“Between the Lines: May I Be Excused?”
Romans 1:18-2:11
Magic Johnson. Pete Rose. Jesse James (the actor, not the cowboy). Arnold Schwarzenegger. Michael Vick. Richard Nixon. Bill Clinton. Mary Kay Letourneau. Debra LaFave. Saddam Hussein. Osama Bin Laden. Jim Tressel. These people all have something in common. Do you know what it is? They each knowingly stepped over the established boundaries; they went outside the accepted lines. Eventually they faced consequences and paid or are paying for their actions. They were not excused. How could they have been so stupid as to think they would not get caught or suffer any consequences? After all, the apostle Paul wrote “…men are without excuse.” I mean, talk about dumb. But then Paul also wrote, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else…” Ouch! May I be excused?
Paul addresses THE PRESUMPTION IN OUR MINDS. After introducing the theme of righteousness, of being in right relationship with God, Paul points out that our danger is that WE TEND TO PRESUME UPON GOD’S PROTECTION AND FAVOR. Because we are loved and chosen by God we believe we can get away with crossing over the lines and ignoring the boundaries established by God. After all, God is loving and forgiving, and if I’m one of His special children, then He will go easy on me. It only makes sense. That’s what His favor is all about.
But Paul emphatically disagrees. Verse 20: “…men are without excuse.” WE ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE. Not some but all are without excuse. It sounds like a harsh, unfair judgment. But Paul lays out his case in the verses that follow. He gives at least two reasons that no one has any excuses.
First, GOD HAS MADE HIMSELF KNOWN. (19-20) “…what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen…” The creation reveals God. If you visited the home of Venus or Serena Williams, you would more than likely see enough trophies and other paraphernalia that you would know they were good at playing tennis. You couldn’t visit there without drawing that conclusion. Who they are is reflected in their surroundings. So it is with God – He is reflected in His world; it points to Him clearly enough that everyone can know that this world – and we – exist by a will other than ours and are sustained by a power far superior to ours. That’s enough to teach us that there are laws at work in the world which are for our health. There are some established boundary lines by which people are to live. So we are without excuse. We cannot say “Oh, I didn’t know there was a God.”
Second, although we know better, WE IGNORE GOD. (21) “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” We ignore the signs and the evidence. Suppose I jump into Lake Michigan off one of South Haven’s piers. A policeman sees me and tickets me. I appear before the judge and tell him I was not aware it was illegal to do so. He is not swayed because, he tells me sternly, there are signs posted that state the law. I respond that I didn’t see the signs. What do you think he will say? “Oh – well that’s different. Give me your ticket. I’ll tear it up.” I doubt it. More than likely he would say, “That’s no excuse. The signs were there, the boundaries were clear. You’re not excused.”
Paul continues (22-23) “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Suppose I say to the judge, “I saw some signs but I know how to swim so I knew they didn’t apply to me.” Do you think that will fly? No. He would respond, “The law and I show no favoritism. The law is all inclusive. You are not excused.” Does that shoe fit you? We know we should love our enemies, but we don’t. We know we should turn the other cheek, but we don’t. We know that we should be patient and understanding with our children and spouses, but we aren’t. We know that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, but we don’t. We know that we should have no other gods before Jehovah God, but we do. We know there are sexual boundaries established by God, but we cross them. We ignore God. We are without excuse.
So WE ARE SUBJECT TO THE WRATH OF GOD. How much time do you spend thinking about God’s wrath? We much prefer to dwell on His love and forgiveness. But if God truly loves us, He will show wrath against those people and things that are cruel and unjust, those people and things that bring harm to us. God is rightfully angry at any evil that hurts and ruins His children. It’s not that God gets angry because He doesn’t get his way – He gets angry because disobedience – crossing over the boundary lines – always results in self-destruction. As Max Lucado wrote, “What kind of father sits by and watches his child hurt himself? ...The question is not, ‘How dare a loving God be angry?’ but rather, ‘How could a loving God feel anything less?’” We cannot presume upon God’s favor. We are not excused. We are subject to the wrath of God.
As Paul continues we discover that this presumption in our minds leads to THE PROGRESSION IN OUR LIVES. He explains how God’s wrath is revealed. Three times Paul repeats the phrase “God gave them over.” This is the first sign of God’s wrath. GOD GIVES US OVER. In essence, God says – like Burger King – “Have it you way.” God stops protecting us and allows as to suffer the consequences of our actions. This is not to say that everyone who is suffering and facing hard times is doing so because of some sin they have committed. Jesus refuted that in John 9. But it is to say that when we cross the lines and step over the boundaries, it will come back to bite us – because God won’t step in to prevent the consequences. Sir Robert Watson-Watt helped invent radar. One day, while driving in Canada, he was arrested for speeding after being clocked by radar. To commemorate the event he wrote a short verse: “Pity Sir Robert Watson-Watt, Strange target of his radar plot. And thus, with others I cold mention, A victim of his own invention.” Someone else once said that if we go against the grain of God’s laws we cannot complain when we get splinters. IF WE PLAY WITH A HOLY GOD WE WILL GET BURNED. If we persist in stepping out of bounds, God will give us over.
