Thank you. You know. We did when we first started out. When we first started out. Thank you. Thank you. It's always good. I'm here. I don't know what to say to that guy. You know, he's frustrated. He's frustrated. He's frustrated. He's frustrated. Thank you. Thank you. Alright, good evening. Good to see everybody here this evening. If you've got your Bibles, turn with me to Romans chapter 1. We've been in the Old Testament in this study that we've been doing. The question is, what does the Bible say about homosexuality? That's been our series, that's been our study. And I think this is the fourth sermon that we've had. And again, I want to make sure you understand this. This is not what does. Our screenshot back there doesn't say, what does Josh say about homosexuality? Because nobody cares what Josh says. It doesn't say, what does Wesleyan Baptist Church say? It doesn't say, what do you say? It says, what does the Bible say about homosexuality? Because that's the only opinion that matters is what God says. So that's what we've been looking at, and tonight we're going to turn to the New Testament. And the New Testament, it's all over the place. It's not just an Old Testament thing, it's in the New Testament too. That's why I want to take you through the Bible and show you what the Bible says about this really in its entirety. So tonight we're in Romans, and I think right here in Romans chapter 1. It is as clear as it can be. It tells it like it is. And I think it'll help us understand what's going on in our society as we look at this passage tonight. I think it's very clear. And maybe you'll disagree with me. I'm going to ask that question. Are we living in a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah? You can think about that. Because as I was studying this passage, and I bet you I read it 50 times this week. And I kept reading it and reading it. And it didn't hit me until I got home as I was looking at it. I said, what does this sound like? And I was sitting there talking to Stephen Gracie, and I said, it just clicked. It's a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. That's what he's describing here. And I think that's what, in describing it that way, I think he's describing our nation. So let's look at this tonight. I'm going to read to you just the first. The first few verses, and then we'll pray, but I want to show you tonight the modern day, a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. Let's start with Romans chapter 1, verse 18, and I might read the whole thing, we'll just get going and see how it goes. But starting in verse 18, it says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible men, and to birds, and to four-footed beasts, and to creeping things. Wherefore, and I think these are some of the most serious verses in the entire Bible, wherefore God also gave them up. to uncleanness to the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who change the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. This cause is the second time God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women to change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burning their lust one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and then receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which was meat. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them the third time over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. The longest list of sin in the entire Bible. Who, knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Very serious passage and I think as we read it and as we study it, you'll see it describes a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. So let's pray and then we'll look at this passage. Father, we come to a very sobering passage. This is not a fun one at all. I wish it was. I wish we could come here and preach a psalm about worship and everybody could be uplifted and we could walk out of here with smiles on our faces. But God, that's not what this is. That's not where we are tonight. That's not where our nation is. So we need to come to these serious passages and see what your word says about it. And I have no doubt that those who know their Bible, they know exactly what's going on in the world today. And we see it here. So help me to rightly divide this. Help me to explain it well. Help me to have the right tone, use the right terms, and teach the right things. And God, I pray that you'd use this to enable us to combat against the lies of the devil. And I pray that you'd use this to change minds of people who are caught in this. I would love to see this go into the ears of someone in a living room tonight that we have no idea who's listening, and their mind has changed, and their heart has changed by your word. So use it to accomplish your purposes. And we ask and pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I've been reading some polls this week and here's what they say. Let me just give you an idea of where our nation is going. The polls say this, in 1988, 11% of Americans supported homosexual marriage. That was in 1988. I was eight years old. 11% of Americans supported homosexuality. In 2009, 49%, this is the first time it was ever at a majority, 49% of Americans supported homosexuality. In 2016, right after it was legalized, it was up all the way to 61% of Americans supported homosexuality. And as of last year, summer of last year, I read an NBC article this week that said 72% of America supports homosexuality. That is from 1988 to now, up from 11% to 72% of Americans that are supporting homosexuality, and that number will only rise in the years ahead. And then there was a poll put out even this week by a reputable Christian organization that said