Introduction:
- God Abandons a Nation That Abandons God.
Read: Judges 10:13-14 | Hosea 4:17 | Matthew 15:12-14 | Acts 14:16
- Why Does God Abandon a Nation? (Romans 1:18-23)
They clearly Know about God.
But they clearly don't Want God.
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3 Progressive Steps a Nation Takes When God Abandons It.
- First the Heart goes: Sexual Immorality. (Romans 1:24-25)
- Then What is Natural goes: Dishonorable Passions. (Romans 1:26-27)
- Finally, the Mind goes: Debased Minds. (Romans 1:28-32)
Psalm 81:11-16 - "But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever. But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
What Happens When God Abandons a Nation?
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:04
In God's Word today, we're going to be looking at some adult subject matter.
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And as you know, if you've been coming here for any amount of time, I never plan to get any more explicit than the Word of God itself does.
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But it does have some adult subjects here.
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And if you would feel more comfortable for your kids to go to Harvest Kids, Mandy says bring them back.
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And they'll be more than welcome back there.
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Open up your Bibles with me please to Romans 1.
00:34-00:47
And I would ask if you would pray for me, and I will pray for you as we walk through an extremely heavy passage today.
00:51-00:54
This sermon was not on the preaching calendar.
00:55-01:01
My preaching calendar got a little adjusted when Miss Pennsylvania showed up last week.
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So I had a rare week where I had to really seek the Lord on, "Father, what do you want these people to hear?
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What do these people need to hear?" And the Lord showed me just one thing.
01:24-01:27
I certainly tried to explore other options, but the Lord brought me back to this.
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So Romans 1.
01:29-01:30
We're going to get there in just a second.
01:32-01:42
But you know, before we look at the Word, you know, I find it interesting in our day that we're facing a global pandemic.
01:43-01:45
There's the big dust-up in Africa.
01:46-01:47
I don't know if you heard about that.
01:47-01:58
I was actually talking to our missionary Barnabas the other night, There have been huge storms come through and destroy some homes and do some damage to the children's home.
01:58-02:05
We have all these - and I personally have some friends that are going through some severe health issues right now.
02:06-02:07
I'm talking life and death things.
02:08-02:18
And in the face of all of this, it's encouraging to me that people are finally putting their priorities where they need to be.
02:20-02:21
You know what I'm talking about.
02:22-02:28
That finally, Elmer Fudd is not going to have a gun to hunt wabbits.
02:30-02:31
Did you see this?
02:32-02:33
Anybody else?
02:33-02:33
Show of hands.
02:33-02:35
Anybody else upset about this?
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That was part of my childhood, OK?
02:40-02:43
And then they said, oh, by the way, PS, you're Sidney Sam, too.
02:46-02:51
And then I heard Paw Patrol is under attack.
02:51-02:53
You know, it's a show for toddlers about dogs.
02:53-02:55
They have the police dog.
02:55-02:55
What's his name?
02:57-02:59
Chase, okay, I know some people here are toddlers.
02:59-03:00
Some of you watch it.
03:00-03:04
Some of you watch it without your toddlers, and we love you too.
03:06-03:08
But I guess his name's Carl now.
03:10-03:13
But Paw Patrol is under attack, especially the police dog.
03:14-03:16
And I'm sure you've seen that Aunt Jemima was fired.
03:18-03:21
And that really bothered me, because I want you to think about something.
03:23-03:25
She was only fired because she was black.
03:28-03:29
True or false?
03:30-03:35
Well, I heard yesterday there's a rumor that they might not fire her.
03:38-03:46
However, they did take the Native American woman off of the Land O'Lakes butter package removed.
03:47-03:50
You know, this stuff is almost humorous.
03:51-04:09
In our day of real problems happening, and real people dying, and real racial violence, and real natural disasters, there's so much focus on cartoon characters and spokespeople for condiments.
04:10-04:15
And every day, when you turn on the news, it just gets crazier.
04:16-04:18
Cow's milk is now racist.
04:18-04:19
Did you see that?
04:20-04:22
This is something that's actually years old.
04:22-04:31
I'm not gonna dive into that, but I was on a Skype with some people from Johnny and Friends this past week, and they're headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
04:31-04:37
And I had to ask them because there's this thing going on that they wanna rename the city of Columbus, Ohio.
