Photo taken by B Smith from the patio
261 - GOD GAVE THEM UP
NOVEMBER 10, 1963
Henry F. Kulp
Romans 1: 21 - 28 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were 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 to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
God has said that the visible things of creation, reveal the invisible God, so that all men are without excuse. Then, He brings out that when men knew God, they glorified Him not as God—were not thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. There was a definite decision on the part of man, not to do what God wanted. They didn’t want the God they knew, but they wanted a God for their own making. This was a deliberate choice.
1/ You see, they put God out of their knowledge. That was a definite thing. Then notice, it says the result was that their foolish heart was darkened—that darkness remains unto this day. Do you want to know how dark man’s heart has become?
Perhaps it is nowhere better illustrated than in John 1: 5 & 10 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
Here God tells us how the mind and heart of man has been darkened. When the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, the horror of man’s condition was revealed for it says here—the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. That is why it was necessary to send John the Baptist to tell the world of the Light that had been turned on. For Christ was in the world, and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. Yes, John the Baptist came shouting, God’s light is on, God’s light is on, and all the light did was reveal the blindness of man, because it takes more than light for man to see—it is necessary to have sight as well as light.
If a man is in a room with you and he is blind. He doesn’t know whether the light is on or off. You can turn it off or on and he’ll not know the difference. So all the world of mankind was in darkness, and the light was turned on, but they couldn’t see Him, because they were blind—they needed sight. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ came, except a man be born from above, he cannot see. God has to give sight to man.
2/ Verse 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
God doesn’t consider the world’s wisdom to be true wisdom. God says it is foolishness. God is the Light. When men put God out of their lives, there was nothing left but darkness, and this darkness made the wisdom of man foolishness.
3/ Proverbs 9: 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
There we read the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The only true wisdom is found in God and to have this wisdom, the starting point is to know God. If we understand this we are on the road called Truth.
4/ Let’s think about this professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
I Corinthians 1: 18, 19 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Here God says the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness, but unto us who are saved it is the power of God—then notice, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. God is going to make an end of all that is wisdom, of all that is wise today. God is going to destroy everything that is taught in the college and the university—God doesn’t want any of this world’s wisdom.
Now notice, I Corinthians 1: 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Here Christ is made unto us wisdom. Now let us go back to the 20th verse where it says, hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world. This is all true because man is darkened—he is in darkness.
5/ Beloved, human intellect is a terrible thing—as a matter of fact, I think we can say it is a dangerous thing. It is because man had his mind and heart darkened. He doesn’t have the Light of God, so therefore, he does terrible things.
6/ Let us stop and think a moment about the word, fool, God’s estimation of the human race, both of its philosophers, its religious leaders, its business men, is that they are fools. We don’t have the right to call any one a fool, but He does. He is the creator, and thereby He has the right to say that all men are fools.
7/ God has said, Isaiah 55: 8, 9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, for as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
8/ We recognize this principle in common physics, but are unwilling to recognize it in spiritual matters. If the whole distance to be measured is 10,000 miles anyone can see that it is foolish to argue over a quarter of an inch, or 3/16th of an inch. But the difference between a low-grade moron and Einstein who was a brain as far as the world is concerned is less than a fraction of an inch, if you measure the difference from either of them all the way to God. God is all-knowledge, and anyone who puts his feeble thoughts up against the all-wisdom of God is a simple fool, and that is what our text says, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
9/ What did man do in his foolishness? He became an idolator.
Verse 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
They put God out of their knowledge and made an idol. Notice they changed the glory of the incorruptible God—that was a defiant act. It didn’t just happen. They deliberately did it. Here is the beginning of idolatry. Man started out as a worshipper of one God—the God of the Garden of Eden. Here we have a time when man starts to have many gods. Do you realize that religion is a history of mankind corrupting God? They started out worshipping idols that were like man, and finally ended up worshipping snakes. Do you want to see the final end of idolatry?
Revelations 9: 18, 20 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Here religion will have such a hold on man, he will be filled up with idolatry that when one-third of the men are killed, they will still be clinging to their idols. How much darkness is in man. He needs the light—Idolatry is the proof of the darkness of man and his lack of wisdom.
10/ Let me show you how foolish man is in the vanity of his mind. Let me show you how his mind is darkened.
Psalms 8: 6 - 8 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
Here God says, Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands—in other words, this is what God did with man—He put them over the works that God had created. Notice the word, dominion, than God says thou has put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, the beast of the field, the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of sea. Here is man’s true dominion, but oh, what a picture we have in Romans 1: 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Oh, what darkness—here man worships the very creation that God placed beneath his feet—that is what idolatry is—worshipping that which man was to have dominion over.
