VANITY FOUL
Romans 1: 18-32
Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Any living person who actually believes that it is humanly possible to keep
any of the commandments to the perfect holy standards of our God and King
should spend a little time reading the scriptural proofs attached to the
Westminster Larger Catechism answer to this same question about what is
forbidden in the first commandment. There are forty-three scriptural
references to the sins specifically forbidden by the first commandment to
have no other gods before or beside the Creator God revealed in both
Testaments. I am reminded by this list of all those worldly things that as
an old hymn says: A few weeks ago, I typed in the word Temple on an internet search engine
and was absolutely stunned to see what virtual temples have been fabricated
in cyberspace. I am reminded of John Bunyan's great Christian classic
Vanity Fair when the Pilgrim travelers to the heavenly paradise visited the
great fair on their way to a far better place. The list of temptations in
our catechism, if organized for sale, could well fill the Mall of America!
Let us do something different today. Just as you can book bus passage for
a journey to the greatest Mall in America, let us take a brief twenty
minute tour of what I would like to call: Vanity Foul! Our list of sins
against the first commandment come from the confessions of our Church, some
of these places you all know better than you should. The particular
descriptions will come from God's revelation record in both the Old and the
New Covenants.
In general, these interests of the mind are well described in John's second
letter (1 John 2: 15-17): I know that what I have will list and continue for the next and probably
even following week is unusual for the organization of a sermon. We are
definitely looking at a catalog of worldly vices as they relate to the
Godhead of our Father, Son and Spirit. You say, you don't like catalogs?
I know different, catalogs are everywhere, I even get a catalog of catalogs
in the mail. And for a few dollars I can order a catalog that contain's my
heart's desire. There are catalogs for military souvenirs, I think I am on
every single list of those. I just received one this week which shows a
rare WW2 French helmet from 1939. It is even affordable!
There are catalogs for books, tapes, videos. I have even ordered a few
club catalogs in my time. One of these even was willing to bet me that I
couldn't remember to send in the form to avoid their month's selection.
Well I can and have for the last five years. That is how I get my summer's
reading every year. Several of the club catalogs I have had to cancel,
because of their prurient content. Every year, one company sends me a
mailing to reconsider doing business with them, and I send my annual
comment that they sell things that should not even be published and please,
once again remove my name from your list!
I hope that the catalog that I have and will set before you these three
weeks is not one that you would wish to cancel. After all, there is enough
material and instruction concerning this first commandment that we could
spend a whole year in study and not even begin to exhaust. If we would not
profit from this catalog of foul worldly concerns, we could not truly
appreciate the God of heaven who would tell us that there are things and
ideas in this world that we would be better off avoiding. Especially if we
desire to know Him and truly want to spend eternity with Him. As we
consider this extensive list of offenses to the Godhead and Lordship of our
awesome triune God, we would do well to identify those foul worldly shoppes
where we have done business and then go on to resolve to suspend our
membership and purchases in and as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
If you think that none of these worldly temptations have afflicted or
interested you in the least, then carefully reread our text from Romans
today and consider carefully Paul's description in verse twenty-five:
If there were no other commandment, the meaning and understanding of this
first is sufficient to condemn all of mankind and leave us without a hope
in hell. Except! Except for the amazing grace of our great Covenant God
who has sent His own to keep the covenant which condemns us. And by His
Name, we are saved in Christ Jesus.
"Do not love the world or anything in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For
everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes
and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but
from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does
the will of God lives forever."
This was the danger of Vanity Fair in
Bunyon's great classic, that the travelers would presume to end their
journey far short of the true heaven's gate and be satisfied with the
worldly mall that appeals to every delight of the fallen human spirit.
"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served
created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised."
We have
to admit before the awesome holiness of our God, that in this catalog there
are items and places stored in our hearts and we need to come before our
maker, bow down and confess our sinful visitations and beg His forgiveness.
-
Amen.
Resources Used:
Green, James B. A Harmony of the Westminster Presbyterian Standards.
(PCA) The Confession of Faith: The Shorter Catechism.
Places Preached:
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Box 132049 -- Columbus, OH 43213-8049
WSC047 14 July 97
Return to The Confession of Faith: The Westminster Shorter Catechism
Return to TULIP.ORG -
- Table of Contents