It is obvious to the most casual observer that our people in our current culture have no fear of God and His wrath. In fact, our culture rarely mentions even the mere existence of God, assuming for a moment they admit there is a God.
Today’s message, “The Reason for God’s Wrath” is all about the truth of God, the truth about God and how people has handled that truth.
Romans 1:18–23 (NKJV)
Leith Samuel writes in HIS magazine, "Many missionaries point out that the heathen know more than we think. They know that there is a God. There are no atheists among heathen tribes. There has never been discovered upon earth a tribe of people, however small or depraved, which has not believed in some kind of god or had some system of worship... The heathen in so-called primitive tribes know that they have sinned. When a Christian comes to them and talks about sin he often finds ready acknowledgement that this is true. The heathen seem to know that their sins must be punished. They seem afraid of punishment, and afraid of death (as are most men everywhere). They know that sin must be atoned for, and they seek ways of appeasing their angry deities." [1]
When we consider all in the world that have never heard of the name of Jesus we must realize that men are condemned not their rejection of Jesus, whom they have never heard, but for rejecting or sinning against the revelation of God they do know. We will see the reason for God’s wrath is the result of three things which will form out outline for today’s message:
1. Suppressing the truth (Verse 18)
2. Ignoring God’s revelation of himself. (Verses 19-20)
3. Perverting God’s glory (Verses 21-23)
Today we will begin with the first point and with the verse we ended with last week:
Romans 1:18 (NKJV) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
The wrath of God revealed from heaven. God’s wrath is straight from heaven and is part of His righteousness and holiness. Man’s ungodliness (which is a lack of respect and reverence towards God) and unrighteousness (or wickedness) will reveal God’s wrath. And one thing we will see, in man’s unrighteousness, man “who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” What is suppressing the truth? Ignoring the truth, burying the truth, keeping the truth from others. Herein is part of the reason for God’s wrath. People do not just ignore the truth of God for themselves, they actively hide or cover the truth to prevent others from seeing it. And what truth is that? It is the truth that God has revealed to all people concerning Himself: That bring us to: 2. Ignoring God’s revelation of himself.
Romans 1:19–20 (NKJV) because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
There is a whole lot packed into these two verses, let’s break it down: “Because” of what came before – Men had suppressed the truth, because God has given them the truth. God has made Himself know to all people. God’s truth can be found inside each person for “what may be known of God is manifest in them.” Isn’t interesting that even babies inherently know right from wrong.
Research conducted at Yale University’s Infant Cognition Center contradicts a common belief that children are born as blank slates and learn right and wrong from watching other people. Researchers found that babies as young as three months can actually distinguish good from evil. The study used puppets to demonstrate good and bad behavior and allowed the children to choose which puppet they wanted to play with afterward. In one case, a puppet struggles to open a box, and another puppet helps it open the case. In the other example, while the puppet struggles with the box, a second puppet comes along and slams the box shut again. More than 80 percent of the time, babies selected the “good” puppet when presented with a choice between the good one and the bad one. Paul Bloom, an author and professor who took part in the study said, “Humans are born with a hard-wired morality, a sense of good and evil is bred in the bone. We are naturally moral beings, but our environment can enhance—or sadly degrade—this innate moral sense.” [2]
We have a sense of right and wrong, but that can be changed. Yet God has shown us His majesty and glory throughout His creation. How can you stand in dark open field on clear night and observe all the stars and not praise God. Or witness a magnificent sun-rise or sun-set, or see the beauty of fall colors across a mountain range. Those who are spiritual and attuned to the things of God will break out in praise:
O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art.[3]
God has reveled in the natural world around us, he has shown his “His eternal power and Godhead.” Theologians call this “Natural Revelation” God has revealed His truth to all people, but this natural revelation is limited. This revelation is sufficient to even the most primitive among us to acknowledge there is a God who created it all. But there is not enough to tell someone how to approach God and this knowledge is cannot mediate salvation. So there is natural revelation and then there is special revelation. In special revelation, God has revealed Himself more fully, most notably, God has revealed Himself to us through His word, the Holy Scriptures, through which we might find Jesus, the only means of salvation.
