God's Wrath Against an Unbelieving World (Romans 1:18–32)

Introduction

Attention

We're going to continue our series in the Book of Romans. Now before we start, I'm going to warn you up front. This text in the book of Romans is going to hit hard. You have been warned.

When I was a police officer in the NYPD, they always had us go out in pairs. I worked 4 to 12 on patrol in the 46 precinct in the Bronx, answering 911 calls. I had a partner. He was a tall Jamaican guy. His name was Rayon. And Rayon and I worked really well.

We were a really good team. We knew how to calm down a situation. The one thing I really liked about being a police officer, I liked being the on-the-street counselor.

When you're on the street, and you're in the middle of someone’s chaos, there's no therapist or anyone around. You are that person. Being able to calm a situation down is can be a matter of your safety.

I wanted to stay safe and go home to my family, so I got really good at calming people down. I was soft spoken. People would start off really loud, and I would start off softer. It would make them come down to me. I got good at at being able to bring the level down of a situation.

But there was always that percentage of people that didn't respond to my soft spoken way. I tried to talk calmly and and bring it down, but they were still elevated. They were still arguing, and they still wanted to get their point across. They would still argue with me.

At that point, my partner would step in. Now my partner, if I was the soft spoken guy, my partner was really good at getting loud at getting in your face. And so my partner would step in, and for some reason, there was a percentage of people that would not respond to you until you really got in their face and started yelling at them.

All of a sudden they were like, “Yeah, OK, OK, yep, OK.” I don't know what it is. Does anyone know someone like that? Now, if they’re sitting next to you, don’t look at them.

It feels like that’s where we are today. Paul is talking to that percentage of people that really need you to get into their face.

A lot of times when we're looking at the Bible, the Bible acts like a mirror. It starts reflecting stuff to us.

You know when you stand in front of a mirror, there's this picture in your mind. You know you haven't gone to the gym in like forever, and you know you haven't been eating well. You know your clothes are feeling tighter, but you still feel like I probably look pretty good.

Then you step in front of the mirror and you're like whoa. I see.

When we get into Romans 1:18-32, Paul's going to expose things about us. It's not gonna be pretty. And we're going to look at this today and ask, “What does this text show me about my life?”

Let's start in Romans 1:18-32. Are you ready? Everyone breathe in. Breathe out. Let's go.

Scripture Reading

Romans 1:18–32 CSB

18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless 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, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. 24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error. 28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right. 29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 32 Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.

Pray

In this text, Paul is holding up a mirror to the culture. The culture is walking around, thinking that they've got it all together. And all Paul does, he holds up a mirror and says, “Look.”

Before we get into the details of this text, I want us to look at two ideas that are presented in these verses.

God’s Wrath

The first thing I want us to look at is “God's wrath.” In Romans 1:18, it says “For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” What exactly is God's wrath?

Good Person, Bad Person

Now the Bible doesn't describe people in the categories that we tend to describe them in. We tend to put people in the categories of “good” or “bad.” You'll often hear somebody describe someone, and they'll say, “Well, you know, this person is involved in this thing or that thing,” and it’s usually something that the Bible describes as a sin. They say, “Yeah, this person does these things, but you know, they're really a good person.” How many of us have heard that?

We look at people in shades of gray. You know, there's a lighter shade of gray, kind of a medium shade of gray, and a darker shade of gray. And if you're in the lighter side of the grave, that's usually you. You're doing pretty good. You're definitely in the good person category. You try to see people within this lighter shade of gray.

Once you're getting into the medium shade of gray, then you're kind of like eh, I'm not too sure. It’s iffy.

If you know some people in the darker shade of gray, like when it gets really close to black, you're like, “Oh yeah. Now that person for sure, that person is going to hell.”

Now that person is never you. It’s always someone else. In fact, someone else might describe you as kind of medium, maybe darker gray, but for you? You're like, “No, I have a special excuse. But I know some people, like a guy I know, he is going to hell.”

If you think of them as buckets, we have this really big bucket of people we would describe in the good category. They're the people in the lighter shade of gray, maybe some of those in the middle shade. And you're like, all right, these people are all good.

And then we have this other smaller bucket we reserve for like, Hitler and Stalin and the stepdad you didn’t like and the girlfriend who broke your heart and whoever else you want to throw in there. And we say, “Now these people over here, these are bad people. These people are going to hell.”

