SUNDAY SERMON - “The Grace Of Shame” ｜ How America Became Super Gay
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 11 minutes
Words per minute
147.01515
Harmful content
Misogyny
2
sentences flagged
Toxicity
20
sentences flagged
Hate speech
40
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Summary
In this episode, we continue our series through the book of Joshua and look at what it looks like to rebuild a nation that was founded on Christian principles, but because of apathy, compromise, and sin, there has been a regression. And by God's grace, we re seeking to rebuild.
Transcript
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Amen. This morning we're going to put our series through the book of Joshua on pause.
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If you're joining us for the first time, a typical steady weekend and week-out diet of Covenant Bible Church
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when it comes to the preaching is expository preaching, going through whole books of the Bible,
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starting at the beginning and working our way towards the end, taking a few verses or perhaps an entire chapter at a time.
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And so right now we are preaching through the book of Joshua.
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After that, Lord willing, we're going to preach through the book of Ezra.
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And then Ezra is a book that comes on the heels of Israel,
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the people of God having been conquered by their enemies
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And so they were under God's judgment and became captives.
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they were exiles taken captive by enemy nations but eventually in God's mercy once again they were
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freed and allowed to go and re-establish rebuild the land so this year that's our goal is to look
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at Joshua taking the land but then also look at what it is to rebuild after having been conquered
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because of compromise because of sin and I believe that there are a lot of correlations from
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the book of Joshua, but even more so for our time and our place, our context today,
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with the book of Ezra. What it looks like to be in a nation that was founded on Christian principles,
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but because of apathy, because of compromise, because of unfaithfulness, there's been a
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regression. And by God's grace, we're seeking to rebuild. You might say that we're seeking
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maca it's not so much make america christian but maca make america christian again by god's grace
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that is our founding and by god's grace it could be a reality again but it would be something that
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we're achieving by god's grace for a second time it's something that we had but it's something that
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due to faithlessness has been lost so the book of joshua and the book of ezra that's going to take
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up the entirety of this year, 2023. But for today, you guys know that I'm a sucker for
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seeker sensitive sermons. And so in light of it being the month of June, you know, I
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just felt like we got to give the people what they want. So we got a Romans one sermon for
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today. I always want to be, you know, relevant at the, you know, just the cusp of, of what
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society is asking for, what they're needing, what they're wanting. And so in light of it
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being Pride Month, we're going to look at Romans chapter 1 verses 24 through 32. What God's Word
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says about pride and its decimating and destructive effects. So our text again is Romans chapter 1
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verses 24 through 32. Would you join me now in standing for the reading of God's Word? I'll read
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our text in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the Word of
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the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be to
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God. One final time, our text for today is Romans chapter 1 verses 24 through 32. The Bible says
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this, therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of
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their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and
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worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. For this
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reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for
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those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women
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and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and
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receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge
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God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all
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manner of evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.
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They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil,
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disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's
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righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them,
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but give approval to those who practice them. This is the word of the Lord.
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all right go ahead and be seated by way of introduction i'm going to read a couple paragraphs
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that i've written down in your notes and then i'll give us an overview four different steps
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that i want us to take note of today but first let's begin with an introduction i've written
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the following romans chapter 1 verses 24 through 32 is clear when a society willfully chooses to
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reject god's truth in exchange for the lie as well as reject god's glory in exchange for the
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glory of the creature, God promises to hand them over to their sins and the horrible consequences
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which will inevitably follow. Romans chapter 1 verse 18 assures us that God has clearly revealed
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himself to all people, not just Christian people, but to all people, both by his creation and
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according to Romans 1 18, by what he has made, this reveals his nature, but also the pouring out
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of his just wrath towards sinners is also likewise a revelation of God's nature. So in Romans chapter
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1 verses 24 through 32, our text for today, the apostle Paul is merely demonstrating precisely
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how the wrath of God is revealed. One clear demonstration of the wrath of God is God's
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choice to hand sinners over to their own lust so that they might receive the due penalty for their
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sin. That is the natural consequences of sin. In other words, sin is its own punishment. It is not
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the only or ultimate punishment, but sin is a punishment for sin. Sin itself is a punishment
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for sin. It's not the exclusive punishment. It's not the ultimate punishment, but it is a punishment.
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So the ultimate punishment for unrepentant sin, apart from salvation by grace alone,
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through faith alone and Christ alone, the ultimate punishment for sin is hell. Eternity underneath
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the just wrath of God. Hell is not hell because it's a place where there's an absence of the
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presence of God. This is important for us to understand, to have a biblical theology of hell.
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Hell is not hell because God's not there. Hell is hell because God is there, but he is there
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in his wrath in his justice in his judgment of the sinner david even says in the psalms where can i go
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from your presence that if i'm cast into the depths of the sea you are there which jonah lived
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out jonah cries out from the belly of the whale the fish the great fish and god hears his cry so
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whether you're in the belly of the sea or whether you're on the top of a mountain or whether you're
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in the depths of Sheol, David says. There's no place that you can go where God's presence is
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not. Now, even from just a logical standpoint, we know that this is true because God is infinite.
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God is God. He is the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. That is, he is not a finite
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creature, but rather the infinite creator. And one of the aspects, the characteristics of being
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infinite is not just omniscience, that he has infinite knowledge, knows all things, not just
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omnipotence, that he has infinite strength and ability, but also omnipresence. Omnipresence.
