When God Gives Us Up Part 2 R825B

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Wilton on today's edition of The Encouraging Word. We're excited to spend this time studying God's Word together today as we complete the message, When God Gives Us Up. It's a frightening thought, the idea that God would give us up.

Oh, but there's good news at the end. I don't want to give that away, but you need to stay with us for the entire message today with Dr. Don Wilton. As we study the Word together, know that we're available for you.

We're connecting keyboard to keyboard online at theencouragingword.org. That's theencouragingword.org. Or if you'd like, we'd love to pray with you, speak with you, maybe connect you with the new book, The Ultimate Walk, by Dr. Wilton by giving us a call at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to connect with you as we study the Word together. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. Excuse me. I made you. I know you. I love you. You cannot survive without me. Now make a choice. You want to acknowledge that and accept that?

That I am who I am and that you cannot exist without me? Or do you want Barabbas? Give me Barabbas. Crucify him. This passage tells me that God looks into the human heart and says, alright, you can have Barabbas.

You're on your own. Barabbas is in charge. Number one, he gave them over to idolatry. What is idolatry? Number one, it's the rejection of God. Now we've studied all of this.

That's why I'm not spending a lot of time on it. Number two, it is the suppression of the truth of God. Verse 18. Number three, it is the refusal to glorify God. Number four, it is the exchange of God for man. And number five, it is the rejection of the knowledge of God according to verse 28.

Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind. We've been rocked in America again because in California the wife of another well-known lawyer was brutally murdered recently and all of us have seen it on television and we're certainly saddened by anything like that. But evidently a young 16-year-old boy has been arrested and he belongs to a sect, an evil cult called Goths. Folks, we've got them in our community. You can identify them. They wear all black. They paint their eyes black. Their hair is black.

It stands up straight. They've got all kinds of symbols and things carved all over them. Everything about the Gothic cultism is evil.

Everything about it. And on television, the attorneys are saying this. This is secular television. As early as this morning I've heard not once but several times a young man who was a Goth walked in, beat her to death 39 times with a blunt object, apparently allegedly carved a symbol into her back, an innocent woman and the attorneys are saying this was done by a depraved mind. You don't say.

That was the most incredible bit of attorney-ing I have ever heard of in my entire life. I mean he came up with that all by himself and it just may be admissible in a court of law if it doesn't violate some kind of amendment but then maybe we're going to stand on the rights of the Goths. Excuse me. God gave them up to idolatry. Number two, God gave them up to immorality. Verse 26 through 27. And in this particular regard, God speaks about the sin of homosexuality.

That is what he's talking about. He's speaking about the sin of homosexuality. And he uses homosexuality as the primary illustration of verse 24, that God gave them over in their sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another because they had exchanged the truth of God for a lie. They took God out of the scheme of things. They said God is not relevant and so God gave them over to their immorality. Not that the sin of homosexuality is the cardinal sin, but sexual sin is that sin which illustrates the degrading of the body outside of the parameters of God's set standard. And what is this all about? I submit to you today, my dear friends, that the sin of homosexuality simply illustrates what happens when God is taken out of the fabric of human relationships.

There are three reasons why. Number one, because it dramatically illustrates the perversion of that which God made for man's good. Now we're talking about the sin of homosexuality. Now we're talking about sex here. Sex, the sex act. God created man and woman in God's perfect order and assignment for mutual sexual gratification, for the bearing of children, for companionship within the parameters of God's design of marriage.

Man and woman. What happens when you take God out of that design? Perversion takes place of that which God intended and designed to be good.

So watch this. You never thought you'd hear your pastor say this. Sex is wonderful.

It's incredible. It's to be celebrated. It's the most incredible thing that God could ever give to the human race. God intended it that way, but you take God out of it, it becomes anything but wonderful.

I'm going to show you something in just a moment, folks. So number one, it illustrates dramatically the perversion of that which God made for man's good. Number two, it logically illustrates the refusal of man to submit to God's order.

That's why we find this word. Women exchange natural relations for unnatural ones. Men abandoned natural relations with women, all right. There is not one single solitary thing about a homosexual relationship that has any logic in it whatsoever.