Biblical Categories

Now the Bible doesn't really categorize people that way. It doesn't see people in these shades of gray. Instead, it's more judicial language. Instead of good or bad, it's more like our judicial system, like innocent or guilty.

Biblical terms are like the righteous and the wicked or the righteous and the unrighteous. If you are righteous, you are in a right standing with God. And if you are unrighteous, you are not in a right standing with God. The judge has spoken.

According to the Bible, the unrighteous bucket is really big. In fact, all of us. are in this unrighteous bucket. Without Christ, we are people under the wrath, or the judgment, of God. All of us are in this unrighteous bucket.

Then there’s the righteous bucket. That one's really small. That one just has Jesus.

You might think of wrath as something spontaneous, like some burst of anger that comes And that's really not what this is talking about at all. In fact, it's quite the opposite. God is talked about in Scripture as incredibly patient. In 2 Peter 3:9:

2 Peter 3:9 CSB

9 The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

Got is long suffering. He is patient. How many of us are thankful that God was patient with you?

The wrath of God has more to do with our judgment. It is a people who are without Christ under the judgment of God. You see this in John 3:36:

John 3:36 CSB

36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

Also in Eph. 2:3:

Ephesians 2:3 CSB

3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.

Because of sin in our life according to our sin nature, without Christ, we are people under the judgment or the wrath of God.

God Delivered Them Over

Another term you see repeated over and over in Romans 1:18-32 is this concept that Paul uses where he says that “God delivered them over.”

In verse 24, “God delivered them over” to the desires of their heart.

In verse 26, “God delivered them over” to disgraceful passions.

In verse 28, “God delivered them over” to a corrupt mind.

Now, this term for “delivered.” It has the concept of being handed over. You could think of being turned over into custody. Somebody turned you in.

Jesus uses this in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:25 when he says that “your adversary will hand you over to the judge.” And so when God delivered them over, God handed them over into the custody of their own sin, like a prisoner to their sin.

There was a boundary and we kept insisting on stepping over that boundary. So God says, “Ok, step over the boundary, and you'll see what I was trying to protect you from.”

This is very similar to, if you've ever been a parent, and you had that child that just insisted on going his or her own way. You kept warning them, you kept telling them, “No, I know where this path is going to lead you.” But they just insisted, they needed to try it. They needed to go make their own path.

And even though it hurts you, and even though it pains you—what can you do? You step back. and you say, “OK, if you're going to insist, I can't stop you. But just know that when the inevitable happens, when that consequence comes, and it will, just know that I'm here for you.”

Now let's get into the text. And the first thing we'll see here is.,

God's power and nature are evident to all.

Paul starts us off in Romans 1:18-20 by saying,

Romans 1:18–20 CSB

18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

Now reality is an interesting thing. We all just sort of wake up to this and boom, here we are. Why is that? Why is there something instead of nothing? Reality demands an answer. Why is there something instead of nothing? Nothing really has to exist at all. But the fact is that it does. You exist. You're here Why?

I mean, there are these incredible things. We have a heart that beats. We have a mind that thinks. We have eyes that see. We engage with this world. I heard Francis Chan say once that we are standing on a ball that is circling around this huge sun and we just stand here and say, “Yep, it's an ordinary day.”

The evidence of God is right in front of our eyes. Now, what Paul is talking about here, he's talking about something called natural revelation. Special revelation says that there's a god that exists. He sent his son, Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the perfect life. He went to the cross for our sins, rose again from the 3rd day. And by faith in him, you can be saved. That takes special revelation. That takes God to tell us. about himself.

But there are things that we can know about God without the book. This is called natural revelation. Now these things won't necessarily lead you to salvation but they will give you insight into who God is.

We can look out into the world and see the the complexity in the order of it. Just think of gravity. Gravity is so finely tuned that it keeps you to the ground without squashing you like a bug. Today, no one is floating up off of their seats. We can know that. whoever created this. has an incredible sense of order and design.

We can look out at the vastness of the universe at this humongous world and galaxy and know that the God who created this is powerful and immense and majestic.

In the world, we have this environment that just provides us with the things we need to live. It gives us air and water and food. I can know that whoever created this, he is good and provided us with the things we need to live.

