The Wrath of God and the Scandalous Gospel.
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION:
INTRODUCTION:
Please stand with me to read
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 to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
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TODAY LIKE JOHN NEWTON WE ARE ENCOUNTERED BY THE WRATH OF GOD.
Paul places us in a court room , with God as judge and he as the prosecutor.
He argues not from emotion but from human history.
Pointing out humanity is rightfully under the wrath of God.
FOR PAUL WE CAN NOT UNDERSTAND THE SCANDALOUS GRACE OF THE GOSPEL- THE SAVING POWER OF GOD FOR ALL WHO BELIEVE, UNTIL WE COMPREHEND OUR OWN WRETCHEDNESS AND GOD’S RIGHTFUL WRATH.
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THE WRATH OF GOD!
THE WRATH OF GOD!
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
THE BIBLE DESCRIBES THE WRATH OF GOD IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS.
Eternal wrath / Eschatological Wrath /
But the wrath described by Paul in the next few verses in the fearsome wrath imaginable.
We might call it the ABANDONING WRATH OF GOD!
IT IS WHEN GOD TURNS US OVER TO OUR OWN PASSIONS.
When is preventing grace is removed and we chase head first into destruction, cheering for people come join us.
WE SEE THIS WRATH PLAYED OUT ALL OVER SCRIPTURE.
WE SEE THIS WRATH PLAYED OUT ALL OVER SCRIPTURE.
11 “But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me. 12 “So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, To walk in their own devices.
16 “In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways;
THIS IS THE STORY OF HUMAN HISTORY.
God giving the nations over to their own way and into destruction by their own hands.
Babylon, Persia, Rome, every nation is under this abandoning wrath of God.
AND THIS WRATH OF GOD HAS COME BECAUSE WE SUPRES THE TRUTH OF GOD.
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IT MAY SEEM UNFAIR FOR GOD TO GIVE THE NATIONS OVER TO THEIR OWN SINFULNESS BUT PAUL WILL MAKE IT CLEAR, WE ARE CULPABLE, EVERY PERSON, EVERY NATION. WE ARE RIGHTFULLY UNDER THE WRATH OF GOD!
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WE ARE STORING UP WRATH BY SUPPRESSING THE TRUTH THROUGH IDOLATRY.
WE ARE STORING UP WRATH BY SUPPRESSING THE TRUTH THROUGH IDOLATRY.
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
HUMANITY SUPPRESSES THE TRUTH OF GOD THROUGH IDOLATRY.
While Jews had the law of God, Gentiles had the law of nature.
Paul argues that God made enough of himself known through nature, that humanity is without excuse.
They exchanged the Glory of God for the images of man and animals.
WE LIVE IN A TIME AND PLACE WHERE WE ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH STATUES AS IDOLS. BUT LET’S NOT FOOL OURSELVES. WESTERN CULTURE IS FULL OF IDOLS.
What is idolatry and how does it suppress the truth of God?
What is idolatry and how does it suppress the truth of God?
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.
Idolatry is giving ultimate trust, worth, hope, love, obedience to anything other than God.
It is looking for life in anything other than God.
HOW DOES IDOLATRY SUPPRESS THE TRUTH OF GOD?
HOW DOES IDOLATRY SUPPRESS THE TRUTH OF GOD?
It replaces revelation with reinterpretation
If God is the creature then I am accountable / I am not the ultimate He is / I don’t define reality, he does./
Idolatry flips this /
Instead of God defines reality and me.
It becomes, I define reality / truth / Good / evil
In other words, truth gets bent to protect the idol.
Idolatry reshapes our perception of truth.
4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. 5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; 6 They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; 7 They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. 8 Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.
THAT IS SPIRITUAL FORMATION IN REVERSE.
If you worship power you start to justify domination.
If you worship autonomy you redefine morality.
The truth does not disappear it just becomes inconvenient.
DECONSTRUCTION OF FAITH / ALL OF THEM DECONSTRUCTED BECAUSE OF SEXUAL SINS.
AUTONOMY OF SELF WAS THE GOD AND THEY HAD TO REDEFINE MORALITY.
THIS LED TO THEM EVENTUALLY FULLY LEAVING THE FAITH.
How are we still building these idols?
We don’t built statues we build systems, identities, and narratives.
In the West we worship self - we have replaced God and have tried to set on the throne.
Self expression is seen as the highest moral good.
Be your authentic self replaces holiness
Be true to how you feel replaces the Authority of God.
Modern Culture is the full effect of the Depraved Mind.
We build systems to shut him out of our minds and lives.
We try to explain morality with out him - psychology
We try to define identity without God - Social engineering / Queer Theory / Liberation Theology / Post-structuralist Critical theory / Marxism
We try to engineer flourishing without God / Technology / Science / Social engineering.
AND YET EVERY SYSTEM, TECHNOLOGY, POLITICAL SYSTEM, AND SOCIAL ENGINEERING WITHOUT GOD HAS BROUGHT DEATH, POVERTY, DESTRUCTION, FAMINE, AND CHAOS.