From beginning to end. Listen carefully, my dear friends. That's what God is saying. The human anatomy, the way God designed us in every way, the way the body functions, every component of our bodies, the presentation of the body, the attractiveness of the body, everything that you can think about related to human sexuality, it is completely, utterly, and entirely a denial of God's created order to have anything related to a homosexual relationship.

Both men and women. Number three, it historically illustrates a certain sign of the inevitable downfall of a nation. Boy, that is a tough one, but it does. I wish I had time to give a history lesson on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and so on and so forth. 2 Peter 2 says, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly. In Jude 7, you might want to read 5, 6, and 7. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. So what did God give man up to? When God said you're on your own, number one, he gave them up to idolatry.

He gave them Barabbas. Number two, he gave them up to immorality, sexual perversion, and he uses the illustration of the sin of homosexuality, which illustrates the perversion of that which God intended to be good. It illustrates the refusal of the nation to submit to God's order, natural versus unnatural, and it historically illustrates a certain sign of the downfall of a nation.

All right, you're ready. Number three, God gave them up to iniquity. Number one, to idolatry. Number two, immorality. Number three, iniquity. Iniquity.

What is that? From verse 28. In other words, what God says, because they rejected God, God gave them over to a rejected mind. So what is a depraved mind, folks?

Spiritual. A depraved mind is a mind which has lost the ability to know the difference between right and wrong according to God's standards. That's a spiritually depraved mind. And this list that God gives to us is a reflection of the culture in which we live.

It portrays the outgrowth of a rejected mind, of an abandoned mind. So I want to give to you very quickly a portrait of a godless person. I want you just to imagine a person who is a person, a man or a woman, a boy or girl, without God. God's not in control. God has no say so. God has said you're on your own.

What does that person look like? Well, we've got 21 Greek terms here. I don't have time to get into all of them, but I'm going to give you just a smattering.

And I've divided them up into three sections. Number one, the character of a godless person. Number two, the conduct of a godless person. And number three, the conversation of a godless person. Character, conduct and conversation.

God gave them over to iniquity. Well, let's look, first of all, how would you define a character? How would you define someone's character?

Now, you're all going to think of people, I promise you, this is a reflection of our culture. Number one, wickedness. What is wickedness?

Now, we're defining the character of a person without God that's been abandoned, who's on his own. Wickedness, having a bad disposition, morally bad. Two, evil, the inclination to do wrong. We all know people like that. Maybe you've sat in a classroom next to somebody, doesn't matter what class you're having, history, biology, physiology, mathematics, that person's in there, I'm telling you, they've got an inclination to do evil.

You just know it's coming, here it comes. You know it, there's just that inclination. Greed, number three. Really, greed is covetousness, the lust to advance oneself. Folks, watch this, a society without God is a dog-eat-dog society. That's what that is, greed, the lust to advance oneself.

Number four, depravity. What a powerful message you have been listening to the voice of Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word broadcast. We're connecting with you in a number of ways, whether it be this broadcast or podcast, however you might be listening and connecting with Dr. Wilton. We live to encourage. It's really a part of who we are, it's why we call ourselves The Encouraging Word, and we're doing that in a number of ways right now.

As a matter of fact, there are opportunities to talk with someone and pray with someone if there's something on your heart that you'd just like to have a friend praying you through. We stand ready to do that at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. We can connect keyboard to keyboard online as well at theencouragingword.org. That's theencouragingword.org.

And right now, everybody's excited about the DVD virtual tour filmed in the Holy Land. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, it's called The Ultimate Walk. You can take a peek online right now at theencouragingword.org, or just go ahead and give us a call and find out how you can get your copy.

That's 866-899-9673. Now back to today's message with Dr. Don Wilton when God gives us up. The lust to advance oneself. Number four, depravity. That speaks character-wise of a vicious disposition. Have you ever met somebody who's just vicious? I mean, I'm telling you, the sun can be shining.

They're going to just, they're vicious. Envy, number five. Envy. What is envy? Envy really is jealousy over the fact that somebody else might have something that we don't have. Did you know, by the way, that envy was one of the sins that sent Jesus to the cross?

