In a culture that celebrates human goodness and potential, Romans 1 delivers a jarring wake-up call that most people would rather ignore. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl unpacks this shocking diagnosis of man's condition. A message so countercultural it would be banned from most public platforms today. And here's why we can't afford to miss it. Until we honestly confront the depth of our depravity, we'll never fully grasp the magnitude of God's grace.
It's the key to understanding our only hope. Chuck titled his message, The Bad News About the Whole World. You have brought a Bible with you today. I invite you to open it to the. First chapter of The letter to the Romans.
We'll begin our reading at verse 18. The subject changes. As you who were here last time will remember from the righteousness of God. Verse 17, where we read it is revealed to the wrath of God. Verse 18.
Let me read through verse 25. That's as far as we'll be able to get today. as we hear the bad news about the whole world. Romans 1:18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. who suppress the truth.
In unrighteousness. Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen. Being understood through what has been made so that they are without. Excuse.
For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God. Or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations. and their foolish heart was darkened, professing to be wise, They became fools. And exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man. And of birds.
and four-footed animals. and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over. in the lusts of their hearts to impurity.
So that their bodies would be dishonored. among them. For they exchange the truth of God for a lie. And worshiped and served the creature. Rather than the Creator.
who is blessed forever. And everyone said, Amen. You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the book of Romans on your own, be sure to purchase Volume 1 of our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook by going to insight.org slash offer. Chuck titled today's message, The Bad News About the Whole World.
The depravity of humanity is Never a pretty sight. More often than not, it is Ugly and dark. Marked by scandal, and sometimes it is even shocking. We've experienced all the above and more in the last number of years. Even in the last number of weeks.
Sit and listen to Depravity on Parade. It is a litany of horror. Several more shootings and deaths on one school campus after another. children of all ages. Shameful secret.
activities of a congressman and his illicit Sexual activities in writing and otherwise. by email and instant messages with boys serving as house pages in Washington. He resigned in shame. That brought to the surface one story after another down through history. of scandals that have marked our nation's capital.
And even leaders who who occupied once noble positions. including a sitting president. Engaging in An illicit relationship. right in the Oval Office. Later being impeached for lying under oath.
And on the very next page of the periodical, I was looking at in bold print. Tragedy in Amish country. Where I read of a 32-year-old milk truck driver who wrote earlier of his bitter anger toward God. And he invaded a classroom of innocent children. bound the girls.
began to sexually assault them and thanks to the arrival of the police and his own gunfire. After killing several of the children, he shot himself. Several pages later, the horror story of Iraq's sectarian butchers. Posting their execution lists on the internet for all to read. And then systematically hunting them down and blowing them away.
in broad daylight if necessary. Another chilling roadside slaughter. Tells of the story of a family of four children, ages only three and four, as the mother hovers over them, all of them shot multiple times. By an assault weapon. And left their dead beside a Florida.
Turnpike. A few pages later, a spreading global danger. As you read of a strange, half-crazed dictator of North Korea. dangling A nuclear nightmare before the world. And I've not taken your time, nor will I, to listen to one account after another.
of kidnappings. Murders Fights among athletes and with fans in the stands. domestic violence and abortions and rapes. and financial rip-offs by corporate and public and private sector alike. All the way down to fist fights and road raids.
Yeah. We're so used to it, it no longer even makes us blush. Depravity is alive and well on planet Earth. Amazingly, there are some who really do believe the world is getting better and better. I just don't know what world they're living in.
I think depravity is best summed up in a single verse over in Genesis chapter 6. It's worth a turn. Verse 5. Where, as early on in the history of mankind as Noah. God includes this.
One verse analysis. of his observation of depravity. Genesis 6:5, the Lord saw that The wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only Evil. Continually. Eugene Peterson in his Work entitled The Message renders the verse: God saw that human evil was out of control.
People thought evil, imagined evil, evil, evil, evil, from morning to night. That, my friends, is depravity. Depravity doesn't mean that we are as bad as we could be because we can always get worse. It means we are as bad off as we can be. Given our own way without the aid of a Savior and the presence of God in one's life.
We become the predator. And sometimes the victim Not until we fully acknowledge the bad news will we have a sufficient appreciation for the good news. We've looked at good news in Romans chapter 1, verses 1 through 17.
Now I ask you to turn and listen closely. To the beginning of this account on the bad news. I will tell you without hesitation: there are some pulpits in our land that would not allow. Sermons like this to be preached. This is one of those churches that wouldn't allow this kind of sermon not to be preached.
This is truth. You will not hear this kind of information. Most other places, certainly not in public. But the same apostle who writes of the good news of the gospel. Verse 17, chapter 1.
which contains the righteousness of God. then turns the page or turns the coin over Making it an authentic coin by showing you the other side, verse 18, the wrath of God. is now Reveal.