over 50% of Christians support homosexuality. That's what the polls are saying. Now if I look at that and I say, what are the polls showing? It shows the complete and utter moral collapse of our nation. That's the direction that our nation is going in. We are living in a godless age where a great majority of Americans don't care what God thinks about homosexuality. Let's just say a majority of Americans today, 72% of Americans and even 50% of so-called Christians don't care what God says about homosexuality. They won't listen and they don't care. That's where we are. We're living in a Bible-denying, complete disregard of what God says. We're living in a God-rejecting society, a Gospel-refusing society, and any nation that's going in that direction throughout history, starting with Solomon Gomorrah, going to the Roman Empire, and now to America that we're living in today, any nation that rejects God in this way has a complete and utter downfall. That's the direction we're going. What's happening in America, spiritually and morally, is more dangerous than a terrorist attacking our nation in 2001. What's happening in America today, spiritually and morally, is more dangerous than anything that happened in 2020 when it came to a pandemic. This is more dangerous because this sets us in the direct bullseye of the judgment and wrath of Almighty God. So as we look at this, and I think Romans is describing this to us, Romans is, and I have to say this, I could jump right into the passage, but I want to give you just a little bit of background on Romans here because of what people say. Romans is one of the most important letters, if not the most important letter in the entire New Testament. This is called Paul's Magnum Opus. This is called God's Gospel. And this, again, may be the most important book in the entire Bible. This isn't Leviticus, where they say it's just some book in the Old Testament that's tucked away that nobody can find. It's obscure and it's out of the way. This is Romans. This is the book in the New Testament. And it's not just that this is in Romans. This is on the front page of Romans. It's said that a lot of people start a book, very few people finish a book. Paul could have taken this and tucked it in Romans chapter 16, where nobody could find it. But Paul said, I'm putting this in the book, on the front page of the book, where everybody's going to read it starting out. This is on the front page. This is first. This is in large print. And this passage here in Romans 1 is going to show us a society falling deeper and deeper and deeper into sin. It shows us a society that is a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. So I'm going to work my way through this. 18 to 32. You guys buckle up. Hang on. A lot of verses. We're going to cover them all. And I'm only going to give you two points. Two points to cover all these verses. And I want to start with, and I think the points, the outline will be very easy for you. Starting with number one, a society that turns its back on God. This is where it starts. This is where it begins. It begins with a society that turns its back on God. And you see here, starting in verse 18, and I just want to work my way through this and show you that God has clearly revealed Himself to man. Are you with me on that? Watch this. Starting in verse 17, actually, it says, For therein is the righteousness of God. What's the word there? The righteousness of God is revealed. It's a revelation. God has made it known. And then it goes down. That's the righteousness of God. And watch this. Verse 18. The wrath of God or the judgment of God is Revealed. He says it there twice. He's saying that God has made it known. Verse 19. Because that which may be known, God has made it manifest. He's made it very clear. He's made it open and obvious. And it says, go on down. For God hath showed it unto them. I love this. It just keeps going. God is revealing. God is making Himself known. God is manifesting Himself and making it obvious. Verse 20, so that the invisible things of him through the creation of the world are what? Very clearly seen and being understood. I mean, it just goes on and on so that they are without excuse. So he's saying here at the very outset that God has made himself very clearly known. I like that. God isn't hiding. God isn't playing hide and go seek. God isn't leaving things in obscurity so that we don't know if He exists or not or we don't know the right from the wrong. God is revealing Himself from heaven so that we'll know exactly that He does exist and what He says is right and what He says is wrong. It's clear. It's obvious. There was an old book written that said God is there and He's not silent. Only a fool would say there's no God. It's glaringly obvious to everyone. He's shown it, it says in verse 20, in creation. I love that. We know God exists just by looking up into the sky. I mean, people in jungles know that. People in the cities know that. Anytime you look up and see the stars and the sun and the moon and the universe, you know God exists. In the bigness of what God has created, down to the macro level of our own bodies and our intricate detail of how we are created, we know there is a designer and it's God in heaven. We know that. It says there, just from creation you can see that God's power and the Godhead is there. You know it. It's obvious. It's clear. Verse 17 and 18 says, okay, so verse 20 says in creation we know God exists. Verse 17 and 18 says that righteousness and unrighteousness, we know right from wrong. It says that. The righteousness of God is revealed. Verse 18, that the judgment of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. How do we know that? God has given us His creation