04:37-04:38
Did you hear that?
04:39-04:45
Okay, do you know one of the top considerations for the new name?
04:46-04:47
Flavortown.
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I'm not making that up.
04:51-04:52
Do you know why?
04:52-04:56
Because I guess once upon a time Guy Fieri called it Flavortown.
04:56-05:00
He also calls meatballs Flavortown, but I guess we're going to rename Columbus Flavortown.
05:00-05:03
And it's just, it's insanity.
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And some of this stuff is almost funny, but I want to tell you some things that, I want to tell you some things today that aren't funny.
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Maybe you've seen the videos online.
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Maybe you've read some articles.
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Maybe you've seen it on the news.
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About a month ago, did you see in the nursing home in Detroit, a 20-year-old man viciously punching a senior citizen man face down on his bed, defenseless, picking his shots, just bellowing.
05:38-05:38
Did you see that?
05:42-05:44
I was sick.
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That's somebody's grandfather.
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That's somebody's dad that they put in that home to get the best care that he could.
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Did you see that?
05:55-06:00
I saw a video a couple weeks ago of three men beating on a woman with a 2x4.
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I saw a video last week of a pastor was restrained by a mob in the street while a homosexual man kissed him.
06:10-06:11
Did you see that?
06:13-06:24
I saw a video of a Macy's employee folding clothes, doing his job, sucker punched from the back, and brutally assaulted.
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I just read yesterday that they finally, after a couple of weeks, brought the man into custody.
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Have you seen it?
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Riots. Statues torn down.
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Shop owners beaten.
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Stores looted.
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Stores set on fire.
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The police defunded.
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And in Seattle, we have six blocks taken over.
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What's it? Chaz? Chop?
06:49-06:51
Or what's it called this week? Anybody know?
06:55-07:04
And you come to church, and the preacher gets up and encourages you You need to look at things through a biblical lens, right?
07:05-07:13
You need to look at the world through God's eyes, through a biblical lens, and the question is how in the world do we interpret what's happening in our culture now?
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But today I'm going to teach you something that many of you may have never heard before.
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And that is this.
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You're going to have to take good notes because unfortunately we had some technical difficulties, which as you know doesn't happen here too often.
07:30-07:32
part of being fallen people in a cursed world.
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So take good notes.
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But I want you to write this sentence down.
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Are you ready?
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Here it is.
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"God abandons a nation that abandons God." God abandons a nation that abandons God.
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That's letter A to that.
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God abandons a nation that abandons God.
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Look at Romans 1, look at verse 18.
08:01-08:11
It says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." Stop there.
08:13-08:14
We're talking about God's wrath.
08:14-08:21
When I say God's wrath, I say, "What do you think of when you think of God's wrath?" You think of, oh, the events of the book of Revelation, right?
08:21-08:22
Yes, that's true.
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That's part of God's wrath.
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What do you think of God's wrath?
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You're like, "Well, that's hell, right?" Yes, God's wrath, that is hell.
08:28-08:34
But God's wrath is also abandonment.
08:35-08:38
And notice what the passage says.
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It doesn't say the wrath of God is coming someday.
08:42-08:50
It says the wrath of God is revealed, meaning it is here and now when these things happen that we're going to see in the passage.
08:53-08:55
One of the aspects of God's wrath is abandonment.
08:56-09:00
It's when God says, "Hey, hey, hey, nation.
09:01-09:01
Do you want to sin?
09:04-09:04
Go ahead.
09:06-09:07
I'll let you go.
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I'll leave you be.
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You want sin?
09:12-09:12
You don't want me?
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I'm out." That's what we see in this passage.
09:19-09:21
And church, listen to me.
09:22-09:23
That's what you see on the news.
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It's so obvious.
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You know, it's sort of like this.
09:33-09:38
When I was in high school, I had this biology class.
09:39-09:43
And it was a rowdy group of kids in this class.
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I mean, not me.
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I was like this shy, introvert wallflower.
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But the other kids in the class, They were pretty rowdy, right?
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And it was this rowdy class.
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And our teacher would come in, Mr. Sedgwick, he would come in and he'd stand up at the podium or the lectern or whatever you call it there.
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And he'd just leave.