Now the fact of The wrath of God is set forth in that 18th verse. The wrath is is revealed from heaven. against all Ungodliness and unrighteousness. Let's pause there and analyze the word wrath because. Flashing into the mind of the casual reader would be the idea of a capricious, uncontrolled, volatile deity.
sort of appeeved God. Who is out to get humanity and has an outburst of impulsive and passionate rage? That happens. It's not that at all. That's not the wrath set forth here.
That would be the Greek word theumos, th-h-u-m-o-s, from which we get our word thermos or thermometer. Speaking of a red-hot, flying off-the-handle rage, which characterizes many who lose their temper, this is not a losing temper, God. being set forth here. This is Orge, O-R-G-E. That represents, listen now, a settled, firm, controlled.
Just Wrath. It's an appropriate, it's, if I may use it, it is a perfect wrath. That completes the picture of our Heavenly Father. Who? As well as goodness and love and grace and kindness.
Also is marked by Wrath. and justice. And righteousness. Wrath is used here refers to God's holy aversion. to all that is evil.
When we read in Isaiah 6 that God is holy, holy, holy. It means infinitely holy. He has a constant aversion. to all that is evil. That is continually being revealed, present tense, verse eighteen.
From heaven.
So God reveals his wrath as it comes out in the consequences that follow sinful acts. And what does mankind do?
Well, the result of this, we read in the end of verse 18 and on into 19. Men and women suppress the truth. in unrighteousness. Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident. to them.
Again, pause. I told you when we began Romans, you'll have to think. It isn't an entertaining subject. It isn't bedside reading. It will require you to think outside the box and beyond your own school of education that you have been to.
It'll force you to think from heaven's viewpoint. Here's an example. God reveals that humanity without Christ suppresses the truth. The truth he has faithfully revealed. The word suppress means to hold down.
to stifle, to restrain something.
So there is a deliberate restraining of truth. Mankind holds down the evident knowledge of the majestic, transcending power of God, our Creator. God our sustainer, God all-knowing, all-powerful. All of this has entered into the minds and consciousness of humanity, and we have deliberately, on our own, suppressed it. We're taught otherwise.
We're convinced otherwise by other theories.
So we deliberately work at pushing away the truth. I love Calvin's comment here. Man was created to be a spectator of this. formed world. Eyes were given him that he might by looking up On so beautiful a picture be led.
to the author himself. I read somewhere that Napoleon, the great French military leader, was aboard ship on the Mediterranean walking on the deck late one starry night. A small group of men were mocking the idea of a supreme being. Napoleon stopped and put his hand on the shoulder of one of the officers. And he said as he swept his hands toward the sky, you must get rid of those first.
There is a vast presence of The starry spaces above us and about us. There is the perfect precision-like movement of the planetary orbits. The stars in their places, the multiple millions of galaxies beyond ours, all of it in perfect order. And we're taught it really didn't have a designer. It just happened.
I thought of a simple illustration to describe the absurdity of that. If I took 10 pennies in my hand and marked each one of them in order, number one and then two and then three and then four, all the way to ten, put those ten pennies in my pocket, shook the pocket, took my hand out, and reached in to pull out penny number one, I would have a chance one in ten of doing that. If I put the first penny back and shook my pocket again and reached in and pulled out this next time, penny number two, I would have one chance in 100. of getting that right. Stay with the math.
If I reach back in to get number three penny after putting number two back, having shaken my pocket, my chances of pulling out number three now jumps to one in a thousand. If I do it all the way to 10, my chance of doing that is one in 10 billion. And that's just 10 pennies in my pocket. What do you do with the ordered universe about you? What do you do when you look up?
When you ignore what you have been told by those who disbelieve and have already chosen to suppress the truth, what do you do when you see and hear the message of the stellar spaces and the world about us? Not only From the telescope, but from the microscope. You must suppress the truth. You must deliberately train yourself to say there is no designer behind this design. But Paul doesn't get there quite yet.
He takes us through the process. Verse 19, because that which is known about God is evident within them. There's something within us as a child, as we grow up, knowing that there is a being greater than us. A supreme being, not bad words, really, the secular world uses those words. I don't think they realize what they're saying.
The supreme being. the one being supreme above all others. There is within us that Conscious awareness, and it has been made evident to us. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power, and divine nature have been clearly seen. Being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Hold your place and look at Psalm 19. David, who spent many of his younger years out under the stars. When he was finally made king, he began to reflect back on what he had seen. And he who did not suppress the truth wrote these words in Psalm 19. And please notice the frequent reference to the message of the stars.
the spaces, natural revelation. The heavens are telling of the glory of God. Telling. Their expanses declaring the works of his hand, declaring. Day to day pours forth speech.
Speech. Night tonight reveals knowledge. Knowledge. There is no speech, nor are their words, their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances, utterances.
to the end of the world. In them, he has placed a tent for the sun. Beautiful, poetic words describing the message of the spaces about us. As Kent Hughes says in one of his works, it takes a concerted act of the will to deny that a vastly powerful God made and sustains the creation. He or she is suppressing the truth to do so.
