TREASURE FOR TRINKETS

0:00 I read about a guy this week who was putting on a garage sale. I'll let you in on something. Lisa loves garage sales. I despise garage sales. We've had about four of them, and after the last one, I said, honey, I can't do this anymore. And we haven't had any more garage sales. But I read about a guy who was putting on a garage sale, and he went into his garage and found some old tools. he wanted to get rid of and some sporting goods, equipment, and then he saw the proverbial old painting and, you know, junk like that. So he put it out in his driveway and a guy walked up and this guy looked around and this guy wanted something to cover kind of a big area in his garage, kind of his man cave. So he saw an old painting, the old painting, and he said, How much?

0:57 And the guy goes, oh, you know, $5. So he goes, okay. So the man paid him $5 for the painting, and that was it. Months went by, and the guy who put on the garage sale was flipping through channels, and he saw an antiques road show, and to his shock, he recognized the guy who had bought the painting. and the guy had the painting and the appraiser on the show said, sir, how much did you pay for this? He said, well, $5 from a garage sale. He goes, I'm glad you're sitting down because this painting is worth $17 million. Well, the guy who had put on the garage sale was like flabbergasted. He was stunned because he had traded a treasure for trinkets.

2:02 A treasure for trinkets. I read about another man who paid $10,000 in Bitcoin for two Papa John's pizzas. And now that Bitcoin is worth $1.1 billion, a treasure for trinkets. It's the ubiquitous professional football team that trades the future Hall of Famer for a banged up rookie. It's the kid you've read about who trades his mom's diamond ring for a pack of Skittles. A treasure for trinkets. Well, today we're going to study a section of Scripture from the book of Romans where Paul is warning us about trading treasure in for trinkets.

3:06 Treasure for trinkets. If this is your first time at Fellowship Church, we're in a series through the book of Romans. Romans is the Magna Carta of the Christian faith. It's the constitution of the Christian faith that tells us what it means to be a Christian and how to walk with the Lord Jesus. And if you want to know theology, if you want to know why we believe what we believe, just show up here for the next, I don't know, couple of months as we make our way through this amazing book. Last time, Paul talked about some positive stuff. In fact, in Romans chapter one, the first 17 verses, they're like, yeah, I like this. Paul's talking about who we are in Christ. Paul's talking about the fact that once we become Christians, we put our sin on Jesus and he puts his righteousness on us. He talked about not only is salvation about forgiveness, it's also about right standing or a righteousness.

4:05 And he compares the righteousness as you read about this throughout the other letters he wrote. He compares that to being robed, to being clothed in righteousness. So everything's going great. Everything's positive. Everything's looking good, but all of a sudden he puts the proverbial brakes on. and he gives us Romans chapter one, verse 18, through Romans chapter one, verse 25. He's gonna talk about, I'm just warning you, some negative stuff. You heard it. He's gonna talk about some stuff that we don't like to talk about, that I don't like to talk about, but I've gotta talk about it because it's in the word of God. He talks about, you ready for this? the wrath of God.

5:00 Some of us have a hard time with that. We have a hard time thinking about using God and wrath in the same sentence. Others of us, when we hear and see the word wrath, we think about our family of origin. Because maybe you had a mom or a dad who raged on you. Or you're thinking about the person you've seen who's just gone absolutely crazy with anger over a situation. Paul talks about the wrath of God. Well, I've got news for you. The wrath of God is not the way you think it is. Righteousness has to do with wrath and wrath has to do with righteousness. Let's read the text. Here's what Paul says. Paul's saying, okay, our main problem, your problem, my problem is the S word, sin. God is so holy, he's so righteous, he pours out a settled, controlled opposition toward sin.

6:00 That's what it means in the original language, the wrath of God, the word wrath. So wrath is part of the righteousness of God, and the righteousness of God is also about wrath. Think about it. If God did not pour out wrath on sin, he wouldn't be a holy and just God. Consider a judge. What if a judge was like, oh, I don't care about rape. I don't care about murder. I don't care about robbery. Boys will be boys. Girls will be girls. Are you kidding me? We would say this guy's nuts, insane. How about the oncologist who tells his PA, hey, remind me not to give any of my patients any bad news, okay? He'd be sued for malpractice. so we have to understand the good news and the bad news and the good news makes the bad news bad and the bad news makes the good news even great the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven Paul says against all the ungodliness or the godlessness you can read in some translations and wickedness who suppress the truth by their wickedness that's the opening line.