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And it was a two period class.
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You're like, where did he go?
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I don't know.
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He was gone for two periods.
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Now let me ask you, I told you this was a rowdy class and that's when he was in the room.
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What do you think happened to the class when continually he was gone for an hour and a half?
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What do you think happened?
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Do you think, we all learn crocheting, right?
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And we're like, oh, you know what, now that the teacher's gone, this is our chance to really impress him when he comes back.
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So let's get out our biology textbooks and we'll study and be ready.
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You think that's what we did?
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It was party time!
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We were dancing on the tables, and we were blasting music, and we were playing dodgeball.
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We were going nuts doing everything that we could possibly want to do as a bunch of rowdy kids.
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You see, without the authority being in the room to give any kind of restraint, when the authority left the room, we were like, it is time to do whatever the heck we want to do.
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And that's what we're going to see here in Romans 1.
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As a nation, are these rowdy kids where God's presence has dwelled?
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And we're going to see here that like the teacher, God stepped away.
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God abandons a nation that abandons God.
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Before we look at it in Romans, I want you to understand, This is all through Scripture.
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I'm going to share some verses with you here very quickly.
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This is all through Scripture, and the reason I'm sharing this with you is I don't want you to think, "Well, Pastor, Jeff just kind of pulled this one thing and went with this really crazy idea I've never heard before." This is all through Scripture.
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You can jot the reference down, check them later.
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Judges 10, paraphrasing, Israel was like, "God, we've sinned!" And God said, "I have saved you from so many enemies in the past." Genesis 13 and 14, Judges 10.
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God says, "Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods, therefore I will save you no more.
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Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen.
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Let them save you in the time of your distress." It happened in the days of judges.
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God's like, "You know what?
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You abandon Me, I'm done.
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Cry out to the rocks and the sticks that you're worshiping because you didn't want me, alright?
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Hosea 4.17, here's another one.
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Ephraim, part of Israel, really representing Israel, says, "Ephraim is joined to idols." Now you would think the next phrase would be like, "Call him back, make him repent, do what we've got to do to get rid of the idols." That's not what it says.
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"Ephraim is joined to idols." Next line.
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Leave him alone.
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You don't want God? You want your idols?
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God's like, "Alright, have it. Have it." You're like, "Well, surely not Jesus, right?" Jot this one down. Matthew 15, verses 12-14.
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It says, "Then the disciples came and said to Jesus," because of some teaching that Jesus just made, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" Therefore Jesus held a press conference where He profusely apologized for any insensitive thing that He may have said that offended the poor Pharisees.
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And Jesus said, "Verily I say unto you, I am sorry if I caused any offense, and I will step down from my position." No, no, no, no, that's not what it says.
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Some of you are like, "I don't think it says that." You're like, "I know it doesn't say that." So anyways, it kind of cracks me up.
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The disciples were like, "Jesus, they were offended, Jesus.
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You offended them." Here's what Jesus really said.
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He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.
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Leave them alone. They're blind guides." Jesus is like, "Let them go." Not, "Let's chase after them. Let's try to convince them.
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Watch this. Jesus is like, "Let him go.
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On your way. Toodaloo. Done." This wrath of abandonment is exactly what Romans 1 is addressing.
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Because you're going to see it three times here.
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Verse 24, verse 26, verse 28, it says, "God gave them up." God gave them up.
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God gave them up.
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That's actually a courtroom term.
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They used it when you handed a criminal over for punishment.
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Sentence passed. Here He is. Take Him and punish Him.
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That's the word used.
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That God's like, "Done. Have it." And this is nothing isolated, what's happening in our day, or even in Jesus' day, or even in a day of judges.
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This has been consistently throughout history.
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This very thing has happened.
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Acts 14.16 says, "In past generations, God allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways." They've rejected what they knew of God, so God abandoned them, and...
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That is 2020 America.
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So what follows is Paul telling us why God abandons a culture, and then he tells us the results of a God-abandoned culture.
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So letter A, God abandons a nation that abandons God.
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Letter B.
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Just write the question down.
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Why does God abandon a nation?
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I'm going to show you why. Look at verse 18 again.
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It says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
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For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
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For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made.
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So they are without excuse.
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For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and her foolish hearts were darkened.