And we all have this inner sense of right and wrong. There's an internal law within our hearts. You know that internal law when someone hurts you? You know, when someone hurts someone else, maybe we try to rationalize it. Maybe not. But when you get hurt, well, somebody wrongs you. You feel it. inside. You don't say well, you know, maybe was right for that person. No. What you say is I was wrong. I need justice.

And justice in itself, where does that come from? Who's going to give me justice, the government? Here is the thing about justice. It never seems to be fulfilled. There's still something longing. I need an ultimate authority above me to provide justice.

And without looking at the book, just by looking at nature, I can know that there is a God who is powerful, that he is creative. He is a Creator, a designer. A God who is a provider. And he instilled us with a sense of right and wrong. That there is a God who is just, who provides justice.

It's not that people don't know there is a God, is that people don't care. They suppress the truth of what's right in front of their eyes. We don't want some authority telling us about right or wrong. We want to go down our own path and we're just hoping that there are no consequences.

Yeah, the truth is, we live in a moral universe, where there are consequences.

I want to be able to eat all the cake I can eat all day, every day, without any consequences, without ever gaining a pound of weight. Does that happen? No. Because reality says the body can only handle so much, and your abusing the body.

You can't live as if there are no consequences. You know, I want to do what I want to do and just move fast and just have fun. And you do it and you try it. And eventually you hit a wall.

The reality, whether you like it or not, is that you are not the God of the universe. But there is a God. and he created the world according to his power and his strength and his might. And to live in reality, to live well in reality, has to begin by knowing God and following him.

God's power and nature are evident to all.

But as this Scripture holds up a mirror to us, it tells us the truth about ourselves, and it's this.

Without God's grace, we all are people lost in our sin and under God's wrath.

Paul is masterful here in exposing the rot and corruption and depth and depravity of our of our condition. As you go through this, realize that you’ve got to know you're sick before you can go find healing.

You know you're walking around and you realize that something doesn't feel just right. You know that something is off. And so because of that, you go to the doctor. The doctor does a scan, and tells you some hard news. He says you're developing cancer cells.

But that news is important. Because of that news, I can now start to go get the treatment that my body needs.

And Paul here, he's acting like the one giving you your condition. He says, OK, you want to know how bad the condition is? Do you want to see the rot and the filth? Let me show you.

He says in Romans 1:21-23:

Romans 1:21–23 CSB

21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless 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, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

Even though people knew that there was a God that exists, they knew there was a power bigger than themselves, they didn't care. They didn't want to care.

Have you ever heard of someone losing touch with reality? He says that their thinking became worthless as they lost touch with reality. Their senseless hearts were darkened. Instead of worshiping the Creator, the God that exists in reality, instead of worshiping the Creator they worshiped created things. Claiming to be wise they became fools.

They don't think this is 2000 or 3000 or 4000 years ago. This is today. People have idols in their heart today. And do you want to know what your idol is? I can tell what your idol is quickly. Your idol is going to be that thing that you think keeps you safe and secure, that God replacement in your heart.

You are someone who is wired to worship. The god of the universe designed you to worship. But when we suppress the truth and push God out of the way, we will still find something or someone to worship. We will still believe that. there is something else out there that will keep me safe and secure. Maybe it's a. person. Maybe it's a relationship. Maybe it's money. Maybe it's a career. no matter what it is, we will find because of the way we're wired. We'll find someone or something. to cling to.

An idol is kind of like a ball in chain. You know you've got this ball and chain connected to your leg and you just dragging it around and somebody comes by and says, you know, you would really move faster if you just let go of that ball and chain. If you’re married, no, I’m not talking your spouse. I don’t want to get emails this week.

The ball and chain is your idol. But you, you go and protect it. You say, no, but this is what makes me happy. This is what protects me. This is what's keeping me safe and secure. So you get up and you're still dragging this around. You're going really slow. And somebody says, “No, really. I think if you let go of that ball and chain, you will be free.” But every time they talk about it, you go back and run and protect it some more. Don't talk about it.

The idols in your life, the addictions, the things that you’re putting before the Lord, those are what’s keeping you from the God that wants to set you free.

And those idols in your life, they're gonna lead you to two things that Paul describes here.

A. Corrupt Passions

Idolatry inevitably leads to the corruption of our passions. Our desires start taking us to a darker and darker place.