That's right. Go to Matthew 27 18. For they knew it was out of envy that they handed Jesus over to Pilate. Next one, deceit.

We'll talk about that. Romans 3 13. Number seven, God haters. What a character disposition without God.

That's why they killed Jesus. They hated God. Number eight, arrogant.

What a horrible character trait in this portrait of a godless person. Arrogant. What is arrogance? It's an offensive display of superiority and importance. Arrogance. Those are the strutters.

The strutters. Ever met somebody who just struts around and that's an arrogant display of their own self-importance. Then he talks about number nine, faithless. That word there, faithless in this text, literally means untrustworthy.

When God says you're on your own, He renders you faithless, untrustworthy because you left your own recognizance. Number 10, senseless. Now senseless is an interesting word. I did a word study on that. You know what it means? It means stupid.

I hate to say that, but it is. It means that a person who doesn't have Jesus Christ, God controlling their thoughts is just stupid. I've gone up to some people over the years. We've talked, for example, about homosexuality and I've said, but man, it's just not natural. I mean, a man sleeping with a man or a woman with a woman, just think about the illogical nature of a homosexual. And they've said, well, what's wrong with that? Well, that's stupid folks. I don't know how else to put it. That's just stupid.

Listen, we look at the world today. The Bible says people without God just become senseless. They don't have the capacity to think spiritually. They don't have that capacity.

They can't do it. They senseless. Number 11, heartless. No feelings for others. Well, there's the character of a godless person.

What about the conduct of a godless person? Here he's talking about, let me remind you again, God gave them over. Number one, to idolatry. He said, all right, you want Barabbas?

You've got him. Number two, gave them over to immorality, sexual perversion. He said to them, you want to get involved in the sin of homosexuality? You're going to be given a living death sentence, a living death sentence, because you are perverting what I gave to you for good.

You are degrading your bodies. Then there is the fact that he gave them over to iniquity. Gives us this list, the portrait of a person without God, a godless person. Number one, we've looked at their character. Number two, the conduct of a godless person. And he's got several here.

I can't go through all of them. Murder. How do you like that? That's where murder comes from. Strife. Have you ever met someone who's just full of strife?

You know, I talked about classrooms just now. And you know, teachers will tell you that in many of their classes they have, man, you look out, there he is, there she is, just full of strife. We say, man, they're just full of grief. Have you ever met someone who's just full of grief? Have you ever met somebody?

It doesn't matter if the sun's shining, they're going to see a cloud somewhere. Strife. Just want to break, just disruptive, just strife. Malice. Boy, that's a painful word even to say.

Malice is just the desire to inflict harm on other people. Many classrooms. Have you ever met a real down the line bully? Folks, I went to boarding school.

In the mountains of Zululand. I'm telling you, I've been in the army, boarding school, I know what bullies are. I have the shortest fuse in my world when it comes to bullying. It just does something to me because I've been subject to it. Have you ever met somebody who just, it doesn't matter what they do, they are going to go and inflict harm on somebody else.

They write little notes, they run down, make suggestions, point fingers, break down, always trying to minimize. Somebody walking through on campus, man, here they come with their friends and they see the other person. They say, look who's coming. You can bully with your word, you can bully with your eyes, you can bully with your heart, you can bully with your fists, you can bully with your person. Just that's what he's talking about. Malice, just the desire to inflict harm on others. Number four, boastful.

We know what that is. Number five, inventing ways of doing evil. Talking about conduct here, folks. Willfully going around doing bad things.

It's a deliberate action. Number six, disobeying parents. Do you know, by the way, that that's the fifth commandment, honor your father and mother. Second Timothy chapter three, one of the marks of the end times is disobedience to parents. By the way, parents, if you want to know that your children are living for the Lord, apply that standard. Bible says, when God says you're on your own, one of the marks of that is that a child will become disobedient to their parents. So that helps you when you minister to your children. You may be ministering to your children from the wrong angle.