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Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
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Why does God abandon a nation?
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Here it is.
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They clearly know about God, but they clearly don't want God.
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They clearly know about God, but they clearly don't want God.
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I'm going to break that down for you, because this is what the text says, okay?
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Break it down. First of all, they clearly know about God.
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See, the context here, obviously, they're not talking about a personal relationship with God.
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I mean, you obviously picked that up.
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Paul is saying, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, They know that there is a God. Everyone does.
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Everyone does. Your neighbor who has never been to church, the guy sitting somewhere in Africa or Thailand or India or wherever that has never been to a church, even the people that have never seen a Bible, they know that there is a God.
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How in the world would they know that?
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Well, verse 20 says, "Because of God's power in nature." They're seen in creation.
18:18-18:24
You've seen God's hand at work, and you know a lot about God even aside from your Bibles.
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Every baby that's born.
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Every sunset you've ever watched.
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Every trip to the ocean.
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You're standing on the beach and you're just like, "You know what I'm talking about?
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You know what that 'huh' is? You know what that is?" That's a recognition of the hand of God.
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Every wedding you've been to, we see God's hand all over creation.
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We see it inwardly too, actually.
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Romans 2.15 says that God's law is written on our hearts.
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We inherently know right and wrong.
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Where did that come from?
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It came from the One who established morality, and it points us to Him.
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You're like, "Okay, I kind of see what you're saying, but is it really clear that there's a God just looking at creation?
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Is it really, really clear? I mean, how clear is it?" Verse 19 says it's plain. It's shown.
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Verse 20 says clearly perceived.
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Verse 20 says they're without excuse.
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Verse 21 says they knew.
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So according to God, their issue is not ignorance.
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And I'm not sure, as I read this passage, and I encourage you to read it and reread it, I'm not sure if it could be any more clear than it is.
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He's making the point to say everyone knows that there is a God. Everyone!
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They clearly know about God, but they clearly don't want God.
20:09-20:10
Did you see that in the text?
20:10-20:11
How does that happen?
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Verse 18 says, "It's because we suppress the truth." We have the truth.
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We just suppress it with our selfish sin.
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When I hear "suppress" or "suppressor," do you know what I think of?
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I think of a gun, right?
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What does a gun suppressor do?
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It's an attachment you put on the end.
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What does the gun suppressor do?
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It quiets it down, right?
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And that's what we do with our sin, like, "Quiet down, God. Quiet down.
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I don't want to hear you. I don't want to..." Quiet down.
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We are suppressing God's truth.
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In verse 21, he tells us that, "We don't want to honor Him as God.
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That would be to acknowledge His authority.
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And we don't want to thank Him.
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And that would be to acknowledge His goodness.
21:03-21:06
Now we're getting to how the problem manifests, right?
21:06-21:08
We don't want to honor Him as God, right?
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We have this little phrase we say around here.
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He is God and I am not, right?
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And you get that.
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But most people do not get that.
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Most people live under the "nobody tells me what to do" plan of life.
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And he says they don't thank Him.
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They don't give thanks.
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They eat, right?
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And they breathe, and they get to enjoy all the good things that life has to offer with no appreciation to the One who provided these things.
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Why?
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Because I know that I should live a life of gratitude towards this God who has given me everything.
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And by giving Him gratitude, that would mean acknowledging the very God that I don't want interfering with my life.
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Verse 22, it really boils down to, "Why do I need God, right?
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I know everything.
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Why do I need God?" Then you get to verse 23, and it's like, you know what, I think I'll just create my own God.
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One that's a little easier for me to follow.
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that does what I want Him to do.
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So you have, okay, are you with me so far?
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Because I can start over.
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We clearly know about God, clearly.
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And we clearly don't want God.
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So my question to you now at this point is, what is God to do?
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God's up in heaven just going, "Oh, bless your hearts.
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Just please let me know how I can bless you.
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I await your orders." No, the Bible actually tells us exactly what He does three times.
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Again, He gives them up. He gives them up.
23:05-23:08
He gives them up. "Go ahead, do life your way.
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Since you think you don't need Me, since you think you can manage things better than Me, I go for it. I'm out.
23:21-23:23
God abandons a nation that abandons God.
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That's why.
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They clearly know about God, but they clearly do not want God.