and He's given every single one of us a conscience. That we know deep down, we know right from wrong. We know that in our conscience. So that we are without excuse. No one on the planet can claim ignorance or innocence before God. So here it is plain to see. Our nation, and I'll apply this, has had greater revelation from God than any nation in the history of the world. We don't just have conscience. We don't just have creation. We have Bibles on every table in every home in America. It is as clear as day. Everybody knows. It's out in the open. No one can claim ignorance in America. God has clearly, obviously, glaringly revealed himself to America. Now watch this. What did they do? As God clearly revealed himself, they have completely rejected God. Look what it says, just go down through it. It says, again, God has revealed himself, he's made himself known, it's obvious, it's clear, it's understood. Verse 21 says, because that when they knew God, they know he's there. Everybody knows he's there. There's no doubt in any, I mean it's there. That it says in verse 18, they suppress it. That's a good word, it says they, He's revealed it from heaven, all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness. And that phrase there, who hold the truth and unrighteousness, I mean, they don't think about it. They suppress it. They don't want to deal with it. They don't want it in their minds. They want it as far away as possible so they can do whatever they want to do. So they suppress the truth of God, that He exists and that He has established right from wrong. And this is in verse 21, that when they knew God, they know He's there. I mean, this is clear. But they refuse to glorify Him. They refuse to honor Him and to bow to Him and to call on Him. And it says in verse 21, the most simple thing that you can do, knowing God exists, is to thank Him. And they refuse to be thankful. They completely and totally rejected God and His revelation. They've shut their eyes, they've put their fingers in their ears, they've turned their back on God, and they've run as far away from Him as they possibly can. It's like my kids, when they don't want to hear what daddy has to say, they'll close their eyes, they'll put their fingers in their ears, they'll start doing na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na and they'll run as far away from dad as they can because they want to do whatever they want to do without feeling bad about it. That's exactly what America has done. It's describing our people in America to a T. We have turned our back on God and we're running as far away from him as we can in the opposite direction. We've turned our back on God. And they don't become atheists when they turn their back on God. Watch this. I thought this was so incredible because it just describes us to a T. It says in verse 22 that they think they're so wise. It says they don't describe America. They think they're brilliant. But they become fools. And when they turn their back on God, they don't run towards atheism. They don't run towards agnosticism. They run towards idols. They run towards, in their darkened mind, A god of their own lacking. You see, there's no idolatry in America today. It is full of idolatry in America today. It's not a little, and I've said this so many times, it's not a little idol that they make with their hands. It's an idol that they create in their heads. That I think God is like this, and that's who I worship, and that's who I serve, and that's who I follow. This is what I think God is like. This is what I want God to be like. And in their empty, vain, foolish thoughts, they create a God of their own liking. little non gods that will accommodate me in my lifestyle. That'll let me do whatever I want to do and let me get away with it and not feel bad about it. They reject the true God and run to a God that they've created that agrees with everything they say. It's a worship of self is what it is. This is what happens when you reject God, you create your own version of God. And this is our society. And it's in churches all across America. We've rejected God. We've run from God. We've refused his word. And this sets us in the most dangerous place that in society could ever be placed in. When you've completely turned your back on God, you have set yourself in the bullseye of the wrath of Almighty God. You're let loose. You're gone. Running to our own doom. We aren't right now in America in danger of God's judgment. We are right now in God's judgment. This is the most dangerous place a nation, people, or society can be. Because again, it places us. And we are. This is not something that's going to happen. This is something that has already happened in America. You say, how do you know? There's no storms ransacking. There's no fire falling from heaven. Well, that's the next thing. The judgment isn't hell coming down. Get this. It's hell being here. that everything goes to hell. And you're going to see that because when a nation turns its back on God, God turns over that nation. That's the second point. Watch what it says. And it says this three different times. And I just want to work my way through this to show you what happens. Because we've already done that. We've turned our back on God. And now God has turned our nation over. That's what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah. They turned their back on God and on His revelation and on His Word. And then He turns them over and lets them go. And this is what He's done to America. Watch what it says in verse 24. Because of what 18 through 23 said, because of men's rejection, because of society's rejection of God. God now gives them up. God turns them over. God lets them go. God sends them on their way. God lets them go deeper and deeper into the sin that they have chosen over him. It's a turning over. This turning over is a divine judgment. Again, it's not hell, but it's hell on earth. And I want you to watch this because this is the death spiral that our nation has been in for years. And I want to show you where we are on this step-by-step guide to God's judgment on a nation. Watch this. We'll start in verse 24. Wherefore God gave them up. And what do they give them up to? This is step one. If you have your outline, step one. Step one is God gives them up and they fall into sexual immorality. Look what it says. