A. The story is told of a street evangelist who was trying to get the attention of people passing by.
1. He spoke loudly, urging the people to flee from the wrath of God to come.
2. He roared, “I warn you, that there will be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth!”
3. An older woman passing by shouted snidely: “Sir, but I have no teeth, so how will I gnash my teeth?”
4. The evangelist replied: “Oh, don’t worry about that, teeth will be provided!”
B. Although we might find humor in this story, there is nothing funny about the wrath of God.
1. Most of us would rather hear about God’s love and grace than about His wrath, but the truth about God and about the future include the reality of God’s judgment.
2. In fact, the Bible says more about God’s wrath than about love, and Jesus spoke more about hell than about heaven.
3. The Bible is filled with warnings about God’s wrath and about eternal judgment, and I would not be faithful as a preacher and teacher of God’s Word if I avoided this subject and the texts that discuss it.
4. Many Christians feel that they have to apologize for this doctrine and they see it as a blemish on God’s good character, but as we will learn in today’s sermon, God’s wrath is the appropriate and needed response to sin.
C. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
1. Today’s sermon continues our series called “Paul’s Letter to the Romans: Pursuing Righteousness From God.”
2. After beginning with an introduction of himself, his ministry, and the gospel he preaches, which is a gospel of a righteousness that comes from God through faith, Paul moved right into an almost three chapter presentation of “the gospel and God’s wrath.”
3. Even though the theme of Romans has to do with the righteousness that comes from God, Paul first must declare the unrighteousness of man.
4. Until all people know that they are sinners destined for God’s judgment, then they cannot appreciate and accept the gracious salvation God offers in Jesus Christ.
5. And so, beginning here in Romans 1:18 and going through Romans 3:21, Paul will lay out the fact that the Gentile world is guilty, and the Jewish world is guilty, and then finally, the whole world is guilty, and therefore subject to God’s wrath and judgment.
D. The section of text that we want to explore today includes Romans 1:18-32.
1. Those verses can be divided into three basic parts.
2. Part One: God’s wrath against sin and its basis (1:18-20).
3. Part Two: People’s suppression of truth and its consequences (1:21-31).
4. Part Three: A final concluding indictment (1:32).
E. With that introduction, let’s dig into the text: 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)
1. Let’s talk for a minute about the word “wrath.”
a. Some modern translations use the term “anger” instead of “wrath,” for the Greek word used in this verse.
b. But even though the word “wrath” is a bit old-fashioned, it preserves the more objective sense the Greek word carries when applied to God.
c. What we must understand is that God’s reaction to sin is not the “anger” of an emotional person, but rather is the necessary reaction of a holy God to sin.
d. God’s wrath is not uncontrollable rage, or vindictive bitterness or losing His temper.
e. In fact, the Bible tells us in more than one place that God is “slow to anger” (Neh. 9:17; Ps. 103:8)
f. God is not egotistical or capricious, but always acts justly on the bases of His own unchangeable, perfect standards.
g. And so, wrath is what happens when holiness meets sin, and when justice meets rebellion, and when righteousness meets unrighteousness.
h. As long as God is God, He cannot overlook sin, or dismiss lightly those who trample His holy will, or mock His holy name.
i. God’s very nature demands that He react decisively and negatively to sin.
2. Here’s Ray Pritchard’s working definition of God’s wrath: God’s wrath is His settled hostility toward sin in all its various manifestations.
a. The word “settled” is used to convey the notion that it is a predetermined reality, rather than an emotional reaction.
b. God’s reality includes the fact that God’ holiness cannot and will not coexist with sin.
c. God’s wrath is His holy hatred and righteous indignation toward everything unholy and unrighteous.
d. Unfortunately, far too many people, both inside and outside of the church, have a wrong view of God – they conclude that if God exists, then he must be a good, benign being who could never be angry with us or do anything that might inconvenience us.
e. That view of God is far from the biblical view of a holy and righteous God whose very nature demands that He react decisively and negatively to sin.
3. One of the main things that Paul wants to establish in these three verses is that God’s wrath is justified because it comes against those who deserve it because they know the truth.
1. Paul says that God’s wrath falls on people who “suppress the truth.”
a. Logic says that a person can only suppress something of which one has knowledge.
2. Therefore, Paul goes on in verses 19-20 to show that humans have been given knowledge about God for God has revealed His divine qualities in the world He has created.
a. Paul emphasizes that these qualities have been “clearly perceived.” (clearly seen, NIV)
3. What Paul is talking about here is what we call “natural revelation,” as opposed to “special revelation.”
a. The Bible is “special revelation” where God speaks clearly in human language.
b. All of the creation is “natural revelation” – from looking at the world around us, we can realize that there has to be a Creator with vast wisdom, creativity and power.
c. Psalm 19:1-3says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.”
