In the ancient times man knew God, but did not glorify Him as God. Neither did they thank Him, worship Him, or serve Him (1:21, 25). This is another element in the source of evil. Refusing to glorify God, thank God, worship God, and serve God is a major aspect of the source of wickedness. However, if we glorify and thank Him, worship and serve Him, we will be protected from every evil. There are so many divorces and so much immorality throughout the world today because people will not glorify God and worship Him. A man who glorifies God, thanks God, worships God, and serves God, will never divorce his wife. All divorces and immorality come from one source—refusing to worship God. Never think that worshiping God is an insignificant matter and that glorifying Him is trivial. They mean a great deal to our human living. We need to thank God. We have many things for which to thank Him. Some people do not thank God until the hour of their death. Although that is very late, it is better than nothing.
We need to realize that glorifying God, thanking God, worshiping God, and serving God are extremely important. Suppose I have a bad temper, a shameful and ugly disposition. If I try to suppress it, I will never succeed. However, if I thank and praise God continually, I will find the best method of escape from my poor disposition. Whenever you are about to lose your temper, you should say, “I am going to serve God. I don’t have time to lose my temper. God, I thank You that You are my God, that You are my Creator. Without You, I would have no being. I owe my very existence to You. I thank You, worship You, and serve You.” If you do this, you will be freed from your disposition immediately. How much we need to worship God!
Then mankind exchanged God (1:23, 25). It is terrible to exchange God, for God is the glory and the reality of the universe. When God is expressed, that is glory. To exchange God means to give Him up for something else. The people exchanged God for idols. God is glory; idols are vanity. God is reality; idols are a falsehood and a lie. How foolish and awful it was for man to exchange God for idols! Most of the people in the United States have learned not to worship visible idols, although some people do practice this. Nevertheless, many people in this country have exchanged God for their self-made idols—their future, positions, degrees, and goals. This means that their future, position, degrees, and goals have become their idols. They care for these idols, not for God. Therefore, they also have exchanged God for idols.
If we consider carefully these four aspects of the source of wickedness, we will see that they constitute the origin of every kind of evil and sinfulness.
Now we need to inquire into the result of giving up God.
The first result of giving up God is being given up by God. When you give up God, this forces God to give you up. If you let go of God, God will be compelled to let go of you. This is most deplorable. It is terrible to be given up by God. We must say to God, “Even if I let You go, don’t let me go. Perhaps I will be so foolish as to give You up. Lord, be merciful to me and never give me up.” We need to pray in this way, for it is awful to be given up by God. When a person has been given up by God, he will never do good things. He will not improve but only descend lower and lower.
According to Romans 1, God gives people up to three things. First is uncleanness (1:24). When a person gives up God and forces God to give him up, that person will be defiled, immediately becoming involved with uncleanness. Second, God gives up people to passions of dishonor, to shameful lusts (1:26). I do not like to mention these shameful lusts with my clean lips. Such people may become sodomites, indulging in evil passions and unrestricted affection, dishonoring their bodies with one another. Third, God gives people up to a disapproved mind (1:28). If you disapprove of holding God in your knowledge, God will allow you to have a mind that He disapproves. The mind of sinful men can never be approved by God. For example, God disapproves of a mind that is occupied with thoughts of divorce. Look at today’s sinful society: no one has a mind that can be approved by God. All have been given up by God to a disapproved mind, for they do that which is improper. People are so foolish and shameful in their sinful ways. Their behavior is absolutely improper. Nevertheless, they continue in sin because God has given them up to a disapproved mind.
When a person has been given up by God to uncleanness, dishonorable lusts, and to a disapproved mind, the consequence is fornication (1:24, 26, 27). Do you know the true meaning of fornication? Fornication means to violate the governing and controlling principle. This brings about confusion in order. God’s economy is one husband for one wife. This is not only God’s economy; it is His ruling and controlling principle. The people who have been given up by God will do almost anything to break this principle, violating the governing principle of one husband for one wife. The result is fornication, confusion in order. Why do people engage in this? Because of uncleanness, passions of dishonor, and their disapproved minds. When people give up God, He gives them up to fornication.
Every kind of wickedness issues out of this fornication (1:29-32). At the end of Romans 1, Paul enumerates the various kinds of evil and describes the wicked persons, such as the whisperers, backbiters, and God-haters. By this we can see that if a person gives up God, God will give him up to lusts, confusion, and every evil imaginable.