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Romans 1:1-7 “God is Calling You”
Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in
the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was
born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be
the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship
for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom
you also are the called of Jesus Christ:
To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Romans 1:1-7)
Paul, called to be an apostle
Today we will start our study of the book of Romans. This is a letter
to the Christians in Rome from Paul the Apostle. Starting off the letter
in verse one, Paul tells us four things about himself. First his name.
Paul means “little one”. Of course Paul wasn’t always called “little”.
His named used to be Saul, which means “desirable” or “in demand”. He
was born to a wealthy family in Tarsus, had status as a Roman citizen,
education as a Jewish rabbi, power to command soldiers. Why did this
powerful man, this VIP, this person whom everybody wanted to be with,
suddenly change his name to “little one”? Because, there came a point
in his life when he became a “bondservant” of Jesus Christ. He gave
up his freedom, his control over his own life, and willingly submitted
to the Messiah.
After the Jews had Jesus crucified, they found out that their troubles
were just beginning. They thought that the problem of Jesus would go
away, but instead those unlearned fishermen insisted on preaching that
God had raised Him from the dead. And not only did they preach, but
they preached with power and with signs and miracles and the people
believed. The Jews choose Saul to put down this new community of Christians
and Saul started to go house to house arresting Christians and dragging
them off to prison. When the Christians fled from Jerusalem, Saul was
not satisfied. He followed them to Damascus where he had authority to
arrest the Christians there. But on the way Saul was arrested by a higher
authority. A bright light shone down on Saul and blinded him and he
heard a voice saying “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” And Saul
was blinded and had to be led by the hand into the city. When his eyes
were finally opened the new name that he took was Paul, “little one”,
and instead of persecuting Jesus, he started to serve Him.
Next Paul says that he was called to be an apostle. An apostle is a
messenger, one who is sent. Now I am an American and I am a little concerned
about the economic problems that Japan is facing right now. As an American
I could walk down to Kasumigaseki, march into the government offices
and tell them the American view on how they should resolve this crisis.
The problem is that nobody would listen to me. Because even though I
am an American, I have not been sent by my country. I have not been
entrusted with a message from my President. Paul was called, invited
to carry the message of his Lord. He describes exactly what that message
is; the gospel of God, and he says that he has been separated to that
message. He is not free to preach his own message. His message has been
clearly defined already by his Lord. Unfortunately there are many who
are busy preaching their own messages and not the message of Jesus Christ.
There are many philosophers and professors and theorists who are pretending
to represent Christ. Paul was one of the greatest geniuses of all time,
no doubt. But he doesn’t start the letter, “Paul, theologian” or “Paul,
thinker” No, he is just the little servant bearing a message for the
King.
You, called of Jesus Christ
What is that message that Paul was entrusted with? We read in verse
2 that it is the gospel, the good news. Paul tells us in these next
few verses who this message is from, what it is about, and why it is
good. First, this is a message from God. And not only is it from God
but it is a message that we have been expecting. Because God promised
it to us beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. One
day I received an e-mail in my computer that promised that if I sent
a copy of this letter to everyone in my address book that Microsoft
would send me a thousand dollars and a free copy of Windows. At the
very bottom it was signed by Bill Gates. You know, I had a little trouble
believing the validity of that signature. I know that Bill Gates is
a nice guy and very rich, but get real! But what if a month before I
had received a letter on Microsoft stationary telling me that soon I
would be getting a message from Chairman Gates. And then a phone call
from Microsoft customer service explaining the promotion. And then a
visit from a Microsoft representative a reminding me that the message
was on its way. Man, if I had that many promises beforehand I would
be sure that this e-mail was legitimate. I would be sending you all
copies of it, and urging you to do the same and be sure to tithe 10%
of that thousand! Well this is what God did for us. Over a couple thousand
years, through His prophets God promised that He would send a Saviour.
There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Jesus
that were all fulfilled in Him. You can believe that this message really
is from God.
The good news is about Jesus. God picked this name for His Son. Mary
and Joseph didn’t pick it, they heard it from the angel, The angel appeared
to Joseph in a dream saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid
to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is
of the Holy Spirit, And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call
His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matt
1:20-21) Jesus, through the flesh was a descendant of David, to whom
God had promised that He would establish his throne forever. But Jesus
was also born of the Holy Spirit and even though His flesh would die,
death could not hold down the very breath of life, the Spirit of God.
And so when Jesus rose from the dead it was proof that He is exactly
what He said He was, the Son of God.
