Romans 1:18 "The Wrath of God"

“The Wrath of God

INTRODUCTION

Can There Be Good News In Wrath?

Romans 1:18

READ: Romans 1:18-23

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

Back in January, we began a new study through this book: Paul’s letter to the Romans. If you were here then, you remember that I told you a couple of things, when we started this journey. The first thing I said was that this journey may take us years - and some of us wouldn’t be here to finish it.

The second thing I told you was that there is no more important, no more relevant book in all of the world - for us, today - than this very book. When I said that, I had no idea what was coming just a few months later … but now, looking back - all these months later, that statement was more true than I could ever have known.

I think we can all agree that, to put it mildly, 2020 has been quite a year so far. Have seen all countless memes on social media about this year and how disastrous it’s been and how they can’t wait for it to be over .... We’re supposed to turn our clocks back in a few weeks — people saying - ‘Let’s not bother doing that - we don’t want to add another hour to this year.’ So many statements like that.

What surprises me, is that there seems to be an assumption on the part of so many - that 2020 is an ANOMALY - - - that things are not supposed to be this way … that if we hold on tightly and manage to grit our teeth and claw our way through to the end of December .... that 2021 will come and everything will be back to normal.

And my question to anybody who thinks that way, is this:

“Normal - What’s normal?!”

Normal, like the depression that lasted the entire decade of the 1930’s in North America was normal?

Normal, like the 6 years from 1939-1945 were normal around this world?

Normal, like the years of communism were normal in the USSR were normal.

Normal, like the POVERTY that is all that many people around this world have always, only known is normal? You see what I’m getting at with my questions:

Why do we expect that society should generally be healthy and that forests shouldn’t burn and that people should always be nice to each other .... ?

The answer is that we have been so insulated from the suffering that is the daily lot of people all around the world, year after year, for an entire lifetime - - - that it has been far too easy in North America to forget that we live in a BROKEN WORLD. This world is broken friend … and you know it.

Knowing it is one thing - the deeper question is ‘why’?

1 COMING TO TERMS WITH A BROKEN WORLD

That’s where Christianity comes in. Christianity is more than just a message that there was this amazing guy who lived 2000 years ago - turns out, He was more than just a man - He was God’s Son - who died and rose again to save you. All of that’s true - Christianity is the message of God’s finished work to save you from your rebellion, to make you whole, to bring you into loving relationship with God and secure you for eternal joy in heaven … it’s all that. But it’s more! Christianity is also an explanation of everything. You’ll notice - that’s what I’ve titled the next section of the book of Romans - “The Explanation for Everything”

Christianity doesn’t begin with “God sent His only begotten Son ....” - it begins with “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” It’s an explanation of the whole universe. And the letter to the Romans is the most thorough, systematic explanation in the whole Bible.

Romans 1:18 begins a new section in the letter that takes us all the way to chapter 3:20. And in v. 18, the letter takes a drastic turn. At least it seems to be a drastic turn. We left off our study in verse 16-17 of chapter 1 - and if you were with us then you remember that those 2 verses is where Paul gives us his thesis statement … his theme for the entire letter.

Romans 1:16 - “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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

So, God saves everyone who believes (in Jesus Christ - that comes later in the letter) … everyone, not who works themselves into His favor - but everyone who simply believes, throws himself or herself in trust at the feet of Jesus Christ and His finished work. We are given a righteousness from God … BY FAITH. That’s GOOD NEWS - the best news you will ever hear.

So when we read in the very next verse, in the very next words in v. 18, about the WRATH of God … well, that seems just a little abrupt, doesn’t it? And from this verse all the way to chapter 3:20, Paul is building the case that we need the good news of righteousness by faith because the reason the world is broken - is that we are all - every last one of us humans - we are all … broken.

“There is no one righteous, not even one, all have sinned = they have together become worthless” … and there is only one solution, one person who can put us back together - Jesus Christ - the very God we have offended. That’s the Christian explanation.

Of course, it’s not the ONLY explanation … Every religion has an explanation for the universe and the brokenness we see around us … some are more coherent than others.

Atheism has an explanation: There was nothing, that somehow turned itself into something … and without any design or Designer - here we are. And we matter!

Everyone of us has a view of the world - why it is the way it is. And I want to urge you to honestly and vigorously think through your world view and ask, “Does my way of seeing the world ....

