Who Needs God Anyway? Series

INTRODUCTION

• Last week we started our journey though the book of Romans by looking at why the gospel is something to be proud of. Remember it is the power of God for salvation. Lives and destinies can be changed through the Gospel!

• Now that brings us to our text today. Please turn in your bibles to Romans chapter one, verses 18-32.

• We live in a time in which as a society we are doing all we can to kick God to the curb. God is an old fashion idea for many people. Some say God is a figment of man’s imagination.

• People wonder, “Who really needs God anyway?” Have we not “evolved” past the idea of needing a “god” in our lives?

• Today as we look at our text, I hope that you see that we do indeed need God. The world needs God.

• The thing that is tough for us today is that whenever we try to share the light of Jesus with people, we are told we are being judgmental. Whenever we see a person who is living outside the will of God and lovingly point it out, people get mad at us.

• Have you ever gone to the doctor because you were sick? Then when you got to the doctor, he told you what was wrong with you, and then you look at him and state, “why are you judging me?” You are being narrow-minded by saying that I need some kind of medicine for my “supposed” sickness.

• We would not do that would we? Today I am going to cover a section that some folks will react the same way. They will say I or the church is narrow-minded for suggesting that God would say some of the things I am going to cover. They will bristle over the fact that they are in need of God.

• We all have opinions over some of the text I will cover today. As Christians we must formulate what is right and wrong and what is considered sin from God’s revealed will in the Bible, not from “how I feel” about something.

• When we think of God today, we like to think that God is a god of love. We reason that only the God of the Old Testament is a God of wrath.

• God has always been a God of love and a God of wrath. Today we are going to see that because of God’s wrath, which we have earned, we all need Jesus.

• Let’s read Romans 1:18 to get us started this morning.

SERMON

I. GOD’S WRATH IS REVEALED (18)

• Paul tells us the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. As I said in the introduction, many people bristle at the thought of God being a God of wrath. The wrath of God is mentioned over 30 times in the New Testament.

• When we think of wrath, we thing of someone getting mad at another to the point of a fire-breathing explosion towards another person.

• James 1:19-20 and Galatians 5:20 tells us that out bursts of anger is a sin.

• How then can God possess wrath if He is without sin? God’s wrath must be different than mine.

• When I get angry, it is not always over holy issues, but with God His wrath is not petty. There are a couple of words in the Greek that are used for wrath. One is a word that means to, “breathe violently”. The other word signifies indignation that has risen gradually and become more settled. This is the word that is used of God’s wrath.

• We get the picture of God being patient with people until He finally had enough.

• We are told that God’s wrath is “being” revealed. It is happening now. Part of God’s wrath involves punishment for what has been done. We will see that God “gave them over” in a bit. All of the things God gave us over to are forms of punishment.

• We are told the wrath is revealed against all ungodliness.

• Ungodliness is a failure in one’s duties to God. It is a lack of reverence, a neglect of worship due to Him, even giving homage to idols. It is cheating God out of what belongs to Him. Verses 19-27 speak to this.

• God finally got tired of people ignoring Him and His place in their lives. He is now revealing His wrath against this. We will look more at this later. Suffice to say that when we give our worship to anything or anyone else besides God, we will suffer consequences for it.

• God’s wrath is also revealed against all unrighteousness!

• Unrighteousness is failure in one’s duties to their fellow man. It shows itself in things such as murder, jealousy, theft, adultery, etc. When we are in a wrong relationship with God, it will affect our relationships with our fellow man. Verses 28-32 speak to this.