But in the natural world, God has revealed Himself in such a way to hold all people accountable. "For God has shown it to them.” And what has He shown? “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” The theory of evolution is just man’s attempt to eliminate any need for God.
Dr. George Wald, a Harvard professor and the winner of the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize, stated: “When it comes to the origin of life on this earth, there are only two possibilities—creation or spontaneous generation—there is no third way. Spontaneous generation was disproved 100 years ago, but that leads us to only one other conclusion: that of supernatural creation. We cannot accept that on philosophical grounds, therefore choose to believe the impossible, that life arose spontaneously by chance.” [4]
So for Dr George Wald and many in the world of science today, the Scriptures say: “they are without excuse.”
God has shown himself to the world. His truth is everywhere to be seen. But that truth of God Man has chosen to:
1. Suppressing the truth. Men have covered it up so neither they or anyone around them will not see the truth. This the scriptures, in verse 18, say was done in unrighteousness or wickedness.
2. Ignoring God’s revelation of himself. For God has shown it to them. He made it plain to them. So finally and sadly, they take the glory that belongs to God and they:
3. Perverting God’s glory. We see this all around us every day. Just read your paper. Atheist demanding we remove any mention of God in the public arena and the sad thing is, we stand around and let them. Our justice system has failed us with the courts ruling against all things godly.
Romans 1:21 (NKJV) because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Our natural reaction to God revelation of Himself should be praise and the giving of glory and thanksgiving, just as we sang in “How great thou Art.”
However for some, they clear have chosen not to. “although they knew God” Here again, there is not excuse, everyone (whether they will admit it or not) has a knowledge of God. They know who He is. But that knowledge is perverted. They clearly chose to: “they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful.” So they suppressed the truth, ignored the revelation, and chose to make up “new truth.”
They rejected the very reason man was even created, that is the bringing of glory and thanksgiving to God. And over time, the ability to see the truth is impaired Verse 21 continues to say: “but became futile in their thoughts.” They either thought they knew more than God, and/or chose to disbelieve the revelation they were given, so: “their foolish hearts were darkened” or to borrow from a popular movie, they “went to the dark side.” The Bible summed it up:
Romans 1:22 (NKJV) Professing to be wise, they became fools,
In rejecting and suppressing the knowledge and truth of God, people claim to be wiser than God. And that is just plain foolish.
Psalm 14:1a (NKJV) The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
“Fool” in the Hebrew is “nabal,”meaning a self-righteous, and is morally and spiritual insensitive, or an immoral degenerate. Not the they are lacking in intelligent, but lacking in knowledge of God because they rejected that knowledge.
Romans 1:23 (NKJV) and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
So what does corrupt man do? They make a god in the image of man or lower. Can you see what is happening to godless people? They are not getting better, or “evolving” into something better, they are de-evolving into something lessor. Where is the profit in worshipping man made objects. Or man worshipping themselves. What profit is there in terms of eternity? Man has chosen to worship the creation, rather than the Creator. God is not given the glory that is due to Him, rather it is perverted and corrupted and man tries to glorify himself. It there any wonder why God wrath is coming down from heaven? (verse 18). Next week we will see the present realities of God’s wrath.
But where does this leave us now? We have God’s special revelation to us in our hands, the very Word of God, as contained in the Holy Scriptures. The Word tells us several thing about approaching God. We have the promise God made:
Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV) And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
And we must have faith in God. We must have faith that He is.
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
And God has sent us Jesus through whom we can have salvation, salvation from the wrath of God. Through Jesus we can know the truth and we can know the way to God and we can know what true life really is:
John 14:6 (NKJV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
God has revealed Himself to everyone. What will you do with that information. Will you seek Him out? Or will you reject it and suppress it? The choice is yours. What will you choose?
[1] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/79582/guilt-by-sermoncentral?ref=TextIllustrationSerps (From a sermon by Chris Surber, Diagnoses and Cure, 4/26/2011)
[2] Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell, “Children under a Year Old Recognize Right and Wrong,” in 300 Illustrations for Preachers, ed. Elliot Ritzema (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015).
[3] Stuart K. Hines, “How Great Thou Art”
[4] Dennis Gordon Lindsay, Foundations for Creationism, Creation Series (Dallas: Christ for the Nations, 1990).
