Romans 1:22  # 45.23  February  07 2010

Pastor/Teacher Charles E. Whisnant

Romans 1:22 Professing ^(PAPMPN) to be wise, they became fools ^(3SPAPI)  

Romans 1:23 and exchanged ^(3PAAI) the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures

·         PROFESSING (alleging, asserting, affirming) TO BE WISE: ^{phaskontes (PAPMPN) einai (PAN) sophoi:} (Ro 11:25; Pr 25:14; 26:12; Is 47:10; Jer 8:8,9; 10:14; Mt 6:23; 1Co 1:19, 20, 21; 3:18,19)

As you know it’s always being my goal to discover the depth of Scripture.  I do get excited about what I am learning from God’s Word.

Romans is about the Good News,  but for the Good News to be good, we need to know what the bad news is.  And the bad news is, we are all under the wrath of God.  We are all sinners and with out some good news we are all bound to go to HELL for all eternity.  That is forever. So we need good news.

On the TV News they give us all the bad news without, or  with little good news.

Jesus spoke more on the negative. He had more to say about judgment, destruction, damnation, Hell, than anybody recorded in scripture.

·         For contempt of others.

·         For unwillingness to forsake sin.

·         For falsely professing to follow Christ.

·         For assuming Jewish lineage can save.

·         For rejecting the Messengers of Christ

·         For failing to fear and reverence God.

From the beginning Jesus’ testimony was clear. God is a God of judgment and wrath who will punish sin.

So Paul does the same, he first warns men about the wrath of God.  And Paul answers the question: “Is God fair?”  Is God unloving?  How? By defending God’s right to respond in judgment.

·         God has a right to judge: Romans 1:18-23.

·         Paul gives FOUR  REASONS FOR THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD’S JUDGMENT:

1A       REVELATION:

1.      God has given the truth of God.

2.      Man is responsible for responding properly to the revelation of God:

·         Acts 14:15, 17:23,27, John 1:9

2A       REJECTION:

1.      Men have rejected the revealed creation of God, and refuse to thank and glorify Him.

2.      Rejecting the light of God’s knowledge in their consciences, men now arrogated to themselves wisdom, and became—what? Fools! “The fear of the Lord is the beginning”—of both knowledge and wisdom (Pr 1:7; 9:10; 15:33; Ps 111:10-; Job 28:28). 

            That is the characterization of the entire human race apart from regeneration. Rom 2:23

            Man refuses to glorify God and thus praises himself.  Daniel 4:30-37  Nebuchadnezar

3A       RATIONALIZATION: 

1B       Professing ^{(5335) (phasko from phemi = to say or affirm)} means to affirm, allege, pretend, profess. The idea conveyed by this verb is that one is speaking with an air of certainty, stating something with a high degree of confidence The English word assert which means to affirm or declare positively or with assurance and often even forcefully or aggressively. The idea of assert implies stating confidently without need for proof or regard for evidence.

·         Man rationalizes his sin and proves his utter foolishness by devising and believing his own philosophies about God, the universe, and himself

2B       They Became fools ^{(3471) (moraino from morós = foolish and root of our English moron = very stupid person)} can refer to physical sloth or dullness, but mainly is a reference (and especially in the present context) to one's intellectual life. It means to cause content of certain thoughts to become devoid of meaning or even to cause them to become nonsense.

·         Rejecting the light of God’s knowledge in their consciences, men now arrogated to themselves wisdom, and became—what? Fools! “The fear of the Lord is the beginning”—of both knowledge and wisdom (Pr 1:7; 9:10; 15:33; Ps 111:10-; Job 28:28). 

THREE WAYS THEY HAVE BECOME FOOLS:

1B       COMPROMISE:  THEISTIC EVOLUTION:

2B       LIBERAL THEOLOGY:

3B       PSYCHOLOGY       

GOD IS TO BE GLORIFY WHICH IS THE CHIEF END OF MAN

Romans 1:21

Pastor/Teacher Charles E. Whisnant

January 31, 2010

Man has REJECTED the REVELATION given to him by God.  Many has failed to give God the GLORY due to His NAME.

Only God and He alone is worthy of exaltation, honor, adoration, and praise:

·         Lev. 10:3, I Chron. 16:24-29, Psa. 1248l; Isaiah 48:1-11, and Romans 15:5-6

TO THE GLORY OF THE LORD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES

·         His Power:  Romans 6:4

·         His Goodness, Grace, and Mercy:  Exodus 33:18-19

·         His Truthfulness: John 1:14

But exact ally what man want do. They will not manifest that glory in their lives.

