Why God "Gave Them Up" — Romans 1 & the Wrath to Come

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. And again, it's good to have everybody back, and we'll go right on into our second program of this taping session. And as usual, we like to welcome our television audience, and many of you are writing every week that you're just now catching the program for the first time. So for a few programs, we're going to emphasize our tapes and our little books that are available. Keith Decker has sort of set up a good display for us. Keith does all of the preparation for the printer of our little books, and he has a publishing work here in Tulsa. And so just remember that all of the past programs are available on 6-hour videotapes, in which we've put 12 programs. Now this goes all the way back to Genesis 1-1. And then a couple years ago, they started transcribing the tapes. And so word for word, it's now in print on the little booklets. And each booklet, of course, is corresponding to its individual tape. So we have Book 1, Tape 1, and so on and so forth. And if you're interested, why, you write to us. You can buy one of each or as many as you care. Just give us a call or write to us. In fact, a lot of times if people call, why, we just suggest that they let us send their order list, which gives all the topics and all the information in every tape, and then we can just sort of pick and choose. We've covered a lot of ground in the last four and a half years, all the way from Genesis up. We spent four tapes, or 24 lessons I guess, on prophecy in the middle of them. And then we went back and went through the Gospels, and now we've gone through the Book of Acts, and now we're just getting into the Book of Romans. So we'd like to have you turn with me, if you will, back to where we left off, Romans 1. And remember now that after all that God has provided for us, if we'll just believe it, He also has to realize that for Christ and God rejecting mankind, even though His wrath has never yet been poured out, even though we know He destroyed the human race in the flood, we know He dealt with Israel at times in rather strenuous ways, yet it was not God's wrath, it was disciplinary. And I think He's still doing that once in a while. But so far as the wrath of God, the world doesn't know what that is. In fact, maybe I neglected in the last half hour, let's go back to Psalms chapter 2, because I think that's just about the first time that that word is used with regard to God dealing with mankind. In Psalms chapter 2, we have the word itself. And of course we always use Psalm chapter 2 in prophecy, because it's basically the outline of all the things that would happen concerning Israel, in simplified form of course. But here in Psalms chapter 2, you remember, the early verses speak of Jew and Gentile rejecting the Anointed One, which speaks of crucifying Him. And then verse 4, "...he that sitteth in the heavens," that is the Godhead, "...shall laugh," in other words that man should be so foolish, "...the Lord shall have them," mankind, the nations, "...in derision," total confusion, and more, you can see it coming. "...and then, after they have rejected Him, and rejected Him, and rejected Him, and they have finally reached a point of complete confusion, but still think they've got all the answers, then He shall speak unto them in His wrath." Not in grace, not in love, but in wrath, and then He will vex them in His sore displeasure. On your way back to the New Testament, just stop in Matthew 24, a portion that's well known. Jesus in His earthly ministry, of course, is speaking to the Twelve, they're on the Mount of Olives. And here in Matthew 24, He says it so graphically. Matthew 24, verse 21. Speaking of that final 7 years of human history, "...for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the world began." Now I remember years ago, when I looked at that, I thought, well why did He say that, when the flood was so catastrophic and so complete in destroying the human race? Well because the flood wasn't His wrath. As I said in the last half hour, it was actually an act of mercy. They were instantaneously wiped off the face of the earth, and they were gone. But you see, when His wrath is going to be poured out, it's going to be 3 1⁄2 years of things beyond human comprehension. That's what's going to be His wrath, and that's what's coming. The world is setting itself up for it. So He says, "...for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, for this time nor ever shall be." Alright, now let's just go back to Revelation for just a couple of references, and see how Revelation speaks of this same period of time. Revelation 6, and this is only the beginning. Revelation 6, verse 15, "...and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men..." You know I read an article the other day that some of our wealthiest people in America are beginning to see the handwriting on the wall, and like rats leaving a sinking ship. You know what they're doing? They're buying up property down in the Caribbean islands. Some of them are buying a whole island, building what they hope will be a safe escape for that which is to come. Hey, they can't hide. They are not going to be able to hide. Look what it