What makes this message from God, about Jesus Christ, good news for
us? Paul says in verse 6, “among whom you also are the called of Jesus
Christ. Just as Paul was called by Jesus to be an apostle. You also
are invited to receive salvation by Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ
we receive grace for ourselves and our own commission to carry the gospel
on to others so that people from every ethnic group in the world can
learn to be obedient to God.
You, called to be saints
Paul finishes his greeting with the address, “To all who are in Rome,
beloved of God, called to be saints; Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Just as Paul was called by God
to bear the message of the good news, we also are called of Jesus Christ
to receive it and to carry it further. Not only that but we are also
called to be saints. We are called to be holy, living obedient lives
to God. Let me leave you today with the key to living a holy life. Paul
greets the Romans with the common Greek greeting “Grace” and the common
Hebrew greeting “Peace”. If you look in the Bible these two greetings
are always in this order. You never see “peace and grace to you” it
is always “grace and peace to you.” First comes grace. Without grace
you cannot get peace. Grace simply means the unmerited favor of God.
It means that God has given you a gift that you did not pay for, and
that you did not deserve. You cannot turn it around, you can try and
try to live a holy life, but you will always fall short of God’s standard.
You will continually feel guilty, dirty, shameful, worthy of punishment.
But once you receive the gift of grace from God, then you will have
peace, knowing that in God’s sight you are blameless, spotless, perfect,
just like Jesus Christ.
God would not call you to do something that you cannot do. He is not
going to ask you to do the impossible. It is possible to be holy, to
be a saint. Receive the free gift of grace through Jesus Christ, receive
the peace from God our Father that He accepts you as His child. And
then you will find that the things that were so hard before, are the
things that now you want to do.
Romans 1:8-17 “Faith to Faith”
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your
faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness,
whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing
I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if, by some
means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.
For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift,
so that you may be established_that is, that I may be encouraged together
with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now I do not want you
to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was
hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just
as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians,
both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach
the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone
who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith: as it is written,
“The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:8-17)
Mutual Faith
The Apostle Paul made it his habit to thank God for people. In his letter
to the Romans here he says, “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for
you all.” To the church in Corinth, “I thank my God always concerning
you.” To the churches in Phillipi, Thessalonica, Collosae, he writes
that he always thanks God for them. This was not just a nice thing to
say at the beginning of a letter, but an ongoing discipline of Paul,
giving thanks to God for these people, lifting them up to God in prayer.
Paul says seriously to the Romans, “For God is my witness, whom I serve
with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make
mention of you always in my prayers.” This is not just mentioned once,
but 11 times in Paul’s letters he stresses that he is thanking God for
them.
This was a top priority in Paul’s ministry. No doubt Paul had many things
to do. He was busy planting churches, preaching the gospel to the lost,
counseling those new church leaders, training up men like Timothy and
Titus, writing letters to keep believers from going astray. But in Paul’s
mind more important than all of these other things was the need to pray.
What intrigues me is that Paul could just of easily been complaining!
“Oh Lord, those Corinthians, they have got so many problems, why do
I have to lead them. Couldn’t you give this job to somebody else?” But
instead he is thanking God for them! We often look at people as the
source of problems instead of as a gift from God. Start thanking God
for the people in your life, the people in this church, and soon you
will find that your attitude toward them is very different.
What Paul chose to thank God about the Romans was their faith. He says,
“your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.” You see, even
though Paul had never been to Rome at the time of this letter, everywhere
he travelled he kept hearing about the faith of the church in Rome.
What a great thing to be famous for. I was really encouraged by something
that Ayuri said to me on the first day that we met. I had seen her pushing
Manabu’s baby stroller up the hill in Hiroo and had commented on how
cute her baby was. We started talking and soon found out that we were
both Christians. She and her husband had just moved recently from Nagoya
and were having a hard time finding a church because of her pregnancy
and little Manabu. Of course I mentioned that I am the pastor of a church
in Ebisu, Sangenjaya and Machida. What encouraged me was that she had
heard of us! She said, “Oh I heard that there was a good church in Sangenjaya,
it is quite famous.” You know I thought to myself, “She must have us
mistaken with somebody else.” I am so used to our being this little
group of Christians in the midst of this vast sea of unbelievers in
Tokyo that it really encouraged me to meet “by chance” (I am sure that
it was a divine appointment) this woman who not only is Christian but
also has heard of us. What an encouragement it must have been to the
people in Rome to get a letter from Paul, telling them that he has heard
of their faith.
Paul explains that his specific prayer is that, “by some means, by now
at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long
to see you.” Are you beginning to see how the church works? Paul thanks
God for the church in Rome, he encourages them with his letter, he longs
to see them. Do you feel this way about your church? Are you thanking
God for your church, your brothers and sisters in Christ, your pastor?
