Sexual Immorality and Perversion

Romans 1:21
They Glorified Him Not.

Although Romans 1:21-28 primarily address the downward course of depravity among the unregenerate, they also contain principles indicating why one of the major sins of fallen Christians is immorality.

1. When Christians (especially leaders in the church) become proud and boastful, they seek honor for themselves and exalt themselves (the creature) rather than the Creator. A door is then opened within their lives to sexual impurity and shameful lust (II Peter 2:2 & 15). If they do not turn and repent, they will ultimately be given over to a reprobate mind.
   
   
2. Such people may continue in shameful lust and sin while justifying their actions as common human weakness, persuading themselves that they are still in fellowship with the Holy Spirit and in possession of salvation. They blind themselves to the warning of Scripture that "no whoremonger, nor unclean person ... hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ" (Ephesians 5:5).
   
   

Romans 1:24
God Also Gave Them Up.

A pimary sign of God's abandonment of any society or people is that they become obsessed with sexual immorality and perversion.

1. The term "God also gave them up to uncleanness" means that God abandoned these persons to intensified and aggravated lusts. The term "lust" in this verse denotes a passionate desire for forbidden sexual pleasure (II Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3).
   
   
2. Three stages occur among all people who reject the truth of God's revelation and seek pleasure in ungodliness. The three stages of abandonment by God to impurity are:
   
   
   1. God giving them over to lust for sinful sexual pleasures that degrade the body
      (Romans 1:24);
      
      
   2. God giving them over to shameful homosexual or lesbian passions
      (Romans 1:26-27)
      
      
   3. God giving them up to a reprobate mind, i.e,, their minds justify their unrighteous actions and they become continually preoccupied with evil and the pleasures of sexual sin
      (Romans 1:28).
      
      
3. God has two purposes in abandoning the unrighteous to sin:
   1. To allow sin and its consequences to accelerate as part of His judgment upon them
      (Romans 2:2).
      
      
   2. to make them realize their need for salvation
      (Romans 2:4).
      
      

Romans 1:25
Who Changed The Truth Of God Into A Lie.

The "lie" is the word of Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44): "ye shall be as gods" (Genesis 3:5).

1. To believe the lie is to reject "the truth of God" and participate in idolatry (Genesis 3:5; Colossians 3:5; II Thessalonians 2:11).
   
   
2. Man's propensity for self-worship is the reason the Bible incessantly warns against pride. "Because thine heart is lifted up [proud], and thou hast said, I am a God" (Ezekiel 28:2; Proverbs 6:17; 8:13; 16:18; I Timothy 3:6; james 4:6; I John 2:16).
   
   

Romans 1:27
Men With Men.

The apostle likely regarded the homosexual/lesbian abomination as the greatest evidence of human degeneracy resulting from immorality and abandonment by God (Genesis 19:4-5; Leviticus 18:22). Any nation that justifies homosexuality or lesbianism as an acceptable lifestyle is in its final stages of moral corruption. For more information about this horrible act, please read Genesis 19:4-9; Leviticus 20:13; Deuteronomy 23:17; I Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; Isaiah 3:9; I Corinthians 6:9-10; I Timothy 1:10; II Peter 2:6; Jude 7.

Romans 1:32
Have Pleasure In Them That Do Them.

Paul's last word on general human sinfulness is God's condemnation of a condition even more damning than the practice itself, i.e., supporting, approving, and encouraging evil by taking pleasure in the immoral actions of others. This disposition is the ultimate in depravity - vicarious enjoyment of lust and evil. Sin becomes entertainment.

1. The word "have pleasure" means "are pleased with," "delight in," or "give approval to," and points to the casual enjoyment of the sins of others that prevails in human society.
   
   
2. Today we know what great harm is produced by the portrayal of immorality that dominates the entertainment media; yet many consent to it and derive pleasure from it. Being entertained by watching other people sin and engage in ungodly actions, even while you yourself abstain, brings you under the same condemnation of God as those engaging in such evil practices. Iniquity is intensified in any society where sin meets with no inhibition from the disapproval of others and where people enjoy watching it.
   
   
3. Hence, those (and especially those who profess faith in Christ) who use the immoral actions of others for entertainment and enjoyment are directly contributing to public opinion favorable to immorality and, therefore, to the corruption and eternal damnation of an indefinite number of other people. This sin is worthy of death and will be exposed and judged at the final day of judgment
   (II Thessalonians 2:12).