TO STAND IN HIS CREATION, HIS UNIVERSE AND DO NOT BELIEVE GOD IS THE BIGGEST FOOL WHO EVER LIVED.

LET US SEE HOW THE REJECTION OF GOD BEGAN

1A       GOD’S GLORY IN THE GARDEN

2A       GOD’S GLORY REVEALED IN THE WILDERNESS:

·         Genesis 12.  Exodus 33 and 34

3A       GOD’S GLORY IN THE TABERNACLE:

·         Exodus 40

4A       GOD’S GLORY IN THE TEMPLE:

            1 Kings 8:11-

·         The naive, false notion that those who have never explicitly heard the gospel are not under God's condemnation is corrected by this passage. That which may be intuitively known about God has been placed in the minds (heart, conscience) of all men by God and thus no man can claim ignorance of God, and no person can claim that God’s wrath against him is unjust. Every person is accountable for the revelation of God that may lead one to salvation.

THE ACTIVE WILLFUL NEGLECT OF GOD’S TRUTH LEADS TO EMPTY SPECULATION

Romans 1:21

January 24, 2010 Pastor/Teacher Charles E. Whisnant

BECAUSE ¹³⁶⁰ THAT, WHEN THEY KNEW ¹⁰⁹⁷ GOD, THEY GLORIFIED ¹³⁹² HIM NOT AS GOD, NEITHER WERE THANKFUL²¹⁶⁸; BUT BECAME VAIN ³¹⁵⁴ IN THEIR IMAGINATIONS ^1261, AND THEIR FOOLISH⁸⁰¹ HEART²⁵⁸⁸ WAS DARKENED ⁴⁶⁵⁴

Romans 1:21 For even though they knew ^(AAPMPN)  God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened ^(3SAPI).

“Two things never live up to their billing: the circus and sin.”

“It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into nothing. Murder is no better than lies if lying does the trick.”—C. S. Lewis

“The punishment of sin is sin.”—Augustine

The basis for God’s wrath against the Gentiles and the fact that they are without excuse is that they suppress the truth about God and have exchanged the glory of God for idols (1:18-23)

The basis for God’s wrath against the Gentiles is that although they knew God, and claimed to be wise, they neither glorified him nor gave thanks to him, but instead they became futile in their thinking, darkened in their foolish heart, and exchanged the glory of God for idolatry (1:21-23).

THEY KNEW

·         God has given mankind the means to know personally the existence of God and to know His divine attributes. Men have knowledge of God’s being and character.  Acts 17:27.

THEY DID NOT GLORIFY HIM AS GOD

·         About the worst thing you can say about a man is a man who is not thankful to God.

·         They give the glory to another, they did not praise Him, or magnify Him, they did not place Him into the position of power and immense honor that He truly deserved.

·         They made a choice of their will. They made a deliberate choice not (absolute cancellation) to honor or glorify Him.

·         Mankind is to respond to the Truth given. Truth demands a response. The response? To glorify Him as the Great Creator.

·         It’s the main thing for a man: to glorify God:  I Corin. 10:31; Romans 11:36; Psa. 73:15-28 1 Chronicles 16:24-29

EVERY HUMAN BEING KNOWS HE OUGHT TO GIVE HIS BEING OVER TO HIS CREATOR’S WORSHIP AND GLORY.  BUT DO NOT.

OR GIVE THANKS

·         They will not show themselves grateful.  They refused to acknowledge Him as LORD. James 1:17

·         You stop giving praise to God leads to disastrous consequences. But man refuses both worship and praise.

BUT THEY BECAME VAIN IN THEIR IMGINATIONS

·         They become worthless in their wisdom, they think about worthless things. Jeremiah 2:5

·         They come to the false notions, false reasoning, about God,  In spite of the facts, they reject them.

·         Refusing to recognize God and to have His truth guide their minds, sinful men are doomed to futile quests for wisdom through various human speculations that lead only to falsehood and therefore to still greater unbelief and wickedness.  1 Corinthians 1:18-31

·         Have you noted when rejecting revealed truth, they find alternative explanations? Jeremiah 2:5.

AND THEIR FOOLISH

·         This person is without insight, or understanding, inability to conclude from the creation there is a Creator.  Romans 11:10, Deut. 28:29; Isa 60:2; Acts 16:18; 1 Peter 2:9, Matt 15:15,

·         All men are by nature undiscerning as to the things of God, and to this there was never an exception.

HEART

·         The inner person, the seat of motives and attitudes, the center of personality. And includes the thinking process and particularly the will.

