What happens when we push God's truth away? Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl unveils the shocking reality found in Romans chapter 1. In this passage, Paul provides a vivid portrait of man's downward spiral when we suppress divine truth. This isn't about pointing fingers at others. It's about recognizing our own capacity for moral collapse when we attempt to live without Christ.
Paul shows us how God's wrath is incited when we ignore his truth. but His righteousness is invited when we embrace it. Chuck titled his message, Cinerama in Panorama. If you brought a Bible with you, I'd invite you to turn to two places. In one place, I'd like you to place the outline for the morning message.
Just put it at 1 Corinthians Chapter six. We'll start there in a few minutes, but For now, let's uh Look at Romans chapter one. This is clearly the last half of Romans 1. the most vivid portrayal of depravity. Certainly in all the Bible, perhaps in all literature.
It is not a pleasant picture. But it is real. Romans 1, beginning at verse 24 down through verse 32. Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity.
so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie. and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator. Who is blessed forever? Amen.
For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions. For their women, they exchange the natural function for that which is unnatural. And in the same way also the men. Abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another. Men with men.
committing indecent acts. and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, any longer God gave them over to a depraved mind. to do those things which are not proper. Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed.
Evil Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit. Malice They are gossips. Slanderers. Haters of God. Insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil.
disobedient. to parents. Without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving. Unmerciful. And although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death.
They not only do the same, but also. Give hearty approval to those. and practiced. 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, Cinerama in Panorama. As most of you know, during my years of preparation for ministry, There was a segment of time in which I spent Oh, let's see, several months with a man who marked me for my life. His name was Ray Steadman. I was among his very first interns, and there were two other men who served that summer with me. And I with them.
One, a man named Gib Martin, who is still ministering in Seattle. And uh the other, uh young man, just recently had come from Buenos Aires with a set of twins and his lovely wife. named Louise Palau. Luis and Gibb and I were there for Months of observation. The three of us knew that we learned when we didn't talk.
You learn when you watch. You learn when you listen. And I watched virtually every move Ray Steadman made there at his church at Palo Alto. Peninsula Bible Church. I was just like a bug on the wall around him.
listening, watching, and learning. During that summer, he was taking us through the letter of 1 Corinthians. And it was his habit to say each Sunday, now I want you to read ahead, because this is where I will be next Sunday. And he told all of us that particular Sunday, I'll never forget. The day he preached on it, he said, I want you to read verses 9, 10, and 11 of 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
Let me read the verses for you. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers. nor effeminate. The word implies the idea of male prostitutes.
Nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers. Careful how you pronounce that. will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Well, when I read that, I sat alone that following Monday or Tuesday, wondering what in the world is Ray going to do with a passage like this. And if you know Steadman, he's gone now, but if you knew him, you remember. He had a touch. He had a way with the scriptures. And uh The following Sunday morning, he stood to preach.
And he said, I would like to have all of you turn to First Californians chapter 6. Verses 9 through 11. And all of us did just what you're doing. And he said, we will read. very relevant words.
Here and he read them. Suddenly there was a silence that swept over the congregation. And then he said, All of you understand what Paul has written, but You may have missed. how personal he made it. As he beginning at verse 11.
Rights. Such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified, you were justified. And he paused and said, And such were some of you.
If the things I have just read characterized your life, In days past, Would you simply stand to your feet? I thought. He didn't just say that. One man stood. Two ladies in front of me stood.
Without hesitation, half a row stood. Two or three high schoolers stood An older gentleman by himself stood And before I knew it, Over half the church was standing. He said then Thank you. You may be seated. Two things occurred as a result of that.
Epical moment. First of all, the Bible was suddenly and instantly relevant. There wasn't a soul sitting in the meeting. who did not realize this is speaking to people like us. This is speaking to me.
Second, every thought of throwing stones Feeling proud. left everyone's mind. These were no longer the sins of Corinth. These were now the sins Of us. It is easy when we come to a passage like Romans chapter 1 to feel smug.
Don't you dare do that. C. S. Lewis often puts his finger on the real issue. In a way that you don't expect, listen to his words from mere Christianity.
If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but They are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely Spiritual. The pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport. and back biting.
The pleasure of power. of hatred. For there are two things inside me competing with the human self. They are the animal self and the diabolical self. And the diabolical self is the worst of the two.
That is why. A cold, self-righteous prig. Who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But of course It's better to be neither. Just in case.
There happens to be one or two self-righteous souls Sitting in this place today, I urge you to get rid of it. What we will read today is not about someone else. What we will read today is not about people we hate. What we will read today is our biography. Ugly and dark.
