Transcript

In January 2019, the Dutch Defense Safety Inspection Agency launched an investigation about an F-16 fighter that suffered damage from 20-millimeter cannon fire during a routine training exercise.

The reason for the investigation was due to the fact that the damage came from its own cannons.

The aircraft is equipped with a Vulcan Gatling gun, which can fire over 6,000 rounds a minute. Those rounds travel at a muzzle velocity of 3,450 feet per second. But the aircraft is capable of flying much faster.

So what happened is that, after a burst of rounds were fired from the aircraft, the pilot accelerated and collided with his own rounds while still in mid-air.

At least one of them struck the side of the F-16’s fuselage, and parts of a round were ingested by the aircraft’s engine. The F-16’s pilot did manage to land the aircraft safely at a nearby Air Base.

God’s Word states that “God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” We reap the consequences of our actions in life, and they can lead to our own downfall. In time past, both the Gentiles and the Jews reaped what they sowed, and their actions and unbelief in God led to their self-inflicted downfall.

Romans 1:20-25: “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 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.”

The creation leaves all people from all time “without excuse.” The creation bears testimony to its Maker, and every human being sees and is confronted with this witness on a daily basis. Creation demands a Creator. Design demands a Designer.

God’s existence, and His eternal power and Godhead, or His divine nature, are “clearly seen” and they are “understood by the things that are made.”

Men could never charge God with hiding Himself from them and thus excuse their unbelief and their immorality. God boldly and plainly shows and confronts the world with His existence, power, and wisdom every single moment through His creation.

Then Paul speaks historically in verse 21, “Because that, WHEN they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful;”

Paul describes here in Romans 1 the descent of the ancient world from their ancestral knowledge of the true God, DOWN into polytheism, the worship of many gods, and DOWN into pantheism, the worship of the creation as God, and then DOWN into the immorality and wickedness that inevitably accompanies turning from the true God.

The direction is always DOWN when one turns from God. In time past, the Gentile world did not render to God the honor that was due Him.

Confronted with overwhelming, continual, clear evidence of God’s existence, power, and divine nature, they refused to accept it.

In their doubting and willful unbelief, they withdrew their worship, and they chose not to acknowledge or attribute to God what they saw in the creation around them, and thus they glorified Him not as God.

And then they were not thankful, which is the next, natural progression. When one does not acknowledge that God made everything, then it naturally leads to refusing to acknowledge that every good thing they enjoyed came from or was given by God. Man was willing to use God’s gifts, but he was not willing to worship and praise God for them.

The Gentile world then “became vain in their imaginations.” The word, “vain,” means to make empty, foolish, and “imaginations” refers to man’s thoughts, notions, speculations, and reasonings. These thoughts and speculations all became empty and foolish, because they were done apart from God and acknowledging and giving glory to Him.

“And their foolish heart was darkened,” or their hearts were collectively senseless, without true understanding.

Rejecting the light of truth, and putting human reasonings and speculations above revelation from God leads one to and into darkness, the darkness of error and falsehood. And in darkness, one cannot perceive or comprehend what is true.

But in that state of darkness and foolishness, as they plunged deeper into ignorance and nonsense, the Gentiles were “professing themselves to be wise.”

They grew more proud, boastful, and confident and claimed to be wise, extolling their imaginations, theories, and reasonings as true wisdom.

The Gentiles professed themselves to be wise, but in their darkened state apart from the truth, they actually “became fools.”

Rejecting the true Source of wisdom and reducing truth to self and man’s speculations, thoughts, and theories is foolishness. Apart from God and His revelation, man cannot determine absolute truth.

And thus, man’s foolishness manifested itself with idolatry and changing “the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.”

Man is instinctively religious. He must have some object to worship. Having turned from the living God and refused to give glory to Him, the Gentile world substituted the worship of God with the worship of idols.