says. "...and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens of the rocks of the mountains. And they'll say to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, hide us from the face of Him who sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath..." Now I know Christendom has just been lulled to sleep with everything but any mention of the wrath of God. You don't hear it. People are afraid to talk about it. They don't want to hear it. But the book says it, that the wrath of God is coming. Let's look at another one. Verse 20 of chapter 9. I didn't intend it to be this way, but this is going to set us up for the next verse in Romans 1 that we're coming to. It's amazing. I just told somebody, I don't plan any of this. It just sort of unfolds by itself. But look what it says in Revelation 9, verse 20. "...after all the death and destruction that has already taken place up to this point in time, the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk. Neither repented they, or changed their mind about their murders, their sorceries, which is really drugs, nor their fornication, their gross immorality, nor of their thefts." In spite of all that has already been poured out, they're still not going to change their attitude. Let's go on to another one here in Revelation. Revelation 14. And here we're at the end of the Tribulation. We've had all these horrible, horrible events take place. Things that man has never yet experienced. And now we come to those that are surviving, that are in the armies of the world, all gathered around Jerusalem, for that last great battle of Armageddon. And I'm not going to take time. I'd like to read all the way from verse 14, but I won't take the time. But come down to verse 16. "...he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped." In other words, men, humanity. "...and another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle, and another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and cried with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and lather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for the grapes are fully ripe." Now this is symbolic language, of course, of God gathering the residue of humanity that is still living, gathering them there in the Middle East, under military auspices, of course. And the gathering of the grapes into the wine vat is the gathering of these military people into that valley of Esdraelon, down the Jordan Valley, in all the low-laying areas of Israel especially, and they're going to be packed in, as I've said earlier, like sardines in a can. Contrary to good military operation, but they're going to be forced by a sovereign God to just pack their men into these valleys. That's the wine vat. That's like putting grapes in the vat. And now the very presence of God is going to come and crush them as grapes in the vat. Verse 19, "...and the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine." In other words, they're going to bring all their armies to the Middle East, and cast it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. The wrath of God. Now you see, God's wrath isn't being poured out tonight. We have no idea of what the wrath of God is going to do. Even though we can experience floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, that's nothing. That's nothing compared to what it will be when the wrath of God will finally be released on Christ and God rejecting mankind. Now if you'll come back with me here in the studio to Romans chapter 1. We left off in verse 22, where ungodly men, men without faith, professing themselves to be wise, became fools. And I showed you what a fool was according to Scripture. He's the man or the woman who says no to what God says for us. And that is so typical. You know, I always, whenever I look at verse 22 of Romans 1, I'm always reminded, and I've shared with my classes for over 20 years, I can't help but always think of the Warren Supreme Court. Remember when the ex-governor of California became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? The biggest catastrophe that ever hit the United States of America. Because out of that Warren Supreme Court came so many decisions that just wrecked our Christian fabric. The most notorious one, of course, is giving the criminal more rights than the victim. I don't remember the name of the law, but that came out of the Warren Supreme Court. I think Roe v. Wade opening the door to abortion. I think it was still part of the Warren Supreme Court. Taking prayer and God out of the schools was all precipitated by the Warren Court. And I always have to think of those so-called brilliant, intellectual, robed men, thinking themselves to be wise, probably with more power than any other group of men in the world. And yet they'll come out with decisions that are as idiotic as a first grader. Why? The verse says it all. They have rejected what God has said. And consequently they act and they respond as a fool. Now verse 23. "...becoming fools, saying no to God, they now change the glory of the uncorruptible God, the God who cannot be touched with anything that is less than perfect. And they have changed Him into that which is an image made like to corruptible man, to birds, four-footed beasts, and creeping things." Now I don't know what the Scripture