As it may be, it's us. And if not mentioned, were I to find a list where all the sins are mentioned, we would all be on our feet. Because we are all mutually guilty. All equally in need of God's matchless grace. And the blood of Jesus.
to forgive our sins. In light of that, it is no wonder to us that we come to. The place in Romans 1, verse 18, where we read of the wrath. of God. It means what it says, but it may not mean what you think it means.
Wrath to us. is a temper tantrum. It's road rage. It's an explosion of anger. None of that is in the word.
rendered wrath. God doesn't throw temper tantrums. It is God's holy aversion to all that is evil. As we learned last time, it is a settled Just Wrath. It is a supernatural response.
to our natural ways. And It is revealed against all. Don't miss the word. Not a few Not certain categories A L L All unrighteousness, all ungodliness, Among those who have suppressed the truth. Allow me a brief review.
We suppress things when we sit on them. When we push them aside, when we restrain them, Think of a box with a lid that keeps popping up. You sit on the box, you suppress. the box. You suppress the contents.
Truth is within the box of God's realm, and as the truth is revealed, we can embrace it or we can sit on it. When we continue to sit on it, we deny Christ, we deny the cross, we deny even the existence of God, and our lives begin to run their natural course, and humanity in its wrong goes on display. It's called by theologians the depravity of humanity. The word appears in our text. in depraved mind.
It doesn't mean that mankind is as bad as it can be. We can always get worse. We're watching it happen. It means we are as bad off as we can be without Christ in the eyes of God. No one closer than another.
Whoever is without Christ Is as far removed as those who have heard of Christ and rejected Him for 20 years. You either are in Christ or you are out. If you are outside of Christ, your depravity has a way of controlling you. And in the control of the depravity, as you suppress the truth, God gives you over to it. As he says on three separate occasions.
God gave them over, verse 24. God gave them over, verse 26. God gave them over, middle of verse 28. all the same Greek term rendered gave them over. Don't think of a passive God with arms folded looking at us over his glasses saying, you made your bed, now lie in it.
It's up to you from here on. It's not that. No. No, this is a judicial abandonment. This is a divine active giving over, a deliberate release of humanity.
To the judgment and the intensification of the aggravation and cultivation of lusts, so that our hearts build in our lust, with the result that we reap for ourselves the consequences and a greater toll of just vengeance. That's being given over. When he gives us over. We turn to idolatry. That's mentioned in verses 24 and 25.
See in the verse. 25. They exchange the truth for a lie. Idolaters worship the creature rather than the Creator. We worship things rather than Our God.
Because we suppress the truth of God. It's easy to think in terms of the third world kind of idolatry, but there is idolatry all around us. There's an idolatry connected with possessions. A car you drive. A home you build.
A child you have. Furniture you own. The position or status you're proud of. A role you fill. All these can be idols and we see them on display regularly.
They represent an exchange. We exchange truth from God. For lies. Worshiping then the things God has given us. rather than himself.
The giver.
So much. for idolatry. I don't want you to miss, however, that in the process, Hearts become impure and bodies become dishonored. Verse 24 tells us. Idolatry and impurity are joined at the hip.
For you have one, you have the other. And where you have impurity, you will find the dishonoring of the body. We looked at that last time. No need to go back over it. Second, God gives us over.
to immorality. Verses 20. See how it reads 26. For this reason God gave them over. to degrading passions.
The word literally means to passions of dishonor. And then he goes on to describe lesbianism in verse 26. and then male homosexuality in verse 27. under the category of passions of dishonor. Before I go into each, why would Paul single the attention of his reader onto that subject where The natural is exchanged for the unnatural.
By the way, that's another exchange. In idolatry, there is the exchanging of truth for a lie. Here, there is the exchanging of the natural sexual drive for the unnatural. We'll get to that in a moment. Why would Paul focus on that?
Several reasons. Number one, he's writing from Corinth. Corinth, the sin capital of Ancient Greece. Paul, I am sure, witnessed it and was around it. All of his ministry and saw it certainly in and around the streets and back alleys of Corinth.
Second, in Greek culture of the first century, It was taught that homosexuality was the highest form of love. Children were taught this as they grew up. Adults believe this as they reached adulthood. Many high born Greeks maintained male lovers along with marital partners in life. Fourteen of the first 15 Roman emperors were practicing homosexuals.
Philosophers such as Socrates and others. practicing homosexuals.
So, Paul, mentioning the sin or these sins, merely is addressing the relevant subject. surely many in Rome wondered about. Specifically, verse 26 addresses the female, and the reason I use that word is because that's the Greek term Paul uses, and in the 27th verse he refers to the males. Female with female. Mayo with mayhem.