And so, he manufactured and made his own gods of wood and stone representing man, birds, “fourfooted beasts,” or animals, like cattle, dogs, and cats, and creeping things, or reptiles, like snakes, frogs, and crocodiles.

They “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God,” Who is unchanging, indestructible, immortal, and eternal, and the only One worthy of our worship, “into an image made like to corruptible man,” into what is changing, destructible, mortal, and temporal.

They exchanged something of true worth, the glory of God, for something of no value: an image, a likeness, an idol of a man, a bird, an animal, or a snake.

First on the list of false gods is man. And this fulfilled Satan’s old deception when he told Eve, “ye shall be as gods” (Gen. 3:5).

In man’s determination to worship anything but God, there is a downward progression in these things, from man, to birds, to animals, to reptiles and snakes.

Man becomes like what he worships, so as his concept of what god is degenerates, his morals degenerate and go down with it. As they degrade God, they degrade themselves.

As a result, “God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts.”

Three times it is said that God gave man up in Romans 1. Because of their deliberate rejection of God and desire to worship idols, God “gave them up to uncleanness” in verse 24.

Because they worshipped and served the creation more than the Creator, God “gave them up unto vile affections” in verse 26.

Because they did not want to know anything about God, God “gave them over to a reprobate mind” in verse 28.

In verse 18, Paul had written, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”

God revealed His wrath, not by sending fire from heaven, but by abandoning sinful men to their wicked and immoral ways.

In His righteous wrath, God gave man up to the sin that his evil heart desired, allowing him to experience the self-destructive results of his sin.

Hosea 4:17 expresses the principle of this judgmental aspect of God, in God giving the Gentiles up and leaving them to their own sin: “Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.”

The words, “gave them up” are a judicial term in Greek, used for handing over a prisoner to his sentence, turning him over to his punishment. The Greek word was used when Pilate “delivered” or gave the Lord over to be crucified (Lk. 23:25).

Here in Romans 1, God is giving the sentence to the Gentile world for their crime of rejecting Him and turning to idolatry.

In time past, the Gentiles, having sunk to the depths of darkness in their spiritual decline, God judicially abandoned them to the lusts of their own hearts; He left them to their own self-determination to continue in their sin and to then reap what they sow.

God gave them up does not mean eternal rejection, and it does not teach that God does not love or that Christ did not die for. God has always loved the world, and Christ died for all.

But God did give the Gentiles up to their sins and left them to the sad consequences of their actions because they had rejected the truth and Him.

He gave them up because they “changed the truth of God into a lie,” which means they exchanged the truth for the lie and the lie for the truth, denying the truth of God, that He is and is the Creator God, for the lie of worshipping the creation and created things like the sun, moon, the earth, animals, and so on.

And mankind “worshipped and served,” the creation and created things, “more than the Creator,” the God Who created all things.

Paul, in faith, added that God, the Creator, “is blessed for ever,” and is forever praised, stating this in contrast with the undeserving worship of the creation and created things. And then for emphasis, Paul added, “Amen,” as an affirmation of that truth. And we echo and agree with the sentiment of the apostle.

What you see in the rest of the chapter is that as the Gentiles CHANGED the glory of God in verse 23 and CHANGED the truth of God in verse 25, they then “CHANGE the natural use into that which is against nature.”

When God is removed from the picture, and man becomes his own god, he will do whatever he pleases, and he will fulfill his most depraved desires.

Rejecting God and His righteous standards leads to sexual uncleanness and immorality and to reject and then distort God’s created order and, thus, it results in homosexuality, as these verses clearly describe.

And it also leads to “a reprobate mind,” which is a mind totally devoid of moral sensitivity.

And God gave man over to this, due to his desire to no longer retain God in his knowledge.

A reprobate mind is capable of any kind of sin and continues in sin even in the face of future judgment, according to verse 32.

Verses 29-31 are a list of the sins which men wished to continue without divine interference, and to which God in his judgment abandoned the Gentiles.

The list shows the scope of the sin and wickedness that results from a refusal to acknowledge God and to be accountable to Him.

