pull out of them acceptance, identity, security, hope, they function as saviors in our life. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:28.959 They become a functional savior. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:30.800 Our heart craves them. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:34.399 So if we want to recognize the idols in our heart, Keller says, ask these questions. 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:36.959 What do I feel I must have? 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:42.079 What if lost makes life feel meaningless? 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:45.519 What functional savior am I trusting? 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:50.560 So this means that the things we love that we think will set us free. 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:55.279 For me, next Saturday at 3 p.m., my idolatry will begin. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:04:57.759 Some of yours started last night. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:00.959 Most of ours will begin next Saturday. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:04.079 I need this victory. 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:06.480 I need to be better than you. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:09.439 And then I will feel good about myself. 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:10.879 I'm not even on the team. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:12.160 They don't even know I exist. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:19.279 That very thing begins to enslave us because it ultimately doesn't deliver. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:24.639 My idol won a national championship two years in a row, and two is not enough. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:26.079 Didn't know that at the beginning of that. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:30.079 I need a third, and I need a fourth, and I need a fifth, and an Alabama fans, you all know you have a whole bunch. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:31.600 You still need more. 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:34.879 Our idols enslave us. 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:39.120 We end up serving them because we have to have them to be happy. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:46.240 The solution is to replace our functional saviors, those false saviors, with the true savior. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:54.639 That Jesus really does give us the acceptance we ultimately want, the identity, the worth, the forgiveness, the righteousness, the identity we chase. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:06:00.720 Which brings us back to Piper's statement: He's most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:04.959 That your pursuit for satisfaction can be met. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:07.519 It just has to be in the true Savior. 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:10.319 But we have to have the diagnosis first. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:12.319 Verse 24. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:27.439 Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:28.000 Amen. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:35.199 Point number two is this God gives us over to the emptiness and consequences of our bad choices. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:42.560 This phrase, God gave them over, Paul's definitely making a point because he says it three times in verse 24, 26, and 28. 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:44.959 This is not indifference. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:46.639 This is not hate. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:52.480 This is God saying, okay, you can have what you want. 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:57.279 He's handing them over to the consequences of their own choices. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:02.240 In 1777, Jean-Baptiste Gourez painted these two paintings. 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:04.639 The Father's Curse is the painting on the left. 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:10.160 It's called the Father's Curse, the Ungrateful Son, is the painting on the left in 1777. 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:19.439 And you see the son's reaching, but he's being pulled away by the world, and the father's on the far left reaching out to him, but the father's not physically restraining him, the father is letting him go. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:28.879 And then Gres paints the painting on the right the next year in 1778, and that one's entitled The Father's Curse, The Son Punished. 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:31.600 He painted these as one moral story. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:35.759 If you see in that second painting, the son returns, but his dad died. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:41.040 So the first painting, the son's allowed to walk away. 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:43.839 The second painting shows the consequences. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:51.680 And it's not that the father directly cursed the son, it's such that there's consequences to our choices. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:55.759 In the second painting, the son's return, but the dad has died. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:08:04.720 And what this is, is it's speaking that independence, the independence the son wanted, that he thought would bring him freedom. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:08.560 He returns home and it brought devastation. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:16.240 The painting shows us that one of the sadnesses in our lives is not God forcing us away, it's just God letting us have what we want. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:22.879 And then we thought it would bring joy and freedom, but it brings disappointment and enslavement. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:24.800 Verse 26. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:38.879 For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions, for their women exchanged natural relations with those that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:43.840 Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:50.799 Point number three is this idolatry takes our sight, the ability to see what's right and wrong and good, takes our sight and enslaves us. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:53.759 God wants to give us sight and free us. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:59.440 Idolatry creates a downward movement, a spiral that we see in Romans 1. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:03.360 There's a revelation, God revealing himself to us, but we reject it. 