3 Day Bible Reading Plan - “Romans: Sin”
Big Idea: “My way,” “Your way,” and “No way.”
Day 1
Featured Verse: Romans 1:18–23
In what ways have you personally experienced or observed God’s invisible qualities being clearly seen in creation, and how has that affected your response to Him?
How does the idea that people “knew God” but “neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him” challenge the way you think about gratitude and honor toward God in your daily life?
What would it look like right now, in your current circumstances, to stop suppressing the truth and instead honor God as God with both your mind and your life?
“God’s wrath is revealed for two primary reasons: because of the character of sin, ungodliness and unrighteousness, but also because men have deliberately held down the truth. God had revealed sufficient truth about Himself through creation, providence, and history to render mankind inexcusable, yet despite this revelation, humans have deliberately suppressed this truth because of their unrighteousness.” -Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Day 2
Featured Verse: Romans 1:24–28
Where in your own life or culture do you see evidence of God “giving people over” to impurity or dishonorable passions as a form of judgment, and how does that challenge your view of sin’s consequences?
How have you observed (in your heart or in the world) the connection between rejecting God as God and a “debased mind” that leads to actions that feel natural but are contrary to God’s design?
If God’s response to persistent idolatry and ingratitude is to “give over” people to the very sins they crave, how should that shape your approach to repentance and the pursuit of holiness right now?
“‘God gave them up.’ So the Scripture says elsewhere. ‘So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lusts’ (Psalm lxxxi. 12); ‘God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven.’ The terrible words are repeated three times in this context, like a solemn knell. They express the awful justice of God in letting men alone to go their own way when they have refused His. It is not so much an act of God as the inevitable result of their own act. When they will have their way, He lets them have it — with all its consequences. The withdrawal of restraint is the severest punishment.” -Alexander Maclaren
“It was sin in them; but as God gave them up, it was justice. So this captivity and giving men up to their own lusts is both a sin and a punishment.” - Richard Sibbes
“God gave them over to a reprobate mind… The overall message… is that continuing in sin without repentance leads to a seared conscience and a mind void of judgment.” - Thomas Goodwin
Day 3
Featured Verse: Romans 1:29–32
Which of the traits Paul lists (envy, gossip, deceit, haughtiness, ruthlessness, etc.) do you most easily recognize in your own heart or daily attitudes, and what does that reveal about areas where you need God’s transforming grace?
In what ways does our culture (or your personal circles) celebrate or normalize behaviors that God says deserve death, and how does this passage call you to respond differently as a follower of Christ?
If the final verse shows that knowing the truth about sin’s consequences doesn’t automatically stop us from sinning or approving it, how does this deepen your dependence on the gospel and the Holy Spirit for daily victory?
“The apostle is showing us the inevitable consequences of suppressing the truth about God. When men turn their backs on God, this is what follows — a complete breakdown of morality and society…This is the final proof of their depravity — they applaud what they know deserves judgment.” -Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“What a black catalogue! How it shows the terrible depravity of the human heart when God is left out! Men become filled with every form of vice, and the worst part is that they not only practice these things themselves, but take pleasure in others who do them. They applaud what they know deserves death.” - Charles Spurgeon