Christianity’s explanation comes in Romans 1:18 and following:

THE WRATH OF GOD IS REVEALED FROM HEAVEN AGAINST ALL UNGODLINESS AND UNRIGHTEOUSNESS OF MEN (AND WOMEN) WHO BY THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS SUPPRESS THE TRUTH.

In other words, men and women suppress truth and live ‘un-righteously’ … and that stirs up the wrath of God.

… And right about now, some of you are thinking to yourselves: “A God of wrath?!! This is the first time we’ve been able to worship in months - our world is upside down - in need of some good news .... we’ve come hungry … and in this very first service you’re talking about the WRATH of GOD?! Where’s the good news in that?” If you’re thinking that, you’re not alone.

So many churches jump right past the wrath of God - either they downplay it or deny it altogether. “A God of wrath doesn’t sell … 21st century Canadians aren’t buying that idea. If we want to draw people in - we’ve got to go with felt-needs.” “How can I be a better parent, better person, how can I build my self-esteem?”

Oh, but so often preaching that focuses on people’s felt needs is as effective as giving a cough-drop to heal someone with the Corona virus.

I’m here this morning to tell you that understanding the sin and wrath that is at the root of this world’s problems … will make you a far wiser person about human nature. It will help you walk in greater discernment - and better be able to help the people around you to walk wisely.

There’s a goal I have for our church family, here at Maranatha - I heard John Piper share the same goal for his church, years ago. I want you … I want US - to become a church filled with ‘SAGES’. Sage is just another word for someone who’s wise and discerning and who understands the world, who love people and overflow with delight in God. I want you to develop into that kind of person … filled with and sharing wisdom.

Some of you are wrestling with a vision for your life – “How is my life going to be defined?”

20 or 30 or 60 years from now, when I’m long gone … I want Maranatha to be filled with sages, who people come streaming to when they have real issues and worries and anxieties and fears - because you understand things, you don’t just parrot the latest talking points from one side of the trending philosophy of that particular month. You are discerning – you know God, you know the human heart, you know ugliness and beauty, you know holiness, you know wrath, you know mercy … you grasp this world.

And the people who rub shoulders with you know it: “Everytime I go to that person … I feel like a lost traveler in the scorching Sahara desert of information overload … who’s just found a well of fresh, crystal clear water. There’s WISDOM there - and it makes sense of my life.”

That’s not going to happen if you’re content to go through this life just coasting … and regurgitating whatever is trending on social media. So much information … so little WISDOM.

Piper: “… what we need to nurture and cultivate here at Bethlehem over the next decades is sages—men and women who ripen with years into deeply sagacious people: wise, discerning, penetrating, deep lovers of people and deep knowers of human nature and God’s nature, who can see deeply into the tangle of sin and sacredness that perplexes the saints and threatens to undo us. If you run away from the study of sinful human nature—if you say, I don’t like to think about sin—then you run away from yourself, and you run away from wisdom, and, worst of all, you run away from the deepest kinds of love.”

You’re meant to be that. AIM HIGH CHRISTIAN. Who drinks at your life? If you are going to be that sage – if you are going to understand this world … you are going to need to understand God. And you can’t understand God UNLESS you FIRST understand His wrath.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness suppress the truth …”.

This morning I’m going to unpack these words and trust that the Lord shows the relevance of this section of Romans to our world today and to your life, in particular.

2 THE WRATH OF GOD – A BIBLICAL REALITY

The first thing I want you to understand about the wrath of God is that it is a BIBLICAL REALITY. In the OT - there are more than 20 words that are used to describe God’s wrath (these are different words than human anger. These 20 words are isolated into 1 or 2 sections - but are spread throughout the entire OT - part of its very fabric ... and make the point that God has wrath.

You say, “Yes, I know enough about the Bible to know that the OT God had a temper problem … He was angry. But thankfully, Jesus came along int he NT and diffused God’s anger.”

Lots of people think that way. But do you know what? That idea, as popular as it may be - doesn’t come from the Bible. In fact do you know that the person in the NT who speaks most often and most vividly about the wrath of God? It’s not Paul … not John the Baptist in the wilderness .... it’s Jesus.

Gentle Jesus - the same one who said, ‘turn the other cheek’ and ‘bless those who persecute you’. Most famous verse in the Bible:

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”. Now look a little further along in that very chapter:

John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the WRATH OF GOD remains on him.”