Are you encouraging one another. Do you long to spend time in fellowship?
I remember one time when my wife and were dating. It was the end of
November, and I had a three day Thanksgiving holiday from my college.
It also happened to be Rie’s birthday and so I wanted to surprise her
by taking her out to dinner. The only problem was that my college in
California was 14 hours away from her college in Oregon, and I didn’t
have a car! But I was desperate, I had to be with her. I longed to see
her. Of course I didn’t have any money, so I tried to beg a ride from
anybody that was heading north. But nobody was going that far for only
a three days off. The ones who were had booked airplane tickets. Finally,
in the middle of the night I found a girl who also wanted to go to Oregon.
She didn’t have a car but she had money. So she would rent a car if
I would drive. We both hitched a ride in back of a van with two surfer
guys who took us as far as Monterrey and from there we rented the cheapest
car we could get and drove the rest of the way to Oregon. I showed up
to wish Rie happy birthday and then the next day had to turn around
and go back! This is how Paul felt about the church. If there is any
way, in the will of God, I am coming! If God gives me the chance, I
am not going to miss it! Why did he feel that way?
He says, “I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual
gift, so that you may be established _- that is, that I may be encouraged
together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.” Paul wanted
to fellowship with them so much because he knew that it would be a blessing
to both of them. They would benefit from his ministry and he would be
encouraged as well by their faith. Fellowship, gathering together with
other believers, is one of the basic elements of our faith as Christians.
Each time we gather together we are all encouraged by our mutual faith.
Each one has a spiritual gift from God, that they can use to establish
another. I hope that each time you come to church you are excited to
see what the Lord will do this time. I hope that you come to church
expecting to be encouraged, expecting to be built up. I also hope that
you come to church hoping to use your gifts to build up others. This
is a great joy that Paul longed for, that we should look forward to
and never miss. What is a little bad weather, or lack of money or transportation,
when you have a chance to be with your family in God.
From Faith to Faith
There was another urgent reason why Paul wanted to go to Rome. As we
studied last week Paul was carrying a message from God, the gospel.
He was ready to preach the gospel to those who were in Rome that there
might be fruit in Rome just as in the other places he had preached.
Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ” Remember that
at this time the Roman emperors were persecuting the church. Many Christians
were sentenced to death in the Colisseum fighting lions. To openly confess
being a Christian in Rome, the center of imperial power, was to court
death. And yet Paul went there to preach. The gospel was not something
to hide, that you kept away from the sight of others so that they would
not think less of you. Paul wasn’t ashamed of the gospel, he was proud
of it. He knew that it was the key to eternal life and wanted everyone
to know it. “For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who
believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” There was a pastor
who was conducting a memorial service for a member of his congregation
who had passed away. Of course it was a very solemn occasion and the
mood was formal. But just as the pastor started to give his message,
a woman in the front row began talking to the man next to her in a loud
voice. The pastor thought, “How rude” He tried to continue his talk
but the woman only got louder and began to shake the man sitting next
to her. The pastor thought to himself that she should be ashamed of
herself behaving in such a way at a funeral. But then the woman stood
up and in a very loud voice explained that she was very sorry to interrupt
the service but her husband was having a heart attack and could anyone
help her. Sometimes we think that it is rude to tell others about our
faith. We think that it would be out of place to talk about God when
we are with unbelievers. But this depends on the importance of the message.
Paul was utterly convinced that the gospel was a message that everyone
needed to hear. I agree with him! There is not one person who does not
need salvation. There is not one person who is so righteous that he
can face the Holy God and stand. But the good news is that there is
a way for us to have the righteousness of God. The gospel does not tell
us to be righteous, it does not command us to do good, it does not give
us a goal that we must try to reach. Instead the gospel is the power
of God to salvation for everyone who believes. The good news is that
God loves you so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to become a
man and live a perfect life, the only man who could because He is God’s
Son, and then die on a cross to take the punishment for all of your
sins. This Jesus rose again from the dead and defeated death so that
all who believe that He is God and that He truly is risen might not
die but have eternal life. Perhaps today as you have listened to this
message you have thought to yourself, “I am not perfect. I have made
many mistakes and I do not know how to stop from messing up my own life
and the lives of others.” If this is you, then the first step is to
admit that you need help. Jesus Christ offers the help you need. He
will give you the righteousness of God if you only choose to believe
in Him. I will give you a chance at the end of the message today to
make that choice to believe in Jesus Christ. When you believe in Jesus
you are saved from death and the punishment for sin that Jesus went
through for you. Instead of being judged by God for your mistakes, God
only sees the blood of Jesus that washes you clean. But this is just
the beginning, because God also wants to you to be righteous in this
life, so that others can know Him too. Paul says, “For in it the righteousness
of God is revealed from faith to faith:” Faith starts with just the
choice to believe that Jesus might be who He says he is. But it doesn’t
stop there! When we invite Jesus to be our Lord, we are starting a relationship
with Him. As we begin to trust Him and His word, our faith will increase
as so too will the righteousness that God reveals in us. From the small
faith to believe in Jesus to the strong faith of knowing that He answers
your prayers and lives in your heart, our journey with God is from faith
to faith. “As it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’. Paul is
going to explain this more as we study the book of Romans but suffice
it to say that it is by faith that we believe in Jesus Christ and by
faith that we enter into His righteousness.