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There is no place where God is not. So what makes hell hell is not that God is in heaven,
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and so it's good, and God is not in hell, and so it's bad. No, what makes hell hell is that God
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is present, but he is present in his just judgment for sinners eternally. So the ultimate
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but there are earthly consequences for sin as well.
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And one of the earthly consequences for sin is sin.
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There's a sin in which sin is its own punishment,
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God's laws, to state that in the positive sense now,
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we must trust that that thing which is morally right
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The thing that is morally right for mankind is also the thing that brings life for mankind.
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Now we're not God, so we sin, we're fallen, and so even our parenting is fallen and sinful.
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But you and I, seeking to be good parents, seeking to exemplify the nature and character of God as our Heavenly Father,
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the true and perfect parent we in our parenting seek to have laws and rules for our children
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that are for their good so we're saying you can't do this and it's not because we're trying to steal
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the child's fun right we're not we're not saying now i know that if you did this it would be a
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blast and i just there's something about when my child giggles and smiles that i just can't stand
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And we just don't want to see our children happy.
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because it's dangerous, because it's dangerous.
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We can trust that that's merely one side of the coin.
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Now, going back to sin, that which is lawless, outside of God's standard of morality, of rightness,
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we can say that sin is not only wrong, but also harmful.
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Not just wrong, but destructive, harmful, hurtful.
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And in that sense, we can say that sin is its own consequence.
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And that's part of what we're seeing in our text today.
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Romans chapter 1 verses 24 through 32 is Paul is now giving us the description of the principle
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that he's already previously stated in Romans chapter 1 verse 18.
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In Romans chapter 1, verse 18, what Paul says is that God has revealed himself not just to some people, not just to his people, not just to church people or Christian people, but to all people.
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God has revealed himself to all people so that you, O man, are without an excuse, without a defense, without an apologia, an argument.
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merely stems from your intellectual ignorance.
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we have a right accurate view not just of God theology but also human beings anthropology and
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bad anthropology a wrong anthropology but it's common with people today and common even in
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evangelical churches today a wrong anthropology says this it says that people are intellectually
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ignorant of the truths of God and because they're ignorant they therefore in their ignorance choose
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to rebel. But that's not what the Bible says. The Bible doesn't say that the intellectual problem
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is fundamental, and then the corresponding problem, right, that the root problem is intellectual
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ignorance, and then the fruit problem is moral rebellion. No, the Bible says precisely the
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opposite. The Bible says that the root problem is not intellectual ignorance, but moral rebellion.
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It is that man is rebellious towards God, and so because he's rebellious towards God, he gives way
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to progressive degrees of ignorance, right? What Romans says is this, that what man does is that
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he knows there's a God because God has revealed himself to all people, not just Christian people,
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but all people, but what those who are not Christians, and that includes you and me before
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jesus saved us by the way we were no different we were once enemies of god but what non-christian
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people do is they take this revelation of god's existence god's nature right his his divine power
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his eternal nature is what romans 1 says we take this reality of god the knowledge of god and and
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what we do is we suppress it in deeds of unrighteousness so it's not that we don't know
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that there even is a God or that he even exists.
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And because we don't know, we can't help but rebel
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because we're simply acting out of ignorance, right?
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We're doing things that, yeah, God considers to be rebellious,
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but we didn't know he considered those things to be lawless
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but what the non-Christian does, the unbeliever,
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what they do with that knowledge is that they suppress it. Doug Wilson has used the illustration
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of the non-Christian. It's the equivalent of being in the swimming pool and having a beach ball
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and trying to hold it underneath the surface of the water. And what we do as Christians,
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and we do this in a loving way, but what we do is we just kind of poke their arms a little bit
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and say, what you got there? What you got there? What you got? And make that ball just pop up to
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the surface, right? You know, there's a beach ball. There is no beach ball. It's like really
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because the vein in your forehead is popping out right now. Your face is red. Like it seems like
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you're giving it everything you got to hold that beach ball underneath the water. Are you sure
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there's not one? Well, let's see if it's right there or right there, right? Boom. And it pops
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up and they get angry or they get saved. Sometimes they get saved by God's grace. And so we want to
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do that in our apologetic, in our evangelism, is we want to force, lovingly force, not a physical
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force, but through argumentation, taking lofty ideology that sets itself up and against the
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knowledge of Christ. We want to take that captive. Every thought captive. Taking thoughts captive.
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Let me talk about that for a second. Taking thoughts captive are not just your private
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individual thoughts. I had a lustful thought, and so I'm going to take control over that and
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submit it to the lordship of jesus christ that's part of it that's good we should be doing that
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but taking thoughts captive is not just what you do in your personal life with your thoughts
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there's also a sense in which that text is talking about taking any thought society's thoughts
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ideologies worldviews that are antithetical to the truth of god taking them captive taking ideas
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which have consequence dangerous poisonous ideas captive and exposing their folly exposing their
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foolishness in love to protect people and by god's grace that in doing so it might provide an
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opportunity to preach the gospel that god might save people so all this being said romans 1 18
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god god reveals that's what paul says god has revealed himself not just to some people but
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all people and he does it two ways now now many of us are aware of of the idea of natural revelation
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maybe not all of you that's okay natural revelation simply means that there is a degree of
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God revealing his truth his person his character his nature his essence that God has revealed
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something about himself simply in creation the physical cosmos by what he has made and and so
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any person, therefore, whether they're Christian or not, whether they have a regenerate heart or
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not, any person living in God's world has no excuse because by the mere reality of living
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in the world which God has made, there is a basic minimum threshold of knowledge about God and his
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existence. God has revealed, natural revelation, God has revealed himself in what he has naturally
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made. So many of us are aware of that. But Romans 1 actually says that God has revealed himself to
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all people, even unbelievers, not just in one way, natural revelation, what he's made, but actually
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two ways. He reveals himself to all people through creation, but also through judgment.