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So the question is, what happens when God abandons a nation?
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What happens when God says, "I'm out. I'm done.
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I brought this down, letter C.
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There's three progressive steps that a nation takes when God abandons it.
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And that's what follows in the text, okay?
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When God says, "I'm out. You don't want me.
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Good luck." There's three steps that a nation goes through.
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And understand that these steps don't happen overnight.
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are things that build up over decades.
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Right?
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How long have we been hearing about this church?
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They took prayer out of schools.
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They're like, "We don't want God in our schools." And they take the Ten Commandments out of the public square because we don't want God's Word in a place where we see it.
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This isn't anything new, that's been building and building, and you're going to see the sequence that He lays out.
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It's a three-step thing.
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Under letter C, number 1, write this down.
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First, the heart goes.
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First, the heart goes!
25:01-25:02
And that's sexual immorality.
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Look at verses 24 and 25.
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First, the heart goes.
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Sexual immorality.
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"Clearly know about God, clearly don't want God." Verse 24, "Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves." That's sexual immorality.
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It says, "because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator and is blessed forever.
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Amen.
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First, the heart goes. Right?
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See, lusts dominate our hearts.
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But when people decide, "You know what? I'm done wrestling with that.
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I'm done struggling with that.
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I'm done seeking any type of self-control that only God's Holy Spirit gives." What does it lead to?
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Just unrestrained.
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Unrestrained.
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It's like I have been let off the leash.
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And the lust in my heart turns into lust released in my body.
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Do I have to sell anybody on this?
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Really?
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Do I need to convince anyone that's sitting here or watching this online or listening later or whatever?
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Our culture has become dogs seeking dogs in heat.
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That's what our culture has become.
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There's an app for that.
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Several, actually.
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You can use your phone and you can find people to have a relationship with.
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And I don't mean a dating relationship.
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I mean a time of intimacy.
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Just by finding them on your phone.
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in a pornographic culture.
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And a pornographic culture destroys marriages.
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It abuses children.
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It traffics little babies!
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Meanwhile, God has this plan for marriage and sexuality.
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And what does the abandoned culture do about that?
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They laugh at that.
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"Ha! Joke, dog! Man!
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That's a big joke!
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Really? Really?
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Monogamy? Really?
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That's what you're doing?" It's a joke. It's a joke. You see, first the heart goes. Sexual immorality.
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Number two, then, jot this down, then what is natural goes. Then what is natural goes.
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to dishonorable passions.
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Look at verses 26 and 27.
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It says, "For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions.
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For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature.
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And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another." Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
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So the next step is perversion.
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That sexual sin goes from typical man-to-woman type sin - sexual sin - to same-sex relationship.
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And for all of those people who say, You know, the Bible never says homosexuality is wrong.
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Once again, I would say I'm not sure how this passage could be any more clear.
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Three times.
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Three times right in these couple verses that we read, God says this isn't natural.
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Like, Pastor Jeff, are you saying that homosexuality isn't natural?
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God's saying that, okay?
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And I can't believe that I even have to sell people on that.
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It's not natural.
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It's not how we were created.
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But he says, you know, you get the due penalty for that, right?
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And that's why you see, even in the homosexual community, there's already the reaping of some of the consequences.
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Venereal disease, unfulfilled relationships, unsatisfied relationships.
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I could go on and on about the testimonies and stories heard of people that have come out of that culture and just have talked about what a horrific life experience it really is.
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But, here we are.
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We're concluding Pride Month this week, by the way.
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And I will say this, that's actually a very appropriate name.
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For a culture that rejects God, and a culture that has been rejected by God, A culture that says, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, we are proud of ourselves.
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Look what we have become.
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Look how woke we are.
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We are so proud of ourselves." Here we are.
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First the heart goes, that's sexual immorality.
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Then what is natural goes, that's dishonorable passions.
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Thirdly, write this down, finally the mind goes.
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Debased minds.
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Finally, the mind goes.
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Debased minds. Look at verse 28.
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It says, "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." You know what that word "debased" means?
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"Debased" means you test something and you find that it's worthless, right?
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Kind of like you have a flashlight that doesn't light and you check the bulb and you check the batteries and still don't light and you're like, my conclusion is this thing is worthless and you throw it away.