·         WHEN MEN TURN WILLFULLY FROM TRUTH, THEY WILL RUN TO THE EXTREMES OF ERROR.

WAS DARKENED

·         They saw the Light and rejected the light they had, the only thing remaining was darkness.

·         They manifest a lack of religious and /or moral perception and therefore become inwardly “darkened” in respect to understanding.  Matthew 6:23

·         The fact is, once a man rejects the truth of God in Christ, he will fall for anything foolish and trust those false systems more than the truth about God.

A Haitian woman is covered in rubble on January 12, 2010 in Port-au-Prince after a huge earthquake rocked the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti, toppling buildings and causing widespread damage and panic, officials and AFP witnesses said. A tsunami alert was immediately issued for the Caribbean region after the earthquake struck at 2153 GMT. (DANIEL MOREL/AFP/Getty Images)

Bible Fellowship Study: January  17 2010  Charles E. Whisnant, Teacher

Charles Whisnant, January 03, 2010 at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church teaching from Philippians 2:12. Part 1

There are four videos of this one message.

 

1.  They fret about trivial offenses,
2.  fear they are not Christians,
3.  worry that their doubts have carried them beyond hope,
4.  struggle with thinking that minor mistakenness in speech or
5.  carnality in motives will bar them from heaven.
6.  

• In which God will judge the guilty. And here is the fact. You can be guilty and not even feel guilty. I Timothy 4:2. And Hebrew 3:13 says “that we can be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”

1.  Here you have a purely subjective i.e. it is slanted, biased, prejudiced and/or one-sided. In other words not the result of present sin in God’s eyes. Here the guilt is not related to facts but feelings. Of course, you can feel guilty and not be guilty. Here is the bummer; guilt feelings are often stronger with false guilt.

1.  Breaking internal standards.
2.  Breaking other’s rules.
3.  Breaking other’s expectations.
4.  A failure to accept God’s forgiveness.
5.  Failure to forgive one’s self.
6.  Perfectionism is a cause.
7.  And the main one is the Accuser, the devil himself.

1. Isaiah 53:7, 10, 11
2. 2 Corinthians 5:21
3. Ephesians 1:4-8
4. Titus 1:13, 14
5. Hebrews 10:10, 12, 14
6. I Peter 1:18, 19

• Guilt is defined as a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, failure, mistake, crime, or wrong, whether real or imagined. It is associated with negative feelings such as shame, remorse, anguish, torment, self-condemnation, self-unforgiveness, self-judgment and in extreme cases, severe depression.

_____________________________

Jeffery Zaslow, "The Greatest Generation (of Networkers)," The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, November 4, 2009.

Jeffery Zaslow of The Wall Street Journal opens his article with the story of a 17-year-old boy sent to the vice principal's office after being caught sending text messages in class.  The vice principal, Steve Gallagher, told the boy to pay attention to the teacher, not to his cellphone.  Even as the boy nodded politely, Gallagher noticed something amiss -- the boy was texting about his discipline for being caught texting.

"It was a subconscious act," said Gallagher. "Young people today are connected socially from the moment they open their eyes in the morning until they close their eyes at night. It's compulsive."

Zaslow calls the lifestyle of these young people "hypersocializing."  As he observes:

Because so many people in their teens and early 20s are in this constant whir of socializing—accessible to each other every minute of the day via cellphone, instant messaging and social-networking Web sites—there are a host of new questions that need to be addressed in schools, in the workplace and at home. Chief among them: How much work can "hyper-socializing" students or employees really accomplish if they are holding multiple conversations with friends via text-messaging, or are obsessively checking Facebook?

There is an argument to be noticed here.  Some assert that this generation of teens and twenty-somethings has developed an invaluable ability to multitask, to frame arguments with few words, and to stay constantly connected. Some, like Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies, go so far as to argue that these young people are so skilled at "multimedia socializing" that their social skills are superior to previous generations, rightly understood.

Others, noting the time spent obsessively checking digital devices, see a loss of community, a fog of constant chatter, and, for both employers and educators, a massive volume of lost time. As P. M. Forni at Johns Hopkins University observes, "There is a lot of communication going on that is futile and trivial."

Consider what this means for educators:

Educators are also being asked by parents, students and educational strategists to reconsider their rules. In past generations, students got in trouble for passing notes in class. Now students are adept at texting with their phones still in their pockets, says 40-year-old Mr. Gallagher, the vice principal, "and they're able to communicate with someone one floor down and three rows over. Students are just fundamentally different today. They will take suspensions rather than give up their phones."