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I'll say that again. God has revealed himself, not just to Christian people, but to all people
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in this life on an individual or society is another way in which God reveals himself to
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mankind in a universal sense to all people. And that's what the apostle Paul is getting at
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in our text today, verses 24 through 32. He's simply taking the principle now that he wrote out
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in verse 18, and now he's giving the description of what it looks like. How does God pour out his
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wrath on an individual and or a society? And the answer is that he does it progressively. He does
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it in steps. And so I want us to look at four particular steps. And I want us to think about
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this in individual terms, but I especially want us to think about this in terms of society as a
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whole. How a whole society can be placed underneath God's judgment. And if they do not
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repent of their sin, how that society is progressively handed over further and further
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to their sin. And remember, sin is its own consequence. Sin is its own judgment. It's not
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the end all be all the exclusive and final judgment there is an eternal judgment for sin
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but sin it carries with it natural consequences that are destructive and harmful and in that sense
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sin is its own reward it is its own punishment let me read a little bit further now apart from
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God's saving grace which is found only in Christ Jesus all people have embraced their own rebellion
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by casting off the righteous rule of God and his law.
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Therefore, on one level, Romans chapter 1, verse 24 through 32
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applies to each and every individual who has ever been born.
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However, on another level, Romans chapter 1, 24 through 32
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also applies to collective societies and cultures down through human history.
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At the Tower of Babel, for instance, arrogant sinners defied God
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At Sodom and Gomorrah, the people were so corrupt
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that God rained down fire and consumed their cities.
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Furthermore, when God told Moses and Joshua
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it was because these wicked and godless people
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We see that in Genesis chapter 15, verses 13 through 16.
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He says, you're going to live out your years here on earth, live a long life.
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But eventually, I'm going to bring your descendants back here to take over the land.
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Because right now, the wicked inhabitants who live in this place,
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But 400 years from now, under namely Joshua, 400 years from Abraham,
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it'll be time to expel the wicked inhabitants of this land for the fullness of their iniquity
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will be complete, right? Because God is slow to anger. God is long-suffering. God is not a God
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who is indefinitely tolerant. God is not eternally tolerant. God is patient. There's a difference
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in all these instances, what we see is not just eternal consequences for sin, namely hell,
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but earthly, temporal consequences for sin, and not just for an individual person who is in sin,
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but for societies. That's my point. So there is a principle of sin being its own judgment,
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its own consequence in this life, not just at an individual level, but also at a societal level.
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Okay, now that being said, there are four different steps in this progression of God
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handing people over to their sin, handing societies even over to their sin. The Apostle Paul provides
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a clear description of the progression of sin in Romans 1, 24 through 32. Step one, the root sin,
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which is unbelief. The root sin, which is unbelief. We see that in verse 25. It says,
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because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather
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than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. They exchanged the truth. So don't look at the
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second half of verse 25 yet. Let's focus on the first half. So before the idolatry of worshiping
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the creature rather than the creator. That's the second half of verse 25. But the first half of
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verse 25, what we see is that they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. They chose to disbelieve,
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to disbelieve God, to disbelieve God's word, to disbelieve the truth, and rather to choose to
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place their trust, their belief, their hope, their security in a lie. That which is against God,
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against his truth. That which is antithetical to what God's word actually says. So the first sin,
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the root sin that we see in the first half of verse 25 of our text today is unbelief. Exchanging
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truth to believe instead in a lie. The second step is what we might call the fruit sin. So the root
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sin exchanging truth for a lie unbelief the second step is fruit sin which is idolatry that's the
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second half of verse 25 that and and don't miss this this is a universal principle this is not
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just a random verse this is not coincidental but Paul is laying out for us a system of the way that
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sin works and the way that God hands people over to their sin as a judgment in this life.
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And what we notice in verse 25 is this, that the root sin of unbelief is always going to be
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followed apart from repentance by the fruit sin of idolatry. Let me say that again. The root of
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unbelief will always go hand in hand with the fruit of idolatry. That when a person or a people
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influences, it doesn't just influence, let me take that back, what you believe absolutely
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meticulously dictates what you worship. What you believe, your beliefs, dictate your worship.
