The root of our problem is a failure to worship God. But here’s the hope: when we turn to him, when we repent and place our faith in Jesus, He doesn’t just forgive us. He transforms us. He reorders our hearts, restores our relationships, and renews our lives. What sin distorts, God redeems.

Big Idea: When we refuse to worship God, God gives us over to our sin, and that sin distorts us as individuals and as a society. The only solution is the gospel.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard about a friend who sensed something was wrong with his health. Facing long wait times, his son arranged for him to see a doctor in Buffalo. Once there, his suspicions were confirmed: he was diagnosed with a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting his central nervous system. It’s an incurable condition. Yet, despite the difficult news, he felt grateful. The diagnosis brought clarity, and he’s now on medication to help manage the condition and improve his quality of life.

Why would someone be grateful for such hard news? Because a correct diagnosis is essential. In fact, it’s the foundation for healing and restoration. Without it, we’re left guessing, addressing symptoms without ever tackling the root cause. It’s like trying to repair a car without knowing what’s broken. You can tinker endlessly, but the problem remains. The same principle applies to every area of life, whether it’s physical health, emotional struggles, or spiritual issues.

The process of diagnosis can be uncomfortable, even painful. It forces us to confront what’s wrong, and that’s rarely easy. But it’s also a gift. Imagine living with an undiagnosed illness. The day you finally receive clarity, even if the news is hard, is a step toward hope. It marks the beginning of a path forward, where healing—whether physical, emotional, or spiritual—can truly begin.

Romans 1:18-3:20 functions as a piercing and comprehensive diagnosis of the human condition, laying bare the universal problem of sin. Paul doesn’t pull any punches here. He challenges our illusions of righteousness, demonstrating that all humanity, regardless of background, morality, or religion, is guilty before God. It’s a sobering section, but it’s also foundational for understanding the gospel.

But it’s essential that we understand what this section of Romans says. Without it, we can’t grasp the depth of our need for God’s grace or the magnitude of what Christ has done for us. Romans 1-3 reveals that sin isn’t just an external issue; it’s present in every human heart.

It’s uncomfortable, even painful, to face the truth about our condition. But just as a medical diagnosis opens the door to treatment, this spiritual diagnosis prepares us to receive the cure: the righteousness of God given through faith in Jesus Christ. Only when we understand the weight of our sin can we fully appreciate the wonder of God’s grace. The bad news of Romans 1-3 is what makes the good news of the gospel so breathtakingly beautiful.

Our Biggest Problem

Here’s our problem according to the passage that we looked at last week. It’s actually our biggest problem. Humanity’s ultimate problem is God’s righteous wrath against our suppression of truth.

God has revealed himself to humanity. According to Romans 1:18-23, God’s revelation has three characteristics. It’s clear, sufficient, and universal.

• It’s clear. It’s not hidden or obscure. It’s plainly evident. Verse 19 says, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” God has made himself unmistakably clear through creation. The complexities of the universe, the beauty of nature, and the world’s order all reflect his eternal power and divine nature. God has given us the ability to see his hand in everything he’s made.
• It’s sufficient. Verses 20 says, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” In other words, creation itself provides enough evidence for people to recognize God’s existence and his divine nature. General revelation doesn’t provide all details about God, such as salvation, but is enough to make us accountable. Paul concludes, “So they are without excuse” (v. 20). No one can claim ignorance of God’s reality because his fingerprints are everywhere.
• It’s universal. God doesn’t limit this knowledge to a specific group or culture. From the beginning of creation, every person, in every place, has had access to this revelation through the natural world. It’s not confined to those with access to Scripture or special revelation. Instead, it’s a universal testimony that transcends time and geography.

But here’s our problem. Despite this, humanity has often chosen to reject this knowledge, exchanging the glory of God for idols (vv. 21-23). This rejection isn’t due to a lack of revelation but a willful suppression of the truth.

The problem isn’t with God’s revelation; it’s with our response to it. This rejection isn’t passive; it’s active. It’s a deliberate suppression of the truth, a refusal to acknowledge what is plain to see. Our main problem comes from trading the glory of God for idols that can’t fulfill us, which has distanced us from our Creator and brought us under his wrath.

It’s an important diagnosis, but in today’s passage the news gets even worse for us.

God’s Response

Today’s passage answers an important question. What is God’s response to humanity’s suppression of the truth and our refusal to worship him? That is the question that verses 24 to 32 answer.

And the answer is clear and horrifying. It comes in a phrase that’s repeated three times in this passage.

Therefore God gave them up… (verse 24)
For this reason God gave them up… (verse 26)
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up… (verse 28)

How does God respond to human ungodliness? He responds with what one person calls “judicial abandonment.” Here’s what Paul says: Since people suppress the truth about God, God ceases to restrain them. He lets them go headlong into their sins with and experience all the catastrophic consequences. The fundamental sin is a failure to worship him, and once we commit to that sin, it leads to all kinds of other sins. The failure to worship God is the root sin; everything else is the outgrowth of that fundamental sin. As John Piper puts it, all the evils of the world are rivers that flow from this spring. This fundamental sin is the source of all our problems. This was the first sin in the garden, and it’s the source of all of our problems too.

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