John Calvin in his book, “The Institutes of Religions” wrote, “The human heart is an idol making factory.”
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BECAUSE HUMANITY SUPPRESSES THE TRUTH OF GOD THROUGH IDOLATRY, GOD’S WRATH IS REVEALED IN THREE PHASES.
BECAUSE HUMANITY SUPPRESSES THE TRUTH OF GOD THROUGH IDOLATRY, GOD’S WRATH IS REVEALED IN THREE PHASES.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
GOD GAVE THEM OVER IN THE LUST OF THEIR HEARTS TO IMPURITY.
GOD GAVE THEM OVER IN THE LUST OF THEIR HEARTS TO IMPURITY.
Paul is speaking of sexual impurity here.
The first phase of wrath is God giving humanity over to impure lusts.
Think USA 1960-70 - The Love revolution.
No fault divorce is invented / Father’s abandon their families for free love / Mother’s abandon their children for self empowerment / Adultery became normalized / Multiple sexual partners became normalized / Pornography was shown in theaters and celebrated! / Abortion became legalized and millions of boys and girls were killed for sexual conveince.
We see this in history / Babylon / Persia / Egypt / Rome. They all followed this same path of destruction.
NOTICE THAT GOD DID NOT CAUSE THEM TO SIN SEXUALLY. HIS WRATH WAS GIVING THEM OVER TO THEIR OWN LUSTS.
GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO DEGRADING PASSIONS.
GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO DEGRADING PASSIONS.
Remember we become what we worship. We take on the nature of the idols.
Paul now talks about homosexuality.
Man was created in the image and likeness of God, male and female.
We were to reflect His beauty and holiness as sexual beings by husbands and wives coming together and in that expression of love, reproduction of the image of God.
But as God’s wrath allows man to go deeper into sin, we see men turning to men and women turning to women.
No reproduction of the image of God.
We have gone from Lust of the heart towards impurity to the Degrading of Passions.
FINALLY GOD GIVES HUMANITY OVER TO A DEPRAVED MIND.
FINALLY GOD GIVES HUMANITY OVER TO A DEPRAVED MIND.
HUMANITY EVENTUALLY REMOVES GOD FROM THEIR MINDS, SOCIETY - THEY STOP ACKNOWLEDGING HIM!
THIS LEADS TO THE FINAL EXPRESSION OF WRATH - GOD TURING THEM OVER TO A DEPRAVED MIND.
A mind that now elevates self above all - a mind that invents new ways to bring death and destruction.
The depraved mind is the mind that sees righteousness / holiness / goodness / as evil and vile.
A Depraved mind is the mind that flaunts evil / showers adoration of rebellion.
TED TALK / ACCEPT PEDOPHILIA AS A NEW SEXUALITY /
MN TRANS CONGRASMAN / AGRUING FOR NO AGE RESTRICTIONS ON INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY / LITTLE CHILDREN NEED TO LEARN ABOUT SEX / QUEER CHILDREN LEARN SELF EXPRESSION THROUGH PORN / IT IS A VITAL TOOL TO HELP CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT THEIR SEXUALITY.
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
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PAUL GOES FROM THE BIG EXPRESSIONS OF HUMANITY REJECTING GOD FOR IDOLATRY TO WHAT YOU AND I MIGHT SEE AS NORMAL.
29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
PAUL SEES HOW THIS ABANDONING WRATH OF GOD AFFECTS THREE LEVELS OF HUMANITY.
Personal - Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil.
Relational - Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice,
Societal - they are gossips, slanders, haters, of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.
AND THEN THE WORST -
THOUGH THEY KNOW THE LAW OF GOD AND THAT THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS DESERVE DEATH
THEY CONTINUE AND CHEER OTHERS ON IN THESE SINS.
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CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Paul paints a picture of absolute human guilt.
The natural law points to God and humanity has rejected it.
We have burried the truth of God under our millions of idols.
Our chief idol being Radical individuality and the Autonomous self.
BUT HERE IS WHERE THE GOOD NEWS MEETS THE BAD NEWS.
THE GOSPEL COMES IN AS A SCANDELOUS SAVIOR.
THE GOSPEL COMES IN AS A SCANDELOUS SAVIOR.
In all our wickedness
In the midst of the wrath of God being revealed from Heaven
God’s Righteousness - His covenant faithfulness is revealed in the person of Jesus.
Like John Newton, we all need saving.
We need saving from God’s rightful wrath
We need saving from our degrading passions, lusts, and depraved minds.
AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT GOD OFFERS US IN JESUS.
We stand guilty - and Jesus says let me pay off your guilt.
We stand cursed - Jesus says let me take that curse.
We stand stained in sin - Jesus says take my righteousness and let me carry your sin to my cross.
We are bent over, turned on ourself, running towards self destruction - and Jesus says, come to me, let me reconcile you to the Father, cloth you in righteousness, and empower you to live rightly.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
AMAZING GRACE, HOW SWEET THE SOUND THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME.
I WAS LOST BUT NOW I AM FOUND, I WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE.