There is no more powerful image of God’s wrath than in the very last book of the Bible, Revelation.

Revelation 14:9-11 points to judgment day. “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, (10) he also will drink the wine of GOD’S WRATH, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the Lamb. (11) And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image ...”.

From OT to NT - the the very last book … the Bible speaks with one voice - there is such a thing as the wrath of God.

Before we go any further, you may be thinking, “Yes, I get it … there is a day in the future, when God will judge the world … that’s when you will see God’s wrath.” And that’s partly true - the great outpouring of God’s wrath against sin will be on the day when He judges.

But don’t miss our text this morning -

Romans 1:18 says that the wrath of God ‘… IS BEING REVEALED.’ That’s present tense, friend.

Paul is telling us that there is a sense in which God’s wrath is being poured out, in this world, that we live in ... right now.

And it’s no accident that he brings up that wrath, right here at the beginning of the letter, IMMEDIATELY after he states the theme of the letter, in

Romans 1:16-17: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes … For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.”

Here’s the thing friend - you can NOT understand the glory of God’s loving and saving power - unless you FIRST understand what you are being saved FROM. So here it is, right at the beginning: “The righteousness of God is revealed - saved by faith .... because the wrath of God is being revealed.”

You will never treasure Jesus Christ the way you ought to … until you understand the depth of what you have been saved FROM. And friend, the most important thing you have been saved from, as a Christian - is not from having a second-rate life, not from low self esteem … the most important thing any of us are saved from is God’s wrath.

Question: So what has provoked this wrath in God? Verse 18 goes on to tell us: “… the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against … (what?) - against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

So what brings on God’s anger is whatever and who-ever violates His holy character by suppressing the truth. The particular evil is ‘suppressing the truth’ and that verb ‘suppress’ is the same one used in the book of Acts to describe how Jesus’ apostles were arrested and thrown into prison … imprisoned - repressed. It’s the picture of a kid who smuggles his

3 GOD’S WRATH DEFINED

At this point in our time, I am very aware that I need to define what the WRATH of God is all about.

I wonder, when you hear the word, ‘wrath’, what comes to your mind? Some of us grew up in homes with a parent who had moods that were all over the place - sometimes happy to the point of foolishness … other times, your parent was miserable. It was as if your home was infested with booby-traps - and you walked around the house, constantly on high alert - because if you stepped in the wrong place, said the wrong thing, didn’t say the right thing … if you dared let down your guard for a moment … you knew there was going to be an explosion of anger. You’re very familiar with Hot-headed, lack of control.

That is NOT the wrath of God - and that’s one of the problems we have when we speak about the wrath of God - the term just has so much baggage that we need to sort through. But let’s be clear - a Holy God doesn’t have a bad temper. A God who puts up with me and my failures, over and over and over again … 54 years of sins and rebellion, day after day, year after year .... and still He loves me .... That is NOT a loose cannon God.

Some people understand that God doesn’t blow His stack … they want to protect His ‘Image’, so they come to this term and they say, “The wrath of God isn’t actually an emotion at all .... it’s just the cause and effect that He built into the universe when He created. The universe is like a car and God is the Designer. As part of His design, He programmed the world to work according to morality … if you follow His plan - things go well - and if you don’t, you will suffer the consequences.” That’s what the wrath of God is, some people say - God designed the world, built it and then let it go - - but there’s nothing personal about this wrath.

But that’s not right either. The Greek word translated ‘wrath’ in v. 18 is the word ‘orge’ - - carries the sense of emotion. Remember, God is a person - not an impersonal force. So the wrath of God is His personal response to whatever triggers the wrath.

Revelation 19:15 points to judgment Day, when Jesus comes to judge the nations:

“He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty”. Does that sound like an impersonal, passive process … just letting evil reap its own consequences?

“Oh, I really don’t like that?” Is that what you’re thinking? “Doesn’t the Bible itself tell us that ‘God is Love?’” Yes, it absolutely does say that -

1 John 4: “GOD IS LOVE. - it is essential to His character. He is the definition of love. So you’re right. But, let me ask you, “Do you treasure the idea of God’s LOVE?” Now, would it make His love more or less special to you if it was nothing more than way the universe had been pre-programmed to bring consequences for following God’s instructions and requirements – like Karma?

I would suggest to you that it’s a mistake to understand wrath as the OPPOSITE of love. The opposite of love is NOT wrath .... it IS INDIFFERENCE.