Came across an interesting account that helps supply the illustrative example of this. If it were possible to travel the speed of light, you could arrive at the moon in one and a third seconds. That is a straight shot, not orbiting. Traveling 186,000 miles a second, you'd be on the moon in one and one-third seconds. Continuing at the same speed, you know how long it would take you before, again, in a direct shot, you would reach the closest star.
Four years. That's the closest star. It doesn't end there. New York City's Hayden Planetarium has a miniature replica of our solar system showing the speeds and sizes of our planets. What is interesting is that the three outer planets are not even included.
There wasn't room for Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Uranus would be in the planetarium's outer corridor. Neptune would be around. Uh 8th Avenue in Pluto A long ways away at Fifth Avenue. And by the way, No stars are included.
for obvious reason. You imagine on the same scale where the nearest star would be located? Cleveland, Ohio. Four hundred sixty-six miles. From New York City.
I'm not through. A scientist once suggested another interesting analogy. To grasp the scene, imagine a perfectly smooth glass. pavement on which the finest speck Yeah. Then shrink our sun from 865,000 miles diameter to only two feet.
and place the two-foot ball in the center of the pavement. to represent the sun. Let's pace off the planets. Step off 82 paces, about two feet per space. Ace.
to represent proportionally the first planet, Mercury. Put down a tiny mustard seed. Take sixty more steps and for Venus put down an ordinary BB. Mark off seventy-eight more steps and put down a green P. Representing Earth.
Step off 108 paces from there. And you come to Mars, put a pinhead. Sprinkle around some fine dust for the asteroids, then take 788 steps more and place an orange on the glass. to represent Jupiter. After 934 more steps, put down a golf ball.
representing Saturn.
Now it really gets involved. Mark 2086. Steps more for Uranus. A marble. Another 2,322 steps, and you'll arrive at Neptune.
Let a cherry represent Neptune. This will take two and a half miles. And we haven't even discussed Pluto. They stopped discussing Pluto recently, didn't they? claiming it was no longer room.
Planet.
However, let's not exclude Pluto. How far Would we have to go on the same scale before we could put down another two-foot ball representing the nearest star? We'll just bypass Pluto. and get to the star. Closest star.
6,720 miles. Not paces. Miles. That's just the first star. I'm Among millions.
That's just our galaxy. Among hundreds of thousands, who knows millions? of galaxies and may I add perfectly synchronized The most accurate timepiece known to mankind, phenomenal, isn't the word for it.
Now that is mind boggling. Or it just happened. Thanks to Big Bang. We have them there. Perfectly orbiting To where we can set our watches at them.
No wonder he says as he comes to the end of verse 20, those who suppress that kind of truth are without excuse. For even though they knew God, By that, it means generally there was an awareness, there has to be some kind of designer. Even though there was that conscious inner being that says, There is a creator. They did not honor him as God. Or give thanks to him.
But they became futile in their speculations.
Well, in case you joined us late in the program, you're listening to Insight for Living and the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindahl. Chuck titled today's message The Bad News About the Whole World. If you're ready to learn more about Paul's letter to the Romans, Insight for Living has assembled a great collection of study tools for this series.
So take advantage of these resources. The first is the Searching the Scriptures Bible Study for Romans.
Next, Chuck's entire commentary on Romans from the Living Insights Commentary Collection. and, third, the audio C D's of every single sermon in the study of Romans. You can check out this special bundle of resources by going to insight.org/slash offer. or call us at 800-772-8888. But that's not all.
If you're looking for a summer vacation book and something that fills your mind with soul-satisfying truth, We highly recommend a brand new book from Chuck Swindal. It's called Looking in All the Right Directions. This book is only available through Insight for Living, and it features the final five sermons that Chuck delivered to the congregation that he shepherded for over 25 years. In these emotion-filled messages, Chuck shares his heart on matters common to all of us: getting through seasons of unwanted hardship. standing firm for the truth in a world that rejects the truth.
and using your God-given gifts to bring meaning and purpose to your life. To purchase a copy of Looking in All the Right Directions by Chuck Swindahl, call us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/slash offer. Finally, if you'd like to write to us with comments or questions or to make a contribution to support Insight for Living, here's our address: it's InsightForLiving. Post Office Box 5000. Frisco, Texas, 75034.
Your gift will empower us to provide these programs so men and women all around the world will hear about God's amazing grace. Again, you can write to us at Post Office Box5000. Frisco, Texas, 75034. Is there any hope for our degenerate world? I'm Bill Meyer.
Chuckswindahl provides a solid answer from Romans chapter 1, Thursday, on Insight for Living. The preceding message, The Bad News About the Whole World, was copyrighted in 2006, 2010, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