Once God gives us over, OUR SIN WORSENS. Notice how the consequences build (24-31): “God gave them over…to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies…They exchanged the truth of God for a lie…God gave them over to shameful lusts…and (they) received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion…God gave them over to a depraved mind…They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.” Once we begin stepping over the lines, we find it easier and easier to do so and the consequences become progressively worse.
Robert Louis Stevenson, in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,’ set forth the irrevocable nature of every act we perform. Mr. Jekyll discovered a drug that would transform him into a man devoid of any conscience and therefore able to enjoy any vice or sin. Jekyll named this monster Mr. Hyde. Anytime Jekyll wanted to become this monster he would simply take the drug. Then when he wanted to return to being Jekyll he took the drug again. But after a time the desire to be Mr. Hyde overruled the desire to be Mr. Jekyll and he could not recover himself. Similarly, our sin progresses, gains power over us, and then one day there is no turning back.
Just read the headlines or listen to the newscasts and hear of the consequences of sin. As a nation we have progressed deeper and deeper into the monster Mr. Hyde. Socially, economically, and morally we are more filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity than ever before.
And as our sin worsens, GOD’S JUDGMENT ACCUMULATES. (32) “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” In St. Louis in 1984 an unemployed cleaning woman noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer bees continued to fly in and out of the attic. Eventually the whole attic was a huge hive and the ceiling of her bedroom caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. In a similar fashion Gods’ judgment piles up until it finally breaks loose under the weight of our sins.
Dr. W. R. Coulson was one of the founders of value free education in the late 1960’s. It taught that moral absolutes did not exist, that there are not enduring across the board values. Years later he wrote, “Youthful experimentation with sex, alcohol, marijuana, and a variety of other drugs…has been shown to follow value-free education quite predictably. We know that after these classes, students become more prone to give in to temptation than if they’d never been enrolled.” He went on to say that, in retrospect, the plan “turned out to be a deadly scheme we hatched twenty years ago… (we) owe the nation’s parents an apology.” Unfortunately God’s judgment is still working itself out almost three generations later. The beehive of no absolute values has caved in upon us. If we persist in sin, there will be a stinging, if not deadly progression in our lives. We are not excused.
Paul wanted to be sure everyone understood that they were without excuse – even the loyal Jewish Christians. He knew firsthand how they looked down upon and judged the Gentiles because of their ignorance of God and their immoral lives. He knew how easy it is for us to judge those whom we deem to be more sinful than we are. It’s easy for us to judge the cast of characters I introduced at the beginning of the sermon. So Paul pointed to THE PROBLEM IN OUR HEARTS. (2:1) “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you re condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” There is no escape. Just because God has been good to us, just because He’s saved us, does not mean we are free from guilt. With God, THE ISSUE IS OUR DISOBEDIENCE. We will not be excused. Listen to 2:1-5 from the Living Bible. “’Well,’ you may be saying, ‘what terrible people you have been talking about!’ But wait a minute! You are just as bad. When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are talking about yourselves, for you do these very same things. And we know that God, in justice, will punish anyone who does such things as these. Do you think that God will judge and condemn others for doing them and overlook you when you do them, too? Don’t you realize how patient he is being with you? Or don’t you care? Can’t you see that he has been waiting all this time without punishing you, to give you time to turn from your sin? His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. But no, you won’t listen; and so you are saving up terrible punishment for yourselves because of your stubbornness in refusing to turn from your sin; for there is going to come a day of wrath when God will be the just Judge of all the world.” We are not excused.
Remember Jesus’ encounter with a woman a trapped in act of adultery? Jesus’ words to her accusers were “If anyone one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her….At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.” We are not excused. We are not qualified to judge because we are fellow sinners with those we judge.
GOD WILL NOT FORCE OBEDIENCE – HE LOVES US ENOUGH TO GIVE US THE CHOICE. In Dt. 28 God laid it all out. He told the Israelites that if they walked in his ways – if they stayed within the lines and respected God’s boundaries – they would receive great blessings. He summarized those blessings this way (13): “If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.” But then He adds (15): “However, if you do not obey the Lord you God and do not carefully all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” IF YOU DON’T WANT THE FRUITS OF SIN IN YOUR LIFE, STAY OUT OF SIN’S ORCHARD. God will not force obedience – He loves us enough to give us the choice.
That’s why God sent His Son Jesus down to earth. He knew that we would often make the wrong choice. He doesn’t want us to suffer His wrath forever. So Jesus suffered it for us. He suffered it all – the physical, emotional, and spiritual pain. He suffered total separation from God. As the prophet Isaiah predicted (53:4-6 LB) “Yet it was our grief he bore, our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, for his own sins! But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was chastised that we might have peace; he was lashed – and we were healed! We are the ones who strayed away like sheep! We, who left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet God laid on him the guilt and sins of every one of us.”
To think that I had the audacity to judge Magic Johnson, Pete Rose, Jesse James (the actor, not the cowboy), Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Vick, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Mary Kay Letourneau, Debra LaFave, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Jim Tressel. Dear Lord, may I be excused? “No, Curry, you may not.” Then, Lord, can you forgive me? “Yes, Curry, you are forgiven. And remember, I love you – so the choice is always yours.”