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. He gives them up to follow their own lust of their heart. Do what you want. That is the motto of America. Just follow your heart. Just do whatever you want to do, whatever feels right, whatever you feel like doing, just go for it. I mean, just do it like a Nike commercial. Just do it. Whatever you want to do, just do it. And God said, all right, go ahead, do whatever you want to do. And when they start doing these things, the first step is always sexual immorality. Passions, lusts will dominate. A nation that rejects God is let loose, unleashed, unrestrained to do whatever they want to do. How dangerous is that? Imagine me going into my house and telling my kids, no more rules. You're let loose. Do whatever you want to do. I'm just turning you over. I'm going to walk out, lock the door, let you go. Come back and see what it looks like. Could you imagine the mess? Imagine if God just looked at America and said, go on, have your way. You rejected me and turned your back on me. Now I'm turning you over. What is the nation going to turn into? Watch it. Just unrestrained, unleashed on society where there will be a sexual revolution. It says the uncleanness. That's a sexual revolution that we've already had in America where it'll be rampant in America, adultery. fornication, pornography, indecency. There will be an overly sexualized society. I believe this happened in the 60s and 70s. You say, Josh, you think we've really been in the bullseye of God's judgment since the 60s and 70s? That's where it began. In a sexual revolution, that took place where you had free love, and feminism, and all these things just becoming, and marriage was not the norm, and you had people committing adultery, and divorces started going sky high, and it was just a free for all, free love society, 60s and 70s, and the playboy era, and all those things just started to get rolling, and it's only gotten worse since then. And it says when you do that, there's a punishment there. Watch this, where you dishonor your own bodies between themselves. Sexual sin will dishonor your body. It destroys and damages the body like no other sin. Where in the 60s and 70s you started to see sexually transmitted diseases skyrocket. AIDS. All these things that started destroying the bodies. I can go even further where you started seeing single parents. You started seeing abortion. You started seeing more foster kids who didn't have homes to go to. It just started destroying all of society and we're seeing a result of the sexual revolution today. In generation after generation after generation. It dishonors the body. It's the judgment of God. That's step one. An overly sexualized society. And we're living in that. Step two. Because you can say that. We were already seeing that. We had a president in the Oval Office who got caught committing adultery in the Oval Office. And the next poll that came out a week later, his favorability ratings went up. That was then. We've just gotten worse since then. We've now entered into step two, which is a homosexual revolution. Watch this. Verse 25 says, they change the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the Creator who's blessed forever. Amen. That's just saying again, they've turned from God and turned to idols. And because of this, God turns them over. Verse 26, he does it again. This time, to vile affections. The first one were to lusts. This one is to vile lusts and vile passions. And that word vile means, get this, It means degrading passions, evil passions, shameful, gross, depraved, perverted, or you could even say abominable passions, unnatural passions. Things that shouldn't be there, passions. Because that's what happens when you have an unrestrained society, where they're just being let go. It'll become sexual revolution, and the sexual revolution becomes the homosexual revolution. The next step is always worse, and it's always darker, and it's always more evil. And it begins here, he begins with, the women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And I want to teach a little bit here. He says, first it's women with women. That women will leave the natural, and the natural is, pay attention to this, I think you'll learn something. The natural is, this isn't being taught in our society, it's natural for a woman to be with a man to get married, to have a family. That's natural, that's Genesis chapter two. Okay, that's natural. And then a woman goes from the natural, which is a woman and a man, and a woman and a man, it's natural to the unnatural, against nature, which is a woman and a woman. That's against nature, which is against God's design, which is against God's order, which is against creation, which is against natural instinct, which is against what you know is right. That's a woman and a woman isn't right. And they know it ain't right from creation. It's not right. It's not natural. It's vile, evil, degraded, perverted, gross. That's what he says. And he always, in this passage, I thought it was interesting, I guess, that he references creation over and over. Verse 