11/ Now let us take a little more study on the matter of idolatry, Isaiah 44: 9, 10 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
They that make a graven image all of them are vanity.
Now the word, vanity, is TOE-HOE and it means worthless. You have the same Hebrew word in Genesis 1: 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And the earth was without form it means something that is worthless—so idols are worthless. Then it says their delectable things, and of course their delectable things are their idols, their pets, favorites, their treasures, but they are not of any value to them. These idols are their own witnesses, they cannot sing, they do not know, they do not have minds, they do not have eyes, they are good for nothing.
12/ Then Isaiah shows how silly a man, an idolator is. We have here the process of god-manufacturing. First of all we have the smith—in the iron foundry, an annex of the heathen temple, and he makes a god. He works in the coals, and he fashioned it with hammers, and with his strength, he makes it. But he is hungry, his strength faileth and he is faint. Compare this with the one who made the body of Jesus Christ, who fashioned the body that God was to come in—Hebrews 10: 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
He doesn’t faint, He doesn’t get hungry, He is the one who never faints. Then he talks about another way of making an idol. The poor devotee of an idol, takes a Cedar, a Cypress or an Oak, which he probably planted with his own hands, many years ago, and he cuts it down and he sets to work with a line, a plane, a chisel, and he fashions it into the resemblance of a human being. Having done this, he places it in a shrine, a temple, and he falls down before it and worships it. What becomes to the rest of the tree? With it he makes a blazing fire to warm himself or to bake his bread. It is only by chance that part of the wood became an idol, part of it was burned up. So this idol cannot help him, it is just a piece of wood.
Finally it is brought out in Isaiah 44: 20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
Verse 20 says that he feedeth on ashes, and to feed on ashes means there is no strength—nothing can be derived from ashes, but contrast this with the Bread of Life, the Living Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. What a difference between worshipping an idol and worshipping God’s Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
13/ But did you ever notice, Colossians 3: 5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Paul tells us covetousness is idolatry.
There are those who make riches the object of their worship—they allow the idol to come between their souls and their regard for the possession of wealth and their regard for God’s approval and for salvation. They have a greater desire to be rich on earth than to be saints of God. What a silly folly this is. So many pieces of yellow metal to be an object of one’s life, for so many green-backs to be object of one’s life. These pieces of yellow metal, or these green-backs, they do not save, they do not do anything for the individual, for one leaves all this behind when he dies.
14/ Then there is the idolatry of rank and station. Some who despise wealth have a great high affection to have rank and station in life. They would even give their money, they would even give their wealth that they could be looked up to, that they could have authority, that they could be in a certain place in life. In some of the Sunday newspapers, we have what they call the society section, it has all the doings of those who are members of society. I remember, I had an aunt who when she came to our house, always wanted to see the social section of the paper, and she just longed to be part of society. This is an idol, this is a god for some people.
15/ Then notice, Romans 1: 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
God gave them up. Notice Romans 1: 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: God gave them up.
And verse 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
God gave them over.
You will see that it is three times that God gave them up. When they changed God’s way, God let them have their own way. This is God’s method. He gave us a free will, and He lets man have his own way if he insists upon it. When man put God out of his mind, and out of life and turned to idolatry, God gave him up.
At that point God chose Abraham, and built a race for Himself, and by a miracle He gave him Issac, and by a miracle He gave the world a new nation, and by that nation and a miracle. He gave us a Saviour. Notice, how He did this. He took one man who was part of this creation that turned its back upon God, Joshua 24: 2, 3 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.
This man was a Gentile, for there were only Gentiles on the earth at this time, and this man was part of the devil-worshipping Gentiles, he worshipped idols, he went along with all of them, but God called him and he obeyed, and God said to this man that He was going to start a new nation.
Genesis 12: 1 - 3 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
And it was to be this one nation that all the Gentiles were to be blessed, and then God built a middle wall of partition between this nation and the Gentiles.
Ephesians 2: 11 - 13 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
16/ But in the next chapter, God takes us to the nation Israel, this miraculous nation that came from Abram who became Abraham. They, too, reached a point where they turned their backs upon God and God had to give the nation Israel, the Jews, and we have the final sum of it all in Romans 3: 23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
But praise God with man in this wicked terrible condition, God has an answer for it. The answer, of course, is the Person Jesus Christ.
Romans 3: 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
AMEN
Ref: 11/10/1963 / 261 - GOD GAVE THEM UP / 08/22/2020
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