Most of you guys know I cut my hand a few months ago. I was using a kitchen knife in a way that a kitchen knife wasn't designed to be used, and I nicked the base of my pinky. I went to Urgent Care, thinking I would just need a couple of stitches to stop the bleeding, and then I would be on my way. But just before the doctor stitched me up, he said, "Mr. Jackson, can you flex your finger?"
And I couldn't do it. Then he said, "I'm going to run a pen up one side of your finger and down the other. Let me know if there's any point where you can't feel it."
And I couldn't feel the pen. And the doctor said, "You've cut a tendon and the nerve. You need surgery and probably several months of therapy."
Well, that wasn't the answer I wanted to hear. But it was the diagnosis I needed. There was a treatment for my hand, but until I understood the bad news, I couldn't just jump to the good news that eventually I would regain the use of my hand. I had to deal with the bad news first.
And that's where we find ourselves as we talk about the wrath of God this morning. Before we can really understand the good news of the gospel, we have to deal with the bad news of where we stand before God. Please open your Bibles to Romans 1.
1. Outlining Romans
This morning we are going to move past Paul’s introduction and into the real heart of the letter. And this would be a good place for you to find a blank page in your study journal and just sketch out this outline of Romans. The overall theme of the letter is the righteousness of God. Look again at verses 16-17:
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
From there, you can break Romans up into four sections.
The wrath of God, which we will get into today. From 1:18 to Chapter 3, verse 20.
Then the grace of God, from 3:21-8:39
After that, we will get into the plan of God, in Romans 9-11. And fair warning, this is going to be some of the densest doctrine and theology you’ll find in the Scripture, but it also answers a question so many of us ask, and that is, “what is God’s plan for the Jews? Are they still God’s chosen people? Will they just automatically be saved?” (Spoiler alert—There is one, yes, they are, and no, they won’t.)
Finally, from Chapter 12 to the end of the letter, you see the will of God. This is where Paul gets really, really practical. How should Christians live in the world? What is their relationship to the government? How should they act toward one another?
2. From faith for faith (v. 17)
There are a couple of things I want us to see in verse 17 that are so important: First, the righteousness of God that we have in the gospel is a “revealed” righteousness. Not an earned righteousness. Human beings unaided could never have conceived or still less attained it.
Second, you see the reason for the revealed righteousness. It is “from faith for faith.”
What does this phrase “from faith for faith” mean? Different translations handle this in different ways. The King James Version says faith to faith. The Amplified Bible really helps our understanding when it says that the righteousness from God is “both springing from faith” and “leading to faith.” In other words, righteousness is both the starting point of salvation and the goal of salvation. How does that work?
This statement should remind believers that justifying faith is only the beginning of the Christian life. A lot of times we imagine saving faith as being the end goal. A “get out of hell free” card. And usually when we think about that attitude, we picture someone who made a profession of faith as a child, and then think they can live their lives however they want. Paul’s going to have a lot of words for that attitude later on in the letter.
But let’s look at it the other way– because I think there’s an equally dangerous temptation toward legalism. A lot of good church people think that saving faith forgives your sin, but from that point on you are trying to stay in “God’s good graces” by doing good works.
Tim Keller puts it this way. He says, “Many people think Jesus died merely to forgive us. Our sins were laid on him, and we are pardoned when we believe in him. That is true, but that is only half of Christian salvation. If that were all Jesus did, we would then only receive a new “wiped clean” slate. It would be up to us to add credit to our account. But when Paul says we are saved from faith for faith, he is saying that we’ve been declared righteous, not just declared “not guilty.””
You’ve heard the phrase that justification means “just as if I’d never sinned,” right? Beloved church, IT’S SO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT!!! Justification means “just as if I’d always obeyed.” Righteousness is from faith FOR FAITH.
We aren’t just set free in order to make it on our own, dependent on our own efforts to be worth anything in the world. In Keller’s words, it’s like Jesus took us off death row and hung the congressional medal of honor around our necks! Oh, that’s such good news!
And only the gospel has the power to do that. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes—to the Jew first and also to the Greek. But before you can really understand the good news, and grasp the true power of the gospel, you have got to understand what Paul means by “the wrath of God” in verse 18.
What kind of wrath are we talking about here? (v. 18)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Notice verse 17 says the righteousness of God is revealed; verse 18 says the wrath of God is revealed. God’s righteousness and God’s wrath are two sides of the same coin.
Sometimes you hear people—even Christian people, say a really foolish thing: that the Old Testament is all about the God of wrath, but the New Testament is all about the God of love. As though they were two different gods! Or that God the father is wrathful and vengeful and angry, but Jesus is kind and gentle and forgiving. As though there wasn’t any such thing as the Trinity– the Three in One nature of God.
Here you see God’s wrath in the New Testament! Look again at verse 18:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
There was a very famous philosopher and mathematician in the 20th century named Bertrand Russell. Russell was famous for his work in logic, artificial intelligence, computer science, and the philosophy of mathematics.
