WORD From The Woods
Romans 1:18-2:11
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be 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, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 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. 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. 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 worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 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. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 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. Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. “
The month of June, in our culture, is dedicated to all sorts of sexual perversion and wickedness. In this passage, Paul addressed the very same kinds of evil that people in the first-century roman culture faced, and their desperate need for salvation. Paul doesn’t sugarcoat the truth at all! God’s wrath against sin is real and those who choose to live according to the sinful desires of the flesh rather than turning their hearts to God will face His wrath. It’s crazy how similar the Roman culture in Paul’s day was to the culture we're living in right now! We have states like New York celebrating the murder of pre-born children at any point in the womb. We have TV shows, government-funded school systems, and celebrities celebrating the mutilation of people's bodies to take on the false identity of the opposite gender. And, all sorts of twisted sexual perversions written into our arts and entertainment. The words that Paul wrote 2000 years ago about the anti-God, debased, evil ways of his culture are exactly in line with the wickedness we see all around us today. We need to decide if we seriously want to follow Christ or not. If we really believe the words Paul wrote about God’s truth of salvation, wrath, and judgment. The “christian church” in America is becoming very soft on these issues. We’re bombarded every day, from every angle with deceptive lies that tell us that evil is normal. These lies tell us that things like transgenderism, abortion, and all kinds of sexual immorality are just normal things that should be celebrated. We say we know it’s wrong, but we laugh about these things when we see them in our favorite tv shows. We’re afraid to stand for truth when we see these things all around us. If Paul’s words are true, then the truth of God is plain to the world. His invisible attributes can be clearly seen in the world around us, namely His eternal power and divine nature! Every man is born with the knowledge that we’re accountable to the creator, and with a knowledge of right and wrong. These evil things that we see all around us are really, at the core, people rebelling against the Creator God. They don’t want to be accountable to God and choose to do things their own way according to the desires of their flesh. As Christ-followers, we’re called to be change agents in the culture, but many who take the name of Christ, are themselves, being changed by the culture. It’s never been more important than it is right now to stand firm in the faith and boldly proclaim the truth of God about salvation, and we desperately need to be actively involved in making disciples of the world around us!
God Bless, and have a great week! -Terry-
Romans 1:18-2:11
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be 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, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 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. 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. 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 worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 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. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 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. Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. “
The month of June, in our culture, is dedicated to all sorts of sexual perversion and wickedness. In this passage, Paul addressed the very same kinds of evil that people in the first-century roman culture faced, and their desperate need for salvation. Paul doesn’t sugarcoat the truth at all! God’s wrath against sin is real and those who choose to live according to the sinful desires of the flesh rather than turning their hearts to God will face His wrath. It’s crazy how similar the Roman culture in Paul’s day was to the culture we're living in right now! We have states like New York celebrating the murder of pre-born children at any point in the womb. We have TV shows, government-funded school systems, and celebrities celebrating the mutilation of people's bodies to take on the false identity of the opposite gender. And, all sorts of twisted sexual perversions written into our arts and entertainment. The words that Paul wrote 2000 years ago about the anti-God, debased, evil ways of his culture are exactly in line with the wickedness we see all around us today. We need to decide if we seriously want to follow Christ or not. If we really believe the words Paul wrote about God’s truth of salvation, wrath, and judgment. The “christian church” in America is becoming very soft on these issues. We’re bombarded every day, from every angle with deceptive lies that tell us that evil is normal. These lies tell us that things like transgenderism, abortion, and all kinds of sexual immorality are just normal things that should be celebrated. We say we know it’s wrong, but we laugh about these things when we see them in our favorite tv shows. We’re afraid to stand for truth when we see these things all around us. If Paul’s words are true, then the truth of God is plain to the world. His invisible attributes can be clearly seen in the world around us, namely His eternal power and divine nature! Every man is born with the knowledge that we’re accountable to the creator, and with a knowledge of right and wrong. These evil things that we see all around us are really, at the core, people rebelling against the Creator God. They don’t want to be accountable to God and choose to do things their own way according to the desires of their flesh. As Christ-followers, we’re called to be change agents in the culture, but many who take the name of Christ, are themselves, being changed by the culture. It’s never been more important than it is right now to stand firm in the faith and boldly proclaim the truth of God about salvation, and we desperately need to be actively involved in making disciples of the world around us!
God Bless, and have a great week! -Terry-