The Terrifying Wrath of God
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Main Point: God’s wrath is terrifying but COMPLETELY avoidable!
Main Point: God’s wrath is terrifying but COMPLETELY avoidable!
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 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. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Two questions we need to work through today:
What does God’s wrath look like—how do we know if we are under the wrath of God?
Review
What should our response be to the revelation of God’s wrath and what causes it to fall upon us?
Review of Last Week:
God’s wrath is poured out in response to three categorical rejections:
Outright Rejection: Those who reject God without merit to do so—proud defiance
Humanistic Thought/Philosophy: Those who argue/reason away God’s—man’s broken perception outweigh God’s instruction
Idolatrous Pleasure: Those who pursue creation above the Creator—idolatry
A Word of Warning:
I’ve heard some teaching propose that America is under the wrath of God. This assessment is based upon two conjunctive lines of thought from this passage:
America actively rejects God in all three categories (outright, philosophically, & idolatrously).
America appears to have been given over by God into:
Spiritual/Moral Defilement
Consumed with Shameful Passions
Debased and Bankrupt Thinking
Before we move into the what the wrath of God looks like, we should understand the following:
Wrath is the NECESSARY response of a perfect, righteous, and loving God towards sin.
Wrath is the NECESSARY response of a perfect, righteous, and loving God towards sin.
Perfect:
The perfection of God results in a pushing away and purging of evil from His presence.
The purging of sin is what we refer to as wrath
Righteous:
Righteous:
The righteousness of God demands that ALL sinners face the consequences for ALL sin—God cannot allow a single sin to go unaddressed and unpunished
The righteousness of God demands that ALL sinners face the consequences for ALL sin—God cannot allow a single sin to go unaddressed and unpunished
The punishment for sin is what we refer to as wrath
The punishment for sin is what we refer to as wrath
Loving:
The love that God expresses within the Trinity, and then towards humanity, demands that he defend and avenge those who have been wronged, harmed, and defamed through sin!
God defending and avenging Himself is what we refer to as wrath
God defending and avenging those whom He loves is what we refer to as wrath
The Greatest Enemy and Contradiction to the Gospel is Human Righteousness (Dr. John Murray)
The Greatest Enemy and Contradiction to the Gospel is Human Righteousness (Dr. John Murray)
Enemy:
When we think we are righteous (right) we think God is unrighteous (wrong)
Either God is right and we are unrighteous —or—
Either God is right and we are unrighteous —or—
We are righteous and God is not
Why? Because what the scripture reveals about God and about us stands in direct opposition to what we think about ourselves and God!
Contradiction:
When we think we are righteous, we have no need of Jesus
The Bible tells us that we are sinners
The Bible tells us that we are sinners
The Bible tells us that Jesus came to save sinners
The Bible tells us that Jesus came to save sinners
When we operate under “human righteousness” we ABSOLUTELY CONTRADICT the Lord’s instruction to us
Question: WHAT DOES THE WRATH OF GOD LOOK LIKE?
Question: WHAT DOES THE WRATH OF GOD LOOK LIKE?
First, the wrath of God is marked by God surrendering you—He literally lets go of you!
“Gave them up” (ESV) = GK paradidomi
Think about it, God lets go of you and allows you venture away from Him permanently!
What do we defiantly walk into when God lets go of us?
When God lets go of someone, He allows that person to rebelliously descend into rampant degradation within three areas:
Deliver
Hand over
Second, the wrath of God allows rampant degradation in three areas:
Extreme Spiritual/Moral Defilement
Consumed by Shameful Desires
Debased and Bankrupt Thinking
Extreme Spiritual/Moral Defilement
Extreme Spiritual/Moral Defilement
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Romans 1:
The Greek word used for “impurity” is the word akatharsia
Rampant Impurity
The plain meaning of the word is simply to be dirty, unclean, filthy, and/or foul.
However, when applied to a person, this word takes on a completely different connotation; it refers to:
Moral Vileness/Depravity
Ritual/Ceremonial Uncleanliness
Holistically—it means to be Corrupted
When used by Paul, we can summarize his assessment in the following: GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO A CORRUPTED AND UNCLEAN HEART!
How can we say God gave them up to an unclean heart?
The text seems to have the soul in view based upon the fact that impurity is often applied to ceremonial purity (religious)
For a person to be religiously unclean today, we would say they are lost.
For we are either a new creation in Christ—made clean—or we are not!
The heart (the inner man) is the primary source Impurity within the Bible =
In the Bible, the Heart is considered the center of the person (who they are/the whole person)—it is what identifies the person (the mind, the body, the intellect, and emotions).
In short, if the heart is bad the whole person is bad—the term we use is lost/unsaved
The Bible uses the soul
Jesus said ALL uncleanness flows from the heart of a person ()
Look at what the Bible says about the heart from the negative:
Jesus said ALL uncleanness flows from the heart of a person ()
Before the flood, man’s heart continually thought of evil ()
Jesus said we think about evil in the heart ()
Look at what the Bible says about the heart from the positive:
We are to guard our hearts because everything flows from it ()
We are to guard our hearts because everything flows from it ()
Our hearts show us what we value ()
Our hearts show us what we value ()
The pure in heart will see God ()
God pours his love into our hearts ()
A synthesis of this information means: The heart is either good or bad—and you can tell by how you live!
When God gives our hearts over to impurity, this means our hearts do not belong to Him! Why? Because Salvation is permanent!