But he was infamous as an atheist and a critic of religion. In 1927 he gave a lecture entitled “Why I am Not a Christian” which was later published as an essay.
Here is what Bertrand Russell said about God’s wrath in the New Testament:
There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that He believed in hell. I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment. Christ certainly as depicted in the Gospels did believe in everlasting punishment.
Bertrand Russell,
Why I am Not a Christian
Now, I know its weird to quote an atheist in our Sunday morning sermon, but I actually am grateful for Bertrand Russell here, because he has the guts to admit what many Christians are not willing to admit themselves—that Jesus, though full of grace and truth (John 1:14); though gentle and lowly of heart (Matthew 11:28-30); Jesus absolutely, unequivocally believed and taught that there was a place of eternal separation and everlasting punishment called hell. That it was a real place, and that real people faced a real danger of really going there.
Now Russell rejected Christianity because he considered that a “moral flaw” in Jesus’ teaching. But if something is true, do you consider it a person as morally flawed if they tell it to you? Of course you don’t.
If a medical doctor knew that you had a fatal illness, but that there was a treatment that could save your life, would you consider it a “defect in their moral character” if they told you about it? No!
So as hard as these next couple of chapters are going to be to hear, and they are hard, I want you to understand that I’m going to do my best as a pastor to tell you what the Bible says. These aren’t my words, and this isn’t my interpretation. And we are accoiuntable for what the Bible says, not for what we wished it said. Before we get to the good news of the cure, we have to deal with the bad news of the diagnosis.
And the bad news of the diagnosis is that, the wrath of God has been revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.
I’d like you to circle that word wrath. What’s it mean, the wrath of God? Well, Greek is a very precise language, and so you need to know that there are actually two different words used for wrath in the New Testament.
The first is thumos. It describes hot, boiling anger that spills up and over. When you hear about someone becoming enraged or flying off the handle, that’s thumos. You see several words in English that are related to this—thermos, thermal. Thermonuclear. They all carry the idea of keeping a lid on something that is boiling.
The second word for wrath is orgay. Unlike thumos which is unpredictable and could just go off at any time, Orgay is controlled anger that ripens and until it’s mature. If the image of thumos is of a pressure cooker that could explode, think of orgay like a cluster of grapes that is ripening on the vine until they are ready to burst. It’s where we get our word organic.
So when verse 18 talks about the wrath of God, which word do you think Paul uses? That’s right. It’s orgay. God never behaves unpredictably. He never loses His temper. God isn’t hot headed. He doesn’t fly off in a rage.
But He also doesn’t turn a blind eye toward sin either. His anger toward and hatred of sin is unchanging and absolute
It was fascinating to study these two words in the NT, because “orgay” is almost never used to describe man’s anger. When people get mad, they fly off into a rage. They blow up at you.
In contrast, thumos, the kind of wrath that just boils up and spills over, is almost never used of God, until one certain point in the Bible.
What is that point, you ask? Well, I’m not going to tell you yet. I’ll come back to it at the end of the sermon.
So God’s wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Skip down to the last part of verse 20: it says that men (and women) are without excuse. Let’s back up to see why they are without excuse.
• First, people are without excuse because they suppress the truth that is available through general revelation. Acoording to verses 19-20, all people have knowledge of God the Father. What can be known about God is plain to people, because God has shown it to them. Through general revelation, God’s eternal power and divine nature can be clearly perceived.
We see this in Psalm 19. The Psalmist said, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. You literally cannot look at the night sky, the precise tilt of the earth on its axis; the ideal distance of the earth from the sun, creating the possibility for life, and conclude logically, rationally, or intellectually that there is a god.
In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas were preaching in Greek city of Lystra. After they healed a man who had been lame from birth, the people decided that Paul and Barnabas were the gods Zeus and Hermes. So they brought flower wreaths and laid them at their feet, and were getting ready to make sacrifices to them. Paul tore his clothes and said, “Friends, we’re just human beings, just like you!
We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. 16 In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, 17 but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.” (Acts 14:15-17)
This is general revelation—all people everywhere can understand the existence of God when they look at the sky. They can also know something of the character of God when they look at his gifts.
But something happens. Verse 18 says that “by their unrighteousness they SUPPRESS the truth.” It’s not that they are unable to believe—it’s that they don’t want to. Look at verse 21:
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.
Why? Because if you acknowledge that there is a god, then suddenly you are face to face with the fact that you are not Him. There is Someone above you, and the little “lion king” moment you are having, where you just can’t wait to be in a place where no one is saying do this or do that or stop that or see here comes to a crashing halt.
We all want to be our own God. So we suppress the truth that ought to be self-evident.