20, the creation of the world. Verse 23, with the animals, is almost a direct quote from Genesis chapter 1, verse 30. Verse 25, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator. This is a creative order. that they're going against. And second, watch this. Woman and woman, and likewise, also the men. Leaving the natural use, and do I need to go through it again? Men with woman, natural. Man and man, unnatural. Not right. They leave the brilliant design of God to the ugly lie of the devil. And notice this, it's men leaving the natural use of woman burned in their lust one toward another. Do you see that? I said last week in Leviticus that this is what they say. Well, this isn't talking about loving relationships. This is talking about rape. This is talking about a man and a boy. This is talking about a master and a slave. This is talking about something that isn't right. They agree with that. But this isn't a loving relationship between a man and a man. This is something that's forced. This is something that's bad. But it says here, and they miss this, that they burned in their lust one toward the other. that they both mutually, there's no rape here. This is this is a mutual relationship between a man and a man. And it calls it. I would underline that word they're working that which is unseemly. The word for shameful, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. I want to say this. There's not one place in the entire Bible where homosexual activity is spoken well of. Not one place. It's always, always the worst possible language. There's no way you can twist it to make it sound like something good. He calls it here unseemly, a shameful act. And I want to give you a little bit of detail because as I said in the last one, it always comes with a punishment. a natural punishment, where it's not hellfire coming from heaven. It's just when you do these things, it automatically brings this out. What's this? And when you do that, it's a woman and woman, it's man and man. It brings its own recompense of the air, which is meat. Which is, it becomes its own punishment. I looked these things up, and this is what science says about it. We love science, right? This is what science says. These are on government websites that nobody's telling you about. This is what science says about homosexuality. Homosexuals are more likely, four times more likely, to be depressed and suicidal. It has its own punishment. They're so deeply ashamed of what they are and what they do, it depresses them and drives them to suicide. It just comes with it. Homosexuals are more likely to be diseased, to become physically sick with things like AIDS, and even they're more likely to have cancer. Homosexuals are more likely to die and to live shorter lives by 25 to 30 years. Homosexuals are more likely to be abused in the relationships that they're in than man and woman relationships. Nobody speaks of that. Homosexuality The results of it is ugly and destructive in society, and nobody says a word about it. These are on government websites, and nobody says a word about it. Let me add, Paul singles out this sin as an example of a society in complete and utter rebellion. It distorts and dishonors our creator, It harms our fellow creatures, and we can't ignore it, we can't accept it, but we must warn about it. It is unloving for us not to tell them how hard and harsh this is on them. But we're not done. We've been there. That's not even where we are. You guys ever been to a mall? I know the malls aren't very popular today, but you go there and you got these big little kiosks that are sitting there and you're trying to find a store that you want to go to. And usually, you know, some kind of shoe store for me and some kind of, you know, lotion store for Steph. And we're sitting there trying to figure out where we're going to go. And there's this little dot there that says, you are here. So you can figure out where you're going to go next. And that little dot right there, I'm here. And you want that thing to be on the floor so you can try to figure out where you're going to go. But here, I'm not here. You say, where's America at? We're not in step one, which is the sexual revolution. We've passed step two in the homosexual revolution, and we have come to step three. Verse 28. The third turning over. And you can go ahead and put your little bullseye right there and say, you are here. This is where we are. It said, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, again, they turned their back on God. It just keeps repeating that because you turn your back on God. It starts there. You've turned your back on God, so God turns you over. Look what it says. God gave them over this time to a reprobate mind. I've studied this before, but I've never went in depth with it. And this just amazed me. Maybe because of where we are as a nation. You could say, what's a reprobate mind? It's a depraved mind. It's a mind, and again, this is where our nation's at. It's a mind that is no longer capable of reasonable, rational, logical thought. It's a mind that becomes moral insanity. If you want to put under step three in your outline, you could put moral insanity. That's where we are as a nation. From a sexual revolution to a homosexual revolution to complete and utter moral insanity. Where you have a nation or a society that has completely lost its mind. And I have said in the last year, where's the thinking people? That's just outrageous to me. I mean, you sit there, and even our leaders who are supposed to be the most clear thinking individuals in a nation. You think, OK, people can't think clearly. They're going to react in passion, and they're not supposed to be the ones that are in the know. It's OK for them. But