God's Wrath
Notes
Transcript
In 1939, Schindler acquired an enamelware factory in Kraków, Poland, which employed at the factory's peak in 1944 about 1,750 workers, of whom 1,000 were Jews. His Abwehr connections helped Schindler protect his Jewish workers from deportation and death in the Nazi concentration camps. As time went on, Schindler had to give Nazi officials ever larger bribes and gifts of luxury items obtainable only on the black market to keep his workers safe.
By July 1944, Germany was losing the war; the SS began closing down the easternmost concentration camps and deporting the remaining prisoners westward. Many were murdered in Auschwitz and the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. Schindler convinced SS-Hauptsturmführer Amon Göth, commandant of the nearby Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, to allow him to move his factory to Brněnec in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, thus sparing his workers from almost certain death in the gas chambers. Using names provided by Jewish Ghetto Police officer Marcel Goldberg, Göth's secretary Mietek Pemper compiled and typed the list of 1,200 Jews who travelled to Brünnlitz in October 1944. Schindler continued to bribe SS officials to prevent the execution of his workers until the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, by which time he had spent his entire fortune on bribes and black market purchases of supplies for his workers.
He is buried on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, the only official member of the Nazi party to be buried there
-Why do stories like this fascinate us?
-Because it’s against the backdrop of such wickedness and horror, that goodness and kindness looks so amazing!
Vs. 18
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven”
-What is God’s wrath?
God is a just judge,
And God is angry with the wicked every day.
I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I lay My vengeance upon them.” ’ ”
-God is a God who hates sin
-God is a God who punishes sin, and He does that by pouring out His wrath on sinful humans and fallen angels
-This will happen ultimately in the Day of Judgement, but this text is in the present tense, and therefore it is already happening?
-How is God’s wrath being revealed right now?
-Hold that question, because we will get to that
Who or what is it being revealed against?
-“all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness”
-Now, as we’re going to see over the next couple of chapters, this includes all sinful human beings who are not God’s children through faith in Christ
-So, this is describing what you and I were at one time!
What do these ungodly and unrighteous people do?
-They suppress the truth in unrighteousness
-What does that mean
-Beachball illustration
-Unsaved people, suppress, hold down, the truth in their unrighteousness!
Why are these people deserving of God’s wrath?
-“Because what may be known of god is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.”
-in them should probably translated “among them”
How is that Paul? How is what may be known of God made known among sinful human?
-Look at verse 20
Vs. 20
“For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen”
how??
-“being understood by the things that are made”
-you see, God has revealed Himself through His creation!
-His marvelous masterpiece of space and matter and life are on clear display, 24/7!
-God has created a billion trillion stars
-Now, I know that sounds like a made up number, but its not
-that is 1 followed by 21 zeros
-so it would take you 31.7 thousand years to count to a trillion
-it would take you 200 million years to count to a quadrillion
-And a quadrillion is still 6 zeros short of a trillion billion
God has created all forms of life and matter, and they’re constantly bearing witness all around us!!
-What do they say?
-They scream out about God’s “eternal power and Godhead”
-They show that there is a Creator, and He’s very powerful!
What is the end result of this?
-so that they are without excuse
-So what about that innocent person in Africa or in India who has never heard of Jesus? Will they go to hell?
-First of all, there are no innocent people in Africa or India or anywhere else!
-All people are rebels against God, people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness
-Secondly, all people have a witness of God!
-He is clearly seen in His creation
-All people have access to this general revelation, as theologians call it
-This general revelation is not enough to save people, but it is enough to condemn them
-So that, people are without excuse and fully accountable for their sins and choices
Vs. 21
-“because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful in their thoughts”
-This revelation ought to lead to worship of the One true God and to thankfulness to Him alone
-Yet instead, it doesn’t
-“but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened”
-people reject God, and consequently fall further away from Him and His life-giving grace
Vs. 22
-these people think that they are wise, but they are actually fools
-This is what God thinks of all of man’s best attempts to our own savior
-Whether this is staunch insistence that there is no God! We were all created by a giant explosion
-Whether that is insistence that all religions lead to the same place as long as you’re good and sincere
-Whether that is the self-help message and become a better you mentality that is paraded around
-People claim to be wise and woke, but they are fools
Vs. 23
-as humans, God has made a way of worshipping and enjoying the Almighty, wonderful, beautiful, just, righteous, loving, gracious, compassionate God!
-I mean, this is what we’ve been created for, and there is nothing more wonderful than this
-And yet, sinful mankind would rather exchange that beauty and glory for something cheap, something man-made
-Whether that is people bowing down to false gods and idols
-or whether that is people worshiping and serving money, popularity, sports, sex, achieve, fame, family, relationships, etc.
-As a whole, humanity apart from God will always choose something cheap and broken to worship and serve, instead of worshipping and serving the Triune God of all the Universe
Notice what happens in vs. 24
-Vs. 24
-In this chapter, whenever mankind exchanges something, God gives them up
What does that mean?
-When people say “I don’t want you God, I don’t want you God, I don’t want you God!
-“I want this!”
-God says “fine.”
-And He gives them over to what their hearts’ desire
-God’s judgment is often time Him giving people exactly what they want
Vs. 25
-First they exchange the glory of God for an idol, now they exchange the truth of God for a lie
-They don’t desire to know or acknowledge God, but give themselves over to their darkened minds and sinful desires
-They continue in worship of cheap, empty, man-made products of worship instead of worship of the One True God
Vs. 26
-God once again gives them up
-This time, to perverted desires
-vs. 26-27
-First of all, Paul is not saying that homosexuality is a worse sin than any other sin
-All sin is sinful and is rebellion against God
-Nor is Paul saying that homosexuals cannot get saved!