As Gallagher concludes, asking students to separate themselves from social media for the school day seems futile. "It's like talking to kids about why they don't need air."

Jeffery Zaslow's article, published in the invaluable "Personal Journal" section of The Wall Street Journal, is directed mainly to the business community, where executives are hard pressed to know how much they should (or even can) restrict social networking among younger employees. But the issues he addresses go far beyond the business context. His article should be read by parents, pastors, teachers, and anyone who cares about the minds and souls of young people.

One thing is clear -- Zaslow is not exaggerating. Almost every parent of a teenager or twenty-something will recognize the truth of his diagnosis of "hypersocializing" among the young. If anything, the issues range beyond the concerns he identifies.  Business executives are concerned about the financial costs and economic impact. Educators are rightly concerned about distractions from the learning process. But what does this hypersocializing do to the souls of young people?

As prophets of technological pessimism from Jacques Ellul to Neil Postman have reminded us, every technology comes with an effect on the soul. How does this digital revolution effect the souls of young people who quite literally sleep with cellphones on the pillow, lest they miss a text message in the night? What space is left for the development of flesh-and-blood friendships? How are they related to people who do not have access to text messages? Is their communicative ability now limited to 140 characters in a burst?

Among young Christians, what space is left for the development of a devotional life? Do their lives contain any space for extended quiet and reflection, for prayer, or for reading anything longer than a text message?

This is precisely where evangelical Christians need to invest serious thought and reflection. We should all be concerned when Steve Gallagher laments that these young people think they need constant access to social media the way they need oxygen for breathing.

Then again, maybe the real problem is much worse than Zaslow and Gallagher acknowledge. Is this phenomenon limited to the "hypersocialized" young?  In the spirit of personal confession I must admit that I turn on my iPhone the moment the plane hits the tarmac on landing. I feel irresponsible if I do not post regular Twitter updates and check email and messages constantly. Colleagues, friends, and constituents expect "hypersocializing," and they now range across the age spectrum.

There is no going back -- at least not in terms of retreat. The social universe is a fact of life, and a missiological challenge for the Christian church. We are all Facebookers now.

The hypersocialized generation of teenagers and young adults needs to learn limits. Parents must provide those limits for their children and encourage them in older offspring. Educators and executives cannot ignore the challenge, but there is as yet no mechanism for determining proper balance in a world growing more hypersocialized by the day.

We are all looking for someone to figure this out and find the responsible boundaries. When this happens, let's hope they send a text message to the rest of us.

_____________________________

Jeffery Zaslow, "The Greatest Generation (of Networkers)," The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, November 4, 2009.

“It was a subconscious act,” said Gallagher. “Young people today are connected socially from the moment they open their eyes in the morning until they close their eyes at night. It’s compulsive.”

Zaslow calls the lifestyle of these young people “hypersocializing.”  As he observes:

Because so many people in their teens and early 20s are in this constant whir of socializing—accessible to each other every minute of the day via cellphone, instant messaging and social-networking Web sites—there are a host of new questions that need to be addressed in schools, in the workplace and at home. Chief among them: How much work can “hyper-socializing” students or employees really accomplish if they are holding multiple conversations with friends via text-messaging, or are obsessively checking Facebook?

There is an argument to be noticed here.  Some assert that this generation of teens and twenty-somethings has developed an invaluable ability to multitask, to frame arguments with few words, and to stay constantly connected. Some, like Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies, go so far as to argue that these young people are so skilled at “multimedia socializing” that their social skills are superior to previous generations, rightly understood.

Others, noting the time spent obsessively checking digital devices, see a loss of community, a fog of constant chatter, and, for both employers and educators, a massive volume of lost time. As P. M. Forni at Johns Hopkins University observes, “There is a lot of communication going on that is futile and trivial.”

Consider what this means for educators:

Educators are also being asked by parents, students and educational strategists to reconsider their rules. In past generations, students got in trouble for passing notes in class. Now students are adept at texting with their phones still in their pockets, says 40-year-old Mr. Gallagher, the vice principal, “and they’re able to communicate with someone one floor down and three rows over. Students are just fundamentally different today. They will take suspensions rather than give up their phones.”

As Gallagher concludes, asking students to separate themselves from social media for the school day seems futile. “It’s like talking to kids about why they don’t need air.”

Jeffery Zaslow’s article, published in the invaluable “Personal Journal” section of The Wall Street Journal, is directed mainly to the business community, where executives are hard pressed to know how much they should (or even can) restrict social networking among younger employees. But the issues he addresses go far beyond the business context. His article should be read by parents, pastors, teachers, and anyone who cares about the minds and souls of young people.