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And that's all, for the record, that's all culture is. Culture, it comes from the Latin word
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cultus, which is worship. That's all it is. When we say, man, the culture's bad,
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what you should think that's true but what you should think when we say that the culture's bad
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is we should say this is idolatrous pagan worship this people this nation this this society
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they have pagan worship the culture's bad that means the worship is bad and the worship is bad
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because the belief system is bad they believe a lie instead of the truth and they exchanged it
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notice that's willful it's not just we were born ignorant we can't help ourselves it's not our
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fault no it's it is a willful knowledgeable exchanging the culture says we know the truth
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because god has revealed it by what he has made and by the pouring out of his wrath in those two
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ways, natural revelation and earthly temporal judgments, God has revealed something about
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himself, his truth, to all people so that all people are without an excuse. So with our eyes
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wide open, knowingly, willfully, we chose to exchange the truth for a lie. And so we have
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wrong belief. Our belief is in a lie rather than the truth. And now that has directly influenced,
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affected dictated our worship because we believe a lie rather than the truth we worship false gods
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now rather than Yahweh that's what happens and all culture is is just an expression of worship
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that's all it is you can see what God a society has their belief in by looking at the culture
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that is their worship. Do they worship the triune God or do they worship another God,
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a false God? So step one, root sin, unbelief, exchanging the truth for a lie. Step two is the
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fruit sin of idolatry, exchanging worship of the creator for worship of the creature. The third
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is a further consequence. Remember, it's a progression of God handing a society over to
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their own sin, which is its own consequence. The further consequence is perversion. Idolatry
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always follows unbelief and perversion in some shape or form will always eventually, given enough
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time, perversion will always follow idolatry. If there is unbelief in the triune God, disbelief in
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God there will be idolatry in worship in culture and that idolatry in culture it will not be
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I don't know exactly how to say this and I want to be careful
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but it'll always have it'll always have a sexual element and I'm going to be careful with our text
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today because I know that there are kids in the room and we believe that kids should be in the
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room but I also want to try to hold the tension between we want our kids to be knowledgeable but
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I also want my five-year-old primarily to be thinking about catching butterflies because
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she's five you know I mean so it's we want our kids to be wise as serpents eventually as they're
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being trained and growing but we also want to protect that sense of innocence but my point is
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this the idolatry there's unbelief exchanging truth for a lie that immediately lends towards
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idolatry in worship exchanging worship of the creator for worship of the creature but that
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idolatry is not some squeaky clean idolatry it's not it's not just oh we're going to go to
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the pagan temple with a bowl of incense and worship this false god no there will also be
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in the pagan temple naked statues there will also be temple prostitutes there will also it's always
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sexualized you can just you can just a cursory glance of just human history looking into pagan
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religions and pagan forms of worship they're always sexual it's not it's never just idolatry
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idolatry always takes on the shape of perversion always so that's the third so roots in unbelief
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fruit sin, idolatry. The further consequence that we see in verse 26 and 27 is that coupled with
00:31:26.520
that idolatry comes shapes and forms of perversion. And then lastly, the final result.
00:31:34.300
And this is what we miss sometimes. But the final result is approval. Now you might think the final
00:31:41.160
result of a society that's in rebellion, corporate rebellion against God, that the final result would
00:31:47.860
just be like a high degree of perversion and we see some of that but but can i submit to you
00:31:57.040
brothers and sisters for your prayerful consideration that the worst thing going on
00:32:01.540
right now in our nation is not just that something like drag queen story hour is taking place
00:32:08.660
but that there is a large swath of society that thinks it's okay
00:32:14.140
the the final result the the the pinnacle of this progression of being handed over by god further
00:32:22.520
and further to to deeper and deeper degrees of our own sin which is its own punishment
00:32:27.300
the final degree is not just some really warped terrible form of perversion no the final degree
00:32:36.540
is the general societal approval that's the problem and that gets to the title that i've
00:32:46.180
selected for this sermon now i didn't come up with this this is actually the title of a book
00:32:50.420
it's a great book by tim bailey the grace of shame dealing with the issue of homosexuality
00:32:56.140
and uh and i wanted to use the title for the sermon because it's great and the concept is
00:33:01.820
is basically this. Shame is a grace, so long as it's the right amount of shame at the right time
00:33:10.580
for the right things. The right amount of shame, shame in the right degree, at the right time
00:33:18.020
for the right things, shame in that instance is good. It's good. But in the name of a misguided
00:33:27.500
empathy in the name of of a twisting of compassion christians especially not not just
00:33:37.480
this includes christians but i would say even more so in some sense christians that they fell
00:33:44.000
hook line and sinker for for the lie of not wanting to shame people well we have the gospel
00:34:06.440
When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
00:34:11.620
they knew. Their eyes in that moment were opened
00:34:14.380
up. They knew that they had sinned. But if you look at the text, what happens?
00:34:19.520
All of a sudden, they hear the footsteps of God.
00:34:25.600
And after God calling out for the man as the head of his wife,
00:34:49.280
god doesn't say oh sweetheart you shouldn't have any shame this is the garden of eden
00:34:55.740
the shame-free zone this is a safe space there's no shame here no they look what i'm saying is this
00:35:06.360
the presence of god brought an increase in shame they ate the fruit they disobeyed they rebelled
00:35:23.440
They ate the fruit and then they heard God coming.
00:35:35.880
To where they could do no other but run and hide.
00:35:47.300
is He does not falsely assure them in their sin
00:35:51.020
and say that they have nothing to be ashamed about.
00:35:54.020
No, what God does is He doesn't say that shame shouldn't exist.
00:36:05.160
He doesn't insist that shame should be non-existent.
00:36:09.140
What the gospel does is it doesn't create a shame-free zone.
00:36:12.340
What the gospel does is it provides a place where shame is covered.
00:36:17.020
And it's covered just like it was in the garden by blood.
00:36:21.860
That's the only way that shame can be dealt with.