7:18 Paul couldn't pastor a lot of churches in our land, could he? A lot of evangelical churches don't want to talk about this. It's too strong. We have feminized the church, haven't we? So many churches are just about TLC. Oh, God, touch me and love me and care for me. And I just want to feel that. I don't want to hear the total truth. just the parts where you love me unconditionally and forgive me. Well, that's part of God's nature, no doubt, TLC. However, God is also a masculine God, and God confronts sin. God tells us the truth about our condition. And at Fellowship Church, we are that church. Too many churches, even with this situation with the martyr, Charlie Kirk, too many churches just mailed it in.

8:21 And some people say, well, man, don't judge the pastor if he didn't really mention it. I'm not judging the pastor, but I'm saying if he's not going to come strong about Charlie Kirk, that's a reflection of the depth and breadth of who he is or who he is not. we can do that. So it's time that we stand flat-footed and say, thus saith the Lord.

8:50 The wrath of God. What is the wrath of God? It is a controlled resistance, a focus against sin. Well, I've heard about the wrath of God in other places in the Bible. Well, I'm glad you're thinking that. There are different types of wrath. you want to know what they are? The first one is, I can tell, eternal wrath. Eternal wrath is the wrath of the final punishment of sinners in hell. The second one is eschatological wrath. Eschatological wrath. Eschatology. The end times. That's the outpouring of God's wrath in the end times during the tribulation slash judgment. There's also cataclysmic wrath. Am I going too fast? Cataclysmic wrath would be the natural disasters, like the Noation flood, or when God rained fire on Sodom and Gomorrah.

9:49 Consequential wrath would be the wrath that I suffer and you suffer when we break God's commands. It's the wrath of God. It's the consequences of sin. Then there's the abandonment wrath, and that's the wrath right here. You can write abandonment. That is when God gives people over to their sinful desires. There's a point when God goes, okay, have it your way. And that's the context here. But the beauty of what we're talking about today is the substitutionary wrath. At the cross, God's wrath was poured out on Jesus instead of us. Hand clap, please. So that's your theological lesson in the wrath of God. But again, this wrath of God has to do with the abandonment.

10:48 God has a controlled anger. Picture a dam with water building up. That's the tone and tenor of this Greek phrase. So the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. This exchange is the truth for lies. I've been talking about exchange, right? Treasure for trinkets. This is the first one that Paul addresses. Hey, you're exchanging truth for lies. The word suppress, I love this word. We suppress the truth. That is the picture of someone in a swimming pool taking a beach ball and trying to hold it underwater. You can't hold it underwater very long, can you?

11:43 Even if you're a bodybuilder like me, you can't do it. Eventually, it'll spring forth. And as we look around our culture, so many of us, haven't we, have tried to suppress the truth and you can't suppress it very long, but that's what the apostle Paul is getting at. Whenever we suppress the truth, what do we do? We live a lie. We live a lie.

12:13 Here's some lies that I have just collected over the years that I've heard from people who turn their backs on God, who shake their puny fist in God's face. The first one is, life is random. Hmm. The second one is, truth is subjective. The third one is, man is basically good. The fourth one is, I've got the power to change.

12:43 That's what Anthony Robbins tells me and all the other classy-eyed gurus. Our goal is self-satisfaction. That's what it means to put the ball through the net. Hey, friends, those are lies from the pit of hell. life is random no no no no you're made for a purpose i'm made for a purpose that is to glorify god truth is subjective truth is absolute man is good. Well, we have potential for goodness, but we're fallen and fallible.

13:24 We're natural born sinners. Man can change? No, not really. Not the kind of change that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings about. That, we learned last week, gives us the power, and the word power in the Greek is dunamis. We get the word dynamite from it. Only the gospel gives us the power to change. And then my goal is self-satisfaction? No, no, no. It is to reflect and mirror the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. You got that? and we've seen this played out in so many people's lives the wrath of God now look at verse 19 verse 19 you might want to write in your margin a courtroom because Paul is is is sort of becoming the prosecuting attorney and he's going to bring a couple of people on the stand, on the witness stand.

