#21 - Piper - Doing and Endorsing Evil - Romans 1:28-32

#21 - Piper - Doing and Endorsing Evil - Romans 1:28-32

 

How do we share out faith confidently?  I believe this sermon will encourage you with a new insight into how God created humans with the very understanding that they do know that there is a God and that not only do they suppress that truth, they also know that what they are doing is worthy of death. These are bold words by Paul and explained by John Piper that will/should change the way we approach sharing our faith...

 

In one sense, verse 32 brings chapter one to an end with a very bleak view of human nature. The point of the last half of the verse is to show that many people not only do things that they know deserve death, but also entice others to do them and approve when they do. “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 who practice them.” In other words, the end-point of depravity is not just the suicidal love affair with sin, but the desire to bring others with you to destruction.

 

1. The first observation is that verse 32 takes us back to verses 18–19 and teaches us that everyone not only knows God, but also knows some of the moral demands of God and what disobedience deserves.

 

Now in verse 32 we learn that this knowledge of God includes a knowledge of his moral law: “They know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death.” Paul is speaking here of people in general who do not have access to the Bible or any special revelation. This is an astonishing affirmation about human nature. Everybody has knowledge of God and the moral law of God, whether they have seen a Bible or not, or whether they live in America or in an undiscovered people group of Irian Jaya.

 

 

2. The second observation is that this knowledge means people are without excuse before God not only because of the way they treat God, but also because of the way they treat each other.

 

The point of verse 32 is to say that “practicing such things” (the very things that God handed us over to) deserve death even though we have been handed over by God to do them. In other words, God’s judgment on sin—that it becomes worse and worse—does not lessen the guilt of the sinner. On the contrary, verse 32 says, “we know” that the very things we do when God hands us over to our own depravity are “worthy of death.”

 

3. The third observation from verse 32 is that there is a real knowing of moral things that is deeper than consciousness.

 

I say this because there are, no doubt, many people who would say that they don’t believe in moral standards set by God, especially if they say they don’t believe in God. But verse 32 says, “They know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death.” Note the phrase, “ordinance of God.” Paul teaches us that, even if people don’t think they know ordinances of God, they, in fact, do know at least one, namely, that doing the things listed in verses 29–31 deserves death. This must mean then that there is a knowledge deeper than consciousness.

 

Now, on the basis of these three observations, consider the implications for our sharing the gospel with unbelievers. Consider what this means for apologetics—giving reasons for your faith—and for missions to, say, Muslim people or Jewish people.

What verse 32, together with verses 18–21, teaches us is that every person we know, and every person we will ever talk to, already knows God, deep down, and knows God’s law. That is an astonishing truth for everyone who wants to communicate the gospel. Think on it specifically for a moment.

Verses 18–21 teach that everyone knows God, in the sense that everyone knows that God exists and that he is “eternal” and “powerful” and “glorious” and “beneficent.” At least that much, Paul says, is made known in nature and is buried somewhere in the subconscious of every person—in some deep, and in some just beneath the surface. We may suppress it, but we know it. It is there, and it has effects on our lives.

Then verse 32 adds that everyone knows not only that God exists and is eternal and powerful and glorious and beneficent, but also that God has a “righteous ordinance,” that the sins of verses 29–31 deserve the punishment of death. Everyone, Paul says, knows this. Charles Hodge puts it like this: “The most reprobate sinner carries about with him a knowledge of his just exposure to the wrath of God” (Romans, Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1972, p. 45).

 

What Does this Mean for Evangelism?

Not that everyone you talk to will necessarily admit that he or she knows this. But you come to them with the tremendous (Biblical) confidence that you are not starting from scratch in establishing the truth in their soul. They are not blank tablets. They may have buried it, distorted it, hidden it, drugged it, run from it by overwork or excessive play and entertainment; but you know it is there.

What do you do? You don’t assume they don’t need to hear that truth. You don’t say, “Well, the truth of God and his moral law is in their heart, so I will not tell them about God’s glory and power and his righteous demands.” Rather, you speak the truth with the confidence that this reality you are describing is not utterly foreign to them. You speak with the confidence that what you are saying can ring true with something deep inside of them.

 

What if they say, “How do I know that what you are saying is true? How do I know there is a God, and that he is glorious and beneficent? What about Hurricane Mitch and Honduras? Maybe God should be cursed instead of thanked. Maybe he deserves death for breaking my law instead of me deserving death for breaking his law”?

Now there are a lot of possible answers to this kind of question. 1) One would be to take them to Luke 13:1–5 and say, “Those who die in natural catastrophes are not necessarily worse sinners than the rest of us. Unless we repent we will all perish.” 2) Or you could take them to the book of Job and show them how Satan is involved in some natural catastrophes, but that God maintains ultimate control and brings all the events of the world to serve his good and overarching purposes. 3) Or you could take them straight to the cross of Christ and show them that, whatever misery we must suffer here, God shared our misery in order to save us from the final judgment on our sin and bring us to everlasting joy.

But Romans 1:32 suggests another possible answer. You might say, “I know you doubt the reality of God and his glory and his goodness and his moral law and your guilt for disobedience. I know that. But the Bible teaches that you really do know these things already deep in your heart. Which means that if you would humble yourself and ask God to free you from the blinding effects of sin, these things could take on a self-evidencing authority for you. You wouldn’t be dependent on me or anybody else. You would know the truth because God has revealed it to you in nature and has written it on your heart.”

 

O ponder these things for yourselves and for the people you want to reach with the saving gospel of Jesus. Ponder them in relation to Jewish people, for example, and Muslim people. Romans 1:32 says that every one of them knows that he has broken the ordinances of God, and that he deserves death. But neither Judaism nor Islam has a satisfying way to deal with this kind of guilt and get right with God. Therefore, if God would be pleased, in answer to our prayers, this innate knowledge could make them ready for the gospel—the good news that because of Jesus’ death for our sin, God declares righteous everyone who simply trusts in him.