Condition
Romans 1:32 “Who knowing tthe judgment of God, that they which commit such things uare worthy of death, not only do the same, but ||xhave pleasure in them that do them." [1]
I. Who
A. Understand
B. Unacceptable
II. Which
A. Undertake
B. Unallowable
III. Want
A. Undeniable
B. Unrepentant
Introduction: We have been studying the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. We understand that Rome is probably where Paul spent the last of his earthly life so this letter was written to them as he was traveling in other places.
In conjunction with our travel through Paul’s letter to the Romans in our Sunday worship meetings we have also been studying the book of Hebrews in our evening services. There is still much discussion over the author of Hebrews. Some believe that Paul might have written the book but others believe the language is different enough to the point that these two books had different authors. The two books definitely had two different audiences for their time.
Hebrews is written to people who understood the Law of Moses and all that went with that. Much attention is given to faith which carries much more weight than sacrifice. The Hebrews were of the opinion that righteousness could be gained by good works. The letter to the Romans starts out with the futility of trying to make amends for the sins we do by our actions.
We serve at the pleasure of the One True God. Depending on your background you might not come to God through the same conditions but through His Son you will come and with His Holy Spirit you will witness. Our conditions might be different but His love never changes and His love is open to us all.
There are no doubt more than these seven types of love that the Greeks understood. Going to Bible College might afford you the opportunity to learn more about them. You have a little handout with this so follow along.
1. Eros: romantic, passionate love. ...
2. Philia: intimate, authentic friendship. ...
3. Ludus: playful, flirtatious love. ...
4. Storge: unconditional, familial love. ...
5. Philautia: self-love. ...
6. Pragma: committed, companionate love. ...
7. Agápe: empathetic, universal love.
My prayer in this message today is that we learn more about love. Especially about Agape which is the type of love that God has for THE WORLD. For God So Loved the World could be said For God has Agape for the World. No matter what we do God still loves us. Does that mean that there are no conditions that can separate us from God? No! It doesn’t mean that at all. God is Holy. That means that He cannot be in the presence of sin. He still loves us but the choice is ours to be connected to Him or not. If we decide to be disconnect from His love that decision stays with us.
When we understand fully that God loves us emphatically I pray that we will want to grow more each day until we reach that plateau of sanctification that He will take us to.
Scripture: The scripture today is Romans 1:32. Please stand if you can for the reading of God’s Word.
Prayer: Please be seated.
Message: Before we start through the outline today I have a demonstration that might help understand the idea of Agape or universal love. In my past life working with machinery we used things called universal joints. In front wheel drive cars these things are called constant velocity joints now or CV joints for short.
There is a drive end and a driven end. The drive end might not be in direct line with the end that is driven but as long as the link is not broken and free from restriction the driven end will respond to the drive end and there will be equality of motion.
This piece of tubing represents this principle. When I turn one end no matter if the tubing is in direct line with the driven end or not the driven end responds to the drive end directly. If I hold tightly to the driven end though, the link binds up and the driven end doesn’t turn the same as the drive end any more until the drive end is allowed to turn freely again. In order for God’s universal love to be effective we must not hold tightly to ourselves. We must trust His will in our lives or there is no movement of the spirit. There will be no revival.
Paul listed several things in this first chapter of His letter to the Romans that are not God’s will. In this last summary verse Paul mentions those who know the judgement of God. Who are those who? Do you know and understand that there is a judgment coming from God? Do you know and understand those things that are not acceptable to God? Then you are the who!
Next Paul is saying that the they which commit those unallowable things are worthy of death. As long as we disciples allow God to turn us as He wills the tie that binds is free to move and all is well. If we bind ourselves to something or someone other than that which God allows we only have ourselves to blame.
We have heard it said that God’s love is unconditional and it is on His side. Is there a condition to God’s love that we are responsible for? Only if we decide to restrict ourselves by hooking to that which He deems as unallowable.
