God’s Wrath And Human Denial Series

God’s Wrath and Human Denial

(Romans 1:18)

1. How many people in denial does it take to change a light bulb ? There is nothing wrong with the light bulb.

2. The study of denial is a study in its own right.

3. The word denial can refer to a refusal to grant a request. The judge denied a new hearing.

4. But in today’s message, it refers to these Webster definitions: “an assertion that something said, believed, alleged, etc., is false…refusal to believe a doctrine, theory, or the like…disbelief in the existence or reality of a thing.

5. It is human nature, even among Christians, to deny that which we prefer not to believe – even what we prefer not to believe about God. The good news, of course, is that you don’t have to like everything you believe about God. Isn’t that freeing?

Main Idea: God’s wrath is evident to those willing to see it, but sinful human nature is not willing.

I. The Wrath of God is Revealed from HEAVEN (18a).

• Verses 18-23 are one section about mankind in general and how the culture seeks to replace God with a substitute in an attempt to preclude accepting the truth about who man is and Who God is.

• Hillsong’s Marty Sampson questions the truth of Christianity, “Citing numerous things “no one talks about”, Sampson brings up … an unconditionally loving God who sends people to eternal damnation.”

• The list of things he mentioned we talk about in church, Sunday School, youth group… But the mainstream evangelical world is wrapped up in a partial view of God…

• John Cooper of Skillet rightly states: “"We now have a church culture that learns who God is from singing modern praise songs rather than from the teachings of the Word."

• Some of you have family members who are like; they rarely pick up a Bible or intend a study that challenges their minds… all about music. Spiritually shallow.

A. God’s wrath is REAL.

1. If you pick up a coin, you have two sides to it: heads and tails. If you take one of God’s attributes, love, and emphasize it to the nth degree, and rarely mention His wrath, you have created a false god.

2. An important litmus test

3. We need the whole picture about God, not just the parts we like or want.

4. God is severely displeased with sin and will not overlook it.

5. The idea of wrath is deep-seated anger. God’s wrath is a function of his righteous indignation, sourced in His holiness. Ray Pritchard’s definition: God’s wrath is His settled hostility toward sin in all its various manifestations.

6. Downplaying or refusing to address hell is a sign of compromise.

John 3:36, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

B. Two types of revelation from God: NATURAL revelation and SPECIAL revelation.

C. God’s wrath is revealed from HEAVEN by natural revelation.

1. Natural revelation

2. Which of the three heavens? The first!

3. Psalm 29:3-5a, “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon”. [concurrence]

4. Often God’s wrath through nature is not meted out just to the worst offenders…

5. Jeremiah 10:10a, “But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes…”

6. Ezekiel 13:13, “Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end.”

II. God Wrath is Directed Against People Who Are Ungodly and UNRIGHTEOUS (18b).

A. God LOVES the sinner but is filled with wrath against him (or her).

Psalm 5:4-6, “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”

B. God doesn’t just dislike, but He DETESTS sin.

1. We detest some sins, but we have our favorite ones.

2. One measure of spiritual growth is that we begin detesting the sins we once loved.

C. He hates UNGODLINESS.

1. Impiety to God, irreverence

2. Represented by the first four of the 10 Commandments.

D. He hates UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.

1. Unjust and unloving treatment of others.

2. Represented by the last six of the 10 Commandments.