No Excuse: His Eternal Power and Divine Nature Are Clearly Seen 

The scariest words in our passage for today are “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts”. He gave them what they wanted. He gave them what their hearts longingly desired. They desired the world and all its offerings and trappings over Him, Who made all. We become fools when we turn from Jesus - His will and His way – from the Creator to the created. He is the Source of true joy, true wisdom and true pleasure – and from Him flows the fountain of Living Water. And when we reject Him we are rejecting what is for our very best.  

When we choose our ways over His, we can become morally senseless with darkened thoughts and minds – our thoughts becoming futile. Sin may start very small then, if not halted, gradually spirals down out of control. And we end up where we thought we would never be. And, like the prodigal in the pig pen, we begin to be in need. Yet, Scripture stated, when he came to his senses the story ends beautifully. Luke 9:17-24 (NIV) tells: “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” 

God always rejoices over the returning prodigal. When we stumble, we run back to the foot of the cross – to Jesus – for cleansing and forgiveness. Not one of us is perfect and we perhaps will fall many times. Yet, there is no limit to His forgiveness if we come with brokenness and a sincerity of heart. We must keep our accounts short with the Lord not to break fellowship with the living God because of our lack of coming to Him for forgiveness. Remember as well, the spiral down can be dreadful – perhaps we may even begin to wonder how in the world we got there. Look up. Always, look up and call on His Name. Remember as well, when Truth is constantly rejected the ability to recognize and receive it is impaired. John writes in John 3:19-21 (NIV): “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” 

It does us well to recall all the way back to Exodus that Pharoah hardened his heart and hardened his heart until finally and justly God hardened his heart to accomplish His purposes on earth. We see in Exodus 11:10 (NIV): “Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.”