4. The final truth we learn from this section is the fact that “all people are without excuse.”
a. God has revealed certain truths about Himself in the world, and all people have access to that truth.
b. And every person who rejects the knowledge of God that God has made universally available is “without excuse.”
c. They are guilty and are subject to the wrath of God.
F. Let’s look at the next few verses: 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Rom. 1:21-23)
1. The picture that Paul paints here is an ugly one.
a. This section does not teach that humankind has gone through a spiritual evolution (meaning that humankind started low and climbed high), rather humankind has gone through a devolution (we started high and because of sin, sank lower and lower).
b. So, human history isn’t the story of a beast that worshiped idols who then evolved into humans worshiping the one true God.
c. Rather, human history is just the opposite: humans began knowing God, but then turned from the truth and rejected God.
2. Paul declares that people have known the truth about God, but they have not allowed this truth to work in their lives.
a. Rather, people have suppressed the truth about God so that they might live their lives the way they wanted
b. That suppression of the truth about God has led to a warping of their thinking and a darkening of their hearts.
c. When people reject God, they think they are so wise and enlightened, but in that process they become utter fools and do foolish and ungodly things.
3. What Paul has presented in these verses and in the verses to follow is the natural progression that occurs when people reject God.
a. Here is the progression: suppression of the truth leads to ignorance, which leads to idolatry, which leads to indulgence, which leads to impenitence.
b. Ultimately, every moral perversion begins with a perversion of faith and truth.
c. And in the end, when people turn away from God, they always turn to something else – no person lives in a vacuum, we either worship the one true God, or we replace God with a god of our own making.
G. In the following verses, Paul uses a repeating formula that includes the scary phrase “God gave them up…” and then reveals the devastating “exchange” that results.
1. What does it mean that “God gave them up…”?
a. Some give it a passive sense, as Godet does in his commentary when he illustrates: “God ceased to hold the boat as it was dragged by the current of the river.”
b. But others believe that the language suggests a more active involvement of God – meaning that God doesn’t simply let go of the boat; rather, he confirms and guarantees its disastrous course downstream.
c. I believe that there is both a passive and active aspect to God’s wrath in God’s “giving them up…”
e. The present wrath that God visits on sinful humanity consists of letting humanity have its own way.
1. God’s present judgment on sin is generally not the fire and brimstone variety.
2. God’s present and passive punishment of sin is therefore simply sin itself – in this present world sin often brings pain and destruction in very real ways all on its own.
f. The future wrath that God will visit on sinful humanity will be the eternal place outside of the presence of God for those who rejected God – the Bible calls that place hell.
g. But nevertheless, whether we are talking about the passive or the active nature of God’s wrath it is ultimately just God’s acknowledgement of the will of the individual.
1. J.B. Phillips says, “They gave up God. So God gave them up.”
2. When God wants to judge a community or nation, God simply let’s sin take its natural course.
3. If we insist on destroying ourselves by disobeying God, then God says, “Ok, go ahead and destroy yourselves. I won’t stop you.”
4. God respects the freedom and choice of the human will, and lets us reap what we sow.
5. A person or a society is completely lost when they have turned completely away from God and don’t even realize it.
2. Let’s briefly look at each of the repeating formulas of “God giving them up” and the “exchange” that resulted.
3. The first use of this formula shows up in verses 24-25: 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:24-25)
a. This first “exchange” focuses on idolatry.
b. In this passage, Paul echoes language used in the OT to describe Israel’s fall into idolatry with the golden calf episode in Exodus 32.
c. Psalm 106:20 says: “They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass.”
d. Paul makes clear in these verses, and the next we will look at, that the sin of idolatry leads to a disruption of God’s intention for sexual relationships.
e. In these verses Paul speaks in general about lust leading to impurity and the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.
f. Let’s see how he gets more specific about sexual immorality in the next verses.
4. Let’s notice the next section and the “gave them up” formula: 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. (Romans 1:26-27)
a. Here again, we see that Paul reiterates the connection between idolatry and sexual sin.
b. We notice that Paul addresses more specifically the sexual sin of homosexual relations.
c. Paul is careful to include both males and females to underscore the divine creation of human beings into these two categories revealing that proper sexual conduct flows from that distinction.
d. Paul emphasized God’s created intention for proper sexuality by clarifying what are “natural” relations and what are “unnatural” relations.
1. The natural, created order for sexuality is a man with a woman.
2. It is unnatural and against the created order for a man to be with a man or a woman to be with a woman.
3. But all of this is to be expected when people turn away from God and follow their lusts, and the futility of their thinking.
e. We know from history that Greek society embraced homosexuality and homosexual behavior was rampant, whereas the Jewish law and culture universally condemned homosexual activity.
f. Most modern cultures, including our own, have undergone a bewildering rapid sea change in views on homosexual relationships.