Paul was writing this letter from a city called Corinth. Like a lot of other ancient cities, Corinth was known for sexual immorality. It had a temple to Aphrodite. Some historians believe that this temple employed a a number of cult prostitutes. And so Paul could literally see how idolatry would lead to the degrading of our bodies.

He says in Romans 1:24:

Romans 1:24 CSB

24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.

God thinks more of your body than you do. God created your body. You know, because of modern day cultural sensitivities to this issue, we look at verses 26 and 27, and it stands out. Romans 1:26-27:

Romans 1:26–27 CSB

26 For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.

You read this and you can't help but think what's happening in the culture today. Let me tell you that the culture thinks a whole lot less of you than God does.

A generation of kids are being raised up to believe that what they do sexually with their body is their identity, defines who they are. Literally they're putting people in categories, your either heterosexual or homosexual, and you get into that category and you're stuck. They say that what you do with your body is who you are. How many of us are thankful that the person we were in our teens or 20s is not the person that we were stuck with?

The culture wants to identify you by what you do with your body. But what does God say about you? God doesn't say that your value comes from what you do with your body. That's not why you are valuable to God. You're identity, in God's eyes, is someone made in his image. You are valuable because you are made in the image of God.

Romans 1:25 says that people “exchanged the truth of God for a lie.” Do you know the truth of God is the truth of God is that you are valuable to God because you are made in his image. You are a creation of God and God loves you.

The lie is believing that you're an accident The lie is believing that your only value is in what you do with your body. The lie is in believing that you are not valuable that you are not lovable.

God doesn't see you in this category or in that category. God doesn't see you as homosexual or heterosexual, or whatever other category the world wants to throw at you. God sees you as a sinner in need of salvation, and he sent his son to die in your place. God wants to give you salvation and set you free.

B. A Corrupt Mind

Not only does idolatry lead us to corrupt passions, it also leads us to a corrupt mind.

He can't read through verses 29 to 32 and say, well, I don't fit into any of these categories. You fit into these categories. This text in Romans is not about any one particular sin. This is a big bucket that we are all in.

He talks about people filled with unrighteousness evil greed, wickedness, murder, quarrels, malice, gossips. When I find interesting is in verse 30 inventors of evil. Have you guys ever known somebody who just seemed to be able to invent new ways to do stuff he was not supposed to do? People are God haters, arrogant, proud. boastful. etc. We get to Romans 1:32:

Romans 1:32 CSB

32 Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.

And there's something about when we start believing the lives of the culture, the lives of the enemy. The enemy drags us in, and then we start saying, hey, let me drag some people in with me.

As Paul finishes this text, and he holds a mirror to us, he says, look. There's a reason that we need salvation.

What are we being saved from? And this is the last point

Because of his grace, God came to save us from our corruption and his wrath.

Without Christ, we are all people under the wrath of God. But the good news is that we don't have to be stuck there. God came to save you from the lies, to save you from the corruption, to save you from his wrath and sent you free.

What do we need salvation from? We need salvation from the judgment against what we have done.

You might think that people aren't going to hell, but that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that people under the wrath of God are heading to a place called Hell. And God came to save you from it.

He went to the cross to take on your consequences. He went to the cross to take on your wrath. He went to the cross to take on your pain. He went to the cross to take on your sickness, your disease. He went to the cross for you.

In one event, in one place. The cross shows us both the wrath of God and the love of God. And when you look at Romans 1:18-32 you've got to look at it within the context. Because Paul is saying this right after verses 16 and 17. All of this stuff is connected directly to Romans 1:16 where he says,

Romans 1:16 CSB

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

The gospel, the good news of Jesus, is the power of God to save you. The gospel is the only hope for mankind. And I hope that when you look into the Scriptures today that you see a mirror. I hope that you would see yourself.

And I hope that by looking into this mirror that you might see yourself and run to the cross, because it's only the power of God through salvation in Jesus Christ by what he has done for you in the cross that will set you free.

Praise God. Let's pray.

Conclusion

God's power and nature are evident to all.

Without God's grace, we all are people lost in our sin and under God's wrath.

Because of his grace, God came to save us from our corruption and his wrath.

Prayer

Last Song

Doxology

Numbers 6:24–26 CSB

24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you; 25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’

Jude 24–25 CSB

24 Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.

You are dismissed. Have a great week in the Lord!