You're trying to fix something with the wrong part to fix it. Bible says disobedience is the mark of a person that God has said, all right, I'll just let Barabbas live in your home for a while. Ruthless. Number seven, picture of America without God. Never forget the Los Angeles riots. The ruthlessness of people. Katrina, the ruthlessness.

Ohio, just recently, an absolute awful group that I condemn with everything at my disposal, holding a demonstration to their right to hate people and incited another group of people. And the next minute you've got riots and ruthlessness, just senseless ruthlessness, lawlessness. That's a picture of a world without God. That's a picture of lawlessness.

That's a picture of God taking his hands off. There's the character and the conduct. What about the conversation of a godless person?

Two things, gossip. Those are the whisperers. Have you ever met a whisperer?

Have you ever met a whisperer? Let me tell you something. Listen, I just need to share something with you. Oh, don't tell anybody. Man, she'd kill me if I told you this. In the church we say, listen, I've got a prayer request I want to share with you. That's what we do.

We couch it. The gossipers. You know what gossip does, folks? It assassinates someone's character.

It breaks people down. It's unfair. It's unjust. And then the slanderers are not gossipers. Slanderers are malicious.

They deliberately defame others. So there it is. What's God saying? He has God looking into the heart of man. He's saying, I'm God. This is who I am. This is what I've done for you.

And I love you. And if man turns around and says, man, I don't want any pardon. He gives us over to what?

Idolatry. You can have Barabbas. I give you over to immorality and you will be given a life death sentence. I give you over to iniquity. Your whole life is going to be like scrambled eggs. Everything's going to be thrown together. You're going to have no course, no rudder on your ship. The plane in your engine is burning.

It's on fire. And Jesus looks out upon the cross and he says, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. I died just for you. Would you come to me? Do you know Jesus Christ? Would you give your heart to him? You can know him today. You can trust him. You can be set free.

I've done that. It doesn't matter. It's not about the sin of homosexuality or greed or God hating or slandering or gossiping. All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Won't you trust him today?

You can be set free, my friend, forever. You can know him. There is tomorrow. And I want to invite you today to give your heart and life to him. Folks, that is why, that is why I want to tell you that everybody is welcome in this church.

Because there is not one of us who is anything short of a sinner saved by the grace of God. Oh, I pray you are sensing the joy in Dr. Don's heart of that great truth about what God's going to give you, that grace that you never knew, that love in your heart, that purpose of knowing this is what you're here for as we love God and love others. Oh, we would love to help you take the next step, whatever that is. If the Lord is stirring your heart, would you like to have someone pray with you or for you? We can do that right now on our phone line at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Or if you'd rather go keyboard to keyboard, we'd love to do that as well on our website at theencouragingword.org. That's theencouragingword.org. Before we get away, a closing thought from Dr. Don Wilson. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much. And I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin. I confess my sin to you. And I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey. What a joy it is to talk with people. Just yesterday, I had the opportunity to pray with a friend who was listening to the broadcast and gave his heart to Christ just as Dr. Don was praying.

Maybe you're in that situation right now. And one of the joys of mine personally and all of us that are praying for you is that you mind personally and all of us that are part of the Encouraging Word team is that we get to have one-on-one conversations with friends like you if you give us the opportunity. Whether it's keyboard to keyboard on our website at theencouragingword.org or on the phone line at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. We want you to know that it is our joy to help you find other pieces to the puzzle that help you grow in your faith in Jesus Christ. What a powerful week of teaching it has been. If you missed anything, today's broadcast or others, you'll find them on our website, tewonline.org. You can see them, watch the video versions or listen to them or sign up for the podcast. It's all on our website, tewonline.org.

And speaking of our website, there are many great resources on it just like this. We are not in a good place in America. What would God say to us today? Without God, we can do nothing to stand strong in a country turning away from the path God has laid out for us. As our nation endures tragedy after tragedy, it is so important that we follow the second greatest commandment and love our neighbors unconditionally. With your gift of support to the Encouraging Word this month, you will receive Dr. Wilton's powerful sermon, God's Message to America, along with the bonus book, When a Nation Forgets God, by his long-time friend, Erwin Lutzer. These resources will engage, enlighten, and encourage you in your walk with Christ. Details are online at tewonline.org.