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:10.559 We went our own way, there's rejection, and then we form idolatry, which creates moral corruption, which creates consequences. 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:18.879 That word nature refers back to the book of Genesis, a created order, male and female, made for one another. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:24.000 Homosexuality comes from worshiping the creature rather than authority creator. 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:43.279 Now the verses speak to the behavior, not an inclination, which means that even if one believes in biological determined inclinations like homosexuality, even if you believe that, Paul says it doesn't excuse the behavior or make it right. 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:50.399 Because creation sets the order, the creator sets the order, not our preferences. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:53.279 That's not easy, but it's true. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:59.600 And Paul's point here in these first three chapters of Romans is that we are all sinners. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:09.360 In fact, if you think you're not that bad, and even after reading those verses, you think, well, I'm I am not like those people. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:14.080 Paul comes after the rest of us in verses 28 through 32. 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:16.720 See if you hear yourself in these verses. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:26.000 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to be a debased mind, to do what ought not to be done. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:32.480 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:36.879 They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:47.600 They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:49.519 Anybody, are we good? 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:51.679 Right, we're all we're all grouped up. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:53.200 He's grouped us all up. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:54.399 Verse 32. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:11:03.679 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:09.120 Last year I spent the spring going from doctor to test to doctor. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:12.159 At first I had high cholesterol, so they sent me to a cardiologist. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:14.799 I get to the cardiologist, and I'm all patched up now. 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:16.399 I found a little hole in my heart. 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:18.720 I'm fine, I'm not gonna keel over. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:29.919 But for months, I went to the doctor and then he gave me a heart monitor and then a heart echo and then a TTE and then a TTE with a bubble test and then an MRI, test after test after test. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:30.480 Why? 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:32.559 To diagnose me. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:38.480 I had to be diagnosed in order to have the rescue. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:47.039 Paul's diagnosing us, which can be brutal to get a diagnosis, even though it's true. 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:53.440 This movement in Romans is brutally honest, but radically gracious. 00:11:53.840 --> 00:12:05.600 In Romans 1, and these aren't fixed, there's some overlapping here from chapter to chapter, but in Romans 1, we rebel against God, Romans 2, and sort of the end of one, even religious people are guilty. 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:09.200 Romans 3, none of us are righteous. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:14.080 And then towards the end of 3, a verse starts and it says, but now. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:24.000 Like all the ways they're doing it wrong, and this is right. 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:25.440 And everything you say is true. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:27.279 Like you, like everything is true. 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:31.279 It's just a brutal, honest diagnosis on your 10-year-old. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.000 And then you sort of get to the end of it, and you're like, but now. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:38.320 And the kid's like, finally, like, finally, some good news. 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:40.080 That's what Paul's doing. 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:43.440 Paul is not diagnosing us to condemn us. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:49.679 Paul tells us the truth about ourselves to get us to Romans 3 and 4 and beyond. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:13:03.759 Paul tells us the truth about our depravity as to increase our joy in God's love to us, which, by the way, is amazing because God knows all this Romans 1 and 2 about us, and he still fully loves us. 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:08.399 Like one way pursuing love toward us. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:11.440 See, sin is fundamentally an exchange. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:16.159 God offers himself to me, and I just want something else. 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:24.159 The gospel is God's gracious invitation for us to come home from the exchange. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:33.200 Romans 1 says this God's judgment, in God's judgment, God allows us to experience the consequence of our sin. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:35.120 We've all been there. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:37.679 But now there's also good news. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:43.360 In God's grace, an astonishing grace, God never stops pursuing and loving you. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:51.679 And he interrupts our trajectory, all of our self-justification projects to woo us back to himself. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:14:00.559 When our girls were little, when this happened, I feel like maybe they were like six, three, and one or seven, whatever, and whatever. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:05.919 They were little, they were all lined up in the back, like in seats and buckles, and somebody on that stage. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:10.399 And when we got into the car, I can remember it was only like a five-minute drive home. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:17.360 We got in the car, and you know, we get the little ones buckled, and I just said to all three of them, please keep your shoes on. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:20.879 And young parents, you know what I'm talking about. 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:27.120 Just put because putting on like six shoes, you're just like, and this maybe the six or the older one, it's like, it's fine. 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:28.399 She can handle her own shoes. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:32.480 But the little ones, just please, hey, five minutes, and they love taking their shoes off in the car. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:33.519 I don't, I don't know why. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:34.399 They loved it. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:37.600 Shoes would come off, and then you can't find the shoes, and where are the shoes? 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:39.679 It's another five minutes when the shoes back on. 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:42.159 And I was just like, please, girls, please. 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:43.679 Like, it's the end of the day. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:44.559 We're going home. 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:46.320 Just keep your shoes on. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:48.879 I could not have been clearer. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:52.559 We get home, spend five minutes. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:59.120 I don't know which little cute sinner started it, but all six shoes, all six shoes are off. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:06.879 And you know, you're just a young, just young dad realizing I can't control anything, even these little people. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:09.679 And I am just furious. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:11.120 Like, just so mad. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:13.360 Like, I could not have been clearer. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:15.600 I'm like, find your shoes. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:17.200 Get in the house. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:20.799 And sure enough, the oldest girl can't find one of her shoes. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:21.360 What? 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:24.159 I'm not, what do you mean you can't find your shoe? 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:25.919 It's been five minutes. 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:27.120 It was five minutes. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:28.480 You can't find your shoe. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:34.000 Get back out to that car and you find your shoe. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:39.440 And she's starting to cry, and she's back out there, and she's like, she can't find this shoe. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:41.120 And I'm like, I'll show her. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:42.399 I'll find this shoe. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:43.919 I can't find this shoe. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.799 This shoe, this shoe is gone. 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:52.639 This shoe, I we found it like two years later, like under a it's like under a shelf in the garage. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:16:02.399 I couldn't have been clearer about my expectation to keep your shoes on. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:12.159 And these cute, wonderful little children of mine that are sinners, I don't know who looked at each other in that back seat to decide, like, hey, who cares? 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:14.000 Who cares what dad says? 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.080 I am gonna take my shoes off. 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:17.519 I don't know which one started it. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:19.600 I have ideas, but I don't know. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:26.480 But you know, when I sent my my oldest out there and I was so upset, I was just, I was just furious. 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:29.360 Now, me furious is just like quiet but stern. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:31.039 That's kind of my thing. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.799 I mean, I still couldn't have loved her anymore. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:36.080 Right? 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:38.879 Because that's just like a that's just a father's love. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:50.559 Like, even in the consequences of your sin, even when you just totally willingly do exact opposite of I couldn't have been any clearer, like I couldn't have loved her anymore or any less. 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:54.159 Because the love for me is one way. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:17:01.440 The love to God to you, even in the diagnosis of your sin and depravity, still a one-way love to you. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:04.079 We don't get that a lot in Romans 1. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:08.960 We need the rest of the book that God loves us like a perfect papa. 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:13.200 And I close with this Romans 5, 6 through 8. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:18.799 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:24.880 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:31.680 But God shows his love for us, for you and me, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.240 Do you have any questions about the sermon or any prayer that we read, Pastor down front afterwards? 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:36.880 Let's pray together. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:18:01.839 Heavenly Father, we're so thankful that you know us in the full diagnosis of our depravity, even all that which is under the surface, our motives and thoughts we're not even aware of today, and you still love us, that Jesus is so sufficient, that the blood of Jesus is enough for all the forgiveness I need, all the righteousness I need, all the eternity I need, all of my security. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:07.359 We're so thankful that it's a one way love that we just stand in the flow of. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:10.160 Help us to receive all the more. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:18.000 Help us to see our sin that we might have increased joy in the gospel and the work of Jesus for us. 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:19.200 In His name we pray. 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:19.759 Amen.