00:36:33.740
But especially those who profess the name of Jesus,
00:36:37.520
especially those who claim to believe in this Bible, this book,
00:36:41.120
of course shame is real and it's not a matter of whether but which for an individual person
00:36:49.440
or society as a whole there will be shame the question is not will there be shame at all
00:36:57.760
the question is what will this society be ashamed about and right now the shift that we're
00:37:04.580
experiencing is that we're beginning to feel a sense of shame for the truth. Shame for being a
00:37:11.860
Christian. Shame for being a man. Shame for being white. Shame for this. Shame for that.
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No, we want to make shame great again. We do. But we want shame to be at the right degree,
00:37:29.460
at the right time for the right things so the expression for instance you know the closet
00:37:38.560
that's actually a good thing that's a good thing i believe that doesn't mean that everyone
00:37:46.260
in that society right so when when the closet was great in america which i'd like to see it
00:37:52.760
be great again when the closet was great in america not that long ago that didn't mean
00:37:57.400
everyone in America was a regenerate, born-again Christian. But that meant that in general,
00:38:03.080
that America in its culture, its general culture, that is culture, cultist worship,
00:38:08.100
in its general worship, because America had the right God, there were bugs, but there were features
00:38:14.600
as well. And the features were that we had the right God, the triune God, and so we had a right
00:38:20.120
worship, right? Right beliefs, not exchanging the truth for a lie, therefore right worship,
00:38:25.620
not exchanging the creator for the creature and because we have the right beliefs and the right
00:38:30.600
worship in general in a general sense the right culture then then those who were against god
00:38:36.360
were the ones who felt ashamed and those who were with god they could have been hypocrites many of
00:38:42.840
them were again i'm not saying everybody was a christian but there was a time not that long ago
00:38:47.660
where even if you weren't a christian you you better be on the roster at some first baptist
00:38:54.040
church downtown in your city, or your business is going to hurt. Right? I mean, there are tangible,
00:39:00.980
even economic benefits for at least wearing the label of Christ follower and being in good standing
00:39:09.600
in a local Christ preaching church, because that was the general sentiment, the general belief,
00:39:15.720
and therefore general worship of America. And what I'm arguing is that that is a net positive.
00:39:22.760
that's a good thing and for anybody who would say that's a bad thing that what that does is
00:39:30.440
it becomes a factory that ultimately generates nominal christianity nominal preaching nominal
00:39:38.000
doctrine a nominal gospel that ultimately lends towards less people being regenerate less people
00:39:44.060
coming to christ a bunch of professing christians that that profess christ but don't actually
00:39:49.420
possess Christ false assurance well I just I disagree with the basic premise
00:39:56.540
nominal Christian culture is not the result of a faithful civil magistrate with right laws
00:40:07.260
and right legislation nominal Christian culture is not the fruit of a faithful state
00:40:15.220
Nominal Christian culture is the fruit of a faithless church.
00:40:21.180
The civil magistrate in our nation having certain laws on the books
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00:40:26.460
that were in line with God's law, in line with God's word, God's truth,
00:40:32.340
that is not what produced nominal Christian culture.
00:40:37.360
It's not the success of the civil magistrate that produces nominal Christian culture.
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isn't because we had certain Christian laws on the books
00:41:14.380
instead of going to the reformers the puritans and augustine and athanasius instead of looking at
00:41:22.300
at these and as an example for preaching they looked at 18 minute ted talks thought they're
00:41:28.160
onto something that seems right and as we embrace this seeker sensitive watered down nominal gospel
00:41:38.680
nominal preaching nominal church membership nominal standards for elders in christ church
00:41:45.180
nominal everything in the church not the state in the church that's where you got nominal christian
00:41:51.400
culture so for anyone who would say hey if the state acted like a christian we'd be in trouble
00:41:59.000
i would just beg you to see reason be reasonable the state obeying jesus is not our enemy
00:42:09.140
pastors disobeying jesus is our enemy that's our problem
00:42:17.800
and when things are right again this is not universalism which is a heresy i'm not saying
00:42:41.500
Just like there's such a thing as a Christian school.
00:42:44.320
Just like there's such a thing as a Christian business.
00:42:47.140
Just like there's such a thing as a Christian family.
00:42:53.100
And yes, you can believe that as a Credo Baptist.
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america be christian again knowing that many will be christian in word only in name only
00:43:05.220
just like there are republicans in name only there will be christians in name only
00:43:11.420
but that still says something that is there are negative effects but it is a net positive
00:43:17.260
and one of the net positives that comes from a general christian culture in a society at large
00:43:35.300
One of the positives, when a nation embraces Christ,
00:43:41.920
one of the net positives is that shame, the gun, the weapon of shame,
00:43:49.340
but the positive is that that that shame machine gun is is targeting the right group
00:43:59.680
it's pointed in the right direction it's not whether but which every society has a reigning
00:44:08.900
orthodoxy. What they deem as right thinking, right speech, right worship. Every society has
00:44:20.040
orthodoxy. Anything outside of that orthodoxy is heresy. Any speech that's outside of that
00:44:27.080
orthodoxy is blasphemy. The signs and seals and sacraments within that orthodoxy, whether it be
00:44:35.720
abortion whether it be pride month it's all worship it's not whether we will worship it's
00:44:45.920
which god will we worship it's not whether we'll have sacraments it's will it be bread and wine
00:44:52.460
and water or will it be drag queen story hour in the blood of babies it's not whether we have
00:44:59.660
sacraments which ones will we have not whether there is an orthodoxy which one will we have
00:45:04.500
It's not whether we have blasphemy laws, but which blasphemy laws will we have?
