ABANDONED BY GOD – PART 1

BY DR. LARRY LAMB

INTRODUCTION

Biblical discernment: God’s Word is my authority of the culture’s message, trends, and voices.

Lack of Biblical discernment: I will fluctuate between what God’s Word says and the culture’s messages, trends, and voices.

The Apostle Paul, wrote the following about cultural syncretism:

• Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing, and perfect.
• We live with the in the culture—one of many examples is dealing with the reformatting of human sexuality (Genesis 2:24).
• The biblical position on sexuality is rooted in Genesis chapters 1-3 where God designed the pattern for all relationships.

TWO QUESTIONS WE SHOULD ALL ANSWER:

1. Am I in submission to God’s authoritative Word? God has spoken; I should listen and obey.
2. Am I careless with the truth?

GOD’S RESPONSE TO IDOL WORSHIP

• Romans 1:24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.

“If man is his own god, then he can do whatever he pleases and fulfill his desires without fear of judgment.”  Warren Wiersbe

Self-deification is the crassest form of idolatry.

• “God abandoned” is a judicial term like handing a prisoner over to his sentence.
• When a person or nation turns against God, then the result is taking the creation, the body created by God, to do vile and degrading things. How can the human heart sink so low? What’s the evidence?
• Romans 1:25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 

Spiritual blindness is the worst blindness there is.

• Why do people hedge their bets on immortality? Because the violation of God’s inflexible reality is not immediately .

WHAT’S THE RESULT OF GETTING WHAT YOU WANT FROM GOD’S ABANDONMENT?

• Romans 1:26-27 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
• What’s the result of getting what you want from God’s abandonment? Suffering the penalty they deserved. God states this: “When you suffer, remember what you wanted. Your lust fooled you. I abandoned you to help you know how misguided you are”.

• • Sin can be legalized and celebrated, but the consequences will not be diminished.
  • Is my pride pushing against something God’s truth has revealed to me?
  • Regardless of the sin, fall into the arms of .

• Romans 3:24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
• Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Romans 10:9-10 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

God didn’t spare his own Son, who did him no wrong, so he could spare us, who did him no right. God was against Jesus so he could be for us forever. He was forsaken so we could be forgiven. Garrett Kell

Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner. I know that the penalty for my sin is physical, spiritual, and eternal death. I acknowledge that I can’t do anything about my situation. But I know that You came to pay the penalty for my sin. I trust in You alone as the One who died in my place. I repent of my sin and trust in You as the only One who can place me in an eternal relationship with the living God. I desire to be Your child. I desire to live as Your child. In Your name. Amen.

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