14:34 I have been a character witness. In fact, Lisa and I were character witnesses in a case years ago. It was a major case. A lot of money was involved and a group asked us to testify on their behalf. I will never do that again. The courtroom. It's a dark panel courtroom. The apostle Paul is the prosecuting attorney. And he calls two witnesses to the stand. The first witness is your conscience and my conscience. Because Paul says, our conscience tells us there is a God. We know it. We've been stamped. We've been made in his image. We know there's a God. The second witness is the cosmos, the creation.

15:29 It doesn't take someone with two PhDs like the apostle Paul had to go, whoa, something came from something. Nothing would require no explanation. yet because the creation is like God's art gallery, there's got to be an artist. Now I'm getting theological again, but this series is theological. What I'm talking about is the ethological argument of God that we have a morality in our soul. Study any people group. Go through anthropology, biology, whatever you want to do. No one can explain it. The atheists can't explain it. And by the way, Atheists are liars.

16:27 No, no, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You don't know where I'm going. In their heart of hearts, way down deep, they know there is a God. Now, why can I say that and be so sure? Because the Bible says it. The Bible tells me so. So if you talk to an atheist, what they've done is they've taken that beach ball and suppressed it, and they're trying to come up with all of these things like we emerged from bioptic soup. We're amped up apes. That's right, we're sophisticated algae. Yeah, yeah, that's it.

17:21 It's really laughable when you think about it. I mean, more and more as you study science, you see they're pointing to, whoa, this didn't just happen. What about the Big Bang? Well, who pulled the trigger? so there's an ethological aspect to our lives that no one can explain there's also a teleological argument for the existence of god teleological i'm sure you were talking about that over your morning coffee today weren't you with your spouse everything has a purpose by design i'm made and you're made with a plan, a purpose. Also the cosmological argument, that is, as I've already said before, the existence of all created things. One thing nature does not reveal in the cosmological argument is the love and the gospel of God. That's why the gospel is outside of us. And then we have the opportunity by faith to bring the gospel outside to the inside. Are you tracking with me?

18:34 Just nod your head. I know this is a lot to absorb. We're talking about an exchange. We're talking about a trade. We're talking about Paul saying, hey, don't trade treasure for trinkets. don't trade truth for lies. Let me give you another story. As many of you know, our daughter suddenly passed away about four and a half years ago, and she died because of alcohol abuse.

19:07 Lisa and I had a lot of anger directed toward the alcohol and the fact that it was destroying her life. Our anger was directed toward the alcohol, but not toward our daughter. That is what Paul is getting at. Let's talk about another trade. There's four trades. The second trade is glory for idols. Glory for idols. Let me skip back up to verse 20. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. So people are without excuse. So Paul's argument, again, attorneys here, he has presented the fact that we have a sin problem, that it's a sin problem, a sin problem. But then he said, hey, just to underscore and highlight my argument, that no one, no one here has an excuse.

20:14 We know because of our conscience. We know because of the cosmos. And we know because of this morality that's stamped into our spirit. I used to work with a guy and I knew the guy was not a truth teller. You know, sometimes you meet people and it's like, there's no way she's telling the truth. There's no way he's telling the truth. And here's what this guy would say every time he was confronted. It was brilliant.

20:42 I don't know. That's a great lie. If you want to lie, hey, I saw you do. What? I don't know. Yeah, but here's the deal. This situation happened. I don't know.

21:03 And one day, I caught him in a lie. I said, you know, you do know, and you've been lying to me and many others. And that was his last conversation he had with us as we said bye-bye to him. Oh, I love excuses, don't you? Oh, I can make some excuses up all day long. Paul says, you have no excuse.

21:35 Look at the witnesses. So we trade truth for lies. Glory for idols. The glory of God for idols. Let's look at verse 21 through 23. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, or gave thanks to him. What does it mean to glorify God? That means to mirror his majesty and essence in everything we do. We're made to glorify God. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor gave thanks to him. But their thinking became futile, or futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Wrong worship, wrong living.

22:19 And although they claimed to be wise, man have we seen that over the last two weeks They became fools. This word fool in the original language, no kidding, is the word moron. And they exchanged treasure for trinkets, right? The glory of God, of the immortal God, for images made to look like a mortal human being, birds and animals and reptiles and creepy crawlers. Oh, hey, we don't do that. There's no idolatry here.

23:02 Oh, we worship sex. We worship fame. We worship success. Need I go any farther? Oh, yeah, we have idols. And if you notice here, there's a progression. When you have idolatry, which means we exchange the glory of God for idols, when you have idolatry, followed by that is always immorality. And followed by that is, are you ready for this one?