Romans 1:18-32 “The Wrath of God”
Today our study of Romans will deal with a subject that is very hard
for people to understand. How can a loving God also be an angry God?
We live in a global society today that values tolerance above all else.
This value dictates that the most important thing is to accept everyone
else. In this system no one is right and no one is wrong, they are just
different. The worst crime in our society is to be intolerant of others.
How then can we follow such an intolerant God?
But aren’t there things that we should not allow? Aren’t there things
that we should get angry about? Of course there are. I get angry about
the thousands of children around the world who are innocent victims
of war. I get angry about racial injustice that I see in my own country
and in this country as well. I get angry about the corruption in high
places, the unbridled greed of a few that has led the whole world into
financial crisis. Does this mean that I am not loving? No, actually
it shows the depth of my love. We need to understand God’s wrath to
really comprehend His love.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown
it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even
His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because
although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful,
but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man _ and birds
and four-footed animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:18-23)
Imagine that you were Picasso and you had made a great masterpiece to
hang in the most famous art museum in the world. It was the greatest
work of your career, the culmination of your life work, the ultimate
expression of your talent. But one day as you came through the gallery
to inspect your work, you notice that someone has splashed mud on the
bottom of it. “My painting! They have ruined it.” You would be furious.
You would go to the curators of the museum and demand an explanation.
Now what if the next time you came, not only was the mud still there,
but somebody had taken a crayon and scribbled on your painting. You
would have a right to be angry wouldn’t you. Now imagine if the next
time you came, somebody had decided to paint over the top of your painting
correcting the parts that you got “wrong”, making it easier for the
people to understand, and not only that they have signed their own name
over the top of yours. Wouldn’t you be angry? Well this is just what
has happened to God. The world and everything in it, including ourselves,
is God’s masterpiece, designed to make it clear to us who God is. The
world around us shows us by its sheer size and beauty, and then again
through its marvelous complexity and intricate design the awesome power
and goodness of its Creator. Our very selves are made in the image of
God. We ourselves are spiritual as well as physical beings and so there
must also be a spiritual God. But man has steadily denied the proof
that is before his eyes and not only that, he is busy defacing this
masterpiece, both in the creation and in himself so that God is no longer
recognisable. Does not God have a right to be angry?
God’s desire is for everyone to be saved. So He made sure that everyone
would have a chance to believe in Him. But of course there is the problem
of many languages and cultures, through the course of history some would
have nothing but stories passed down from generation to generation and
others would have movies and CD-Roms. So God had to design a way that
everyone from every culture, every time, every social class, every level
of education might be able to know that He exists, to know His power,
and know His goodness. The creation was God’s great message to all mankind
explaining to us, just who He is. Out of His great love for us He gave
us this testimony so that we could give Him glory and thanks.
But when we refuse to worship God as God or thank Him for all the things
that He has done for us we are without excuse. It is not because we
don’t know, it is because we are rebellious! It is not from ignorance
that we pretend not to believe in God, it is sin. Paul explains what
happens when we refuse to put God in His rightful spot at the top. Our
whole way of thinking becomes futile. One day I was playing a game with
my son. The object of the game was to roll the dice and move the pieces
to the goal. But in the middle of the game my son decided to change
the rules. He suddenly announced that the object of the game was no
longer to reach the goal but instead it was to reach the space where
his piece happened to be. Well, that’s takes all the fun out of the
game. It is meaningless to play if the rules change in the middle. This
is exactly what men have done to God. If we refuse to worship God we
are left with a meaningless world. And this is what men have been struggling
with ever since, each one trying to figure out what the meaning of this
world is without God. Invariably they end up putting something else
in the place of God, usually something that is much like themselves
or like the creation. They “change the glory of the incorruptible God
into an image made like corruptible man _ and birds and four-footed
animals and creeping things.”
Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their
hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the
truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather
than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen For this reason God gave
them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural
use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural
use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men
committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty
of their error which was due. (Romans 1:24-27)
The natural consequence of rejecting God is perversion. If we twist
God out of His rightful spot, if we change the rules to suit our liking
and lose meaning in our life; there is nothing left but just to try
and get as much pleasure and as little pain as you can in the few short
years you have before you die. But the irony of it is that those who
worship their bodies, serving the creature rather than the Creator,
also dishonor their bodies. The reason for this is that the flesh is
not worthy of our worship, it wasn’t designed to take the place of God
and cannot hold up under the strain. You see, if you give the flesh
all the pleasure that it demands and avoid every pain _- it will demand
more and more. It will continue to demand pleasure until it is so fat
and diseased that it can’t take any more. If you continue to worship
the creature, the next logical step is to pervert those things that
give pleasure, trying more and more new things until finally pleasure
and pain are so confused that one doesn’t know the difference anymore.
The word “to pervert” means to twist. In the Old Testament a perverted
person was a homosexual man linked to the pagan temples. The twisting
of worship away from the Creator to the creation led naturally to the
twisting also of God’s creation. God created in each human being certain
drives that keep us alive. One of the most wonderful truths is that
life itself is a gift of God. We did not ask to live, work hard to get
the privilege, or earn it in any way. God in His love for us gave it
to each of us as a free gift. What is more, is that God not only gives
it to us for free, but He also keeps us alive. Did you know that all
of the truly essential things for life are not controlled by you at
all. Breathing, heartbeat, your whole digestive system, it all works
without you even thinking about it. God set it up so that He is responsible
for life, not us. Therefore my little baby can live, even though she
doesn’t know anything yet. Now of course as we get older we learn how
to control these systems to some degree. We can hold our breath to swim
underwater, or stop and breath deeply to slow down our heartrate. We
can skip a meal or wait just a little bit longer to go to the restroom.
But you cannot just will to stop your heart or your breath. Because
life is from God and is His to give and to take away. But it is possible
for us to twist and pervert each of these drives that God has set up
in our bodies. Two of the most commonly perverted drives are the ones
that are least essential to life, food and reproduction. Food is essential
for ongoing life, so God gave us a drive to eat, it feels good to eat,
but when we eat so much that we balloon it is a perversion of God’s
creation. Likewise reproduction is essential for ongoing human life,
so God made it pleasurable. But when we only focus on the pleasure of
it, it is a perversion, so that we end up engaging in sex before marriage,
or sex with someone who is not our wife or husband, or sex as sport
or conquest or as a way to control someone or any other purpose besides
the two purposes that God intended it for. Sex is designed by God for
two purposes only, that we might be able to have children, and that
the husband and wife can be joined together in one flesh, creating that
special bond of love between a husband and wife.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God
gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness;
they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy,
unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who knowing the righteous judgement
of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death,
not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans
1:24-32)
We have seen now three times that God “gave them up” In
verse 24, in verse 26, and now in verse 28 God “gave them over”. He
allowed them to take one more step down into sin. What is the main reason
for sin? Why is it so difficult for us to escape sin? The reason for
each of these steps is explained. First, they changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. Then they
worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. And finally
in verse 28 they did not even want to retain God in their knowledge.
They tried to force every thought of God out their minds. No wonder
that God gives them up to a debased mind. What is left that could be
righteous when all thought of God is kicked out?
There is a mistaken notion that many people have about God. They think
that God is so sickened by the sin that He sees in our lives that He
separates Himself from us. But God is constantly extending His hand
toward us. It is us who tell God to get lost. We are the ones who reject
Him. Please do not be confused! God does not reject us because of our
sin. All you have to do is look at Jesus to understand this. Jesus never
rejected a single sinner but loved them and showed them the way to eternal
life. Instead we sin because we reject God. God desires that all be
saved and provided the way through Jesus Christ for all to be saved.
He is busy communicating that way to us in the clearest way He can,
the gospel. But still we reject Him, preferring to worship the creation,
our own selves than God, preferring not even to think about Him if possible
and falling deeper and deeper into self-destruction and perversion because
of it.
There is a whole list of sins there that are all examples of destructive
behaviour, perversions of something good that God has made. But understand
that these are simply the results of the root problem. You can wrestle
with sin, trying to be good all your life and never really have peace.
The root issue that you must decide is whether or not you will give
glory to God, worshipping and serving Him, keeping Him first in your
life. He is still reaching out to you through Jesus Christ today. Will
you reject Him and continue in sin, or would you receive Him as your
Lord and Saviour and be saved?
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