And we all know that - Parents, grandparents, you know that - If you love someone, you know this - you want the best for that person … want their joy and fulfillment.

And, when you see your child mixing with the wrong crowd … you find drug paraphernalia in the bedroom - find out they’ve been experimenting with substances that will destroy them … do you shrug your shoulders and say, ‘Oh well?’ Of course you don’t.

And if the one you love is being harmed by the evil choices of another - someone is abusing them … and if you are NOT angry in the face of that evil … then there’s a problem with you. If you are ambivalent about evil done to someone you care about - the people around you, watching - they are NOT going to see that as a strength in your character - they will see it as a sign that something’s not right with you.

Some of you, right now, are carrying with you - permanent scars … things that have been done TO you. Would you feel better about an impersonal force … a God who never gets angry - who just leaves the cries of the victim and the downtrodden echoing through eternity, with no PERSONAL answer?

The wrath of God against all unrighteousness means that no evil done against you will go without justice - means that God will ignore NO wicked act perpetrated against you or your loved one. No holocaust victim, or abused child or rape victim will be forgotten. The day is coming when Jesus Christ will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty … and that wrath is already being revealed from heaven right now. Do you see how this wrath of a holy God could be good news?

The commentator, John Murray, has a good definition of God’s wrath: “It is the holy revulsion of God’s being against that which is the contradiction of His holiness.”

The wrath of God is the response of a holy God to this broken world that has broken itself. It means that He’s a PERSON … Not the Deist God, like a divine Watchmaker, who set up the universe to function, wound it up and stepped away from the controls to run on its own.

It means that God cares about brokenness … He cares about YOUR brokenness - and that’s good news for anyone who has ever suffered the effects of someone else’s evil.

If I stopped here – you might think – “Okay, that’s not bad … this wrath of God does sound like good news to me … the evils done to me will be dealt with. What’s not to like?”

But before you get too smug, there’s one problem for us: the little word tucked into the middle of v. 18: the word, ‘ALL’. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (and women).”

Paul says we are ALL guilty –

“There is no one righteous, not even one …they have together become worthless.” We can have great fun pointing out the evils of politicians or government officials, or business moguls … but the Bible says we all are guilty of suppressing the truth …

And you say, “Okay, but what truth? What truth am I guilty of suppressing?”

Verses 19-21 spell it out for us:

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. (20) 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. (21) 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.”

Here’s the truth we try to stomp down and suppress: That there is a God – He created everything, sustains everything – and we should live our lives in constant, humble thanks, pursuing Him with gratitude.

We say – “I’m not going to worship Him … I’m going to be my own god … I’ll decide what works for me and what doesn’t … where to find pleasure and what to hate …”

We’re stomping on God’s glory … and in doing that – we are putting on the team jersey of everyone who brings suffering into this world.

You know what I’m talking about. Some of you are experiencing a sense of the wrath of God in your own life, right now. You know the truth about the choices you are making right now … when

The things you are doing will never gain the applause of a holy God … they can’t.

You keep hearing that quiet voice of conviction, whispering in your ear: “Stop. Just stop …”. But you keep pushing down that voice and pushing it down … and keep pushing it down.

You’re in a dangerous place, friend.

You may not have trafficked in children … but if you …..

So where’s the good news here? Is there any good news for me?!

Yes there is – and it’s wrapped up with the bad news. Do you want to know how much God’s wrath burns against sin? …. Look at the cross. See God’s anger poured out on His sinless Son – enduring an eternity of wrath as He died on that Good Friday Morning.

It’s every bit as true to say – if you want to know the depth of God’s love for you … Look at the cross.

See it there – the place where the holy, wrathful God of heaven looked right through you to your core – He knew exactly how you would try to suppress His truth – try to Steal His glory for yourself … see there, God the Son, willingly carrying out the plan made with the Father before the foundation of the unverse was even laid … where the Son said, “I will step into the gap … I will endure the wrath for all of my people … I will set them free from the everlasting wrath that their truth-suppressing deserves.”

That’s love. Now do you see why Paul is so excited about the Christian Good News? “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes …”. “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed … FROM faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.”

We might intuitively assume that an impersonal, “evil is its own punishment” process is a more moderate and humane way to achieve justice in this world. But an impersonal process cannot love us or forgive us, but a God who has anger can.