The Wrath of God
Romans 1:19-21
Some people cannot reconcile God’s judgment and wrath with the Christian gospel of love, mercy, and grace. Nevertheless, Scripture makes clear that justice, wrath, and judgment are as much divine attributes as are love mercy, and grace.
The prophets...the wrath of God.
Jesus, God incarnate, love incarnate, spoke more about judgment and hell...
Paul said... "Knowing the terror of The Lord we persuade men...” 2 Cor. 5:11
The New Testament ends with the somber warning from the Lord Himself... Revelation 22:14-15,18-19
Two forms of teaching that deny God’s wrath
1. soul sleep. No conscious punishment. When I was a child, I thought death was like before I was born.
2. Universalism- teaches that ultimately God will save everyone.
Both are heresy!
Faithful Christians throughout history have been motivated by the truth of the wrath of God!
The horror of men dying without Christ!
It is awful to see the conditions in which people live, that are living without Christ. How much more awful to think of people Dying without Christ!
The biblical order in any gospel presentation is always first the warning of danger then the way of escape, first the judgment on sin and then the means of pardon.
The main body of Romans begins with 1:18, a clear affirmation of God’s wrath. Paul is determined for us to know that before we can understand the grace of God we must first understand His wrath. That before we can understand the meaning of the death of Christ we must first understand why man’s sin made that death necessary, that before we can begin to comprehend how loving, merciful, and gracious God is we must first see how rebellious, sinful, and guilty unbelieving mankind is.
The question, "Why is everyone born under God’s wrath and condemnation?" is dealt with in 1:19-23, where he explains that God is justified in His wrath against all sinful men.
Four reasons why every person born except
Jesus Christ deserve to be under God’s wrath
* God’s revelation
* Man’s rejection
* Man’s rationalization
* Man’s religion
I. God’s Revelation vss. 19,20
1:18-2:16 pertain especially to Gentiles without the Word of God the Jews had. They were doubly guilty, violating not only revelation and conscience but the Word as well.
"Because” points to vs. 18
"...That which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them..."
All men have evidence of God. The Philistines, Canaanites, Egyptians, those who built the Tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah. All men know something and understanding something of the reality and the truth of God. They are responsible for a proper response to that revelation.
No one can plead ignorance.
God has always revealed Himself. He is perfectly just, therefore could not rightly condemn those who are perfectly ignorant of Him.
Example: Helen Keller, blind and deaf from very young. When Miss Sullivan first tried to tell Helen about God, she said she already knew about Him, she just didn’t know His name.
Acts 14:15-17 To Gentiles in Lystra. The very goodness of life testifies to the God who gave it!
On his next journey, Paul told the pagan philosophers on Mars Hill at Athens... Acts 17:23-28 Every person has a witness of God.
The content of revelation.
VS. 20 the specifics of the revelation.
"...The invisible things of Him...” His invisible attributes. Particularly His Power and His Person. (McGee)
God’s revelation is not selective, observable to a few...
Creation testifies clearly to everyone except the mind willfully closed to the obvious.
II. Man’s Rejection vs.21
Man has a revelation of God, is conscious of God’s existence and power, and is just as wickedly inclined to reject that knowledge!
The natural tendency of the unsaved "...wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." 2 Timothy 3:13
An evolutionist said, "I refuse to believe in God, so what other alternative do I have but evolution?” Not evidence for evolution led to disbelief in God but rejection of God led to evolution!!!
4 ways men exhibit their rejection
1. By dishonoring Him- the worst deed in the universe, failure to give God honor and glory. We are to give Him glory! Psalm 29:1,2
1 Cor. 10:31 "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
Rev. 4:11 many, many verses tell us to glorify God. Matthew 24:29,30
2. Is unthankful- Unbelief is made worse by ingratitude! Toward the one who gives life and every provision of it.
3. Vain imaginations- Rejecting God and His truth, man turns to his own speculations that only lead to more falsehood and greater unbelief and wickedness.
4. Being darkened in their hearts- To forsake God is to exchange truth for falsehood, meaning for hopelessness, satisfaction for emptiness. Nevertheless, there can be no vacuum. The foolish heart that rejects and dishonors God does not become enlightened and freed, but darkened and further enslaved to sin.
III. Man’s rationalization vs.22
(Review I & II)
Trying to justify themselves, men rationalize. Professing themselves wise about God, the universe, themselves, they became greater fools!
Psalm 14:1 53:1 that foolishness deludes into thinking they are wise!
The mind devoid of God’s truth has no way to tell truth from falsehood, right from wrong, important from trivial, temporal from eternal.
Man’s rationalizations have crept into Christianity, these worldly speculations infect some church’s theology.
An example is evolution. Theistic evolution and progressive creationism are accommodating the speculations of unbelievers. They are accepting the foolishness of men above the flawless truth of God’s Word!
Modernism- Men, thinking they are wise, replacing the revelation of God they reject with their own foolish speculations.
IV. Man’s Religion vs. 23
Religion- a system devised by man to replace the truth and the worship of God.
Man is not naturally godly, he is naturally religious! Most people in the world claim to be religious. Hindus have 330 million gods. Millions of Buddhists revere a tooth said to have belonged to Buddha.
The development of religion is not evidence of man’s progress but his depravity and rejection of God. Fallen man wants and need a god but one they like better than the one True God.
Note the first commandment. Ex. 20:3-5 What were they doing while this was being given???
The first creature man substitutes for God is himself! Extreme examples are Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, the Caesars, Hitler, Jim Jones,...
From this to birds and animals. And, modern man has not outgrown or become too sophisticated. Astrology, wealth, health, pleasure, sex, sports, entertainment, celebrities, all at an all time high!
J. H. Clinch:
And stilll from Him we turn away,
And fill our hearts with worthless things;
The fires of greed melt the clay,
And forth the idol springs!
Ambitions flame, and passion’s heat,
By wondrous alchemy transmute earth’s dross
To raise some gilded brute to fill Jehovah’s seat.