One thing is clear — Zaslow is not exaggerating. Almost every parent of a teenager or twenty-something will recognize the truth of his diagnosis of “hypersocializing” among the young. If anything, the issues range beyond the concerns he identifies.  Business executives are concerned about the financial costs and economic impact. Educators are rightly concerned about distractions from the learning process. But what does this hypersocializing do to the souls of young people?

As prophets of technological pessimism from Jacques Ellul to Neil Postman have reminded us, every technology comes with an effect on the soul. How does this digital revolution effect the souls of young people who quite literally sleep with cellphones on the pillow, lest they miss a text message in the night? What space is left for the development of flesh-and-blood friendships? How are they related to people who do not have access to text messages? Is their communicative ability now limited to 140 characters in a burst?

Among young Christians, what space is left for the development of a devotional life? Do their lives contain any space for extended quiet and reflection, for prayer, or for reading anything longer than a text message?

This is precisely where evangelical Christians need to invest serious thought and reflection. We should all be concerned when Steve Gallagher laments that these young people think they need constant access to social media the way they need oxygen for breathing.

Then again, maybe the real problem is much worse than Zaslow and Gallagher acknowledge. Is this phenomenon limited to the “hypersocialized” young?  In the spirit of personal confession I must admit that I turn on my iPhone the moment the plane hits the tarmac on landing. I feel irresponsible if I do not post regular Twitter updates and check email and messages constantly. Colleagues, friends, and constituents expect “hypersocializing,” and they now range across the age spectrum.

There is no going back — at least not in terms of retreat. The social universe is a fact of life, and a missiological challenge for the Christian church. We are all Facebookers now.

The hypersocialized generation of teenagers and young adults needs to learn limits. Parents must provide those limits for their children and encourage them in older offspring. Educators and executives cannot ignore the challenge, but there is as yet no mechanism for determining proper balance in a world growing more hypersocialized by the day.

We are all looking for someone to figure this out and find the responsible boundaries. When this happens, let’s hope they send a text message to the rest of us.

_____________________________

Jeffery Zaslow, “The Greatest Generation (of Networkers),” The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, November 4, 2009.

Why I preach the Word

For many reasons, faithful and full proclamation of the Word is the only right way to preach.

First of all, such preaching lets God speak rather than man, because it declares God’s own Word. And it is an incredibly thrilling privilege to give voice to God!

Second, preaching the Word is the only right way to preach because it brings the preacher into direct contact with the mind of the Holy Spirit, the author of Scripture. It is for that reason that the preacher of the Word finds the process of study and discovery to be even more rewarding than the preaching that results from it, gratifying as that can be.

Third, preaching the Word is the only right way to preach because it forces the preacher to proclaim all of God’s revelation, including those truths that even many believers find hard to learn or accept.

Fourth, preaching the Word is the only right way to preach because it promotes biblical literacy in a congregation, not only through what is learned from the sermon itself but also through the increased desire to study Scripture more carefully and consistently on their own. The faithful pastor, and all other faithful believers, love to learn God’s Word because they love the God of the Word.

Fifth, preaching the Word is the only right way to preach because it carries ultimate authority. It is the complete and perfect self-revelation of God Himself and of His divine will for mankind, which He has created in His own image.

Sixth, preaching the Word is the only right way to preach because only that kind of preaching can transform both the preacher and the congregation.

Seventh, the final and most compelling reason that preaching the Word is the only right way to preach is simply that it is His own Word, and only His own Word, that the Lord calls and commissions His preachers to proclaim.

The Curse of Sin 1 from Charles E. Whisnant on Vimeo.

Biblical Definition of Sin 1 from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

Charles E. Whisnant, Rivers of Joy Baptist Church, Minford, Ohio. A Theological Study, as well as practical study of Sin. September 26, 2009. 5 or 6 parts

Sunday Bible Study:
IS THE BIBLE TRANSLATED FROM THE HEBREW AND GREEK

Sunday Morning:   OH THAT SOMEONE WOULD ARISE AND SHOW US GOD”

First the Bad News, then the Good News

THE MOTIVATION TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER

Charles e. whisnant, pastor and teacher Sunday night

Philippians 2:1-5

from a state of innocence to our present predicament.

THE DOCTRINE/ THEOLOGY OF SIN

Genesis 3:1-7 Wednesday night

Responsibility in the Garden 5 from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

Charles E. Whisnant, Pastor and Teacher of Rivers of Joy Baptist Church September 09 2009 From the Theology of Creation.