Second, the wrath of God is revealed because people reject true knowledge of God. So they either reject God or they create a God in their image who doesn’t have any wrath. Who just wants everyone to be a good person, and pats you on the head for trying—and at the end of your life, as long as you haven’t done anything really bad, you get a participation trohpy. This is where idolatry comes in. Verses 22-23 say that
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.
You say, “I don’t worship idols.” Well, yes you do. Anything you exchange the glory of God for is an idol. Maybe its confidence in a political leader. Verse 23 talks about that—an image resembling a mortal man. Maybe it’s the image you see in the mirror. I’m the captain of my own ship. I’m the maker of my own destiny. You’ve rejected God, and so you are subject to God’s wrath. Next week we will finish out Chapter 1 and look at what may be the clearest example in our culture of people rejecting God’s design and plan for their lives, and setting themselves up to be God, and that’s the area of human sexuality.
But we are all there. Every human being has suppressed the truth about God and rejected the truth about God in favor of their own truth. John Calvin said that the human heart is a factory for idols.
So what we see in Romans 1 is Paul laying the groundwork for what he’s going to say later. That all have sinned, and fall short of God’s glory, and that the penalty for that sin, the wages of that sin is death.
But in both of these verses, Paul doesn’t just give the diagnosis. He also gives the cure—that when we fall short, we can be justified by the grace of God as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
And that the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus.
So follow the argument—no one has an excuse.
Everyone is guilty of suppressing and/or rejecting the truth.
And that grace is available as a free gift through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now this is the place where lots and lots of people will say, “But what about…” What about that poor innocent person who has never heard the name of Jesus? Will God really condemn an innocent person just because they’ve never heard the name of Jesus?
And here is the answer: the answer is no. An innocent person who has never heard the name of Jesus would go straight to heaven when they die.
Problem is, there are no innocent people. There are guilty people, and that’s why they need the gospel.
“Would God be just if He condemned someone to hell because they rejected Jesus? And the answer is no. But this isn’t the picture Romans 1 portrays. People in Romans 1 didn’t reject Jesus. They rejected God.
Listen, because this is so important. When Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and when Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death, hear me: according to Romans 1, the sin is rejection of God. 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.
I love how David Platt says this. Platt says that if you really believe that people who’ve never heard the name of Jesus will go to heaven when they die, then the worst thing you could do is send missionaries to those countries to tell them about Jesus. They’d be like, “Thanks a lot, Southern Baptists! Thanks, Glynwood! We were going to heaven until you came along and told us about Jesus.”
If you really believed that, then if you were a college student, you would come up to international students on campus and say, “Hey—has anyone told you about Jesus?” And if they say, “no! I’ve never heard of Jesus,” then you’d be like, “oh, thank God! You’re safe. Okay… if anyone tries to tell you about Jesus, you need to put your hands over your ears and run as far and as fast in the other direction as you can. Don’t let anyone tell you about Jesus, because right now, you’re innocent, and you’re going to heaven.
According to Romans 1, that’s not how it works. And the wrath of God is revealed against all unrighteousness. And if possible, its even worse news for Americans. For Alabamians. Because so many of you have heard the name of Jesus, and you’ve still rejected him. You are still suppressing the truth.
I told you at the beginning of the service about the two words for wrath in the New Testament—thumos, that white hot anger that boils up and spills over, and orgay—the controlled anger that ripes until mature, and then it just busts out. And I told you that thumos is almost never used to talk about God’s wrath—that God’s wrath is always controlled. Restrained. Waiting to ripen.
Until you get to the book of Revelation. From Revelation 14:10 to Revelation 19:15, the wrath of God is referred to seven times. And at this point, its not the controlled, restrained hatred of sin that is being held back until its ripe. At the end of all things its thumos—unrestrained fury against all sin, all rebellion, all wickedness, all lawlessness, all rejection of the free gift of salvation through Jesus.
Revelation 14:10: he [meaning anyone who has rejected God and followed the Beast] also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, [thumos] poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
Revelation 16:19: God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.
Revelation 19:15: From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
Who is Revelation 19 talking about? Who strikes down the nations with a sharp sword? Who treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Father Almighty?
Jesus Christ the Son. The crucified, resurrected, ascended, glorified Jesus, who at this moment is seated at the right hand of God the Father, but will one day come to judge the earth. Jesus, whom Betrand Russell understood completely, even though he rejected him, when he said, “Christ, as depicted in the gospels certainly did believe in everlasting punishment.”
There is the wrath of God in the New Testament, just as clearly as there is the love of God in the Old Testament. And I believe that as long as God’s wrath against sin is orgay, that there is still time. God is still holding back his wrath. There is still an opportunity to repent and trust in the power of God for salvation.
But when orgay becomes thumos, there is no more time. There are no more chances. It will happen universally at the end of time, but it happens personally every time someone dies apart from a saving faith in Jesus. Beloved, don’t let the clock run out on you. Don’t let God’s orgay wrath burst out into thumos wrath. There’s still time.
[INVITATION]