the people at the top should be clear thinking, and keep us in order, and do what's right. But the people at the top can't even think right anymore. And you sit there, and you listen to doctors who talk about science, and you're sitting there saying, Where's their mind? I don't understand. What are they thinking? We've been given over as a nation to moral insanity. That's where we are. A society that can't even think straight. A society that thinks a man can dress like a woman and call himself a woman and he is a woman. That is insane. And then he can go into a women's bathroom. That's insanity. We're living in this. God has given us over to where we can't even think right. That me saying these things, they're going to think I'm insane. This is where we are. We can't even think straight. I mean, they just keep adding things. L, B, G, T, Q. Just keep on going. Plus, plus, plus. It's moral insanity. And it leads to, and I've got to hurry, the longest sin list in the Bible. Because when you become morally insane, you start doing crazy things. Watch this. And I'm not going to explain every one of these words. I think you can get most of them. But it says, here's what happens. It says he'll give them over to reprobate mine, verse 28, to do those things which are not convenient, which is to do those things that you wouldn't even speak of. Things that you'd want to whisper about in the house. 23 things here. It says being filled with, and I think our nation is filled with these things. Being filled to overflowing, that evil keeps Rising and rising and rising like floodwaters. Again, you had your sexual revolution, your homosexual revolution, now your moral insanity. And that leads to just rising and rising like the Pound River in front of mom and dad's house. When it rains, it just keeps rising and rising and rising. And every time we turn on the news, we're just seeing evil rise and rise and rise. And it's not stopping. Let me just read the list being filled with all kinds of unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, which is an evil desire for more and more and more and more and more. Just describes our nation. Maliciousness, which is an evil desire to hurt other people. To do harm to others. And I'll describe our nation. Just keep going full of envy. Wanting what everybody else has, even if you ain't worked for it. Murder. We abort more kids than you could ever even count. And they call it reproductive rights. The Bible calls it murder. That's moral insanity, is what that is. Debate. You know what that is? It's just they like to argue about everything. You could say the grass is green. You know, I think it's a different shade of green than you think it is. Everybody wants to argue about everything. This stuff gets into churches. Because it just keeps rising. And it's like Lot's wife in Sodom and Gomorrah that just living amongst all that, it starts to seep into our homes and into our churches. And it's overflowing in our lives. And we've got to escape that. I said I wasn't going to talk about every one of them, didn't I? Deceit, malignity, whisperers, which is secret tellers. Let me tell you. Snitches. I'm going to tell you what happens to snitches. Back biters, you can't trust anybody. Right, right in the middle of 23 sins. I've got it. I've got it circled. Haters of God describes exactly what they are. Despiteful, proud, boasters, which is just they're full of themselves. It's a selfish society. Inventors of evil things. I think that's funny. I mean, that's just, they just keep on inventing things. I mean, it's just unimaginable. They just keep on trying to figure out new and better evil things to do. Disobedient to parents. You say, why is that one stuck in there? Because respect for authority begins at the home, and when you lose it at the home, you lose it at every other level of society, and you become a society of anarchy where anything goes. And look at our nation now. There's no respect for any authority whatsoever, and it started in the home where there's no respect for mom and dad. And it started in the home where there's no respect for mom and dad, because mom and dad ain't there no more. It all started with the sexual revolution, homosexual revolution, and now moral insanity. There's just a way this goes and God doesn't even have to do any of this. He's just sitting back and letting them have their way. I think this is where every society goes if God doesn't stop it. Watch this, let's just keep going. Without understanding, we've already said that they're incapable of figuring it out right from wrong. I mean, here we are. Covenant breakers? I don't want to get into that. You make a covenant with somebody, you shake a hand, and then you turn around and break it the very next day. Without natural affection? That's back to abortion again, the natural for a mother to love the child. When that goes, where are you in society? Implacable, unmerciful, without mercy? This list represents the total collapse of a society. But I'm not even going to say that's the bottom. Because as you go into verse 32, I think this is the bottom. I think this is the gutter. I think and I'll even say this and forgive me if this is taking it too far. I think this is the bottom of the toilet. Verse 32. Who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death. Back to they know. They know It's sin. Their conscience tells them that these things cross the line. They tell them, the conscience tells them it ain't right. There's not one politician in Washington, D.C. that doesn't know homosexuality's wrong. They know it. There's not one person in this society that doesn't know it. They may have a seared conscience where they again, they just hold the truth and unrighteousness