and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things.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.and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.
8 sermons cite this verse
… 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. Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts, the sexual impurity, for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and they worshiped and served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts that ought not to be done. even though women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way men abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another, men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind that ought not to be done. They've become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. …
… to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things the story is for every person on the planet. They have knowledge of God, including the unreached, and have rejected God. If you're unreached, you have an inherently sinful nature that rebels against the knowledge of God that you have, and you turn aside from the one true God to other gods. Now this looks different in different places. If you're unreached in West Africa, you maybe practice voodoo in your attempts to appease and direct evil spirits around you. Maybe you're unreached in India where you offer incense every day to a host of gods in your home that you've crafted with your hands. Maybe you're unreached in Saudi Arabia and every day, five times a day, you face one direction and bow down with prayers to a false god. Maybe you're in the mountains of Nepal, unreached there where you worship the Buddha and you sent your first son off to the monastery and hoped that he might attain Buddhahood. …
… with the sight of this glory? Well, they don't honor Him. They don't give thanks. They exchange the glory, exchange the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. This is a further explanation of man's failure. They exchanged the glory, that is the radiance, the beauty, the power, the transcendent excellence of the immortal God, all of that that should have rested heavy upon them, they exchanged that for images resembling man, birds, animals, creeping things. Now, what is meant by this exchange? clearly at one level this has to do with an exchange in the object of our worship that's the most obvious meaning an exchange in the object of our worship that the foolish exchange is they should have made god the truly glorious one the object of their worship and instead they made animals and beasts and creeping things they exchange the object but i want to argue it's not only that. Verse 23 also has to do with the loss of our glory. That is, the glory we were meant to reflect from God as the only creatures made in His image. So, the exchange, I'm arguing, is twofold. The foolish exchange is that you swapped out the right object for the wrong object, but also a foolish exchange that you and I have lost the glory we were meant to reflect. …
… there is no God. Because they have so suppressed that truth in unrighteousness, they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man. You see that in verse 23, the first exchange. And then they exchanged the truth for a lie, verse 25, the second exchange. And they exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, verse 26. So Paul sees the expression of homosexuality as a final stage in God handing people over to their desires, this unnatural exchange. The conclusion then, look now at our text for this morning, verse 28, is stated once again, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, so they knew God, but they did not acknowledge God. They did not, you could translate this, they did not approve of God. They did not take Him seriously. They refused to know what they knew. They knew something and they refused to know it. That is the paradox of the human condition in sin. You know something. Paul's going to talk later in chapter 2 about the conscience. …
… In Jesus' name, amen. Romans chapter 1, verses 21 through 23. Romans chapter 1, verses 21 through 23. Follow along as I read. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. At the end of last week's message, we came to the sobering conclusion. See it there in your Bibles in verse 20. So they are without excuse. The they refers most particularly to the Gentiles. Gentiles, this section 18 through 32 in chapter 1, is thinking about the non-Jewish world, though there are a lot of echoes, as we'll see, to the Old Testament. So the Jews could also be guilty of these things. But mainly he's thinking about the Gentile world apart from Christ. And then chapter 2, he's going to turn his attention to the Jews. They, that is the nations of the world, all peoples know something about God. That was his argument. The light of nature shows that there is a God. He is invisible. He is eternal. He is powerful. He possesses a nature unlike ours by means of this general revelation. So not saving, not the special revelation in Christ and in his word, but the general revelation, which is communicated to us through the things that have been made, and God taking that implants within us a seed of divinity. …
… But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. So did you hear that? Where does sin start? It starts in a heart that does not honor God or give thanks to him. And a heart that exchanges the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and other things. So that's worldly worship. I think that's not showing up on the screen there. Okay, we'll put it down here. that's worldly worship okay so that's worship where we've replaced god on the throne of our hearts with someone something else which leads to worldly thoughts okay they became futile in their what? Thinking. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. So, worldly worship leads to worldly thoughts. Let's see where it goes from this. Romans 1 24 says, therefore, so in light of, see if it shows up at the top here. Barely. All right, here we go. In light of worship that is centered around the world that leads to worldly thoughts. …
… 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. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their heart to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised. Amen. So this is the reality of sin in every person's heart. In my heart, in your heart, and in every person around the world. We have all sinned against God. turned from God's ways to our own ways, from God's truth to our thoughts, all of us have. Which then leaves the truth number three. There are no innocent people in the world. These initial verses in Romans, Romans 1, 2, and 3, some of the most sobering verses in all of Scripture. From Romans 1, 18 to 2, 16, Paul talks about the sinfulness of the Gentiles, the non-Jewish people. …
… Can you say exchange with me? They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. They traded the weight and the worth. For what? something made by human hands. looking back to that exodus moment the psalmist wrote they exchanged their glorious god for an image of a bull you know this sentence could have easily ended right there but god didn't want it to end right there he's trying to make a point for a bull which eats grass. they exchanged their glorious God for the image of a bull, not even a real bull. something that eats grass that is heavy the gospel reconnects us with his glory praise god to them god has chosen to make known among the gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery now this mystery is what the gospel is paul's writing this in colossians and he's talking about how all the people that came before moses and and Ruth, and Esther, and David, and Abraham, and Isaiah, all these people who came before Christ did not know what you know, by the way. They did not know what you know of the glory of God. They knew about the glory of God, but not the way that you do because Christ has come. …