is implying here, but do you see the chronology here is reversed from what it was in creation? In creation it was first the creeping things, then the four-footed beasts, and then the birds if I remember correctly, and then man was the last. He was the last one created on Friday, on the 6th day. But here in the order of their making images, they come the other way, and they start with making images of a man, and then that doesn't satisfy their craving for something. They begin to make idols then made of birds, and then the four-footed beasts, and then even the reptiles, the lowest of creatures. Now if you doubt that, all you have to do is think back to when Israel was in Egypt under the Pharaohs. Everything in Egypt had become a god. The frogs were gods, the flies were gods, the river Nile was a god, and all the way through, in fact all the plagues that God pushed on Egypt was to show Egypt that their gods were nothing. In fact they became a plague, but they were their gods. Now they're changing the glory of the uncorruptible God into these kind of items to be worshipped. I mean we can't comprehend it, and yet here we are in 1995 now today, an intellectual, highly technologized man with all of his technology, coming back to the same place. We're coming back to it. It's just unreal. You say, what are you talking about? Hey, you know what the whole New Age movement is all about? It's coming under the Oriental idol worship. That's all it is, in subtle terms of course. But the whole New Age movement is to bring the world right back under the same idolatry that began where? The Tower of Babel. This is when these series of verses really began. Man first rejected God and His authority when Nimrod, you remember, who was not just the hunter of animals, he was the hunter of men, and he was the first world's totalitarian despot. And he brought them to the Tower of Babel, not with just the idea of building a building of clay and pitch, but he was setting up a religion. That's what it meant by reaching to heaven. They knew they couldn't build a tower or a jack's beanstalk or anything else into heaven, but it was going to be a religious system that would usurp the very throne room of heaven. And that is where the beginning of all pagan idolatry lies, the Tower of Babel. And that's where they began to worship in all various ways. Now remember, before the Flood, there was never an instance of idolatry. There was no religion of sorts before the Flood. There was no temple worship of any kind before the Flood. There was no organized worship. But what happened? Man went completely down the tube. He became corrupt, he became violent, because there was nothing to control his thinking. So after the Flood now, we have 8 people that have a knowledge of God. Noah and his wife, and his 3 sons and their wife. They had a knowledge of God, and I think God was in the Ark. And yet within 200 years, which was only a generation or two, that expanding population coming from those 8 people, are now gathered around the Tower of Babel, and ready to embrace pagan worship. Isn't that amazing? What are they doing? They're refusing to listen to what God said. And so here's where I think these series of verses now have their beginning. Now then, I haven't got much time left, and it's always running away from me. You come now to verse 24. And the word is, wherefore. Most of you now know what wherefores do. They point you right back to where you just come from. So as a result of everything we've said now, about these last 3 or 4 verses, concerning the fact that they had a knowledge of God, all they had to do was look up into the heavens, and they could see the proof of it. They had not only the knowledge of the heavens, but they had begun with Noah and his sons, who had a full knowledge of God. And yet within just a couple of generations, they are now ready to follow a humanist, who is now setting up pagan worship. And they fall for it, hook, line and sinker. Why? Because the old human nature is bent to rebel. And as we go through these coming verses, I don't think we'll get very far now in this 30 minutes, but in the next 2 half hour programs at least, maybe more. I always like to impress upon anybody I teach, don't look down your nose at these people, because but for the grace of God, you and I would be no different. Always remember that. But for the grace of God, you and I would be right in the middle of what's going to be described in these next verses. And that's sobering. And if I have people listening to me who may be in some of these situations, I'm not looking down my nose at them. I know that but for the grace of God, I could be where they are. But by the grace of God, they can also be where I am. And that's the beauty of it. Alright, "...wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness." Now that doesn't sound right, does it? That sounds like a play on words. You'd think He gave them up to something better. No He didn't. He gave them up to a lower lifestyle than what they began with. And it's the same way. I'm going to go back to Pharaoh again. Every time Pharaoh rejected a plague king that was worse than the one before. So when it was all finished, his great and mighty Egypt was a shambles. And it was because of his own arrogance. And