-There are plenty of testimonies of homosexuals coming to faith in Christ
-but what Paul is saying, is that homosexuality is one common manifestation of God giving an individual, or even a sometimes a culture, over to their own sinful desires
-And I don’t think you need me to convince you that this is absolutely rampant in our culture right now
-We are absolutely running full-speed in this direction as a culture
-So often, we hear, or even say things ourselves like “look at all this abortion and homosexuality and transgenderism! When is God going to judge us for all of this?”
-And while judgment is certainly guaranteed for unrepentant sin against God, many Christians don’t understand:
-the abortion, homosexuality, abandonment of God in our culture . . . this is God’s judgment!
-God is giving us over to our sin, and our desire to get rid of Him!
Notice the exchange in vs. 26
-sinful humans exchange natural sexual relations with unnatural ones
So what does God do?
Vs. 28
-God gives them over to their debased and sinful minds
-Before we go any further, it can be easy to sit here and look down in disgust on our culture and the sinful people around us
-We can very easily get into that mode of thinking
-But remember, this was you and me before salvation
-You and I were these ungodly and unrighteous people who were suppressing the truth in unrighteousness
-The only difference between me and the most wicked, vile sinner is only the grace of God
Vs. 29-31
-What an apt description of unsaved humanity
-What an apt description of our culture
-What an apt description of me before salvation
Vs. 32
-people understand and are aware that their actions are sinful and deserve punishment from God
-They know deep down that the things they do are wrong and deserve punishment
-But they not only continue in willful sin and rebellion
-They even approve and sometimes applaud those sin with them
-What happens in our culture every time another celebrity comes out as gay or transgender?
-We applaud them
-They’re lifted up as heros
-This is what sinful mankind is apart from God
Paul now turns sharply in the following verses to address another group of people
-Vs. 1
-Paul here turns on people who think that they are moral or religious
-He’s probably addressing specifically Jews here in these verses, but the application can be made to religious moral people
-People who try to be good or kind, or go to church or might even call themselves Christians have an easy time looking down in judgment on the kinds of people we’ve just described
-But Paul condemns these people too, on the basis that whatever they look down and judge another person on, they ultimately condemn yourself because they have sinned and done the same things
-Ultimately, every single person is guilty of high treason against the king of heaven
-Just because you’re not a homosexual, are not involved in drugs or rampant immorality, or don’t participate in “God-hating”, doesn’t mean you’re innocent.
Vs. 2-3
-All people will stand before God and be righteously judged by Him for their sin
-Not one person will escape
-Hebrews 9:27
-No one will escape their court date with God
So, is there any good news?
-I mean, this has been a pretty negative message if we’re being awesome
-Yes there is! Lemme give you the 2 paths that people can choose from in life, and we’ll be done
Vs. 5
-people, if they continue down the path of sin and destruction, are every day storing up wrath for themselves in the day of wrath
-every day, sinful, unsaved people store up more wrath in the piggy bank of God’s judgment
Henry Clay Frick in the 1800’s led a group of speculators, including Benjamin Ruff, from Pittsburgh to purchase the abandoned reservoir, modify it, and convert it into a private resort lake for their wealthy associates. Many were connected through business and social links to Carnegie Steel. Development included lowering the dam to make its top wide enough to hold a road, and putting a fish screen in the spillway (the screen also trapped debris). These alterations are thought to have increased the vulnerability of the dam. Moreover, a system of relief pipes and valves, a feature of the original dam, and previously sold off for scrap, was not replaced, so the club had no way of lowering the water level in the lake in case of an emergency.
On the morning of May 31, 1889 in a farmhouse on a hill just above the South Fork Dam, Elias Unger, president of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, awoke to the sight of Lake Conemaugh swollen after a night-long heavy rainfall.
Twice, under orders from Unger, Parke rode on horseback to the nearby town of South Fork to the telegraph office to send warnings to Johnstown explaining the critical nature of the eroding dam. Unfortunately, Parke did not personally take a warning message to the telegraph tower - he sent a man instead. But the warnings were not passed to the authorities in town, as there had been many false alarms in the past of the South Fork Dam not holding against flooding. Unger, Parke, and the rest of the men continued working until exhausted to save the face of the dam; they abandoned their efforts at around 1:30 p.m., fearing that their efforts were futile and the dam was at risk of imminent collapse. Unger ordered all of his men to fall back to high ground on both sides of the dam where they could do nothing but watch and wait.
The dam collapsed and 2,209 people were killed
-One day, the dam of God’s wrath will be released on people who for their whole lives have been storing up wrath for themselves
Vince Gilligan quote: I like to believe there is some comeuppance, that karma kicks in at some point, even if it takes years or decades to happen. My girlfriend says this great thing that's become my philosophy as well. 'I want to believe there's a heaven. But I can't not believe there's a hell.
So what is the good news?
Vs. 4
So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
-that God is merciful, patient, and longsuffering
-God allows things into the lives of sinful humans, even things that are hard
why?
-to lead them to repentance!
-God is the one who gives sinners the very air they breath to live on in rebellion
-Why?
-Because he’s long suffering and good, and desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth
-He sent His Son Jesus Christ to step in and take that rushing torrent of God’s wrath and completely drain it
-On the cross, He took the full brunt of the wrath of God
-He rose 3 days later, and is now seated at the right hand of God
-And it is against the backdrop of all the filth and sin and rebellion that God’s grace looks so amazing
And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be? That thou my God, shouldst die for me?
-Charles Wesley
My heart identifies so much with the lyrics from How Great Thou Art
“And when I think, that God His Son not sparing
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin”
-Carl Boberg
-My friends, let us worship God for His amazing love
-let us meditate on and believe the Gospel
-let us share with others how they can be saved from the wrath to come and know God’s goodness in their own lives through Christ