God Has Wrath Series

A couple of weeks ago, we started a study of the Letter to the Romans. We noted that the main message of the letter is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Please open your Bibles to Romans Chapter 1…. look with me v16-17….

God through the Apostle Paul declares what the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, can do! The Gospel has the power of God to save people from judgment of their sins. Does God have a right to judge and why??

God is the Creator of all things, therefore, He has the right to judge everything including us! Like a sculptor who finds a problem with what he is sculpting, the sculptor has a right to do whatever he wants with what he is creating! God has a right to judge everything!

But from the very beginning, because God is love, God already had a solution from the judgment of sin! God allowed Jesus Christ who is God Himself to die for people’s sin. Believing in Jesus Christ cleanses one of all their sins! The Gospel provides a way to be saved from judgment and makes one right with God! The Gospel is not just good news, it is great news!!

How personal is God and this Gospel to you and me? Let us all take a moment to quietly humble ourselves before our Creator God. Let us bow our hearts before our Creator and give thanks for Jesus Christ who is our only Savior and Righteousness! Put on the Belt of Truth and the Breastplate of Righteousness…………

Let us now continue to learn about God and how sinful all people can be. Please open your Bibles to Romans 1:18-24 and read along with me………….

This Letter to the Romans 2000 years ago is supposed to be about the Good News! Why is God speaking about wrath? Verse 18 states that the wrath of God is being revealed! The original Greek word for wrath does not have the meaning of rage but it is the temper of God towards sin. It is not uncontrolled anger but it is a wrath with reason!

Look carefully at v18. What is the focus of God’s wrath?

The wrath is against all the godlessness and wickedness of people. God’s wrath is not directed at people. God’s wrath is against people’s sin. But let us take note right now, people are infected with sin and are carriers of sin! Unless a person

is cleansed of the infection of sin and no longer carry sin in God’s eyes, God’s wrath will be on that person. And because God is eternal and God created people with eternal souls, God’s wrath on sin carriers will be eternal!

How do people become carriers of sin? How do people become ungodly and wicked? We can note three facts in our passage today how people become ungodly and wicked. What do we read in v18?

People become ungodly and wicked because they #1 – suppress the truth. And the word of God tells us how people suppress the truth. People suppress the truth by ignoring what God has made plain to them! What has God made plain to people??

God created the world and the universe for all to see!!

And what does verse 20 tells us what people can see with the creation of the universe??

God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, are clearly seen in creation!

Picture yourself for a moment in the middle of the night and the sky is full of stars; and maybe you’re even see shooting stars. Can you picture that? Some of you may even have seen the Northern Lights! How do you think the universe declare God’s eternal power??

Scientists today tell us that the universe has no edge! We can not even imagine how big the universe is! Some will tell you a “Big Bang” started it all. Where did the stuff for the Big Bang come from? Who started the Big Bang? At some point in all our wonder and questioning about the universe, one will be challenged with a powerful God! Every person has a choice, believe in God or not believe.

Maybe this is a harder question; How do you think the universe declare God’s divine nature??

In the midst of all the physics, energy, and turbulence in the universe, there is purity, harmony, and order! And remember when we talked about Genesis 1? The earth was created first, then the entire universe was created. God created the earth for people to live on and the entire universe was created for people to enjoy!! What does this indicate about God to people? God loves people!

How do we know God exists? If anyone has doubts about God, tell them to look and wonder at the universe!