the human race is doing it over and over and over. Alright, so we're going to start here with the Tower of Babel, and we're going to see the decline of the human race from the Tower of Babel until finally God had to say, Well I'm going to call out one man, and I'm going to do something different. That would be the call of Abraham. We're going to see the nation of Israel as well, start on that high plain with the knowledge of God. But even that nation, under the very auspices of the Creator God, where did they go? Down, down, down, down, until finally God would have to say, There's no remedy. There was no remedy because they had gone so far. I think you see the same thing happen periodically in various empires, various nations, where they may begin with a high level of spirituality and knowledge of God, but they degenerate. I think after the Reformation, Europe was aflame with the Word of God. Those great men of the Reformation who literally fill our history books, at least before political correctness took them out. But great men of God covered all of Europe. But what happened? Europe went the same track, down, down, down, until finally I told somebody the other day, and they didn't seem to believe me. I said, Look when you go back and analyze society in Europe prior to World War II, they were as rotten and ready as we are today. A lot of people don't realize that. Europe had already become almost destitute of Christianity by the time World War II rolled around. And then I always like to go to the British Empire. Now a lot of people don't like history as well as I do, but I try to get their interest cultivated. But you see the British Empire, so great that the sun never set on it. You know what that meant? From Great Britain you crossed the Atlantic and they had Canada in their domain. From Canada before the sun set, Australia was in it. By the time you came away from Australia, you had Singapore and Burma. All of that was part and parcel of the British Empire. They had the whole Middle East under their control. By that time of course you were back home in England. So the sun never set on the British Empire. Great Britain was the author and the beginner of four missions. The very first foreign missionary that went to the Orient was William Carey coming out of England. England was the very hotbed of Biblical scholars. But what happened? Down, down, down. I usually like to give the illustration. I'll probably get some flack on this. Just to show you how far they were slipping and how fast they were slipping, they gave birth to the Beatles. Isn't that right? The Beatles, which I think was the trigger to again the destruction of our social fabric. Oh, they created beautiful music. I won't ever take that away from them. But I always have to be reminded, and I think I shared it with one of the class the other night. I remember reading when the Beatles first came to America and this reporter was interviewing John Lennon. And they asked him, How do you write such beautiful music? And there was. The Beatles came out with some beautiful music. And he says, I'll never take that away from them. But what do you suppose his response was? He says, I'm inspired. Well, the guy says, no doubt. But he says, what do you mean? He says, I'm inspired by Satan. And that was in a news magazine. I read that with my own eyes. I mean, I'm not pulling that out of the woodwork. In fact, before, I think he was the one that was assassinated. Wasn't it John Lennon that they shot? Just shortly before that, he was also being interviewed. And he repeated it. He repeated it. That they were inspired by Satan. Well, that's exactly what has happened. Great Britain went from that eminence, all the way down to where it is today. What's Great Britain in the family of nations? A nobody. Their empire is gone. They've been struggling economically, and every other which way. Spiritually, they're practically dead. But this has been the track of human race ever since the Tower of Babel. Wherefore, verse 24, God gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of the desires of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. And whenever I teach this verse, I always maintain this is normal sexual immorality between the sexes. Got me? This is normal sexual immorality, men and women between the sexes, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Now, what was the first step? Idolatry. And just as soon as mankind replaces the true God with a man-made God, their moral fabric begins to rot. All you have to do is go back into the Orient over the times of the years gone by. Steeped in idolatry, Buddhism, Hinduism, and all the rest. But what is their moral status? Well, they have none. They have none. I can remember reading about the opium dens, and so forth, years ago. We're just now catching up, really. But this has been the downward track now for ever so long, beginning especially at the Tower of Babel. And like I said, empires will go that way, nations will go that way, so will individuals. So will individuals, and never lose sight of it. And but for the grace of God, you and I could have just as well taken that same track. You and I could have just as well succumbed to idols ending up in immorality. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.