This verse switches subjects at the first comma from those who know God’s judgement and they which commit the unallowable. At the next comma Paul switches back to us as disciples. Those who know the judgement of God and understand that there are those who commit unallowable things often fall into the trap of doing the same things that they know are unacceptable and unallowable.
We know that God is God and we know that He is the one true God who created and continues to provide our needs for life. We also know that we are not God. We know what happens when we listen to the wrong source that wants to drive us. God’s will cannot be accomplished when we trust the wrong source to move us. When we the wrong source there is a big problem. It could be an unsurmountable problem if we don’t allow God’s Spirit to guide us back to where He chooses to use us. Our wants are to be His wants. When that link is broken communion is no more.
If we tolerate the way those we rely on to move us to break covenant with God, so that we take pleasure in the wrongs that they do; instead of showing what it is to be a repentant sinner who denies the ways of the world we turn back to being the unrepentant ones who we were before we met Jesus. Are we saved or not? Is your salvation undeniable or not? It really depends on what you want. That is the condition that we place on God’s love.
God is still God and that is undeniable. He loves you, that too in undeniable. Whether you decide to believe in Him is always up to you. There will be those times when the wind blows you off course but if you were truly saved there will be The Holy Spirit to show you that you must let go of the strong hold you have so that he can turn you where He has for you to go.
Yes the devil is a wily beast! He is trying his worst to turn right into wrong and wrong into right. He is using that which has always been as if it were a new thing in the world to frighten God’s children into being afraid of the only thing that they can trust. The devil is even using church people to turn others away from assembling together as disciples are listening to those who fear everything except God.
Solomon said that there is nothing new under the sun and he said it well. This world has seen everything that we are seeing now. Before Jesus returns this world will see worse than we are seeing now. The question is the same as it always has been. WHAT DO YOU WANT?
If you want to be a disciple of Jesus then there are certain conditions that allow God into your life. Jesus expects devotion to God alone because that is what Jesus has and that is what we will have if that is what we want. Be Holy because I am Holy! That is what God says. That is what God expects! Can we be Holy; only if we accept holiness from Jesus and allow Him to drive us. When we veer off course if we allow Him to turn us He will. What do you want?
Prayer:
Invitation: Christians have different ways of devotion. I have heard some say that they read the Bible at the end of the day and find a quiet place to pray for those they encountered along the day. Some admit that they have never purposely read the Bible through from one end to the other. They have a quiet time in the morning before they allow the world to “mess up their day.” Others of us have a prescribed formula if you will. Pragma or companionate love is not their strong suit. Folks like that are usually geared to plans and schedules and budgets and checklists that they can rely on. If something goes awry they have contingency plans to get back on track. Willie Nellie flying by the seat of their pants makes these types of people uneasy. They work well in the engineering world but their comfort is conditional on things staying the same. That is me by the way.
Whatever you do to commit yourself to God do that! Devotion is not a thing that gets in the way of starting your day. You will be devoted to something. If you condition yourself to starting your daily walk with God before other things take you away from Him those things will not have a chance to wreck your life.
Maybe you will have to get up earlier if you are committed to early morning workouts or whatever you do. I am a late starter. It drives Rachael crazy. If I don’t purposely devote the day to Jesus before I get started the rest of the day just seems to get worse as I go along. I’m getting better at being a pragmatist. God is still working on me and for the most part I’m letting Him.
What about you? Are you hanging on to what others have conditioned their lives around or are you taking your lead from Jesus? Others are watching you. Why are you watching? What do you want? Consider as we sing…
t ch. 2:26. & 8:4 in the Gk. So ch. 2:2.
u ch. 6:21.
|| Or, consent with them. 1 Macc. 1:57. Luke 11:48. Acts 8:1. & 22:20. 1 Cor. 7:12, 13 in the Gk. So 1 Esdr. 4:39.
x So Ps. 50:18. Prov. 2:14. & 28:4. Hos. 7:3. 2 Thess. 2:12.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Ro 1:32). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