Salvation is permanent
Jesus says no one can snatch us out of God’s hand ()
Those who believe in God have eternal life ()
Those who believe in God have eternal life ()
The Holy Spirit seals us into salvation ()
The Holy Spirit seals us into salvation ()
The fact that God does not lie to us anchors the promise of salvation He extends to us ()
God giving someone over to their hearts desires outside of Him is an act of wrath because it means God has judged that individual, and had decided to release that individual into their sin!
The second demonstration of wrath...
They are Consumed by Shameful Desires
They are Consumed by Shameful Desires
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Romans 1:26-
The Greek uses two words to express “dishonorable passions” to us:
atima (degrading/dishonorable/shameful/disrespectful)
pathos (strong desire for)
When paired together, we understand the phrase to mean:
A strong desire for that which is dishonorable
A strong desire for that which is disrespectful
A strong desire for that which degrades
A strong desire for that which is shameful
That is, GOD GIVES THEM OVER TO THEIR THIRST TO BE DEGRADED!
Why is this considered an outpouring of God’s wrath?
The Bible tells us that we were created in the image of God ()
The Bible tells us that God shares His glory with us ()
The Bible tells us that we sinned and fell short of God’s glory ()
The Bible tells us that God rewards us for serving Him ()
The Bible tells us that we get to share in God’s happiness ()
THEREFORE… TO BE GIVEN OVER TO DEGRADING PURSUITS IS TO BE RELEASED FROM GOD AND ALL OF HIS REWARDS, TREASURES, AND JOYS!
Lastly, lets move onto the third expression of God’s wrath...
Debased and Bankrupt Thinking
Debased and Bankrupt Thinking
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Romans 1:
“Debased Mind” is a Greek phrase composed of two words:
“Debased” is the Greek adokimon: Not in accord with what is right, appropriate, or fitting. Also, that which is unqualified, worthless, or base—IT IS CORRUPTED AND UNQUALIFIED
“Mind” is the Greek noun: intellect, understanding, perception, way of thinking—MANNER OF THOUGHT
When paired together, this means: A WAY OF THINKING AND PERCEPTION THAT IS UNQUALIFIED, WORTHLESS, AND CORRUPT!
GOD GIVES THEM A MIND THAT DOESN’T WORK!
Pursuit of Dishonorable Passions
Why is this considered an outpouring of God’s wrath?
Instead of receiving knowledge from God, God surrenders the rebellious to their own useless knowledge
Instead of receiving guidance from God, God surrenders the rebellious to their own useless paths
Instead of receiving wisdom from God, God surrenders the rebellious to their own insight
In short, God removes ALL HOPE for life lived within its proper and satisfying boundaries when we choose to persistently reject and defy Him!
We see the wrath of God is devastatingly poured out upon the rebellious in three ways:
We see the wrath of God is devastatingly poured out upon the rebellious in three ways:
God gives the individual over to complete defilement!
God gives the individual over to degrading and shameful pursuits!
God gives the individual over to a completely broken and useless
A Few Biblical Thoughts for Perspective:
A Few Biblical Thoughts for Perspective:
God wishes that none would perish () ()
God’s love for humanity caused Him to take upon Himself the penalty of our sins in order to show mercy through forgiveness and redemption. ()
However, God expects that we respond to His love by returning love to Him () ()
A failure to respond to God results in our experience of the full penalty for sin () ()
Consequently, it is a hard, unloving, and unrepentant heart that rejects God’s love and mercy for wrath and damnation! () ()
A Word of Warning:
A Word of Warning:
I’ve heard some teaching propose that America is under the wrath of God. This assessment is based upon two conjunctive lines of thought from this passage:
America actively rejects God in all three categories (outright, philosophically, & idolatrously).
As a nation we’ve chosen our ways above God’s ways.
Outright Rejection: Ignorance and defiance of God is the norm within our society
Philosophical Rejection: Our colleges and universities are actively and openly engaged in attempting to prove God does not exist
Idolatrous Rejection: Nearly all of us are consumed with the desire for stuff over God!
America appears to have been given over by God into:
Bearing this in mind, America appears to have been given over by God into:
Extreme Spiritual/Moral Defilement: Very few of our churches are orthodox, conservative, Bible-believing, bodies of Christ.
Consumed by Shameful Desires: We pursue that which is disgusting (epitomized by killing unborn children)
Consumed with Shameful Passions
Debased and Bankrupt Thinking: Our logic NEVER leads us to God or holiness
Debased and Bankrupt Thinking
What Should Our Response Look Like?
What Should Our Response Look Like?
Submission to Authority: Belief in God’s Word
We start here! If our primary problem is the rejection of God and His instruction… the only solution is to seek God and learn His instruction!
The word of God is not optional, it is absolutely vital for life! — PASSIVITY IS NOT ALLOWED IN WHAT GOD PRESCRIBES! —
Active Repentance:
Admittance of Faith in God: We Believe, Confess, and Praise Jesus for His work, nature, love, and calling!
Admittance of our Guilt: Confession of Sin, Ignorance, and Rebellion
Admittance of our Helplessness: Cry out for Mercy and Life
Rejection of Sin through the Spirit’s Power: Active Cessation from Sinful Behaviors
Live into our gifted Holiness/Righteousness: Commencement and Integration of Spiritual Disciplines
Revel in the Lord: We live to find pleasure, satisfaction, joy, happiness, and fulfillment in God