Thus, being under this judicial abandonment and wrath of God to continue in their sin and reap the consequences of them, the Gentiles were in the condition that Paul explained in Ephesians 2:11-12:

“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.”

Romans 15:8: “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.”

In time past, God formed a nation through Abraham, the nation of Israel. God’s plan in time past was for that one nation to be a light and a blessing to all the other nations of the world, that is, the Gentiles.

In Genesis 18:18 the Lord God said, “Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.”

Under this plan, as the Lord told the Samaritan woman at the well, “Salvation is of the Jews” and the Gentiles had to come to and through Israel to be saved.

God made a covenant with Abraham, promising to make his name great, and promising him a great nation and a great land.

Circumcision was required by God as a physical sign of the covenant between Him and Abraham and his seed. Thus, all descendants of Abraham became known as “the circumcision,” and the Gentiles were called the “uncircumcision.”

This covenant would ultimately be fulfilled and brought to pass through THE Seed of Abraham, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Later, God made His covenant of the law with Israel, as God said, to make her “a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.”

Later still, God made a covenant with David, promising to establish His house, throne, and kingdom forever. This would find its fulfillment through the throne and kingdom of David’s Seed, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then through the prophets, God made a new covenant with Israel. In it, He promised to write His law in their hearts, put His Spirit within them, cause them to walk in His statutes, and to forgive their iniquities and remember their sin no more.

When the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, was born and came to Israel, He did not come to this world to start a new program or a new dispensation; He came to minister under God’s prophetic program with Israel and to get the nation of Israel back on track.

Paul pointed out four things about Christ’s ministry in Romans 15:8. First, “Jesus Christ WAS a minister of the circumcision.” This not only places the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ that is referred to in the past, but implies that a change has since taken place.

In time past, the Lord WAS a minister of the circumcision, but after Israel’s fall, in time present, the Lord IS the Head of the Church, the Body of Christ in His current heavenly ministry at God’s right hand during the dispensation of grace.

Second, the Lord “was a minister of the circumcision.” The circumcision, again, refers to the Jews. Christ was sent by the Father to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

When you read about Christ’s earthly life and ministry in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you are reading about His ministry and teachings to Israel.

As Peter told his countrymen in Acts 3:26, “Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”

The Father sent the Son to Israel to bless her and turn them from their sins, so she would fulfill her purpose, as God said to Abraham, “And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed” (Acts 3:25). Israel’s faith and acceptance of their Messiah was essential to their fulfilling all God’s purposes through them and in them.

Third, the Lord was “a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God.” Christ came to minister the truth of God according to God’s program with Israel.

Christ was a minister of the Jews concerning God’s truth pertaining to Israel’s hope, the prophesied Messianic Kingdom. By His teachings, miracles, and the fulfillment of prophecy, the Lord verified the truth of God that He is Israel’s Messiah and King.

And He taught Israel the truth of God as He prepared her for the Tribulation and His kingdom that He will establish on the earth at His Second Coming.

When our Lord was on earth, He did not speak of the Body of Christ, of its one baptism, of there being no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, of an eternal position in the heavenlies for believers, or the Rapture of the Church before the Tribulation.

This is all the truth of God for this current program, later revealed by Christ to Paul. When the Lord was on earth, He taught the truth of God for Israel and her program.

And fourth, the Lord came “to confirm the promises made unto the fathers,” meaning the fathers of Israel.

The word “confirm” is a legal term denoting certainty that God will fulfill the promises and covenants He made with Israel and they will be fulfilled through Him, her Messiah.

The “promises” are those promises from God to Israel, which relate to the covenants and the coming of her Messiah and His kingdom. The “fathers” included Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and David also, and the promises made to them for national Israel.

Unlike the Gentiles, Israel had the covenants of promise and they were the basis of her hope. Christ came to confirm the promises of Israel being gathered in her promised land, being the preeminent nation and a blessing to the world, with the Seed of David and her Messiah reigning over her and all the earth in a kingdom of peace and righteousness.