and they suppress it and they don't want to hear it and they don't want to talk about it. But deep down, they know it's wrong. And watch that knowing it's wrong, knowing it's punishment, knowing that it is damnable and that doing these things will put people in hell. They still practice it. You see that they do it. And then they applaud those that do it. They don't just do it. Because our society has done that. And they've had that scene. We've had it. And they always talked about they're in the closet. And it was hiding. And nobody ever talked about it. And then when somebody would come out, they were coming out of the closet and out from secret. And it's no longer in the closet anymore. It's marching its way down Main Street. It's a rainbow covering of the White House. It's all over the place where we applaud damnable sin. This is where we are. We set them up as heroes. We give them hearty approval. We have 72% of Americans cheer for a sin. parade it, put it on TV, teach it in schools, march it down Main Street, and they don't tolerate anybody who speaks against it. I could be cancelled any day. Understand me, this is not loving neighbor. This is hating your neighbor when you applaud these things. Understand this. When we applaud them and accept them and say it's okay, we're saying it's okay for you to commit damnable sins that are punishable in hell. That's not loving. Loving is trying to get them out of that. And it's all happening right in front of our eyes. And we're not the first ones it's happened to. The first one it happened to was Sodom and Gomorrah. We're just a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. The difference is, this is happening in the entire world. I don't know what that means. We've seen nations do this, individual nations. Roman Empire did it. We've seen it happen. But I don't, is this, I'm not smart enough to figure that out. That it is now not just America, but as America goes, the rest of the world goes. And this is spreading out across the globe. Where I would say, if you took a poll of everybody across the world, that the number would be 70%. If not higher. So what do we do? I gotta close. The time got away from me. You say, what do we do if we're living in a place like this? Abraham prayed. He said, God, spare him. Please, God, spare him. We don't give up. We still throw our hands in the air and say there's nothing we can do. But I'll tell you what we don't do. We don't hate them. We love them. And I think we, I said this last week, I'm gonna say it every week, no matter if they believe me or not, the most loving thing I can do is to preach that they're in sin and they can be saved. That's me loving them. As a church, we love them probably more than anybody else can. And we'll be called the haters. We don't hate them. We don't protest. We don't sign a petition. We don't lobby. We don't try to vote it out. That stuff won't work. A lobby will never change a heart. Protesting, petitioning, voting will not change a heart. So what we do, and I'm going to give you two things and I'll close, we use caution that we make sure that our children don't fall into these things. Don't be like Lot's wife. Guard against all these vices in our churches and in our homes. and our families. So we've got to use caution that we don't let the culture into our own lives. But we also need to understand the power of the gospel. I believe and I know Romans. I've preached Romans. I know it. Paul is writing this in chapter one, making this point to show us how deep and dark sin can go. That's his point here. But his bigger point, his biggest point, is Romans 1.16 and the power of the gospel to even pull these deep and dark sinners out of the pit that they're in. He wants us to see how deep and dark sin goes so he can show us the grace of Almighty God to save. This is the black backdrop on which you put the diamond of the gospel so that it shines all the more brighter. I love Romans 1.16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek. To the Jew and its religion and his religion and the Greek and his. Sinfulness in the gutter. The gospel can save a religious hypocrite and the gospel can save someone deeply, deeply lost in their sin. That's what he's saying here. God can pull people out of this dark pit. God does pull people out of this dark pit. It's the power of the gospel to save from the gutter most to the uttermost. So God can, and I think we should pray that God will. I said it, God just lets us go. But God can still come and intervene with great power. And I believe he's still saving people and pulling people out of the fires of this damnable hell. So let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. I know this is a hard, hard passage to preach, to study, to hear. I get it. For me, this describes our nation perfectly. And it breaks my heart. So my prayer is, God, first of all, for me, my kids, my family, our church, and the families that are represented here tonight, that you would protect us from this. That our culture and society won't seep into our homes and our church. That we would stand out in a society like this. People who aren't falling for these things and into these things. And also, God, I pray that you would reach out and use us and use others who are preaching the pure, unadulterated gospel. And as we preach it, that you would pull these people, not just homosexuals, but people who are caught up in the other sins as well. Pull them out of the fires that they're in. May we see in these days a great, great revival and an awakening like we haven't seen since the 1700s. God, we pray for that. We ask for that. We know you can do that. So God help us. We ask and pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.