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You'll always be punished for burning a flag.
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Right now, you can burn the American flag and you'll be okay.
00:45:23.380
But there's another one that if you burn and you take video of it and you post it on social media,
00:46:03.360
when a society determines certain things as being shameful
00:46:09.180
by God's standard and not man's constantly fluctuating and evolving standard.
00:46:25.120
And in the name of compassion, in the name of empathy,
00:46:28.820
in a twisted sense nominal christians not because of a faithful state but faithless pastors
00:46:38.160
faithless preaching nominal christians we went hook line and sinker say well yeah
00:46:46.600
the gospel is supposed to be a shame-free zone shame is inherently bad we shouldn't have shame
00:46:55.080
it's not right that certain individuals in our society would feel ashamed
00:47:01.280
and so we we let the l the g and the b come out of the closet not recognizing that tethered to them
00:47:11.760
was the t and then you can hear as my friend chock knock said after the t comes out the faint
00:47:21.940
grunt, grumbling, growl of that plus saying, I'm coming out next.
00:47:35.080
It's not whether but which. You can't draw a line in the sand and say, we'll have a little sin,
00:47:43.040
God, just a little. That's what Romans 1 is all about. Romans 1 is saying this, then that.
00:48:07.320
will lend towards society's overall general approval.
00:48:16.260
that a nation is truly underneath the white-hot wrath of God.
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When we're fully pivoted and placed underneath his judgment.
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It's not just when some individuals or even a lot of individuals are doing something heinous.
00:48:32.200
It's when the individuals are doing something heinous and everybody else who isn't doing it says,
00:49:17.100
has to say, this is the true emblem of America.
00:49:21.240
this is the empire and what we stand for the galactic empire exporting freedom no not anymore
00:49:37.360
what a shame that's shame that's shameful notice back to the text i'm going to wrap it up i'm
00:49:48.240
going to skip forward here because I'm covering it. I don't always read my notes. Sometimes I just
00:49:51.860
I say it. And if you go back and you read it, you'll say, yeah, he basically said that. All
00:49:56.140
right. So I promise I'm covering what I've got in here. But look at verse 27. And the men likewise
00:50:01.720
gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men
00:50:06.100
committing shameless acts with men. Now, notice what Paul's saying there. He's saying what's so
00:50:13.840
bad about it is not just the sinful action itself that's being committed by these men but he's saying
00:50:21.120
it's even worse than that because it's shameless and what paul is saying underneath the inspiration
00:50:27.220
of the holy spirit i might add what god is saying what god is saying is not only are they doing
00:50:32.400
something sinful but they're doing something sinful that should also be shameful but they don't feel
00:50:39.240
shame. Have you ever heard the expression, you know, sometimes you'll hear a parent say it,
00:50:44.160
you know, and usually halfway joking, but maybe they've got a young boy and he's just doing
00:50:50.720
something inappropriate in public that he's not supposed to be doing, right? You've taught him,
00:50:54.420
hey, don't do that, right? Don't like, don't take off your pants in public, right? And I'm talking
00:51:00.420
about, you know, like a four-year-old boy or something. And sometimes, you know, I've seen
00:51:04.880
where a couple, the dad will lean over to the wife
00:51:20.420
Shame is a grace when it's shame at the right time
00:51:38.180
So even people who love the sin at an individual level
00:51:44.140
because there is a shame consequence attached to it.
00:53:00.380
push back against the general societal sense of shame
00:53:05.780
and say, not only is it not something we should be ashamed of,
00:53:11.960
when there's such an intentional plot and strategy over years
00:53:23.040
everyone in the world saying, you should be proud,
00:53:26.620
that they're talking about that you should be proud about,
00:53:28.360
it's probably something that you should be ashamed of.
00:53:31.860
Like you can just tell when you're trying too hard.
00:53:36.240
You can just tell that something is naturally shameful
00:53:46.100
And that is the final stage of God handing a society over
00:53:51.840
to their sin is not just high degrees of perversion,
00:53:56.300
but the general approval from society of that perversion.
00:54:03.980
Now, the last thing that I want us to see is this.
00:54:07.560
We find a similar expression handing over in Psalm 81, verse 12,
00:54:13.960
where God responds to Israel's disobedience by saying,
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so I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices.