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That's what is being used to describe people's minds.
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Their minds are completely useless.
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Do you realize nothing good is being produced from their heads?
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You know, at the beginning of this message, I was talking about all this insane stuff that we're seeing in our culture.
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Like, and I've had so many people ask me like, you know, what's going on?
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What's wrong?
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Can't people see this as crazy?
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Why is the world so backwards?
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Why is this bizarre world?
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Why is this upside down world?
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I've heard all these terms, people asking me.
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And the answer is right here.
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It's because God says, go ahead, do your thing.
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And the result is a useless mind.
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And when you have a useless mind, Guess what kind of stuff comes out?
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Insanity!
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Irrational, unreasonable garbage that you can go home and turn on your TV and watch it live 24/7.
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By the way, this is the worst part because when the mind is gone, there's no turning back.
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You get to the point that what is perverse is promoted.
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And what is decent is denounced.
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That's why he says in verse 28, "They did not see fit to acknowledge God." You know, there's a phrase I've heard thrown around today, in our day rather, of some things that are happening.
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It's called "cancel culture." Have you heard that phrase, "cancel culture"?
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How many of you have heard that?
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Okay, looks like most of you have.
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Actually, there's a word missing from that phrase.
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Actually, a name is missing from that phrase.
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It's Jesus.
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We really live in the "cancel Jesus" culture.
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Or if you're really into the two-word phrase, we can just call it the "abandoned culture." I still have to sell you on this.
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Is this really America?
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Is this what you see on TV?
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We're going to look at the rest of these verses here, okay?
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And as we look at these verses, I just want you to ask yourself, if you're still not sold on any of this, when you see this description, ask yourself, is this what I see on TV?
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Is this what I see on social media?
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Look at verse 29.
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It says, "They were filled All manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.
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They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.
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They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, Insolent.
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Haughty.
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Boastful.
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Inventors of evil.
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Wrap your brain around that one.
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Like, you know the ways that we usually sin?
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Kind of getting old.
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Let's make up some new perverse ways to sin.
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That's what that means.
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Inventors of evil.
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Wow.
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Disobedient to parents.
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Foolish.
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Faithless.
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heartless, ruthless.
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Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them.
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You know, I see that phrase "ruthless." A month ago, maybe you saw this story.
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a 35-year-old mother of a 9-year-old nonverbal autistic kid.
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Took him to a body of water, this community center, whatever, and threw him in. He couldn't swim. She threw him in.
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And there were people that were watching.
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And they were like, "Why isn't she trying to get him out of the water?" ran down and dragged this nine-year-old nonverbal autistic kid out of the water, saved his life. Soon after, the woman took her son to a lake at a golf course and and succeeded that time.
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Killed her own child.
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A kid who looks to the one person on earth that he should be able to trust, right?
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His mother.
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His last memory on this earth is her killing him.
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So when the Bible says that a culture that's abandoned becomes ruthless, that's not hyperbole.
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That's not sort of overstating the fact.
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How ruthless?
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About a mother murdering her special needs child.
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and you saw the bottom of the barrel of sewage.
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It's like you know when a culture has really been abandoned by God.
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You know.
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Did you see it?
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Because not only are they doing these horrible, evil things, but give approval to those who practice them.
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People are not only sinning, but they are also cheering on others who are sinning.
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We talked about the unnatural aspect of the homosexual relationship.
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What's the culture's response to it?
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"Hey, let's have parades." You know what, I'm going to show my personal approval by changing my Facebook profile pic to a rainbow this month to show my approval.
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I read last week an article about Disney and Sesame Street taking steps to really promote the LBQT, whatever the initials are.
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Disney and Sesame Street.
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I don't even understand what business they would have in doing that aside from God abandoned the nation and everybody's lost their minds.
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So the people that are supposed to teach children how to count and learn their letters teaching toddlers about homosexual relationships, really?
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And some of the cultural icons that have the biggest platforms, the athletes, the actors, the musicians, they're the people often that are promoting sin the loudest.
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And I'll be honest with you, when it comes to the athletes, the actors, the musicians, whatever, I have low expectations for a lot of them.
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God help the churches that are flying the rainbow flags right now.
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These churches should be praying for repentance.
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These churches should be seeking to point lost people to Jesus Christ for healing.
