THE ROOT SIN OF MAN

Romans 1:18-20 | Carey Hardy | Feb 16, 2025

God's wrath is justified because people know God at some level & still dishonor Him.

I. ALL PEOPLE KNOW GOD AT SOME LEVEL

• God's creation makes it clear that God exists & is powerful.
• People suppress the truth about God, hindering, denying, & ignoring it.

o    Romans 1:18 states they "suppress the truth in unrighteousness".

• This means everyone is without excuse & culpable before God.

II. ALL PEOPLE DISHONOR GOD AT SOME LEVEL

• The root sin is not honoring God or giving thanks to Him.

o    Romans 1:21 "even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks".

o    People fail to give God glory, recognize His weightiness, or acknowledge His splendor & majesty.

o    Glory is the weightiness of God, the magnificence of his being.

o    Instead of honoring God, people reinvent Him to be what they want, making Him smaller, lighter, & different than He is. Man just reinvents God to be what he wants Him to be—He makes God smaller than he is.

• Sin is rooted in the rejection of God as He has revealed Himself & the failure to give Him honor & glory.

o    All those particular acts of transgression & disobedience are rooted in something—the rejection of God as God.

• People "refuse to admit the obvious. & therefore, they withhold honor from Him".
• People also fail to give thanks, not recognizing God as the source of all good things & not being grateful for His wisdom, generosity, & sustenance.
• By refusing to give God what's due him, man has essentially dethroned God & exalted himself into His place in their own hearts.

A. MAN BECOMES IRRATIONAL

Dishonoring God leads to irrationality.

• People become futile in their speculations, creating reasonings & arguments to dismiss God.

o    Romans 1:21 "they became futile in their speculations".

o    This is explained as the various reasonings, the various arguments created by people so that they can appease their conscience in dismissing God out of their worldview.

• Denying the existence & glory of God demonstrates pointless reasoning, distorting the natural capacity to reason accurately about truth.

o    If the mind, the very organ of reason, denies the most basic reality, the existence of God & the glory of God, then that is evidence that the person's reasoning is pointless.

• The foolish heart is darkened, affecting emotions, will, & thinking, leading to a loss of moral clarity.

o    Romans 1:21, "their foolish heart was darkened".

o    When someone rejects God, his emotions, his will & his thinking are all involved & all are affected.

o    This irrationality relates to the proliferation in the world of the nonsense we see in the LGBTQ plus agenda: gender confusion, the rush into wokeness, & the confusion caused by “DEI” & “CRT” (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion and “Critical Race Theory”).

B. MAN BECOMES IDOLATROUS

Dishonoring God leads to idolatry.

• People claim to be wise but become fools, replacing God with substitutes.

o    As Romans 1:22 puts it: "Professing to be wise, they became fools".

• They replace God. They come up with substitutes for God

o    Romans 1:23 states they "exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man...and of birds & four-footed animals & crawling creatures".

• Idolatry is exchanging something of incredible worth for something worthless

o    People ultimately worship themselves, their own opinions, dreams, plans, desires, & needs, placing self on the throne. This verse confirms that people ultimately worship themselves...placing self on the throne.

All people are religious & worshiping beings.

• If someone dethrones God, they will put something or someone in His place.

o    All people are religious. All people are worshiping beings...if someone dethrones the divine creator, of the universe. He's going to put something or someone in God's place always because he's a worshiper.

• Psalm 115:3-8 emphasizes how senseless idolatry is.

o    The idols are made of silver & gold, but they cannot speak, see, hear, or smell.

o    Those who make them will become like them: senseless.

• Isaiah 44:12-17 further illustrates the foolishness of idolatry.

o    The man uses his strength to fashion an idol from wood, some of which he also uses to warm himself & bake bread.

o    Then he falls down before the idol & says, "Deliver me, for you are my god".

• Idolatry persists today with metaphorical idols.

o    People make idols out of money, material possessions, power, fame, acceptance, popularity, significance, pleasure, sex, comfort, peace, family, marriage, children, careers, hobbies, fun, religion, morality, politics, talent, love, beauty, financial security, strength, health, & reputation.

• The human heart is a perpetual factory of idols. [JOHN CALVIN: "Every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols".]

Idols absorb attention, demand affection, & fill thoughts & minds.

• They cannot bear the weight of the hope placed in them, leading to anguish, disillusionment, grief, & misery. These idols we create, they fall so short of our expectations.
• Examples of centering life on idols:

o    Spouse/partner: emotional dependence, jealousy, control

o    Family/children: living through children, resentment

o    Work/career: workaholism, disillusionment

o    Money/possessions: worry, anxiety, jealousy

• God's wrath is justified because He is not being praised, honored, esteemed, & glorified.

o    He is a jealous God who cannot condone idolatry in any form.

o    Exodus 20:3-5, "You shall have no other gods before Me...You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God".

Human history shows religious disintegration & a downward spiral.

• People surrender their reasoning powers to foolishness & become enslaved to idols.
• Idolatry is delighting in yourself & seeking whatever you desire regardless of the costs.
  
• People fashion gods after themselves & then fashion themselves after the gods they create.
• Idolatry violates the Ten Commandments.

o    "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol".

Implications for Believers:

1. When evangelizing, remember that unbelievers' minds are not okay; their intellect is fallen.

o    It takes a miracle of God to change a person's heart.

o    Stick to the gospel message & pray that God would open hearts to understand & embrace it.

2. Be on guard against idolatry in your own heart, substituting the temporary for what is ultimate.

o    Consider earthly desires as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, & greed, which amounts to idolatry.

o    Colossians 3:5, "consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, & greed, which amounts to...idolatry".

o    Seek first His kingdom & His righteousness.

o    Matthew 6:33, "seek first His kingdom & His righteousness, & all these things will be added to you".

Implications for non-Believers:

3. The only answer to heart idolatry is found in Jesus Christ.

o    Come to Jesus, acknowledging & confessing your sin of self-worship & dishonoring God.

o    God forgives sin & makes idolaters into new people & true worshipers because of what Jesus did on the cross.

o    Jesus—God in human form—lived a perfect life & was crucified in the place of sinners, taking on the sin of self-worship & idolatry.

o    Believe in Christ to be saved from the coming wrath of God.

o    Matthew 11:28: "Come to Me, all who are weary & heavy-laden, & I will give you rest".