23:37 Insanity. I don't know about you, but as I've scrolled through my social media feed, as I've watched television, I've said to myself, These people are insane. They're nuts. they think they're smart. They're morons. They have Ivy League educations. Morons. Why? Jesus, listen to me, is not Lord of their life. I'm going to make a dramatic statement, and this is true. I want you to think about this. If Jesus is not Lord of your life, you have a form of insanity, my friend. Try that one on. oh what yeah yeah you're you're right what's come out about this brilliant Christian martyr, Charlie Kirk, what's come out about his assassin, what's come out in the lives of other people actually hating on him, being assassinated, insanity.

24:55 They're fools, morons. they don't know Jesus Christ because when self sits on the throne you have a form of insanity truth for lies, glory for idols.

25:18 Here's the third exchange. Purity for passions. Purity for passions. Paul said, don't trade the treasure for trinkets. Trinkets. Romans 1 24. Therefore God gave them over. There's the abandonment. Remember that? That's the wrath of God. God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity. Are you, are you believing? It's a controversial statement to say a man is a man and a woman is a woman. I'm telling you guys, insanity. There's no other explanation.

26:12 For the degrading of their bodies with one another. C.S. Lewis was a famous atheist who was transformed by the power of the gospel. Look at what he said. There are only two kinds of people in the end. Those who say to God, thy will be done, and those to whom God says, in the end, all right then, have it your way. And the most frightening character in Scripture that faced this was the biblical bodybuilder, Samson.

26:56 Samson, a he-man with a she-weakness. Judges chapter 16 verse 20 he'd gone through all these women all this fame he turned his back on God and it was his time to shine but the Bible says in Judges 16 20 but he did not know that the Lord had left him. brutal.

27:27 I mean, God will just turn us over to our passions. He'll just turn us over to our vices. He's like, you know what? I've tried and tried and tried. It's obvious. I've tried and tried. Just go for it.

27:48 And in our freedom, the things that we chase end up incarcerating us. We're slaves to that. Purity for passions. One more trade and we can take it to the house. That's what my high school basketball coach used to say. All right, guys, let's take it to the house. We're almost there, guys. Aren't you happy? I am too.

28:22 Because preaching is tiring. The fourth trade or the fourth exchange. And Paul again is saying, don't trade treasure in for trinkets. The creator for the creation. We end up worshiping the creature and the creation instead of the creator. Paul is saying, here's your deal. You've got throne issues, my man. Throne issues. You're made. I'm made for Jesus to rule and reign on the throne of my life. but see, I think I know best. I'll try to kick him off the throne. Oh, I know what's best for me. Paul's saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Put Jesus on the throne.

29:17 Romans 125, they exchanged the truth, there's the word again, about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised. Amen. Treasure for trinkets. Truth for lies. Glory for idols. Purity for passions. You're a creator and my creator for creation. don't trade treasure for trinkets. Let me say it again.

30:17 I'm just parroting what Paul said. Don't trade treasure for trinkets. Because when you treasure the ultimate treasure, Jesus Christ, I'm telling you your life will make a mark an indelible print here on this side of the dirt like you can't even imagine dear heavenly father you're our God you're righteous you're holy you're beautiful you're awesome you're a God of love and also a God of justice a God of peace and also, God, you'll get up in our grill. And I thank you for this. And Lord, I pray that we turn to you and understand the real exchange.

31:14 Have you made the real exchange? Have you ever traded your sin for the Savior of the world? You can do it right now by saying, Jesus, I've sinned before you. I've dropped the ball. I've messed up. I turn from my sin, just say that, that's repentance, and turn to you. I believe to the best of my ability that, God, you sent Jesus Christ to live righteously, to die sacrificially, and to rise bodily. And right now, I receive the greatest deal in the universe. I receive the salvation of Jesus, the forgiveness of Jesus. And right now, Jesus is putting his righteousness into your life. you're being forgiven and he's putting his righteousness in your life. So when God looks at you, he sees someone who's forgiven and someone who has applied the righteousness of his son.

32:15 Just say that. Jesus, have your way with me. Jesus, take control of me. Jesus, sit on the throne of my life. Father, we thank you for this great church. We thank you for your word. And we look forward to seeing what you're going to do right here and also out there over the next several weeks.