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And what are the churches doing instead?
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We applaud you and we stand with you and we stand for you.
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God help us.
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And you're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on Pastor Jeff.
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We love those people?
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Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
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We should be loving these people and we should be intentionally looking for ways to love these people, absolutely.
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But love does not equal, I applaud everything you do.
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You know who gets that?
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Parents, parents get that.
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Do you love your kids?
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Does loving your kids mean that you applaud and approve of every single thing they do and say?
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No! Loving them means you point them to Christ!
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You encourage them towards righteousness.
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Loving does not mean I applaud what you do, even if God's Word condemns it.
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I don't understand how that became the definition of love.
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But for a lot of people, that's what it is.
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There it is.
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There's the description of what happens when a culture rejects God.
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And He returns the favor.
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He simply abandons the culture.
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He simply abandons the nation that doesn't want Him.
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And church, that is a most horrifying kind of wrath.
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And we're immersed in it right now.
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It's sexually perverse.
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It's violent.
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It's ruthless.
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And it's proud.
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So, what do we do about that?
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I'm going to ask you to turn to another passage in your Bible.
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I don't often do that.
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We usually stay in a passage.
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but I'm going to ask you to turn back to Psalm 81.
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Psalm 81, verse 11.
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You're like, "So what do we do? What do we do, Jeff?" Well, I would say, well, let's look at what God says to do. Right?
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Let's look at these verses.
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See if this sounds at all familiar.
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Verse 11, "But my people did not listen to my voice.
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Israel would not submit to me." 1st 12, "So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels." See, there it is again, the sin of abandonment.
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God's like, "Oh, you want to sin? Go ahead.
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You don't want Me. Okay." But here it is, verse 13, listen.
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Oh, that my people would listen to me.
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That Israel would walk in my ways.
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I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.
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Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward Him, and their fate would last forever, but He would feed you with the finest of the wheat, And with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you." So that was the introduction.
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Here's the sermon.
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God told Israel that when you're in a culture, a nation, that won't listen to God, won't submit to God, and God gives you over to your sin, and you end up following your own counsels, what does he tell his people to do?
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He says, "Listen to me, and walk in my ways." In other words, church, for God's people, for us, He's calling us to hear the Word of God and respond to it.
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Hear the Word of God and respond to it.
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You know, you're not responsible for what other people are out there doing.
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But you absolutely are responsible for what you're doing.
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Are you seeking the Lord in your own walk right now?
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It's easy to point the finger at other people's sin.
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What about your sin?
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Are you suppressing God's truth to try to excuse your sin?
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You've got to seek the Lord in your own walk.
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You've got to respond by loving people and sharing Christ with them.
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You have a message right now.
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You have the gospel message that will totally transform somebody's life.
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Are you giving it to them?
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And certainly, last and I would say most important, we need to pray on behalf of a people who are destroying themselves.
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Not just in this life, but destroying themselves for eternity.
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As our worship team comes forward, we're going to do that now.
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I just ask you to bow your heads.
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Father in heaven, we cry out to you now.
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That Father, we are a nation that has been suppressing you for decades.
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And all of this stuff that we're seeing happening right now, Father, is the reward that we get.
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Father, we cry out for this nation.
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We cry out for this church.
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Father, we cry out for the families in their neighborhoods, in their workplaces, in their schools that are navigating through a world of depraved minds.
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A world of debased minds.
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Father, let us be a people that hear Your Word and respond.
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And however You would see fit to use us, Father.
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Open the door.
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Show us.
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Guide us.
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Empower us.
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Give us opportunity.
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Give us boldness.
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Give us much grace and truth to a nation that so desperately needs both.
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In the name of our King, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior, forever.
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Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 1:18-23
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Have you heard of this aspect of God’s wrath (abandonment) previously? If not, what is your initial response to this concept?
Read Romans 1:19-20 again. How is it that everyone is “without excuse” when it comes to knowing there is a God? Explain how people know of God’s existence solely through creation.
What is the connection between giving thanks and having faith (Romans 1:21)?
Explain, briefly and in your own words, the progression that takes place when God “gives up” a nation (Romans 1:24-32). What can we do about it as a church?
Breakout
Pray for our nation, using Psalm 81:11-16 as your guide.