This was Israel’s hope in time past that will be fulfilled in time future.

Romans 9:33 reads, “As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

Romans 9:33 is a quotation that comes from two passages in Isaiah: Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16.
Long before Christ’s coming, the prophets had predicted that Israel would reject her Messiah.

The “stone” which caused Israel to stumble, the rock which offended their self-righteousness, is a “Him” according to this verse. And the Him is Israel’s Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

After Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension back to the Father, the Holy Spirit was sent to Israel. Peter then confronted Israel with what they had done in rejecting their Messiah and having Him crucified.

In Acts 3, after Peter healed the lame man at the temple gate, he boldly told Israel, “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

“But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.”

The Holy Spirit came to powerfully minister in Israel to give witness to Christ’s resurrection and His identity as Israel’s Messiah. He came to glorify Christ and to “reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (Jn. 16:8).

Israel was required by God at this time to repent of crucifying their Messiah.

Peter went on to tell Israel in that same message, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.”

In the mercy of God, forgiveness was offered to Israel, and not only that but the return of Christ and the long-promised kingdom that will accompany His Second Coming.

God was still working with Israel, and she was not yet set aside. Peter called upon them as a nation to repent, and that if they would, the rejected Christ would return to Israel.

To Israel, the message in time past was “Repent, and God will send Jesus Christ down here to the earth,” because Israel’s hope was the earthly kingdom, while ours in time present is to live and reign in heaven above for eternity.

However, Israel continued in her rejection of her Messiah, in and through the time period of Acts 2-7 as the Spirit ministered in Israel.

In this time, the apostles preached in the Spirit’s power and wisdom, and they performed miracles in Christ’s name, bearing witness to His resurrection and identity.

And it all came to a head, when Stephen, a man full of the Spirit, stood before the ruling religious council in Israel and confronted them with being the betrayers and murders of the Just One, their Messiah.

Hearing this, these rulers rushed upon him and stoned him with their own hands. This, in time past, was when Israel stumbled over the Stumblingstone and fell in her unbelief.

Israel’s rejection of her Messiah and then having Him crucified was done ignorantly, Peter said. In Peter’s message in Acts 3, he told Israel, “And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.”

But then Israel persisted in her rejection of Jesus Christ, her Messiah, under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and then her leaders stoned Stephen, and this act by her religious leaders was done willfully and knowingly.

Their hearts were like the citizens in the Lord’s parable in Luke 19, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return…But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us” (19:12,14).

After the Lord went to that far country of heaven to be with His Father, to receive for Himself a kingdom, and to return to Israel, that message was sent to the Lord by Israel that “We will not have this man to reign over us.”

And thus, Israel stumbled over the Stumblingstone and the Rock of offense, and like the Gentiles, she reaped what she sowed in her unbelief, and she fell.

But that fall in time past, was supposed to lead to the seven-year Tribulation. That was the next event on God’s prophetic timetable for Israel.

This is why Stephen at his death saw Christ “standing on the right hand of God,” ready to pour out judgment on His enemies. But instead, there was a surprise of grace.

God turned to the Gentiles. The Gentiles that He had given up to uncleanness, the Gentiles that did not like to retain God in their knowledge, who God gave over to a reprobate mind, God turned to US! He then raised up a new apostle, Paul, and called him to be the apostle of the Gentiles. And He began a program with the nations, by grace.

The temporary setting aside of Israel has resulted in fantastic news for the Gentiles. God is now extending salvation and offering reconciliation to all people from all nations, and saving both individual Jews and the Gentiles, and making them members of His Church, the Body of Christ and giving them eternal life and a home in heaven.

This was unheard of and never prophesied in time past.

As Paul put it in Romans 11, while both reminding us of this incredible blessing for the Gentiles and also reminding us that God’s not finished with Israel: “…through their [Israel’s] fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?” (11:11-12).