Sermon Series “The Gospel of God – A Study of Romans”
Week #2 “The Universality of Sin”
Text: Romans 1:18-3:20
INTRODUCTION: Last week we discussed how the book of Roman is the preeminent doctrinal work of the New Testament
We looked at how even in his opening sentences, Paul expounded the truth of:
Christ’s full deity and full humanity
The goal and purpose of the Christian church
Faith as being the only means of pleasing God
***Tonight we are going to continue in Romans and study the next great doctrinal point made in this epistle; the doctrine of sin
Paul’s exposition of sin is mostly covered in Romans 1:18-3:20
I. SIN CARRIES CONSEQUENCES
Romans 1:18a “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…”
a. The word revealed is actually ‘constantly revealed’ and it means ‘to make visible, uncover or make known’
b. The wrath of God is revealed in two ways
i. Indirectly –
1. Example: A person who is constantly committing sexual sin and transmits a disease
2. Romans 1:27 “Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due”
ii. Directly –
1. Through His personal intervention
2. Examples: Adam & Eve, The flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, The captivity of Israel, etc.
c. The wrath of God is pictured in five forms in the Bible
i. Eternal wrath
1. Hell – The lake of fire
2. Revelation 20:15 “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
3. In Mark 9:44 Jesus describes Hell as the place, “where ’Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’”
ii. Eschatological wrath
1. End Times – apocalyptic wrath from The Revelation of John
2. II Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
iii. Cataclysmic wrath
1. The Great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah
2. God brought cataclysmic wrath on the Egyptian army when He released the Red Sea and they all drowned
iv. Consequential wrath
1. The law of reaping what we sow
2. We cannot plant onions and expect to collect apples
a. You always reap what you sow
b. You always reap later than you sow
c. You always reap more than you sow
3. So be careful is you sow discord, strife or sin…
v. Wrath of abandonment
1. This is a hard one for Christians to figure out, because we stand on God’s Word which says that ‘He will never leave us nor forsake us’
2. But God will remove restraints and allow people to go headlong into sin if they rebel against His way
a. Psalm 81:11-12 “But My people would not heed My voice, And Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels.”
b. Romans 1:24 “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves”
3. Example: Parents love their children, and never stop. But some children rebel to the point that a parent must let them go in hopes that they will see that they have made an error and return
d. QUOTE: “Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden, but it is forbidden because it is hurtful.” —Benjamin Franklin
II. GOD IS IMPARTIAL CONCERNING SIN
a. Last week we discussed how salvation came to the Jew first and the Greek (v.16)
i. This represented God separating the Israelites as a chosen people
ii. Him sending the law and the prophets through the Jewish nation
iii. And finally salvation coming in the form of a Jewish Messiah, Jesus
b. Now Paul is expounding on this principle by saying no matter who a person is, sin brings God’s wrath on them
i. Romans 2:8-9 “but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness-indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;”
ii. Paul is saying that just as the Jews were given the first opportunity to hear the Gospel, they will be the first to receive judgment if they refuse
c. He goes on to say that just because you bear a certain name does not give you the right to sin
i. READ ch. 2 v. 17-23
ii. What this means: Simply, if you are a Christian you need to act like one
iii. Hypocrisy was the biggest problem facing the church then, and the same can be said today
1. People who wear the name of God, yet live like the devil, often talk about others who live the same way they do
2. God is not partial to you just because you might call yourself a Christian
3. Illustration “Faking out God” Researchers say that there are three places where people are least likely to act as themselves (1) A fancy hotel lobby or restaurant, trying to be someone we usually are not (2) When purchasing a new car, trying to hide emotions and desires from the salespeople (3) church, trying to fool God into thinking we’ve been good all week
III. EVERYONE IS GUILTY OF SIN
a. If ever there were a phrase in the Bible that should humble us, it is found in Romans 3
i. READ Ch. 3 v. 10-18
ii. Paul, in teaching the ‘doctrine of sin’ shows undoubtedly the whole world is guilty
b. And our inability to grasp God’s standard of righteousness is not from a lack of opportunity, but an expression of rebellion
i. We do not naturally seek after God
ii. We do not naturally do good
iii. We do not naturally fear God
c. This is why Jesus said this profound statement in the gospel
i. John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…”
ii. Not only are we guilty of sin, but we also lack the desire to even seek God
iii. God has to seek us out – and if He had not no one would ever come to salvation
CONCLUSION: Sin is powerful, dangerous and never something to be glossed over
In our sin saturated world today of TV sex and video game violence it is no wonder why we see the effects of wrath with every turn
We need to start viewing the sin in our lives as poison, rather than playful
Illustration: ‘Muddy brownies” A son asked his father to see an inappropriate film, saying it only contained a little inappropriate material. The father said no. The boy got angry and went to sulk in his room. Later the father brought in some brownies. He asked the boy if he wanted some and he did. Before he took a bite the father stopped him and said, “first you should know I added mud to the baking mix, but its just a little, so you should be alright” The boy wouldn’t eat the brownie, of course and the father had taught him a valuable lesson.
Sin is sin no matter in the amount – and we need to be moving our lives toward removing sin, removing hypocrisy and removing attitudes that are contrary to God’s Word
Paul gives us in these pages a picture of sin, and its consequences
If you are a Christian tonight and you have sin in your life, I urge you to confess it and rebuke it – it will only do you harm