1. What was condemned 20 years ago is now accepted, and celebrated as normal and good – and not just in the world, but even in some churches.
g. We must maintain the Biblical standard of God that views homosexual relations as a violation of God’s created order and intention in making us male and female.
h. We must be careful not to speak beyond Scripture, which does not brand as sinful homosexual orientation, only the indulgence of that orientation in lustful attitudes or sexual activity.
i. We must be ready to help any brother or sister who struggles with same sex orientation, but who wants to remain faithful to God by resisting succumbing to those temptations.
5. There’s one more section with this same “gave them up” formula: 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. (Romans 1:28-31)
a. These verses reveal that although Paul singled out homosexual activity for special attention in the previous verses, it was not because homosexual activity is worse than other sin.
b. In verses 28-31, we see that the result of rejecting God leads to a debased mind which results in all kinds of sin – total depravity.
c. This list of vices is not exhaustive, but is illustrative - here Paul is trying to convey in a general way the different forms that sin can take.
d. After discussing idolatry and sexual sins, Paul added a long list of sins to be sure that everyone reading this letter would know they also are sinners.
e. A person may not be worshiping the statue of an animal, but are they gossiping?
f. A person may not engage in homosexual behavior, but are they envious, deceitful, or disobedient to their parents?
g. A lot more could be said about these verses, but in the end we should realize that all sin is serious and is a reflection that God is not in His rightful place in our minds and in our lives.
H. Before we bring today’s sermon to an end, let’s notice the last verse from this section: 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:32)
1. In this last verse of this section, we see that Paul reiterates the key themes he has discussed and then adds an unexpected twist.
2. This verse begins with the first key theme “people are without excuse because they know better” …human beings are in a position to understand God’s truth… so Paul writes: “Though they know God’s righteous decree.”
3. The second key theme is “sinners deserve punishment” … Paul writes: “those who practice such things deserve to die…”
4. But then comes the twist, an unexpected concluding indictment… Paul writes: “they not only do them [the wicked things] but give approval to those who practice them.”
5. This is the lowest place that humanity can fall to – it is the bottom where evil is practiced and praised as if it were good.”
6. You have arrived at the lowest place, morally speaking, when the wrongdoers are publically praised and the defenders of morality are reviled and demonized.
7. At this point, you have a total reversal of values in society.
8. Sadly and tragically, this is where our present culture and society has fallen, and unless there is a huge turn around, many people will find themselves in trouble on judgment day.
I. In the verses we have examined today, Paul has clearly presented the unrighteous state of people who have turned away from God and are subject to God’s wrath and judgment.
1. This is indeed the bad news that they need to come to grips with.
2. Paul won’t be turning to the good news that is available until chapter 3, but I don’t want us to wait that long.
3. There is hope for all of us who are indeed sinners.
4. Our hope does not come from redefining sin, normalizing sin, or celebrating sin, but comes from acknowledging that God is right when He declares us guilty.
5. God has provided a way for all sinners to be forgiven and to stand justified before Him.
a. Paul explaines it in Romans 3:22-25: For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
6. The apostle John explains it this way: My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)
7. Propitiation is a big word that we don’t use very often in everyday speech.
a. It means to “turn wrath away by offering a gift.”
b. The NIV translators substituted “atoning sacrifice” for the word “propitiation.”
c. By offering Himself on the cross, Jesus satisfied God’s wrath by taking on our punishment.
d. And so because of Jesus’ sacrifice, God’s justice is now satisfied.
e. And everyone who believes in Jesus and lives their lives for Him is covered by Jesus’ sacrifice.
f. The good news is: Because Jesus bore the full weight of God’s wrath, we can enjoy the full blessing of God’s mercy.
g. The bad news is: For those who reject Christ, there is nowhere else to turn.
J. Over 200 years ago, an English poet named William Cowper (pronounced Cooper) was institutionalized for insanity.
1. He was a man of nervous disposition who struggled with bouts of depression.
2. He was fearful that he was under the wrath of God and was doomed to eternal damnation.
3. Then during one of his bouts of despondency, he flung himself into a chair by the window and there saw the Bible on the table next to the chair.
4. He opened the Bible and his eyes fell on Romans 3:25, which we just read a minute ago that says: “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
5. Here are the words of his testimony: “Then and there, I realized what Christ’s blood had accomplished and I realized the effects of his atonement for me. I realized God was willing to justify me and then and there I trusted Jesus Christ and a great burden was lifted from my soul.”
6. Cowper went on to write many hymns including “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” and “There is A Fountain Filled with Blood.”
7. I want to end with verse one of that hymn that so well describe the good news found in Jesus:
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
K. I hope that all of us here today understand the bad news of our sin and God’s wrath against it, but have put our trust in the good news of Jesus and have therefore lost all our guilty stains.
Resources:
Romans: Be Right, The Bible Exposition Commentary, by Warren Wiersbe
Romans, The NIV Application Commentary, by Douglas Moo
Romans, Interpretation – A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Paul Achtemeier
“The Forgotten Doctrine: The Wrath of God,” Sermon by Ray Pritchard