Please observe in verse 26 as the subject of lesbianism is addressed. That it is a change from the natural function to that which is unnatural. What does that mean? Let me help. When you think of natural, think of God's created order.
Think of God's original intention. In God's created order and in God's original intention. There was the creation of the male and the creation of the female to be brought together in a bond where there would be the reproduction of life. Impossible male with male, impossible female. With female.
Let me show you. Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. Hold your place in Romans 1 and Go to the first book of the Bible. And look at verse 26. After God had made all other things, He comes to the making of humanity.
Verse 26, chapter 1. Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. And let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
Now, what's the natural order? God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male. And female, he created them. God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful.
and multiply. and fill the earth. That is the natural intention of God's creative plan. That is what Paul means when he says they exchanged the natural for the unnatural. I appreciated the writings here of John R.
W. Stott, as I often do in my study. His work on Romans is a masterpiece. And in this particular section, he writes, at the beginning, The Creator made them male and female. and said For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
So they are no longer two, but one. Then Jesus added his personal endorsement and deduction. Therefore, what God has joined together Let man not separate. In other words, God created humankind, male, and female. God instituted marriage as a heterosexual union, and what God has thus united, we have no liberty to separate.
This threefold action of God established that the only context which He intends for the one-flesh experience is heterosexual monogamy. And that a homosexual partnership, however loving and committed it may claim to be, is against nature. and can never be regarded as a legitimate alternative. to marriage. Let me make two closing comments before we go on to another subject, and these comments will take a little bit of time.
Bear with me. First. To view lesbianism and homosexuality as anything but sinful is to remove. Any hope? from the ability to recover.
Repeat. To view lesbianism and homosexuality as anything but sinful. is to remove any hope of being able to recover from it. If it is a sickness. As we're told in many corners.
of This world today, it is the only sickness mentioned in the Bible that is deserving of death. It doesn't fit. A sickness.
Furthermore, you are left to explain what Paul meant when he said, and such were some of you. Adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, such were some of you, but you were washed. You're not washed from a sickness. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing. But the blood of Jesus. I realize that some of you have opportunity, as I do, to give counsel to those. who are in the midst of this lifestyle.
I'm grateful for the words of one particular man who writes, To inform a Christian client in an early interview, your problem seems basically to be the result of sin, does not discourage him, but rather gives him hope. Christians know that sin and its effect can be dealt with because God has said so in the scriptures. And Christ died to overcome sin.
So when sin is mentioned, there is real hope. One is not a homosexual constitutionally any more than one is an adulterer constitutionally. Homosexuality is not considered to be a condition, but an act. It is viewed as a sinful practice which can become a way of life. He adds a little later in another work, the newest escape among Christians that has come to attention is the propagation of the idea that Satan is in a special way directly responsible for homosexuality.
While Satan surely rejoices in its prevalence and encourages its spread by holding the temptation before men, he cannot be blamed for homosexual sin in such a way as to remove the responsibility from the one who commits it. Homosexual behavior is sin. not the product of irresistible satanic influence. or demon possession. or control.
Such an idea involves an attempt to moderate the plain biblical position regarding homosexuality and as a result again removes hope from those who accept this faulty explanation. In no passage, scripture, In which homosexuality is condemned, is it ever specially linked to satanic or demonic influence? Um These issues aren't often discussed in today's culture. Here at Insight for Living, we insist on teaching the whole counsel of God's Word. even the parts that may be unpopular.
Juxwindahl titled his message Cinerama in Panorama. Stay with us because we're just midway through this study in Romans chapter one. Paul's letter to the Romans is one of the most profound theological books in the Bible. And to increase your understanding of Romans, we want to recommend you purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible study. Because of the scope and depth of Paul's letter, we're offering the Bible study for Romans in two volumes.
This popular resource gives you access to the same methodology that Chuck uses to prepare his sermons. To purchase Part One of the Searching the Scriptures Bible Study for Romans, call us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org slash offer. Last year, Chuck Swindahl preached his final five sermons as the pastor of Stonebriar Community Church. In these final messages delivered to the congregation that he loves, Chuck reflected on the final words of the Apostle Paul. who in his letter to Timothy looked back on his lifetime of service to Christ.
We'd love to send you a hardback book that includes Chuck's five emotion-filled sermons. It's called Looking in All the Right Directions. To purchase your copy, go to insight.org slash offer. Before we wrap up today, I'd like to extend a word of thanks to those who consistently support Chuck's teaching ministry. Because of your generosity, Insight for Living is available to millions of listeners on radio, YouTube, our website, our mobile app, and all the digital platforms that are so popular these days.
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I'm Bill Meyer. Join us again on Monday when Chuck Swindahl continues his study in the book of Romans right here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Cinerama in Panorama, 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.