00:54:22.740
once again, when a nation abandons God, God eventually abandons them. However, this handing
00:54:28.680
over of a society to sin can actually represent both God's righteous judgment on the wicked,
00:54:35.300
but don't miss this. It can also represent his fatherly discipline towards his covenant children
00:54:41.480
and those who he has ordained to save. Remember the father of the prodigal son. He did something
00:54:49.020
similar when his son, his beloved son wickedly demanded to receive his share of the inheritance
00:54:55.360
before the proper time. Instead of chastising his son, the father chose to give him exactly what he
00:55:02.840
wanted and allowed him to squander it all on loose living. That's Luke chapter 15. Another example
00:55:10.220
also in Psalm chapter 106 verse 15 in response to Israel's demand for meat in the wilderness
00:55:17.200
When they were saying that they were sick of the manna, the scripture expressly says,
00:55:22.660
so God gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. Meat in their bellies, but
00:55:29.800
leanness of soul. Truly, sin is its own punishment. So the question is this, so does the current
00:55:38.360
rebellion in our nation, in America, represent the righteous judgment of God towards the wicked
00:55:44.700
or the loving discipline of the heavenly father towards the church? And I believe that the answer
00:55:51.980
is both. The two things can be simultaneously true. That's the beauty of the manifold wisdom
00:55:59.260
of God. His sovereignty in the ends that he brings about, but also the means by which he brings those
00:56:06.100
ends about. That God is meticulously sovereign over all things and he is infinitely powerful
00:56:11.600
and infinitely wise and as such God can be doing two things at once with one rod with one act as
00:56:21.280
it were God can be judging the wicked and disciplining the righteous I believe that right
00:56:29.440
now God is judging the wicked in our nation by handing us over further and further to higher
00:56:37.680
degrees of a further progression of sin from wrong belief to wrong worship that is idolatry
00:56:44.700
to perversion attached to that idolatry and to the societal approval of that perversion and to the
00:56:51.460
wicked that is those who are not in Christ to the unbeliever that is a sign of God's judgment
00:56:57.560
on the wicked but for the church it's a sign of his discipline well why would we need to be
00:57:04.680
disciplined because it happened on our watch. We're not being eternally judged. We're not going
00:57:12.200
to hell, but we are being disciplined. We now have to live in such a society.
00:57:19.480
We have to experience the harmful effects. We now have to be more careful and more guarded with our
00:57:27.900
children, more vigilant, more determined. We now have the scope of shame directed in targeting us
00:57:36.960
for being Christians and being followers of Christ. We're enduring negative penalties for
00:57:44.540
society being handed over to their sin. And that is God's judgment for the wicked, but it's God's
00:57:52.740
discipline for the righteous. And what we should do by God's grace as his children adopted by grace
00:58:01.020
through faith in Christ alone is that we should respond rightly to that discipline. Receive the
00:58:07.640
rod of correction and say, hey, we need to correct this. We need to stand for righteousness. We need
00:58:16.740
to stand for the truth. We need to repent. God has called us out in our sin. Perversion to the
00:58:26.060
unbeliever, but apathy, a sinful tolerance, misguided compassion, warped empathy,
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abdication of our role, our responsibility for the Christian. That's our sin. That's our failure.
00:58:42.660
And the Lord has drawn this out by handing us over further and further to what we want.
00:58:52.780
The question is, will we respond rightly to the rod of the Lord,
00:58:58.400
to the discipline of a heavenly father who loves his church?
00:59:12.660
Will we work by grace, not knowing if we'll be successful in this generation, in our lifetime,
00:59:18.000
but consistently and faithfully and diligently, nonetheless, will we work to set the ship right?
00:59:25.160
To repent of the church's failure first, and then also address the failure in society.
00:59:31.720
Will we say that God's law is good, and that every society has laws,
00:59:38.980
the question is not whether but which by what standard or will we be apathetic will we be
00:59:46.740
pietistic not piety love for god and spiritual practices and worship but pietistic meaning will
00:59:55.260
we be uninvolved will we inwardly retreat will we just look at the writing on the wall and say
01:00:02.980
this is the way it's got to be? Or when we look and say, hey, you know what? Assyria, they were
01:00:09.860
destroyed. The Canaanite tribes, they were destroyed. But you know what? There's another
01:00:14.880
little story in the Bible. What about Nineveh? Sometimes a society is wicked, but God raises up
01:00:23.940
prophets, even reluctant prophets that disobeyed for a while. They were pietists for a while.
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01:00:29.740
they ran and hid for a while but eventually by god's grace respond they go and preach the
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01:00:35.640
message that they were called to and sometimes the wicked nation listens that's my whole thing
01:00:43.180
with you've seen me probably in the social media world you know arguing for christian nationalism
01:00:49.120
and part of the reason i'm doing that is because what i'm trying to insist is this
01:00:54.580
because i would agree with my brothers in so many regards we both say yeah preach preach to the to
01:01:01.960
the king preach to parliament preach to congress preach to the civil magistrate tell him it is not
01:01:08.660
lawful for you to have your brother's wife as john the baptist said to her it preached to him
01:01:14.120
preach the law of god but but the only real difference that i can discern is that within
01:01:55.000
regardless of your eschatology, it has happened.
01:02:18.480
and in the paideia of the lord let's plant churches let's start businesses but let's also
01:02:25.600
get involved in culture and in politics and let's cry out to those in positions of civil
01:02:31.900
leadership and let's expect that god is so merciful that maybe just maybe in the mercy of god
01:02:42.920
they might listen and that the civil magistrate after hearing the preaching of the church might
01:02:49.740
turn to us one day and say i believe how then should we live and at that point i want to have
01:02:58.720
an answer i want to be able to say i'm glad you asked praise god i know how you should live i know
01:03:07.220
how you should govern i know how you should legislate because the good news is that god wrote
01:03:11.300
a book and the book is not just for his people it's for all people and it wasn't just for israel
01:03:18.660
and it's not just for an old testament time the book is for all people in all places at all times
01:03:24.740
the book is good behold i am the lord i changes not he is the same yesterday today and forever
01:03:31.900
his law word is good the grass will fade or the flower fades the grass withers but the word of
01:03:40.380
the Lord endures forever. God is not a man that he should change his mind. And I'm not going to
01:03:47.120
apologize. I'm not going to be ashamed. All comes back to shame. I'm not going to be ashamed for
01:03:54.040
what God says is good. Right? That's how they always try all the gotcha techniques. Oh, you're
01:04:01.880
a Bible believing conservative Christian. So I guess you think that, you know, if you think
01:04:06.500
homosexuality is wrong. I guess you think adultery is wrong too. Uh-huh. Yeah.
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01:04:12.600
You think that an adulterer should be punished under laws in nations? Uh-huh. Yeah. That'd be
01:04:18.560
great. Well, I guess, well, God's Word says this in the Old Testament. And so you're advocating
01:04:29.440
for that too? Uh-huh. Yeah. That one too. Well, the Ten Commandments is not just how you treat
01:04:35.460
your neighbor. The Ten Commandments talk about a relationship to the Lord. So you're saying there
01:04:40.440
shouldn't be idolatry? That's the first commandment. Have no other gods before me. That there shouldn't
01:04:44.480
be public expressions of idolatry in the nation? That it should not be legal to erect a mosque?
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01:04:50.080
Yep, that one. Yeah, that's right. A civil magistrate cannot dictate private worship,
1.00
01:05:00.580
but he can dictate public expressions so you're saying there should be sabbath laws
01:05:07.320
uh-huh chick-fil-a is doing they're doing fine now i'm a little bit disappointed with some of
01:05:12.520
the recent news that's come out about chick-fil-a but in six days a week chick-fil-a has four times
01:05:18.340
the profit margin than the average fast food chain restaurant the civil magistrate cannot dictate a
01:05:26.740
day of worship. He can dictate a day of rest. That's what the Puritan said. By having the
01:05:32.240
Christian Sabbath, the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, and businesses not being allowed to
01:05:36.320
operate, they knew that not every person was a born-again Christian. They weren't legislating
01:05:41.080
belief. Only God is Lord of the conscience. But the civil magistrate can look at the law word of
01:05:48.420
God and say it is a pattern that God has established even in the created order itself
01:05:53.320
that six days you shall work and one you shall rest and that even the unbeliever will fare well
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he will do better he will be better off with a society that works for six days and rest for one
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day blasphemy laws not whether but which sabbath laws you betcha right a day of rest why is that
01:06:17.660
even controversial feel like that's that's all pagans want to do anyways is you know travel the
01:06:23.080
Ozark Trail and go on this vacation and do this and do that. I'm just giving you a legislated day
01:06:28.300
off of work. I thought that was the whole gig. I thought that's literally what liberals existed
01:06:33.080
for, was calling more teachers unions and more vacation time. So yeah, Sabbath laws, blasphemy
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01:06:39.340
laws. And yes, when it comes to idolatry, you're not talking about the thought police, worship
01:06:45.300
police going into private citizens' homes. But you are saying in society as a whole, there will not
01:06:51.200
be public demonstrations of idolatry. And I don't want to just pick on Islam. I gave the mosque
01:06:57.580
example. Pride parades. That is a public demonstration of worship. False worship.
01:07:06.100
And it is perfectly within the purview of the civil magistrate to say, this is not legal. It
01:07:12.280
is not allowed. There will be penalties and consequences if this occurs. And when anyone
01:07:18.260
asks, by what standard? You say, by the first of the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20.
01:07:25.360
And that's good. That's good. Make America Christian again. Make shame great again.
01:07:34.560
By God's grace, we're under judgment, and the church is under fatherly discipline.
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Let's respond. The results are ultimately up to God. He's sovereign. He'll determine whether or
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not, we have a success in this generation or not, but we want to respond in faithfulness.
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The results are up to him, but we are required to respond well, to say, I hear you, Father.
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I see your judgment of the wicked, but I recognize that your judgment of the wicked in this place
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where I've been ordained to live in your providence, that it affects me, it affects my family,
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and it's judgment to them, but it is fatherly, loving discipline to me. Because even as a
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Christian. There are ways that I've failed, ways that I compromised, ways that I've been apathetic.
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I repent. I repent. Jesus, help me. Help me to be courageous. Help me to be faithful. Help me
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by your grace to make a change. Let's pray. Father, we repent as your people. We repent for
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the ways that we've failed. We're not repenting for another generation. Each man repents for his
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own sin. But even us, in our generation, we have sent. Each of us. None of us, not one person in
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this room has been as diligent as we should be, as vigilant as we should be, as courageous as we
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should be. There's always, for all of us, been moments where we've compromised, moments where
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we've been cowardly, moments where we've been apathetic. We've all had wrong views. The theology
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Help us, God, for your glory and for the good of people.
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but the atheist will do better in a Christian society
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and to work towards your law being the law of our land.
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and from the bottom of my heart, I say, thank you.
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However, some of you, you just, you can't afford it.
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I mean, we're living in Joe Biden's ridiculous economy.
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Our nation and our totalitarian political elites lost their minds over the last three
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We have written checks that we simply cannot cash.
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It doesn't matter if people change the definition of a recession.
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We are living in a recession right now, regardless.
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Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of eggs at the grocery store.
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You cannot support financially this ministry at this time, nor should you, but you could
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I am asking you, please, if you're willing to do so, take one minute of your time.
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Leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform, iTunes, Spotify, whatever
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We want to be innocent as doves, but shrewd as vipers.
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You leave us a five-star review, and our podcast shows up for more people.
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And the Word of God and courageous theology applied in practical ways to every realm of